Abstract: A business volume and workforce requirements forecaster includes a business structure, a forecast structure, certain hierarchical levels which map to corresponding levels in the business structure, a volume forecaster which forecasts business volume responsive to historical data and to the business and forecast structures, and a workforce requirements engine which forecasts workforce requirements responsive to the forecast business volume. Business volume is forecast for a predefined duration, responsive to both a first set of historical data, and to the business and forecast structures. Calculation of workforce requirements includes task level consolidation and resource leveling, and can include dynamic standard assignment, wherein different metrics are selected at different times, and where a task is associated with a plurality of standards. An event calendar is defined, and at least one event is selected from the calendar and considered in the step of forecasting.

Abstract: A method of dynamically scheduling a workforce includes obtaining workforce requirements, attributes and employee preferences, determining a workforce schedule based on the workforce requirements and attributes, determining a schedule value based on workforce requirements and employee preferences, and iteratively modifying the workforce schedule, determining a schedule value based on workforce requirements and preferences for the modified workforce schedule, and comparing schedule values to determine a best workforce schedule.