Available hours
Available hours are what remains of a person's working period once leave, holidays and known commitments are removed. Someone on a five day week with one approved day off and a public holiday has three days of available hours, whatever their contract says the week contains.
Every honest plan starts from this number. Most plans skip it.
The pull is towards the contracted week, because it is one tidy figure and needs no lookups. That figure is right only in a week where nothing happens. Something happens in most weeks.
The error runs one way. No plan ever assumes fewer hours than exist. So a team planning on contracted hours promises more than it can deliver, every time somebody is away.
The fix is mechanical, not clever. Leave records already exist. So does the holiday calendar. What matters is that the planning view reads both on its own. A subtraction somebody has to remember gets forgotten, and it gets forgotten in the week it mattered most.
Standing commitments are the part teams forget after that. A support rota, a weekly review, a half day of interviews during a hiring push. Each is small. Together they take a slice out of every week, and a plan that ignores them promises hours that were already spoken for.
Where this shows up in PeopleMuster
PeopleMuster's capacity grid marks holidays with an H and approved leave with an L, so those days are already out of the picture when a planner reads a person's row.
Questions people ask
What comes off contracted hours to give available hours?
Approved leave and company holidays first. Many teams also remove standing internal commitments, since an hour already spoken for is not available to promise a client.
Should available hours include a buffer?
Planning to the last available hour leaves nothing for the interruptions every week contains. Most teams plan somewhat under the figure, deliberately and openly.
How far ahead can available hours be known?
As far ahead as leave is approved. Beyond that the figure gets optimistic, because summer absence exists whether or not anyone has booked it yet.