Scheduling Field Personnel

Making a plan so you can change it

I started scheduling technical labor in the early eighties. My first company was a staffing business that specialized in audiovisual technicians. You think you have problems with last minute changes? Imagine being the person you dumped those challenges on. Over the years I have worked with a lot of smart folks and adopted techniques I thought everyone was already using. Turns out I was wrong. Here's a few assumptions I think everyone that schedules other people should keep in mind:

• On your busiest day, when no one else is available - one of your best folks is going to call in sick.
• The schedule (whoever sets it) will change.
• AV is a dynamic business. You must be able to outsource labor when needed.
• When things are really busy, getting all jobs done right is more important than any one project's job cost.
   
• Whether you are an integrator or a stager, personnel scheduling is a core competency that you have to master.

Knowing that the above statements are true, there are techniques that will help you weather the inevitable storms.

 

Find Good Partners

You are dependent on freelancers and sub-contractors. Some companies may not like it, but they need to get over it. Without outside help, your company either can't grow or will be forced to hire full-time personnel and risk not having enough work for them. The best resources are booked way in advance, so you will need to learn about each person's (or crew's) lead time and when possible, track their schedules. The more you know about when your subs are available, the better it will be for both sides.

 

Track People Not Projects

Walk into any integration or staging office and there is a chart on the wall with project names and dates. To find out where someone is scheduled, you have to look inside a project record. While this is useful information, personnel schedules are much more dynamic and harder to keep in mind than projects. When you are in the people-scheduling business, project schedules are the obstacles we work around to book talent. I recommend that field personnel (and subs and freelancers) be represented on a Gantt chart. It is much easier to see who is available and to massage schedules into maximum efficiency. There are fancy programs available, but MS Excel works just fine when you are starting out: 

 

 

 

Book Early 

In order to secure the best subs, you have to schedule them way in advance. This is the hardest choice for most companies as job-cost mentality kicks in and the tendency is to book staff resources until they are completely sapped - then call subs at the last minute. This is not a formula for quality work. When you see a busy time period ahead, assign your subs and freelancers first then back-fill with your staff. The goal is to secure the best resources for the company and assuming a little risk on a per-job basis is part of the cost. 

 

When booking integration teams, the best approach is to add them to your overall capacity for a specified period of time rather than simply booking them for one project. It shouldn't be difficult to spot the busy weeks or months ahead and secure those teams far in advance. As you come closer to the period, you can assign them to a specific project. Stagers can do the same thing with freelance technicians. Scheduling shows in advance is more of a challenge, but if you have booked a freelancer for a guaranteed number of days - you will find a way to maximize their time. 

Build in Flex Capacity

After years in the business, why are managers still surprised when schedules change? If you are booking a crew of ten stagehands on a very busy day, book one or two extra. Someone is going to miss the call and you will have a replacement on hand. Or another job will suddenly need an extra person. Either way, having an extra person is rarely a bad thing. Also, hold back one of your better staff technicians and schedule them on standby during busy weeks. This extra resource can help solve problems in the field or replace a position with a first-call instead of last-call person.

Integrators have periods when booking extra install technicians makes sense, but what they really need is an extra crew. The best way to create capacity is to schedule flex days. There are two primary ways to go about this: First, allot one extra day for every four days of installation on a project. The goal is not to stretch the job out. It is to have an extra crew available on Fridays (or Mondays) to help the jobs that are behind. And if you ever do end up with an unscheduled team, you need a backup plan for their time. Sit them in front of a computer and take some online training to study for their InfoComm CTS or  CTS-I.

The methods most companies use to schedule labor are fine when business is slow and predictable (like during a Recession). 2011 looks like a great year and I hope everyone has some challenging months ahead of them. Make your life easier, do better work, and be ready for the changes by adopting more flexible personnel scheduling.

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