Workforce Planning and Productivity Forecasting with Power BI
Challenge
A U.S. records management and vault services company with a multi-market branch network planned its workforce mostly on gut feel. HR data in UltiPro, daily activity in TotalRecall and analytics in Snowflake were never connected. Managers had no mid-week view of whether teams were on track, optimal staffing hours had never been calculated properly, and project work was mixed into operational activity, which skewed every productivity number.
A U.S. records management and vault services company with a multi-market branch network planned its workforce mostly on gut feel. HR data in UltiPro, daily activity in TotalRecall and analytics in Snowflake were never connected. Managers had no mid-week view of whether teams were on track, optimal staffing hours had never been calculated properly, and project work was mixed into operational activity, which skewed every productivity number.
Solution
We built automated SSIS pipelines into a central SQL Server data warehouse with a star schema, and added a forecasting engine that sets monthly and daily productivity targets across seven activity types. We introduced an Optimal Hours method, separated project work from operational work, and put productivity rates under version control. Two Power BI dashboards came out of it: one for branch production planning and one for leadership on productivity and utilization.
We built automated SSIS pipelines into a central SQL Server data warehouse with a star schema, and added a forecasting engine that sets monthly and daily productivity targets across seven activity types. We introduced an Optimal Hours method, separated project work from operational work, and put productivity rates under version control. Two Power BI dashboards came out of it: one for branch production planning and one for leadership on productivity and utilization.
Results
Three siloed systems became one analytics platform, and manual cross-system reconciliation was eliminated completely. Every branch and market now has daily and monthly forecasts, with forecast versus actual tracked in real time for all seven activity types. Branch managers can see mid-week whether they are on pace and adjust staffing before the week is lost, while leadership gets a clean view of utilization across the network.
Three siloed systems became one analytics platform, and manual cross-system reconciliation was eliminated completely. Every branch and market now has daily and monthly forecasts, with forecast versus actual tracked in real time for all seven activity types. Branch managers can see mid-week whether they are on pace and adjust staffing before the week is lost, while leadership gets a clean view of utilization across the network.