The tools used in workforce planning are typically tools that accept data from routing platforms and build them into historical models, then forecast from those historical models or to override any component with business user supplied information. There are tools to perform the art and science of scheduling – whether it’s template based, preference based, work or equity rule based – assign employees to schedules or implement tools to let employees build their own schedules, compare plans to actual activity as it occurs and identify when deviations are of enough magnitude to act, take a variety of actions to deal with over or understaffing, see employee performance and adherence & compliance to assigned activities, historically and in real time, manage the workforce on premise, on the go, hybrid employee work arrangements, manage relationships with outsourced staffing vendors and clients of outsourced staffing vendors, and finally there are tools to notify interested parties automatically or via business user ad hoc broadcast notifications.