Patent ID: 7885846

Claim:
A method for planning of services workforce staffing, comprising: collecting an availability profile for each skill type; collecting a demand profile for each skill type; and establishing, by a processor, a workforce plan using an optimization model, the workforce plan recommending a combination of actions, said combination of actions including at least hiring, contracting and cross-training, based on the availability profile and the demand profile, wherein the optimization model includes a function, ⁢ find ⁢ ⁢ S ijkt , H it , U it ⁢ ⁢ and ⁢ ⁢ F it ⁢ ⁢ such ⁢ ⁢ that min ⁢ { ∑ i , t ⁢ p i · q [ t w ] ⁡ [ ω 1 ⁢ G it + + ω 2 ⁢ G it - + ω 3 ⁢ ∑ j ⁢ ∑ k ≠ j ⁢ S ijkt ⁢ min i , j ⁢ ( Δ ik , Δ jk ) ⁢ c arg ⁢ ⁢ m ⁢ ⁢ i ⁢ ⁢ n ⁡ ( Δ ik , Δ jk ) , k + H i , t ⁢ c i h + ∑ r = 1 t ⁢ ( U i ⁢ ⁢ τ - F i ⁢ ⁢ τ ) ⁢ c i u ] } Where, S ijkt : Units of primary skill, i, which are currently active in j, for training into k, at time t H i,t : Units of primary skill, i, hired in time period, t U i,t : Units of primary skill, i, contracted in time period, t F i,t : Units of contracted primary skill, i, let go, in time period, t c i h : Hiring cost per unit of primary skill, i c i u : Contracting cost per unit of primary skill, i, per unit time G it + : Gap of skill i at period t G it − : Glut of skill i at period t c ij : Training cost from i to j per person per period Δ ij : Training lead time from i to j ω k : Weight for gap, glut and training cost p i : Priority order of different skills q: Time discount factor (w discount window).