ucsb-nlp-chang/federatedskill/queue-capacity-planning

Queue Capacity Planning & Backlog Simulation

Workflow

1. Inspect Input Data: Load the reference spreadsheet. Identify rows/columns for Week numbers, Demand/Alert Load, Training Hours, and Audit Hours. Note the initial backlog value.
2. Run Simulation: Execute scripts/queue_simulator.py with the input path, output Excel path, and output summary path. The script implements the standard step-down logic and generates both deliverables.
3. Verify Outputs:

• Check Excel row count matches the week span.
• Verify headers exactly match: Week, On-Call Days, Forecast Alert Load (Analyst Hrs), Weekly Triage Capacity (Analyst Hrs), Start-of-Week Alert Queue (Analyst Hrs), End-of-Week Alert Queue/Buffer (Analyst Hrs), Burnout Overtime Hours.
• Confirm transition weeks in the summary match the Excel data.
• Validate summary constraints: exactly 3 lines, ~38 words, 3 sentences, mentions both step-down weeks.

Decision Rules & Transition Logic

• Start: 6 on-call days (168 hrs capacity, 16 hrs overtime).
• Catch-up Phase: Maintain 6 days until End-of-Week Queue ≤ 0.
• Step-Down Trigger: Once backlog is cleared, evaluate next week's demand:
• If Demand > 112 → switch to 5 days (140 hrs capacity, 8 hrs overtime).
• If Demand ≤ 112 → switch to 4 days (112 hrs capacity, 0 hrs overtime).
• Step-Up Trigger: If currently on 4 days and Demand > 112, revert to 5 days.
• Queue Tracking: End_Queue = Start_Queue + Demand - Capacity. Clamp Start-of-Week to 0 for reporting after catch-up, but maintain the negative buffer internally for accurate capacity tracking.

Anti-Patterns

• Do not reset the internal queue to 0 when it goes negative. Track the negative buffer to prevent capacity miscalculations in subsequent weeks.
• Do not assume staffing only steps down once. Demand spikes can trigger temporary step-ups (4 → 5 days).
• Do not hardcode summary text without verifying word/sentence counts programmatically.

Troubleshooting

• If the script fails due to unexpected input layout, read references/simulation_rules.md to adjust row/column indices in the parser.
• If verifier rejects the summary, check sentence boundaries and ensure both transition weeks are explicitly named.