Rapid changes in workload demands due to industry advances in science and technology led a large U.S. federal health agency to examine the resources it needed to continue carrying out its mission. The organization decided a more transparent resource capacity planning function would help it respond intelligently to the evolving resource demands in its mission-critical work. At the same time, the organization saw how developing a systematic analytical function for accurately forecasting workload drivers could better inform and justify resource requests to Congress and industry.
Eagle Hill worked alongside the organization as a team member, guiding development of responsive, data-driven user tools that greatly expanded transparency into resource needs and revolutionized the organization’s decision-making.
Goal: Create incisive, data-driven workload analytics tools to optimize future decision-making and resource alignment.
Unconventional consulting—and breakthrough results
Accuracy achieved for the client in forecasting its 5-year workload demands, using Eagle Hill-developed tools.
Increase in real-time data availability, as Eagle Hill decreased the turn-around time for accessing time-tracking data from monthly to daily.
Staff who now benefit through the better alignment and optimization of resources and funding, thanks to the organization’s newly realized real-time reporting insight.
Leveraged regulatory and time-reporting data to provide dynamic data visualization dashboards and help leadership understand staff workload across Offices, Divisions, and Branches.
Managed the immense complexity of bringing together 30+ datasets from across 20 divisions on schedule and on budget—with no revisions required—despite the additional complications brought by the emergence of COVID-19, mid-program.
Dramatically expanded information transparency across the organization by improving both the access to and quality of performance and time reporting data. Before Eagle Hill’s involvement, fewer than 20 full-time employees received limited (monthly) performance and time reporting data. By the time we were done, more than 125 directors, managers, and team leads could access real-time performance and capacity planning data.
Supported client with data and insights to justify their resource requests to industry and Congress.
Our starting point
The highly complex subject matter and the many requirements of such a large and diverse group of stakeholders required Eagle Hill to adhere to rigorous program management practices, while remaining flexible and responsive to client needs. Eagle Hill had to:
Collect and analyze data across multiple sourcesto document and understand workload, staff roles, and responsibilities, as the basis of trust-worthy forecasting models.
Leverage predictive statistical modeling to develop robust forecasting algorithms, based on numerous internal and external factors, to provide the client meaningful insights into how its work will change over time. We also developed decisioning logic to identify where to assign new employees, based on resource capacity constraints.
Create a Tableau-based resource capacity planning model to forecast workload and associated skillsets needed to complete future work, as well as help the organization align and optimize resources and funding.
The roadmap to success
- Eagle Hill conducted visioning sessions to align project stakeholders on their desired end goals and created a steering committee to validate design and capability decisions throughout the project.
- As we collected information from multiple sources, we also conducted interviews with SMEs to understand the nuances of the data/data sources. During this process, Eagle Hill identified numerous data quality issues and gaps and developed an approach to improve availability and quality of data. In fact, Eagle Hill completed more data quality improvement projects for the client than contractually required.
- Constant open communication was essential on such a large and complex effort, and Eagle Hill conducted weekly meetings to discuss significant milestones and risks. Throughout the program, Eagle Hill provided expert guidance to the client on how to get the most out of the new tools and on the business case for long-term investment in resource capacity planning.
- To ensure the client’s ongoing success, Eagle Hill created model maintenance procedures, user guides, and training that helped the client build its internal capacity for ongoing operations of the resource capacity planning model and workload dashboards we developed.
Let’s go where you want to be
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