Summary

• Circle of excellence
• Daily, weekly and monthly routines.
• Hints and tips for getting the most out of PMI

Forecasting and planning is a process that takes time to learn and practice. PMI is a tool that can help you on the way but you are needed for your expertise, experience and input.

Intended Users

All PMI users

Instructions

Circle of excellence

1 and 2: In PMI the Room Forecast forms the base for all other forecast since revenue drivers generally are built upon expected room and guest occupancy.

• Update live forecast for current month at least 2 times per week
• Update live forecast for the following 3 months at least 2 times per month
• Update live forecast for the next 12 (or more) months at least 1 time per month
• When the month is over, open the same month for next year; copy last year to forecast and make adjustments according to what you know. Save!

3. Human resources are key to achieve your goals and should be optimized at all times. Insufficient staff leads to dissatisfied guests and employees and you may loose repeat business and revenue opportunites. Too much staff leads to inefficiency and does not improve your level of service.

• Review activities for the coming period and set appropriate productivity targets. (How much can the staff produce on average per hour?)
• Plan and schedule according to expected activities.
• Update schedules when there is a change in the forecast.
• Realistic forecasts are key to make optimal schedules.

4. Review your forecasting accuracy and productivity regularly and analyze what you are doing right or wrong. Continue what is going well and learn from mistakes.

• Include productivity review in your morning routines and review what happened yesterday, by the end of the month you have forgotten.
• Make comments when there are discrepancies against productivity target.
• Hold productivity meetings 2 times per month to discuss strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. (Productivity targets should only be updated once per month)
• Communicate goals with all staff in a department. You will need the collaboration from everyone in the team to perform, achieve and improve.

• Are we on the right track?
• Are current strategies still actual and realistic or should we change strategies? It should be the activities and strategies that are redefined, not the actual goal itself − except if there are external indicators suggesting that the current goal is unrealistic.
• What can be learned from history?

Routines

Daily

• Save and review actual and scheduled hours.
• Check Live forecast in cost driver and hours for the next days.
• Adjust manning according to updated live forecast.

Weekly

• Include productivity in HoD meetings.
• Discuss actual vs forecasted productivity targets.
• Review Management Perspective for productivity performance vs changes in Revenue.
• Review and analyze Labor Hour Cockpit.
• List any actions linked to a deadline and responsible person.   

• Look at how the last week (or month) has been and how the next few weeks are planned.
• Always identify, adjust and confirm the next month´s productivity target at the weekly meeting in the forecasting period.
• Use the Management Perspective to have a quick look at the performance MTD and Month-End
• How does the revenue for respective departments compare to Forecast, Budget and Last year? (Change view in View Options at the top right corner)
• How does the MTD productivity compare to Forecast, Budget and Last Year?
• How will the department finish at Month End (or next month when applicable)?

Monthly

Monthly meetings:

• The Management Perspective gives the most complete picture for pin-pointing total and departmental performance of both revenue and productivity.
• Review previous, current and next month(s) and compare to last year, forecast and budget to identify and draw learning from past experience that can benefit future operations.

Monthly process (company specific, the below dates are suggestive only)

• 20^th – Room forecast for next (3-15) months, submit to forecast
• 21^st – Other forecasting, F&B and Other for next (3-15) months, submit to forecast
• 22^nd -Scheduling for next month, and adjust target/hours for next two months if needed
• 23^rd – 25^th adjustments together with GM, forecasted targets need to be approved and adjusted if needed to reach the mutual target for the property.
• Under documents in the main menu you will find the monthly procedures for your group

Tips

• The F11 key on your keyboard enables full screen view of the browser (PCs). This will display more of the application on your screen (hides all the toolbars of the browser window). To disable full screen, simply click F11 again. Full screen is recommended when you work in views that are larger than your screen, e.g. forecasting reports.

• Tooltips and cell info. Most functionalities and cells of information contain tooltips (for functionalities) or cell info (brief description of the data). Simply place the cursor on top of the cell or functionality to retrieve more information.