Often long term capacity planning is difficult to embed in an organisation, it could be that the budget, and therefore the staff numbers, are set from above and it’s a case of spending what you have rather than getting what you need. However if this is the case its no excuse to ignore long term planning, you need to understand how to spend the budget, when and on what.
So it leaves a common question, do you focus on the complexity of the operation you are trying to plan, or do you focus upon the flexibility to meet the needs of that operation?
It won’t come as a surprise when I say focusing on one at the total expense of the other is not ideal, so what is the most important?
Operations are complex, even the simplest, this is only going to continue to be the case as automation, digital and AI continue to eat into the tasks that need covering. So is it possible to model every detail of what is done and if so what does a plan's output gain from doing so? The most valuable outputs is trust, which is built up though demonstrating you understand those complexities, and nothing is overlooked. This all comes at a cost as complex models are difficult to maneuver when change occurs, and time to deliver can often be as critical as the accuracy of the outputs.
Flexibility is at least equally important as complexity, being able to incorporate change into a planning model so it’s outputs can match the needs made of if quickly places it in a strong strategic position. For instance when demand fluctuations are expected, but you don’t know exactly when and by how much having a flexible model allows you to reflect those changes quickly in its outputs when they are better understood. The alternative is to produce many different scenarios all of which take time due to the models complexity or lack of flexibility.
The above is one example where flexibility comes out on top, here are the 4 things I believe you need to make as flexible as you can:
Demand volumes (and splits between different types within the total)
Demand handle times
Staff numbers, availability and alignment to demand
Service/success indicators
If you still use Excel, or an equivalent, I have good news for you as it’s relatively easy to build your model in a flexible way, it may even be easier to make your current model more flexible than to build a new one.
I use simple “Yes/No” dropdown lists to help me identify what to include or not, coupled with an “If” formula you can build a level of flexibility into your planning model that will cope with most of the demands made of it.
Don’t believe me: the capacity plan I built and used to help the NHS balance staffing and vaccination invitations for the National Covid vaccination 119 booking line in 2021 was a relatively simple one page model. It delivered because of its flexibility rather than its complexity, it was instrumental in saving upwards of £50million.
The testimonials we received for this work can be seen here: Testimonial | Select Planning
If you still don’t believe me, then challenge me in the comments below, I’ll happily prove it to you.
Remember, flexibility is about much more than when or where you work, it’s how.
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