Patent ID: 7058589

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for automatically assigning a group of agents to a plurality of available schedules, comprising the steps of: determining preferences for a plurality of factors for each agent; assigning an order of importance for the plurality of factors for each agent, wherein the order of importance for the plurality of factors for a given agent in the group of agents differs from an order of importance for the plurality of factors for at least one other agent in the group of agents; determining a ranking for each agent from a highest rank to a lowest rank based on a given criteria; performing the following sub-steps on an iterative basis, from a highest ranked agent to a lowest ranked agent: (a) for each schedule that is available to be assigned to a current agent, performing the following sub-steps: (i) for the current agent, for each factor, determining a difference value between a current schedule and the current agent's preference for that factor; (ii) assigning the difference value for each factor to a bit range within a vector for the current agent and the current schedule, wherein the factor having a highest importance is assigned to a highest order bits of the vector and remaining factors are assigned to subsequent orders of bits in an assigned order of importance, wherein the vector represents a numerical value that indicates how well the current schedule fits the current agent's preferences; and (b) assigning to the current agent the schedule having the lowest numerical value; wherein one or more of the steps are performed by one or more electronic processing devices.