Work Capacity, Always Changing

Taking a look at completion percentages, including cancellations and reschedules, will yield another view
into a company's ability to keep the workforce productive. Many cable operators report average
cancellation percentages in the 20 percent to 30 percent range. With a few weeks of tracking to verify, one
could determine that overbooking by a similar percentage will let a dispatcher fill the "hole" created by a
cancellation so that a tech is not left unproductive. Minimally, ensuring that all available quota is used (96
points per tech) will minimize this issue, but a dispatcher should be continually looking for jobs in the
schedule pool to bring forward should a tech have an opening because of a cancellation.

Putting all these data points on a tech scorecard is a great way to give feedback to the workforce and make
smart decisions to improve productivity, plan workforce schedules, and be better tied to the individuals
who may require coaching. Figure 1 is a sample of a tech productivity scorecard.

On a day-by-day basis, and then by weekly average, a supervisor can now manage better and know how
well the field workforce is using its time. Metrics to watch include:
1. Average service time: Based on the start and stop times the technician reports and entered in military
(24-hour) time by a dispatcher
2. Average drive time: Time between end of one job and beginning of the next
3. Lunch duration: Largest gap
4. Start time: Time of arrival at the first scheduled job of the day
5. Finish time: Time the last job was completed each day
6. Points per day: Points allocated to the tasks assigned to each tech
7. Off dispatch: Large gaps that cannot be explained, like long drive times; usually indicative of reporting
issues between dispatch and field
8. Data quality: A check to make sure that times are input in military fashion
9. Work time: Actual hours being productive (not an HR reporting number)
10. Points per hour: Total points divided by productive hours
11. Percent hourly efficiency: Using the full hour in scheduled activity, including drive time
12. Daily efficiency: How well the whole work day was utilized; 88 percent efficiency would be a pretty
good number.

By putting this discipline in place and by viewing your work staff with good data, you will be well positioned
to go the next step and automate those best practices.