Method and system for creating and trading schedules
First Claim
1. A method for visually representing employee shifts in order to facilitate employee creation of schedule bids and shift trade requests to be submitted to a preferential bidding system, the method comprising:
- displaying a horizontal bar to serve as a timeline depicting relative duration of a shift being represented and relative timing of active and inactive work periods during that shift, wherein horizontal position along the bar is proportional to time, and the length of the bar is proportional to the total duration of the shift.varying at least one of the height and color of segments of the bar to depict the timing and type of work periods during the shift.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided to facilitate employees in accurately specifying and weighting preferences in the form of a bid to be used in a preferential bidding system (“PBS”) at the time schedules are created and shifts are assigned and to facilitate creating shift trade requests after schedules are created and shifts are assigned. The systems and methods present a sequence of questions to determine relative importance and weighting of criteria specified as preferences for a schedule bid and then provide a read back explaining how PBS will interpret the criteria and weighting at schedule creation. Systems and methods are also provided to display visual representation of shifts. The visual representation includes a horizontal bar that serves as a timeline. The height and/or the color of segments of the bar are changed to depict active and inactive periods of work. Systems and methods are also provide to filter, on the fly, a listing of shifts as criteria are specified as a preference for a schedule bid or as a filter criteria to identify desirable shift trades.
38 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method for visually representing employee shifts in order to facilitate employee creation of schedule bids and shift trade requests to be submitted to a preferential bidding system, the method comprising:
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displaying a horizontal bar to serve as a timeline depicting relative duration of a shift being represented and relative timing of active and inactive work periods during that shift, wherein horizontal position along the bar is proportional to time, and the length of the bar is proportional to the total duration of the shift. varying at least one of the height and color of segments of the bar to depict the timing and type of work periods during the shift. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for causing a computer to perform a method for visually representing employee shifts in order to facilitate employee creation of schedule bids and shift trade requests to be submitted to a preferential bidding system, the method comprising:
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displaying a horizontal bar to serve as a timeline depicting relative duration of a shift being represented and relative timing of active and inactive work periods during that shift, wherein horizontal position along the bar is proportional to time, and the length of the bar is proportional to the total duration of the shift. varying at least one of the height and color of segments of the bar to depict the timing and type of work periods during the shift. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer-implemented method for facilitating employee creation of schedule bids and shift trade requests to be submitted to a preferential bidding system, the method providing on-the-fly filtering of shifts in order to show the shifts that match employee-designated criteria, the method comprising:
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receiving a description of all possible shifts an employee may be assigned; presenting to the employee one or more filter criteria that the employee may designate to be used by the method for identifying shifts that may be desirable to the employee; receiving from the employee a designation of a filter criterion; applying the designated criterion, and any previously designated criteria, to the possible shifts to identify which shifts match the designated criteria and thus may be desirable to the employee; and displaying to the employee an indication of possible shifts that match the designated criteria. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for facilitating employee creation of schedule bids and shift trade requests to be submitted to a preferential bidding system, the method comprising:
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receiving from an employer scheduling system a description of possible shifts an employee may be assigned to fill; presenting to the employee one or more filter criteria that the employee may designate to be used for identifying desirable shifts; and providing on-the-fly filtering of to show shifts matching employee-designated criteria, providing on-the-fly filtering comprising receiving from the employee a designation of a filter criteria, applying the criteria to the possible shifts to determine which shifts match the designation, and displaying to the employee an indication of which of the possible shifts match the designation; and providing a visual representation the shifts to enhance the employee'"'"'s ability to quickly ascertain shift characteristics and thereby identify desirable shifts, providing the visual representation comprising displaying a horizontal bar to serve as a timeline depicting relative duration of the shift and relative timing of periods during the shift, wherein horizontal position along the bar is proportional to time, and the length of the bar is proportional to the total duration of the shift, and varying at least one of the height and color of segments of the bar to depict the timing of different types of active and inactive periods during the shift.
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26. A system for facilitating employee creation of schedule bids and shift trade requests to be submitted to a preferential bidding system, the system comprising:
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a storage component for storing a description of possible shifts an employee may be assigned to fill; a criteria display component to present to the employee one or more filter criteria that the employee may select to be used to identify desirable shifts and enabling the employee to designate the one or more of the criteria; a filtering component to provide on-the-fly filtering of shifts to show shifts matching the criteria designated by the employee, wherein the filtering component receives from the employee a designation of a filter criteria, applies the criteria to the possible shifts stored in the storage component to determine which shifts match the designation, and provides the possible shifts that match the designation; and a shift display component to present to the employee a concise visual depiction of the shifts, the shift display comprising a horizontal bar representing a shift and that serves as a timeline to depict relative duration of the shift and relative timing of periods during the shift, wherein horizontal position along the bar is proportional to time, and the length of the bar is proportional to the total duration of the shift, and wherein at least one of the height and color of segments of the bar are varied to depict relative timing and type of active and inactive work periods during the shift - View Dependent Claims (27)
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Specification