capacity planning
/kəˈpæsɪti ˈplænɪŋ/ · ca·pa·ci·ty plan·ning
noun
- The systematic process of estimating the resources and production capability an organization will need to meet future demand. The company’s capacity planning indicated that a new data center would be required by next year to handle projected traffic spikes.
- A strategic activity that aligns available assets with anticipated workload to avoid under‑ or over‑utilization. Effective capacity planning helped the manufacturing plant reduce idle time while still meeting customer orders.
Synonyms
resource planningcapacity managementdemand forecastingworkload planningproduction planningload forecastingthroughput planningsizing
Antonyms
Did you know? Capacity planning first gained prominence in the 1950s for manufacturing lines, but its principles became a cornerstone of modern cloud computing to automatically scale server resources based on demand.