What it is
Capacity planning is the "can we actually cover this?" board. It puts forecast demand next to the people you really have available — the deployable pool, minus known leave and unavailability, minus a shrinkage allowance for the absence, breaks and training you can expect even from people who are rostered.
For each site and week it works out the realistic gap and colours it: red where you’re short, amber where it’s tight, green where you’ve got room. Seeing a deficit four weeks out is the difference between recruiting calmly now and scrambling on the day — so this is where you catch coverage problems while you can still fix them.
When to use it
- You want to know if you can cover the next few weeks
- A forecast shows demand rising and you’re checking headroom
- You need lead time to recruit or redeploy before a shortfall
- You’re deciding whether to take on more work from a client
How it works
Step by step.
- 1
Open the capacity plan
See required headcount, from the forecast, beside the available pool for each site across the planning horizon.
- 2
Account for the real pool
Available headcount is already net of known leave and unavailability, so you’re looking at who you can actually deploy.
- 3
Check the shrinkage allowance
A shrinkage allowance trims the pool for expected absence, breaks and training, giving an effective-available number that holds up in practice.
- 4
Read the gap
Each site-week is coloured by its gap: red for a deficit, amber for tight, green for surplus. Work the reds first.
- 5
Act on the shortfalls
For a deficit, recruit, redeploy from a surplus site, or talk to the client about volume — while you still have lead time.
Worked example
Follow it through.
The scenario
Across the next four weeks, Docklands is forecast to need 40 Warehouse Operators a week, and you want to know if the pool stretches.
- 1 Open the capacity plan and set the horizon to four weeks.
- 2 Docklands shows 40 required against 46 available before shrinkage.
- 3 The 15% shrinkage allowance brings effective-available to 39.
- 4 Week three turns amber — effectively a one-person shortfall.
- 5 You redeploy one Forklift-cross-skilled worker from a surplus at Harbour Point to close it.
The result
Every week at Docklands reads green or amber-resolved, the one-person week-three gap is covered by redeployment, and you’ve acted three weeks before it would have bitten.
Tips & notes
Good to know.
- Trust the effective-available number, not the raw pool — shrinkage is the absence that happens whether you plan for it or not.
- Amber is your early-warning colour; a tight week often tips to a deficit once a single call-out lands.
- A surplus at one site is your cheapest fix for a deficit at another — redeploy before you recruit.
- Read capacity straight after the forecast, so the required numbers you’re testing are the latest demand.
When you’re done
A week-by-week read on whether your real, shrinkage-adjusted pool covers demand, with shortfalls visible while there’s still time to act.