Detailed planning

Detailed planning refers to the detailed, short-term planning of assignments, as opposed to higher-level rough planning. While rough planning tends to be more long-term and less detailed (see Rough planning), detailed planning involves setting specific dates, times, and personnel.

Typically, rough planning is done first, e.g., as part of a project or annual plan: The approximate resource requirements are determined for a period of time and perhaps week XY is designated as a maintenance window. In the detailed planning phase, a concrete assignment calendar is then created from these specifications. Exact dates and times are used. Detailed planning is based on a short planning period with exact planning data, while rough planning is characterized by a long planning horizon with condensed data.

This means that detailed planning works with daily or weekly information (e.g., who is actually available, which order is ready to go) and plans exactly what happens on an hourly or daily basis. Rough planning, on the other hand, uses monthly or quarterly forecasts with estimated values.

In the Innosoft environment, this is reflected in the tools: A project manager may do rough planning at the project level (milestones, budget, person-days required per month), while the dispatcher then does the detailed planning in the planning board (which technician goes to which customer on which day). Innosoft points out, for example, that project management is similar to MS Project in that planning is carried out first, followed by detailed planning in the Innosoft planning board. Detailed planning uses information from rough planning as a framework, but fills it with specific deployment dates.

Important aspects of detailed planning are: capacity checking (do all assignments fit into the available time?), optimization (improving the route and sequence of assignments, avoiding idle time), synchronization with customers (fixing appointments), and flexibility, such as how to plan for short-term changes, e.g., replacing cancellations.

Since detailed planning takes place shortly before or during the execution phase, it must be agile: a technician who is absent in the morning requires immediate rescheduling of their daily route. Tools such as Innosoft Dispatch are designed to make such changes easy via drag-and-drop.

Detailed planning also includes coordinating details with other departments, e.g., ensuring that the necessary spare parts are available on time or that the customer grants access to the machine at the scheduled time. In a dashboard or capacity overview, the planner can immediately see the effects during detailed planning: e.g., how utilization is changing, whether all deadlines will be met, etc.

In summary, detailed planning is the operational control in the final stages. It translates the strategic guidelines of rough planning into day-to-day actions and requires a high level of attention to detail and current developments. Thanks to digital tools, detailed planning can now be largely automated, but it remains largely the task of experienced dispatchers who use their judgment and knowledge of customers and technicians to make the best decisions.