Patent ID: 6823315
Filing Date: 2004-11-23
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
A method of dynamically scheduling a workforce, comprising:performing by a computer the steps of: a) determining workforce requirements for a given time period; b) determining, responsive to the workforce requirements, an initial workforce schedule for the given time period by determining shifts and assigning employees to the shifts, designating the initial workforce schedule as a trial workforce schedule and a best workforce schedule, and determining a value associated with the best workforce schedule responsive to the best workforce schedule, the workforce requirements and employee preferences, wherein said value is a weighted sum of overscheduling and underscheduling over all periods and all jobs for a given duration and employee dissatisfaction over all employees; and wherein employee dissatisfaction is a weighted sum of: a number of hours that the employee spends working outside the employee's preferred availability; a number of hours that the employee spends working outside the employee's preferred jobs; a number of hours that the employee spends working on the employee's preferred day off; and a difference between a number of scheduled hours and a number of preferred hours; c) modifying the trial workforce schedule; d) determining a value associated with the trial workforce schedule responsive to the trail workforce schedule, the workforce requirements and employee preferences; e) if the value associated with the trial workforce schedule indicates a better match to the workforce requirements than a value associated with the best workforce schedule, designating the trial workforce schedule as the best workforce schedule; f) repeating steps c) through e) for a predetermined number of iterations; and g) selecting the best workforce schedule.