Planning/Scheduling

          Operations planning and scheduling is the process of making sure that demand and supply plans are in balance from the aggregate level down to the short term scheduling level.  With Best Buy, a Daily Business Tracker model is used to break down sales, in units of hours, to specific categories such as televisions, computers, vide games, etc.  Since the Daily Business Tracker largely groups Best Buy’s product family, it avoids unnecessary detail in the beginning stages of planning.  Utilizing this business plan, which projects statements of income, costs and profits, creates a structure for Best Buy to follow in order to remain as accurate as possible with forecasting for future demand and supply.

           Best Buy currently employs a workforce estimated to be 100 individuals.  Scheduling these employees brings multiple constraints, such as; full time versus part time, product launches (ex. Apples iPhone), requests off and unexpected sick days.  Due to these variables, Best Buy focuses on a rotating schedule as opposed to a fixed schedule to meet the needs of the workers, as well as the store.  The use of spreadsheets from past and previous years is a vital component to aid Best Buy in fulfilling its everyday needs to keep the store operating at its highest potential.