Systems and methods for scheduling of operators for a network, which in one embodiment among many, can be broadly summarized by a representative method of establishing a database of past network statistics and a database of predictably re-occurring variations, and forecasting network usage for a given future date using the past network statistics and the predictably re-occurring variations. Another embodiment can be described as a network usage predictor that has logic configured to establish a database of past network statistics, logic configured to establish a database of predictably re-occurring variations, and logic configured to forecast network usage for a given future date using the past network statistics and the predictably re-occurring variations.