Video Case: Sales and Operations Planning at Starwood Business travel often means staying overnight in a hotel. Upon arrival, you may be greeted by a doorman or valet to assist you with your luggage. Front desk staff awaits your check-in. Behind the scenes, housekeeping, maintenance, and culinary staff prepare for your stay. Making a reservation gives the hotel notice of your plan to stay, but even before your trip is ever conceived, the hotel is staffed and ready. How? Through a process called sales and operations planning. Sales and operations planning is a process every organization performs to some degree. Called a staffing plan (or service resource plan if more detailed) in service organizations, the plan must strike the right level of customer service while maintaining workforce stability and cost control so as to achieve the organization's profit expectations. So where do companies begin? Let us take a look at Starwood Hotels and Resorts to see how it is done. Starwood operates in more than 750 locations around the globe. At the highest levels, Starwood engages in sales and operations planning on an annual basis, with adjustments made as needed each month by region and by property. Budgeted revenues and other projections come from headquarters; the regions and individual properties then break down the forecasts to meet their expected occupancies. Typically, the director of human resources determines the staffing mix needed across divisions such as food and beverage service, rooms (including housekeeping, spa, and guest services), engineering, Six Sigma (see Chapter 3, "Quality and Performance"), revenue management, and accounting. At the property level, general managers and their staff must provide input into next year's plan while implementing and monitoring activity in the current year. For most properties, payroll is close to 40 percent of budgeted revenues and represents the largest single expense the hotel incurs. It is also the most controllable expense. Many of Starwood's hotels and most resorts experience patterns of seasonality that affect demand for rooms and services. This seasonality, in turn, significantly affects the organization's staffing plan. To determine the staffing levels, the company uses a proprietary software program that models occupancy demand based on historical data. The key drivers of staffing are occupied rooms and restaurant meals, called "covers." Starwood knows on a per room and per cover basis how many staff are required to function properly. When occupancy and covers are entered into the software program, the output models a recommended staffing level for each division. This recommendation is then reviewed by division managers and adjusted as needed to be sure staffing is in line with budgeted financial plans. Job fairs to recruit nonmanagement staff are held several times a year so a qualified candidate pool of both part-time and full-time staff is ready when needed. Most hotels maintain a pool of part-time workers who can contract or expand the hours worked if required by property guest levels. Vacations for management are scheduled for the low season. Overtime will be worked as needed, but is less desirable than scheduling the appropriate level of staff in each division. A software program that forecasts occupancy based on historical data helps Starwood maintain proper staffing levels at its hotels. Managers know on a per-room, and "per- cover," basis how many hotel employees should be scheduled so that customers get good service. The program also takes into account both the complexity and positioning of the property within Starwood. For example, a 400-room city hotel that is essentially a high- rise building is not as complex as a 400-room sprawling resort with golf, spa, convention, and other services not offered by the city hotel. Positioning also is important. A five-star resort hotel's customer service expectations are much greater than a three-star airport hotel location and requires much higher ratios of staff to guests. Finally, if the hotel is a new property, historical data from similar properties is used to model staffing for the first year or two of operation. Starwood attempts to modify demand and smooth out the peaks and valleys of its demand patterns. Many of the company's hotels experience three seasons: high, mid (called "shoulder"), and low season. Starwood, like its competitors, offers special rates, family packages, and weekend specials to attract different segments of the market during slower business periods. Staff is cross-trained to work in multiple areas, such as front reception and the concierge desk, so additional staff does not have to be added across seasons. Employees may also be temporarily redeployed among Starwood's properties to help out during peak periods. For example, when occupancy is forecast to be high in one region of the country, staff from areas entering their low season will be assigned to cover the demand.

University of Phoenix Material The Role of a Health Care Manager Health care management is a growing profession. These managers are expected to manage inpatient and outpatient care facilities as well as non-direct care settings. Therefore, it is important for health care managers to understand the complexity of its roles and functions to build the necessary skills to help them be successful. Complete the following table in which you identify and discuss the role of the health care manager in the following functions: organizing, planning, controlling and leading. In the spaces provided, ensure you identify and discuss them according to these guidelines: Define each of the functions listed. You must define the function in your own words; do not copy the definition from a textbook. Identify and discuss the role of a health care manager in the given function. Provide an explanation that illustrates the role of a health care manager as it applies to the function in the health care…

Read the passage and please answer the questions related to resource planning systems:  Whipple Logistics Company’s Transportation Challenge  Ruby Shelton is part of the executive development training program. As part of her executive development plan, Ruby has temporarily been assigned to the transportation division of Whipple Logistics Company. The objective is to expose her to different parts of the company as a method of grooming her for a senior position someday. Ruby is excited about the opportunity. Her background is in operations management, therefore, she is familiar with transportation requirements, although not an expert. Doreen Delgado is Ruby’s mentor in the program. Doreen is a senior vice president and participated in the program when she was a junior executive. She understands the value of such a learning experience. Whipple Logistics Company has several new clients who want a briefing on the best mode of transportation for their businesses. Doreen assigned Ruby to this…

Prim's MST approach may be utilized build a real-world weighted network.

Discuss the process of capacity planning in IT resource acquisition and its importance.

Epsilon Airlines services predominantly the eastern and southeastern United States. The vast majority of Epsilon's customers make reservations through Epsilon's website, but a small percentage of customers make reservations via phones. Epsilon employs call center personnel to handle these reservations and to deal with website reservation system problems and for the rebooking of flights for customers whose plans have changed or whose travel is disrupted. Staffing the call center appropriately is a challenge for Epsilon's management team. Having too many employees on hand is a waste of money, but having too few results in very poor customer service and the potential loss of customers. Epsilon analysts have estimated the minimum number of call center employees needed by day of the week for the upcoming vacation season (June, July, and the first two weeks of August). These estimates are as follows: Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Minimum Number of Employees…

Chris has been with Drake Manufacturing for five years and was recently promoted to the position of shift supervisor. He is still learning his new position, and it is important to him to be liked and respected. At the most recent operations review meeting, the director reported that the company’s financials are troublesome, and managers should be prepared for a major reorganization. Several jobs will be eliminated, but it had not yet determined which departments would be affected. Questions 1.Should he give his employees “small doses” of the impending change?

In a one-page paper, list the advantages and disadvantages of using part-time employees to help meet demand.

What problems presently exist for any person assigned to the position of nursing supervisor? How will these problems impact the selection of the new supervisor? Who should be hired as the supervisor? Why? Who should be hired as the head nurses? Why? Your final decision might not please the staff, and if not, how would you handle the possible uprising?

How can service orchestration and choreography be used to coordinate services in a workflow?