I searched the forums for the answer to this question but couldn't find anyone else ever asking it. Apparently, I'm the only one too dense to grasp this concept.

What exactly is a "buffer" and how does it work? I asked a scheduler a while back who explained it to me, but I have since forgotten the explanation, no doubt because I didn't really get it to begin with.

Can someone please explain to me how it works and please type slowly so I can be sure to understand. Thank you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2014 06:33PM by LJ.

First I've ever heard the word in relationship to Intellishop. Maybe that's why you don't see the question before now. And I typed really, really slow for you

Did they mean "rotation," meaning the amount of time that must pass before you can shop the same store again? I could see someone maybe using the word "buffer" in that context. Or maybe they used "buffer" to mean the amount of time that must pass before the same store can be shopped again, even by a different shopper.

Most rotations are a month to a year. If they used "buffer" to mean the time before a store can be shopped again, that is usually a few days to a week or two.

Here is what it says on the job board:


"NOTE: These shops are scheduled with a buffer. If you are unable to self assign/apply to a specific location, it is because that respective location has been scheduled, causing the buffer to go into effect and you need to contact the scheduler for more information regarding availability, please be sure to include the location's city/state/zip code "

Grammatical errors aside, I don't understand if these shops have been assigned why they're still on the board or why I need to contact a scheduler for availablity. What the heck do they mean by "causing the buffer to go into effect?" Are the shops available or aren't they?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2014 07:30PM by LJ.

Sounds like what every other company refers to as rotations. Rotations can be one of two things. The first is how long before you can shop a location again, the second is how many days or weeks the client requires between any shops.

Rotations I can understand, but buffers? It doesn't seem the same to me the way they explain it, especially since they say to contact a scheduler about availability. BTW, I edited my comment above your last one as you were typing.

They may not call it rotation, but it certainly sounds like the same dang thing. Especially on self-assign shops. They don't want to put all the dates out there allowing you to self schedule possibly 10 or more days out, so contacting the scheduler is how you find out when the location can be assigned again. In that way they can keep the convenience of self-assign for shops with a closer due date while monitoring which shoppers are allowed that longer window. My guess is new shoppers with little history or those with habitual reschedules would then not be awarded the later shops.

See? Now you're typing too fast again. I had to read that twice. :p

I did type that one fast, hahahahaha

I ran into this on CoRI, where I had to set my date, and the date I wanted was shown as a day the shop could be done, and within the three-day window, and it wouldn't let me pick it. I contacted the scheduler and they explained that someone else was doing a shop just before that time period so I couldn't pick one of those dates until they reported so they could get at least three days (or whatever) between their shop and mine.

I don't recall if they used the word buffer or not. But it sounds like the same thing, so it's not just intelli-shop that does this although they may be the only one specifically using the word "buffer."

Just like you guys have requirements and restrictions for your shops in how you perform them, we have requirements and restrictions for how we schedule them.

A "buffer" means how many days we need between shops done at the same LOCATION. Lots of times we will have anywhere from 2-4 shops that need performed in the same month/period at the same location. However, we are only allowed to send shoppers to the same location once a week, or once every three days, etc. The length of the buffer depends a lot on the client and the location.

SO, say I have a client with 100 locations that need four shops per location to be performed in the month of August (400 shops total), but I can only have one shopper go per location, per week.

I post the shops, someone self-assigns the shop for Location 1 in California for August 1st, but I still have 99 other locations that need to be shopped for that first week in August, so I keep the due date at August 5th to get those shops done in the first week of August for all of my locations. However, if you see Location 1 on the job board and try to self-assign, it won't let you because someone already picked up for that time period.

Your answer is, well, just take the shops for that location off the job board, or change the dates for that location. Alas, we wish we could, but we can't. That's not how the software works.

So if you EVER see a shop on the job board and you can't self-assign, it means that the "buffer" is in effect and you want it, just shoot us an email. Make sure you specify the client and the city/state it's located in (please please please do this. We lose our minds every time someone says "Hi, I would like this shop. Please assign it to me," and that's it).

I hope this helps solve the issue of the "buffer." As always, feel free to PM me or shoot me an email at sara.petersen@intelli-shop.com.

Thanks!

So it is just another term for rotation.

This mans that the particular location is already scheduled and the buffer in that context is the number of days that have to pass before another shopper can do the same location.

LisaSTL Wrote:
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> Sounds like what every other company refers to as
> rotations. Rotations can be one of two things. The
> first is how long before you can shop a location
> again, the second is how many days or weeks the
> client requires between any shops.

Sara, thank you for your explanation. Now that the keyword "buffer" will pull up this thread when searched, I'll be able to read it again a few months from now when I forget.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So it is just another term for rotation.


Yes, Lisa. You were right and I was wr.... not quite as right as you were :p

You weren't wrong at all my friend. Occasionally a company will use a unique term to describe something quite common to all MSCs.

Secret shopper does this and it drives me crazy always clicking on an advertised shop only to see all the dates in the wrong color. They use blue, red and yellow to indicate different things..so no blue dates means no shops available today but that might change overnight if the previously scheduled shopper completes their shop early.

sandyf Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> might change overnight if the previously scheduled
> shopper completes their shop early.


Very good point, Sandyf! Thanks.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So it is just another term for rotation.


I wouldn't say it is another term for rotation. When I see the word rotation, it usually refers to when the same shopper goes back to that location. That may be 35 or 90 days or 365 days or whatever the client and MSC have set up so that you don't become a regular, familiar face to the employees at the shop location.

The buffer that Sara is explaining is the time between different shoppers returning to the same location during a given range. I think Jancyn does the same thing. A job was posted that I was interested in and had a date range from 7/1-7/15. When I tried to schedule for 7/2, it said that another shopper was scheduled and I would overlap the buffer. I ended up selecting 7/9 to allow more time between the other shopper's visit and my own. The system accepted the date and we both did our shops without having to bug the scheduler. I think sometimes the system isn't smart enough to figure out that there aren't any valid dates left to comply with the buffer rules to fit another shopper in, so you have to email the scheduler to work out the date manually.

Didn't we have last year a thread that defined terms and abbreviations? If so, and if anyone is ambitious enough to find it, it would be good to add "buffer."
Since my own head is a little muzzy at the moment, is "cycle" the right word for the amount of time between rounds of assignments, e.g. weekly, semi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, etc.?

Yes! I guess you could say it's "location rotation." We use the term "rotation" to determine the amount of time a SPECIFIC shopper can go back to the location. Buffer is based off of when we can send A shopper to go in again. Every company has its own jargon, I guess.

IntelliSara Wrote:
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> Yes! I guess you could say it's "location
> rotation."

Sounds like something from Schoolhouse Rock.

Obviously Sara knows more than I but I a particular shop for Intellishop that has a buffer. They have several shoppers going to the same locations a few times/month--I don't know the exact frequency. The shops are on the boards but if someone else has been in there within x number of days, you can't actually sign up for the shop until that number of days has past. Once the number of days have past, you an self-assign or apply depending on the situation. I often get contacted by the scheduler saying that she needs someone that can go on a specific day because of that---or that if I apply for a shop and someone got to it before I did she will reply back asking if I can go this day instead of that day. So it's not depended on when "I" go vs when "Someone" went.

That's what Sara said.

and here I thought buffer was the thing you used to make the floor or shoes shine.

No silly, it's what you use on your nails. To make them shine.

Looks to me like a buffer is the period of time between any 2 shops at the same location and rotation is the period of time between visits by the same shopper to the location.