2025 Best Practice Guide
Raising Standards

Learning Academy On-Demand Modules

Over 100 modules of learning form the backbone of our academy, allowing you to focus on what is most relevant and important. Join the courses as online modules for just £65pp and pace yourself, to build a development plan for the year that is bespoke to your needs. If you have interest in a specific category click on the link below any module to see more in that topic.

Operating models, routing strategies and skill design - Module 1

Operating models, routing strategies and skill design - Module 1

Module 1 - An introduction to call routing strategies and how they support different operating models and the benefits and pitfalls for each approach.       
 - Issues encountered when planning for Multiskilled environments
 - Understanding the purpose of multiskilling in your organisation
 - Balancing different perspectives

Introduction To Real-time

Introduction To Real-time

This module provides an introductory understanding of:
- the fundamental inputs and outputs of Real-Time processes.
- the role of Real-Time Planning within the planning cycle 
- the characteristics of best in class Real-Time teams as evidenced through The Forum's standards benchmarking programme
 

Introduction to Influencing Skills

Introduction to Influencing Skills

Being able to influence the decision of others is a key skill for all planners.  In this session, learn the basic approaches which will allow your audience to process information in their own way, using their beliefs and memories to deliver great outcomes.
 - Learn the difference between Tell, Ask and Influence
 - Understand how people make decisions
 - See how the language of engagement helps influencing

Driving Strategy through Capacity Planning

Driving Strategy through Capacity Planning

This course is part of the “strategic analyst” series of webinars, designed to help everyone in analytical roles become a more active contributor to their organisation’s strategic narrative.

In this webinar we will explore:
 -    What is strategy 
 -    Benefits of working at the strategic level 
 -    Making sense of your organisational strategy
 -    Building capacity plans with you strategy in mind
 -    Influencing strategy through capacity planning

Stakeholder Mapping

Stakeholder Mapping

This course provides an overview of the fundamental components of successful stakeholder management. Learning outcomes include: 
- The value of Stakeholder Identification 
- Fundamentals of stakeholder mapping 
- The benefits of stakeholder influencing

Shrinkage (3b) - Planning & Tracking Shrinkage Exercise

Shrinkage (3b) - Planning & Tracking Shrinkage Exercise

Deeper dive into shrinkage, historical tracking, forecasting and incorporating in long and short term planning. Understand the importance of tracking and managing your shrinkages so they are optimised for your staff. Learning outcomes include:

 - How to ensure that you are able to track your shrinkage data across all time horizons: annual, Monthly, Weekly, Daily
 - The benefits of shrinkage categorisation when it comes to successful tracking
 - How the inter-connectedness of Shrinkage categories makes effectively managing shrinkage challenging

This module is part of the Shrinkage Box Set

Advanced Forecasting Techniques and Analysis Tools

Advanced Forecasting Techniques and Analysis Tools

There are many different forecasting techniques and analysis tools available to the modern planner.  This session will introduce delegates to some of the more common ones in use today.
 - Learn about pure Time Series methodologies
 - Understand Standard Deviation and it can be used to improve forecasting
 - See how explanatory modelling can benefit your business

Planning For Wellbeing

Planning For Wellbeing

This module introduces the broader concept of planning for wellbeing and ways to support your colleagues. Understanding these key considerations will help you to create a workforce strategy with wellbeing at the heart. 
 - What is wellbeing and why this is important?
 - The 5-key steps for wellbeing
 - Our responsibility as Planners to ensure we support wellbeing

Volatility and Flex in Real Time

Volatility and Flex in Real Time

Develop a deeper understanding of your supply and demand intraday profiles to understand how much flexibility you have and need.
 - Understand how to measure the variability of intraday profiles
 - Learn how to create triggers for action to flex your staff
 - Improve your operational readiness to become more effective

Understanding your Volatility & Flexibility

Understanding your Volatility & Flexibility

The basis of a best practice scheduling strategy is a clear understanding of the volatility of workload and the amount of flexibility to need and can afford.  This module introduces you to theoretical models and calculations to understand your flexibility need.  Learning outcomes include:
 - What does volatility & flexibility mean and the importance of defining these for your business.
 - How to calculate the volatility of demand and amount of flexibility available
 - Understanding different flexibility needs based on different starting positions, e.g. annually and daily, compared to average, compared to budget

Identifying Opportunities from Patterns & Exceptions

Identifying Opportunities from Patterns & Exceptions

To innovate and be the best that we can we need to identify and exploit the best opportunities not just to improve but also to learn.

In this module we explore,
 - How to find the right opportunities
 - Creating time to learn and improve
 - Striking the right balance between proactive & reactive insight
 

Intro to The Planning Cycle

Intro to The Planning Cycle

Learn the role planning plays in implementing your strategic objectives.  Understand the importance of your role and how you can help others.
 - Understand how the strategic objective is implemented into a forecasting, scheduling and real-time plan.
 - Learn about the importance of effective data checkpoints, change governance and hand-overs
 - Play a part in driving continuous improvement and become the nerve-centre of the business

Threshold & Contingencies

Threshold & Contingencies

Drive decisions and continuous improvement by building effectives RAG status trigger for actions, which engage the operation and improve performance. This module follows the “Using RAG models to take action”.
 - Learn how to set appropriate thresholds for in-day reporting
 - Understand different ways of engaging the operation
 - Create a learning mechanism to drive continuous improvement

Descriptive Statistics - Part 2

Descriptive Statistics - Part 2

Following on from Descriptive Statistics Part 1. In this module we look at applying these techniques to real life scenarios, you will receive exercises to complete before we talk you through the solutions.

Communication Planning

Communication Planning

This module will help you to create an effective communication plan to deliver the right information at the right time, with natural review points to continual refresh and maintain relevance.
 - Being clear on your purpose
 - Review different channels and methods for distribution
 - Understand the best time to deliver

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