SAP, of Waldorf, Germany, announced a new Web-based workforce management capability that will be part of its mySAP Retail offering. Meanwhile Microsoft announced a new BizTalk Toolkit for UCCnet connectivity. (UCCnet is a subsidiary of the Uniform Code Council Inc., the global standards organization that provides data registry and data synchronization services for product information.)
SAP customers using the Workforce management application can look to transform their labor scheduling into an analytical business management process, officials said. Chain stores, for example, can use the Workforce application to schedule across store locations, or optimize scheduling of several stores in a similar geographic area based on traffic patterns.
The software also provides retailers with the flexibility to automate their labor scheduling in a centralized environment and perform statistical reporting. Workforce utilizes an optimization engine that finds the best possible floor schedule for retail stores by balancing weighted variables such as staffing needs, employee skills, payroll requirements, employee availability and performance standards.
The Workforce management tool also has the ability to perform optimum employee schedules using configurable business variables and business data captured throughout the day.