OpsIQ One · v6.0 · Atlas

Atlas Knowledge Library

Reusable operational knowledge. Atlas references these topics when reasoning, ensuring recommendations reflect operating wisdom — not just the latest data.

Topics8 domains

Entries8 curated articles

SourceCurated by OpsIQ operations principals

Domains

Entries

Workforce Management

Shrinkage Discipline

Principles

· Shrinkage must be modeled by category, not as one number.
· Planned and unplanned shrinkage need different mitigations.
· Schedule fairness drives the unplanned curve more than incentive does.

Definitions

Shrinkage: % of paid time not spent on production activity.
Planned shrinkage: Training, coaching, meetings, breaks.
Unplanned shrinkage: Absenteeism, sick, tardies, system downtime.

Pitfalls

· Single shrinkage % hides material drift.
· Treating sick-outs as random when they cluster predictably.

When Atlas uses this

Whenever staffing shortfall, adherence decline, or budget overrun is in scope.

Quality Assurance

Calibration

Principles

· Calibration before sample volume — measurement integrity comes first.
· Inter-rater reliability is the leading indicator of QA trust.
· Calibrate weekly during product change windows.

Definitions

IRR: Inter-rater reliability — agreement among evaluators.
QA Score: Composite score across calibrated rubric.

Pitfalls

· Scoring without recalibrating after rubric updates.
· Letting coaching pressure distort scores.

When Atlas uses this

When quality movement appears uncorrelated with operational change.

Customer Experience

Service Recovery

Principles

· Recovery within 24 hours preserves promoter likelihood.
· Acknowledgement matters more than compensation.
· Owner of the failure should not own the recovery contact.

Definitions

NPS: Net Promoter Score — % promoters minus % detractors.
Recovery Window: Time between failure event and outreach.

Pitfalls

· Generic apology emails kill recovery effectiveness.
· Letting compensation become the default lever.

When Atlas uses this

Whenever a CX incident or post-incident NPS dip is being explained.

Capacity Planning

Volume / Headcount Elasticity

Principles

· Elasticity is non-linear at the tails — model the breakpoints.
· Cross-skilling buys elasticity cheaper than hiring buffer headcount.
· Buffer headcount earns its keep above 70% utilization volatility.

Definitions

Erlang C: Queue model relating arrivals, AHT, and service level.
Elasticity: Δ headcount required per Δ volume across regimes.

Pitfalls

· Linear extrapolation past historical volume.
· Ignoring AHT regression under stress.

When Atlas uses this

When proposing or simulating staffing decisions.

Forecasting

Forecast Bias vs Variance

Principles

· Bias is more damaging than variance — it compounds.
· Drift detection is the most important model alarm.
· Manual overrides require governance, not avoidance.

Definitions

Bias: Systematic over/under estimation.
MAPE: Mean absolute percentage error.
Override Log: Audited record of manual forecast adjustments.

Pitfalls

· Comparing MAPE without checking bias direction.
· Suppressing override logs to look disciplined.

When Atlas uses this

Whenever forecast variance or staffing miss is being root-caused.

Leadership

Operating Cadence

Principles

· Cadence beats heroics — predictable rituals outperform reactive sprints.
· Tier huddles must connect downward (sites) and upward (executives).
· Decisions made outside cadence should be logged with reason.

Definitions

Tier Huddle: Daily structured stand-up at each operational layer.
Operating Review: Weekly review against operating plan.

Pitfalls

· Cadences without decision rights become status theatre.

When Atlas uses this

When recommending governance or operating-rhythm changes.

Continuous Improvement

Improvement Kata

Principles

· Define a measurable target condition before changing anything.
· Run small experiments — change one variable at a time.
· Standardize learnings; only then scale.

Definitions

Target Condition: Quantitative description of next stable state.
PDCA: Plan-Do-Check-Act improvement loop.

Pitfalls

· Skipping target-condition definition.
· Scaling before standardizing.

When Atlas uses this

When proposing improvement initiatives or scoping experiments.

Operational Excellence

Stratified Diagnostics

Principles

· Aggregate metrics hide opportunity — stratify by site, team, journey.
· The lowest performing decile usually drives the headline number.
· Improving the median rarely moves the executive metric.

Definitions

Stratification: Decomposition of a metric across operational dimensions.

Pitfalls

· Acting on aggregate without stratifying first.
· Reporting averages instead of distributions.

When Atlas uses this

When explaining headline KPI movement or building diagnostic briefs.