Should the Saturday support shift close? / Q3 figures / Decision by the COO by 30 November

Saturday support costs A$38,000 a quarter, and most of its tickets wait for Monday anyway

Harbour Tools, a fictional company, must decide whether to close the shift.

Harbour Tools logged 212 Saturday support tickets in Q3 against 4,860 on weekdays. The Saturday shift costs A$38,000 a quarter, and 61% of its tickets were answered on Monday anyway. Two enterprise customers have Saturday response terms, so the volume alone does not settle it. The COO decides by 30 November. This is a fictional sample: company and figures are invented for illustration.

The decision

Source: Sample support log, Q3.

The volume

Saturday is a sliver of the queue: 212 tickets against 4,860 on weekdays

Support tickets received, Q3

4.2%

Saturday’s share of tickets

212 ÷ (212 + 4,860) = 4.2%. Our arithmetic

4.6:1

Weekday to Saturday, per day

Fairer test: five weekdays to one Saturday. 4,860 ÷ 5 = 972, against 212. Our arithmetic

Source: Sample support log, Q3. Shares and ratios are our arithmetic from those two counts.

The wait

Even with the shift running, 61% of Saturday tickets were answered on Monday anyway

61%

of Saturday tickets were answered on Monday anyway

About 129 of the 212 tickets. 212 × 0.61 = 129.3. Our arithmetic

The other 39%, about 83 tickets: the log summary does not say when they were answered. Not in the brief

Source: Sample support log, Q3. Each dot is 1% of Saturday tickets. Ticket counts rounded by us.

The price

Spread across Q3, the shift costs about A$179 for every Saturday ticket

A$179

A$38,000

÷ 212 tickets

Per Saturday ticket, Q3. Our arithmetic

What it costs

The shift costs A$38,000 a quarter. Q3 brought 212 Saturday tickets.

Counting only the rest

About A$458 each if only the 83 tickets not answered on Monday count: A$38,000 ÷ 83. Our arithmetic

What we cannot compare

The weekday cost per ticket is not in this brief, so A$179 has no benchmark yet. Not in the brief

Source: Sample support log, Q3. Per-ticket figures are our arithmetic from the shift cost and ticket counts.

The catch

Two enterprise customers have Saturday response terms, and those terms are the real question

For closing

  • Saturday brought 212 of Q3’s 5,072 tickets. Our arithmetic

  • 61% of those tickets were answered on Monday anyway.

  • The shift costs A$38,000 a quarter.

The volume argues for closing. The terms decide how.

This deck’s own reading, not a customer’s words

For keeping

  • Two enterprise customers have Saturday response terms.

  • The other 39% of Saturday tickets were not answered on Monday.

  • What the terms require, and what missing them would cost. Not in the brief

Source: Sample support log, Q3. The brief names neither customer and does not give the terms.

The decision

The COO should decide by 30 November, after reading those two sets of terms

Decision by the COO

30 November

  • A

    Close the shift

    Frees up to A$38,000 a quarter. Risk under the two sets of terms is unknown.

  • B

    Keep the shift

    Keeps Saturday cover for the two customers. Still A$38,000 a quarter, for 212 tickets in Q3.

  • C

    Close it, but cover the two customers

    Our framing, not in the brief. Cost of that cover is unknown. Not in the brief

Before deciding: read what the two sets of Saturday terms actually require.

Source: Sample support log, Q3. Options are our framing of the choice. This is a fictional sample.