System and method for complex schedule generation
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for generating a schedule for a plurality of employees with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein the plurality of employees have varying overlapping skill sets that enable them to perform various tasks, and wherein employees are shared across tasks within the time period, the method comprising:
- receiving a plurality of user inputs to a scheduling program, including a number of employee designations each of which refers to a unique employee, and a number of skill sets each of which corresponds to one of the employee designations;
during the method for generating the schedule, determining an effect on the schedule of an incremental change to the plurality of user inputs, including;
receiving a user input that changes the number of employee designations by indicating at least one changed employee,estimating an effect of the at least one changed employee on effective staffing levels for each of various tasks, wherein the estimating uses as an input a skill set associated with the at least one changed employee,determining whether to simulate the schedule based at least in part on an adaptive algorithm, andgenerating estimated effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks; and
dividing the method such that the method is performed on multiple parallel processors comprising, dividing a schedule into time intervals such that a schedule for each of the time intervals is processed by a different processor.
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Abstract
A system and method for generating a schedule for multiple employees in a complex environment. In one embodiment, the method includes generating a schedule for multiple employees with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein the plurality of employees have varying overlapping skill sets that enable them to perform various tasks, and wherein employees are shared across tasks within the time period. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a plurality of user inputs to a scheduling program, including a number of employee designations that each refer to a unique employee, and a number of skill sets that each correspond to one of the employee designations. The method further includes receiving a user input that changes the number of employee designations by indicating at least one changed employee, and estimating an effect of the at least one changed employee on effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks. The method further includes generating estimated effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks.
81 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for generating a schedule for a plurality of employees with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein the plurality of employees have varying overlapping skill sets that enable them to perform various tasks, and wherein employees are shared across tasks within the time period, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of user inputs to a scheduling program, including a number of employee designations each of which refers to a unique employee, and a number of skill sets each of which corresponds to one of the employee designations; during the method for generating the schedule, determining an effect on the schedule of an incremental change to the plurality of user inputs, including; receiving a user input that changes the number of employee designations by indicating at least one changed employee, estimating an effect of the at least one changed employee on effective staffing levels for each of various tasks, wherein the estimating uses as an input a skill set associated with the at least one changed employee, determining whether to simulate the schedule based at least in part on an adaptive algorithm, and generating estimated effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks; and dividing the method such that the method is performed on multiple parallel processors comprising, dividing a schedule into time intervals such that a schedule for each of the time intervals is processed by a different processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer-implemented method for generating a schedule for a plurality of employees with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein the plurality of employees have varying overlapping skill sets that enable them to perform various tasks, and wherein employees are shared across tasks within the time period, the method comprising:
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receiving a plurality of user inputs to a scheduling program, including a number of employee designations each of which refers to a unique employee, and a number of skill sets each of which corresponds to one of the employee designations; during the method for generating the schedule, determining an effect on the schedule of an incremental change to the plurality of user inputs, including; receiving a user input that changes the number of employee designations by indicating at least one changed employee, estimating an effect of the at least one changed employee on effective staffing levels for each of various tasks, wherein the estimating uses as an input a skill set associated with the at least one changed employee, determining whether to simulate the schedule based at least in part on an adaptive algorithm, and generating estimated effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks; and dividing the method such that the method is performed on multiple parallel processors comprising, performing the scheduling process on one processor, and performing simulation on multiple different processors.
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13. A system for generating a schedule for a plurality of employees with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein the plurality of employees have varying overlapping skill sets that enable them to perform various tasks, and wherein employees are shared across tasks within the time period, the system comprising:
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at least one server comprising at least one storage device; and at least one client processor coupled to the server through a network, wherein the client processor is coupled to a plurality of storage devices, including a storage device that stores instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one client processor to, receive a plurality of user inputs to a scheduling program, including a number of employee designations each of which refers to a unique employee, and a number of skill sets each of which corresponds to one of the employee designations, and during execution of the scheduling program, determine an effect on the schedule of an incremental change to the plurality of user inputs, including; receive a user input that changes the number of employee designations by indicating at least one changed employee, estimate an effect of the at least one changed employee on effective staffing levels for each of various tasks, including estimating using as an input a skill set associated with the at least one changed employee, determine whether to simulate the schedule based at least in part on an adaptive algorithm, and generate estimated effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the at least one processor to divide the method such that the method is performed on multiple parallel processors comprising, dividing a schedule into time intervals such that a schedule for each of the time intervals is processed by a different processor. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system for generating a schedule for a plurality of employees with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein the plurality of employees have varying overlapping skill sets that enable them to perform various tasks, and wherein employees are shared across tasks within the time period, the system comprising:
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at least one server comprising at least one storage device; and at least one client processor coupled to the server through a network, wherein the client processor is coupled to a plurality of storage devices, including a storage device that stores instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one client processor to, receive a plurality of user inputs to a scheduling program, including a number of employee designations each of which refers to a unique employee, and a number of skill sets each of which corresponds to one of the employee designations, and during execution of the scheduling program, determine an effect on the schedule of an incremental change to the plurality of user inputs, including; receive a user input that changes the number of employee designations by indicating at least one changed employee, estimate an effect of the at least one changed employee on effective staffing levels for each of various tasks, including estimating using as an input a skill set associated with the at least one changed employee, determine whether to simulate the schedule based at least in part on an adaptive algorithm, and generate estimated effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the at least one processor to divide the method such that the method is performed on multiple parallel processors comprising, performing the scheduling process on one processor, and performing simulation on multiple different processors.
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27. An electromagnetic medium containing executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, cause the system to generate a schedule for a plurality of employees with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein generating the schedule comprises:
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receiving a plurality of user inputs to a scheduling program, including a number of employee designations each of which refers to a unique employee, and a number of skill sets each of which corresponds to one of the employee designations; and during execution of the scheduling program, determining an effect on the schedule of an incremental change to the plurality of user inputs, including; receiving a user input that changes the number of employee designations by indicating at least one changed employee; estimating an effect of the at least one changed employee on effective staffing levels for each of various tasks, wherein the estimating uses as an input a skill set associated with the at least one changed employee; determining whether to simulate the schedule based at least in part on an adaptive algorithm; and generating estimated effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks wherein generating the schedule further comprises dividing the method such that the method is performed on multiple parallel processors comprising, dividing a schedule into time intervals such that a schedule for each of the time intervals is processed by a different processor. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. An electromagnetic medium containing executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, cause the system to generate a schedule for a plurality of employees with varying skill sets for a time period, wherein generating the schedule comprises:
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receiving a plurality of user inputs to a scheduling program, including a number of employee designations each of which refers to a unique employee, and a number of skill sets each of which corresponds to one of the employee designations; and during execution of the scheduling program, determining an effect on the schedule of an incremental change to the plurality of user inputs, including; receiving a user input that changes the number of employee designations by indicating at least one changed employee; estimating an effect of the at least one changed employee on effective staffing levels for each of various tasks, wherein the estimating uses as an input a skill set associated with the at least one changed employee; determining whether to simulate the schedule based at least in part on an adaptive algorithm; and generating estimated effective staffing levels for each of the various tasks, wherein generating the schedule further comprises dividing the method such that the method is performed on multiple parallel processors comprising, performing the scheduling process on one processor, and performing simulation on multiple different processors.
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Specification