An Optimization Software to solve Employee Timetabling Problems: OPTIHPER

Employee Timetabling is the operation of assigning employees to tasks in a set of shifts during a period of time. There is a wide set of constraints to meet concerning shift rotation, workers demand, qualification degree, etc. and a multi-objective function to be optimized. The main objective is to determine the best assignment that verifies the constraints and maximizes the tasks assigned simultaneously considering a wide set of workers’ and organizational preferences. OPTIHPER is a software system which, integrating advanced heuristic AI/OR techniques, is able to obtain optimized solutions to real-world problems with a wide set of very complex constraints and a multicriteria objective function. A customized version of this system is used with very satisfactory results by a Spanish leading distribution company involving a staff of over 55,000 workers distributed in more than 1,000 centres.