Patent ID: 9280754
Filing Date: 2016-03-08
CPC Classification: G06Q

Claim Text:
1. A method for allowing staff members to submit schedule modification requests using a schedule modification interface which indicates information which would be used to determine whether to automatically accept or deny those requests, the method comprising a set of tasks performed by a computer, the set of tasks comprising: a) obtaining updated demand information, wherein the updated demand information comprises, for at least one future time period from a plurality of future time periods covered by a schedule for a staff member, an updated projection of demand for work by the staff member during that future time period, wherein the updated projection of demand for work is more recent than a previous projection of demand for work used to generate the schedule for the staff member, and wherein the plurality of future time periods covered by the schedule for the staff member includes both time periods during which the staff member is scheduled to work and time periods during which the staff member is not scheduled to work, wherein demand for work is demand for work for an employer; b) based on a most recent projection of demand for work by the staff member, determining, for each of one or more future time periods from the plurality of time periods covered by the schedule for the staff member, the future time period's suitability for a schedule change by the staff member, wherein, for each of the one or more future time periods from the plurality of time periods covered by the schedule for the staff member, determining the future time period's suitability for a schedule change by the staff member comprises: c) allowing the staff member to know, in advance of submitting a schedule change request, whether that schedule change request will be automatically accepted or denied by generating, in response to an interface request from a remote computing device associated with the staff member, a set of data operable to configure the remote computing device associated with the staff member to present the schedule modification interface, wherein the schedule modification interface indicates the suitability of each of the one or more future time periods for a change in the staff member's schedule as determined by the computer based on the most recent projection of demand for work by the staff member; d) receiving, via the schedule modification interface, a request for a change in the staff member's schedule; and e) automatically, by a processor, processing the request for the change in the staff member's schedule by performing one or more acts comprising: wherein the computer is configured with instructions operable to cause it to, between receiving the interface request and the request for the change in the staff member's schedule: A) obtain updated information corresponding to parameters in the rules specified by the employer for evaluating potential schedule changes; B) repeat the step of, for each of the one or more future time periods, determining the future time period's suitability for a schedule change by the staff member using the then most recent projection of demand for work by the staff member and the updated information corresponding to parameters in the rules specified by the employer for evaluating potential schedule changes; and C) selectively, based on concurrency controls and a most recent determination of the suitability for a change in the staff member's schedule of each of the one or more future time periods, sending interface update data to the remote computing device associated with the staff member, the interface update data operable to update the schedule modification interface to indicate the most recently determined suitability of each of the one or more future time periods for a change in the staff member's schedule.