Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jaime Fitzgerald on July 5, 2010 at 1:54pm

Hi DataMiner....I'd be happy to help out, as this kind of analysis is high value and high stakes. To be as helpful as possible, it would be helpful for me to know a bit more about the type of business for which you are performing this analysis, the function(s) of the employees in question, and most importantly, the known drivers of employee demand.

As an example, if the business was retail, where demand is driven by retail foot traffic and sales volumes, the staff demand curve will be very seasonal, which might require a different method from the one you described above. On the other hand, if the business is not seasonal, we would want to know what DOES drive the variation in staff demand, and examine the predictive impact of related variables.

Let me know if this is helpful,

Jaime Fitzgerald
President, Fitzgerald Analytics
Architects of Fact-Based Decisions

Permalink Reply by DataMiner on July 6, 2010 at 2:05am

Thanks Jaime, your thoughts are usefull. Answers to your questions are as follows:- The business is that of a software company. I want to predict the resources required in a quarter for a software company. The function of the employees is typically coding, analysis, design. The driving part depends upon the economical situation of the company , how much budget is allocated for a project. This driving thing results in uncertain demand of resources each quarter.

also let me know which predicting method would be sutiable if it a seasonal type of activity.
And please share your views as to when is the moving average method more applicable in such type of problems.

Should I assume that you are based in U.S and I will have to look out for your replies during my daytime due to the time difference and I being in India.

Permalink Reply by DataMiner on July 6, 2010 at 5:13am

Hi Jaime,

Please let me know when r u online so that I can try to be online during that period.

DataMiner

Permalink Reply by Jaime Fitzgerald on July 6, 2010 at 5:30am

Sure! Let me get back to you when I know I will be both online and available to chat. Looking forward!

Cheers,

Jaime Fitzgerald

Permalink Reply by DataMiner on July 6, 2010 at 7:29am

Hi Jaime,

In the mean time you can go through the answers to the questions in the above communication.

Cheers
Amit

Permalink Reply by DataMiner on July 14, 2010 at 6:28am

Hi Jaime ,

I am waiting for you.


Cheers
Amit

Permalink Reply by Jaime Fitzgerald on August 10, 2010 at 4:58am

Sincere apologies Amit -- I have been MUCH slower to reply than I intended, due to being unexpectedly busy helping clients. If the topic is still relevant giving your workflow since we last corresponded, please find me on skype so we can chat and/or talk about it. How about tomorrow morning @ 6:30AM ET?

Permalink Reply by DataMiner on August 10, 2010 at 9:54am

Jaime i don't have a skype id, so will use google, is it okay with you. 6:30 am at your end means 5:00 pm at my end(IST), so should not be problem. Let me know your google email address.

Permalink Reply by Jaime Fitzgerald on August 10, 2010 at 7:12pm

Great! will send you my gmail address directly and speak with you then.

Permalink Reply by Jaime Fitzgerald on August 10, 2010 at 7:15pm

sent you a "friend request" here, so I can send direct messages. IN the meantime, you can add my gmail account to your contacts, I am at jaime.fitzgerald at gmail

Thanks

Permalink Reply by Jaime Fitzgerald on August 11, 2010 at 5:04am

Thanks for accepting my friend request...now that we are connected I was able to direct message you with my gmail account....feel free to chat me when time permits. Looking forward to meeting you and thought-partnering on this or other analytic topics

Permalink Reply by DataMiner on August 11, 2010 at 5:37am

we can chat here itself