Patent ID: 8768737

Claim:
A method for managing schedules over a network using a network computer, comprising: wherein the network computer performs actions, including: generating at least one schedule layer that includes at least a start time, a shift duration, a precedence value, and at least one team member; generating at least one schedule entry for each schedule layer, wherein the at least one schedule entry includes a team member and a time range; comparing each schedule entry to each other schedule entry for all schedule layers based on an ordering of each precedence value for each schedule layer; determining at least one final schedule entry based on at least one compared schedule entry that corresponds to a schedule layer having a highest ordering, wherein the at least one final schedule entry includes at least a portion of the time range and the team member that corresponds to the at least one compared schedule entry; generating a final schedule based on the at least one final schedule entry for each team member that corresponds to the at least one compared schedule entry; and generating a plurality of epochs based on each equivalent time period within the final schedule where the same allocation of team members in the final schedule repeats, wherein jumping forward in time by each repeated epoch at least provides reduced computation of at least a virtual start time.