How Do I Use Sales Analytics?

The Sales Module includes a powerful Sales Analytics tool, designed to easily visualize the differences in labor costs, user sales types (such as gross labor, customer covers, customer counts, or inventory items), and other relevant numerical information. Watching for trends in the numbers will allow management to be proactive in creating business decisions.

Analyze a Schedule

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Employee schedules can be analyzed and compared to Manager Projections, Actual Values, or System Generated Forecasts.

One way to access the Sales Analytics tool is by using the list of schedules, and clicking on Analyze. The Sales Analytics tool can also be accessed through the Sales tab directly.

Sales Analytics with Employee Schedules

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Follow the instructions on the Sales Analytics page, choose the desired Sales Type, and any other applicable options from the left-hand column.

The software will build a visual chart, allowing you to graphically compare Manager Projections, System Generated Forecasts, and the Actual numbers against employee work schedules.

Analytics – Labor Costs

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The above graph is a sample employee schedule from 10:00am – 5:00pm, and the Sales Analytics tool is displaying the cost of labor (in purple), as well as the Manager Projection (in blue) for the same time period. Schedules can be combined, or graphed separately, based on your requirements.

Tip: The labor costs purple line stay flat, while the blue Sales Type line (Gross Sales in this case) goes up and down. This may indicate that some staff should be sent home when the blue line goes down sharply, and staff members should be brought in when the line goes up sharply.

Analytics – Scheduled Shifts

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The same graph as above is displayed, but this graph compares the Sales Type with the Scheduled Shifts during the time period, instead of Labor Costs.

Tip: Scheduled Shifts are indicative of the number of unique shifts scheduled during the time period. Just like the Labor Costs, sharply increasing or decreasing lines may indicate a need to change the schedule.

Analytics – Labor Hours

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Similar to the Schedule Shifts comparison above, this graph compares the Sales Type to the Labor Hours during the time period.

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How Do I Schedule with Forecasts?

After Manager Projections have been input into the Sales Module, the Manager Projections can be displayed on the labor schedules, providing instant feedback on how each day of the schedule will compare to the managers projections. System Generated Forecasts can also be displayed on the employee schedule.

Daily View with Forecasts

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As the schedule is changed, the Manager Projections in the Daily View are updated automatically, displaying the ratio between the schedule and the Sales Type chosen for this schedule.

Schedule Detail with Forecasts

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The Schedule Detail view of the labor schedule will display critical statistics about the schedule, including the Variable Hours (hours scheduled for regular employees), Non-Variable Hours (hours scheduled for managers or supervisors), Paid and Unpaid Breaks, as well as Manager Projections.

If the ratio is shown in green, then the ratio is beneath the desired ratio.
If the ratio is shown in red, then the ratio is too high.

If enforcement of the ratios is enabled in the Sales Options, managers and supervisors will be unable to post the schedule unless the ratio is beneath the desired ratio.

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How Do I Enter Forecasts?

Using the Sales Module, labor schedules can be compared to Manager Projections, Actual Numbers, and System Generated Forecasts. After creating the necessary Sales Types, numeric values should be entered into the Manager Projections area. After the week (or day) is over, Actual Values from the Point of Sale system, Cash Register, Property Management System, or other revenue control system can be entered into the Actual Values area of the software.

Enter Manager Projections

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Manager Projections are typically the “gut feeling”, or estimates that you or managers create to project Sales Types. Projections can be entered by hour or quarter-hour, and daily and weekly summations are easily viewable.

Sales Forecasting is Extremely Easy

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As previously mentioned, Manager Projections can be entered by the hour, or by the quarter-hour. The hours shown will be dependent on any open / close hours that are currently defined for your location.

Sales Options

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A number of settings are available in the Sales Options, including:

- Allowing Supervisors to access the Sales Module
- Viewing Manager Projections and System Forecasts on the labor schedule
- Enforcing the labor ratios, which will disable the posting of schedules unless they meet the necessary labor ratio percentages

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How Do I Set Up Forecasting?

The Sales Module is a powerful and easy-to-use analytics tool to organize Manager Projections, Actual Numbers, and System Generated Forecasts. Sales numbers can be referenced and viewed on employee schedules, and analyzed using the Sale Analytics tool – a simple solution to ensure that complex schedule forecasts are kept in check.

Sales Module Tab

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The Sales Module can be easily accessed by clicking on the “Sales” tab.

Create Sales Types for Your Business

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Sales Types allow you to enter specific number sets to forecast and analyze as necessary. Sales Types can include:

- Gross Sales
- Net Sales
- Customer counts, plates, or covers
- Inventory Items, such as khaki pants sold, steaks to prepare, lobster sales, or booked hotel rooms
- Any other number that makes sense for your business …

You can create and maintain as many Sales Types as you would like – there are no limits.

To create your first Sales Type, Choose the “Sales Types” sub-tab from the “Sales” tab.

Sales Type Creation – Choose a Type

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While creating a Sales Type, enter a Description for the Sales Type. This should be an easily identified name such as Gross Sales, Inbound Calls, Customer Count, Covers, or Takeouts and Deliveries. Choose an appropriate Type for your Sales Type:

- Currency for numeric values, such as Gross Sales, Net Sales, or Tips.
- Inventory for values pertaining to inventory or stocking, such as specific stock levels or item level inventories.
- Other for other types of values.

Sales Type Creation – What to Compare To?

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The Sales Module can compare number values against Labor Hours, Labor Costs, or Scheduled Shifts, as needed for your business:

- Labor Costs are the total costs of the scheduled labor, and in the case of (2) employees for a (2) hour shift at $10 each, would be $40 in labor costs.
- Labor Hours are the total number of hours scheduled, and in the case of (2) employees for a (2) hour shift would be 4 labor hours.
- Scheduled Shifts are the number of unique shifts scheduled during the time frame, and in the case of (2) employees for a (2) hour shift would be 2 scheduled shifts.

Choose the “Comparison To” that is most appropriate to your business needs. You can change this later.

Sales Type Creation – Projection Level and Desired Ratio

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The Projection Level controls the granularity of the sales numbers. For some businesses, sales numbers will be input and calculated at the department level. However, most businesses will calculate sales numbers per location (the default). Projection Level’s cannot be changed once the Sales Type has been used.

The Desired Ratio is the ratio of the labor comparison to the projections, forecasts, and actual numbers.

Example: If the “Comparison To” is set to “Labor Cost”, and the Desired Ratio is set to “20%”, the Sales Module will notify you when the ratios go above 20%. Assuming the labor cost goes above 20% of the Sales Type, the software will warn you that the ratio is too high. The Sales Module can, optionally, enforce the labor ratios, so that costly schedules are not posted for staff members.

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We are one year into it now, well past being enamored with the newness. We are married to TimeForge. It's as essential to us now as any of our management tools today, and we very happy about that.- Steve @ Hermosa Cyclery
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I would highly recommend TimeForge to anyone making work schedules. ... What used to take 1-2 hours, now takes 15 minutes. The reports section is comprehensive and useful.- Lawrence Payne @ Mid Pacific Country Club
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