30 AI MAGAZINE ■ The staff scheduling problem is a critical problem in the call center (or, more generally, customer contact center) industry. This article describes DIRECTOR, a staff scheduling system for contact centers. DIRECTOR is a constraint-based system that uses AI search techniques to generate schedules that satisfy and optimize a wide range of constraints and service-quality metrics. ...

Staff scheduling is a <span lang="EN-US">combinatorics optimization problem and companies face this complex task on daily basis in constructing schedule fitting all conditions. In courier distribution center, staffs are assigned to work processes of continuous workflow. Staffs have varying ability for each process. Instead generating staff instinctively, it an advantage optimize staff’s b...

Aim This article describes the development and testing of an Excel-based scheduling solution for the flexible allocation and reallocation of nurses to cover sudden, unplanned absences among permanent nursing staff. Method A quasi-experimental, one group, pre- and post-test study design was used ( Box 1 ) with total sampling. Participants (n=17) were selected purposefully by including all ward m...

I n many surgery departments, schedule management is a daily struggle. Staff work hard to manage case requests, juggle resources, and respond to changes, but errors , inefficiencies, and general frustration persist. The results are frequent case delays and cancellations, low utilization, high costs, low staff morale, and poor surgeon satisfaction. The key to effective scheduling is to develop s...

This paper presents a general optimisation-based rostering engine developed by the University of Auckland. This engine is designed to solve a wide range of personnel scheduling (staff rostering) problems. The engine is currently being used to roster over 700 staff at an Australian call centre and also for the rostering of 50 immigration staff at Auckland International Airport. It is being trial...

This White Paper describes the challenges of reducing employee turnover in shift‐based organizations, and introduces Otipo’s innovative approach to shift scheduling and the use of Real‐Time Workforce Analytics for Organizational Health. It focuses on the potential for improving company morale, increasing staff retention, and ultimately reducing costs, through continuous monitoring and analysis ...

Efficient workforce scheduling has an important impact on store profit and customer service. Standard scheduling problems do not recognize the effect of staff availability on customer sales, however, even though the latter is an important factor in the retail sector. In this paper a two-stage model is proposed for this purpose. In the first stage a sales response model is used to specify hourly...