System and method for making staff schedules as a function of available resources as well as employee skill level, availability and priority

• US 5,111,391 A
• Filed: 10/05/1989
• Issued: 05/05/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Park City Group Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Mrs Fields' Companies Incorporated
• Inventors: Blackley, Todd, Fields, Randall K., Quinn, Paul R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes, Gail O.
• Application Number:
  US07/417,643
• Time in Patent Office: 943 Days
• Field of Search: 364/401, 364/468
• US Class Current: 705/7.14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups

Abstract

A staff scheduling data processing system and method schedules staff and management personnel at locations remote from a central location by applying central location policy to unique remote location data to insure the optimum staff schedule for each remote site. The system and method includes a data base for storing and retrieving information characterizing: central office policy; applicable labor requirements; tasks that need to be performed; skill levels required to perform tasks; resources that may confine or facilitate the scheduling of a task at a given time; relationships between tasks that will alter the placement or movement of a task on a schedule; employees with associated skill levels and priorities and availability; the employee'"'"'s start-time and stop time, the percentage of an employee'"'"'s time that it takes to work on a particular task, and the positive or negative slide in relation to the task'"'"'s completion time by an employee. Upon request to create a schedule for a given day for a remote location, the system and method selects all the tasks to be performed on that day, and using historical data about that location, the tasks, the skill required to complete the tasks, the available resources, employee availability, and central office policy, creates an optimized display of the required schedules.

Claims

1. A system for processing a plurality of variables to create a staff schedule for a plurality of unique remote locations, said system including:

a memory divided into separate data files of information including tasks to be performed and scheduled, the sequence of the tasks, resources available, and employee skill levels, availability and priority;

means coupled to said memory for storing and retrieving information in said memory;

an input device for entering information indicative of projected daily business volume and for designating the tasks to be performed;

generating means coupled to said memory and said input device for generating from the separate data files in said memory and from the information from said input device, schedules of tasks to be performed and the employees selected by availability by day of the week, employee skill levels, and employee priority or seniority, and minimum and maximum hours available per employee for establishing therefrom the shifts of employees by time interval and skill level requirements to perform the designated tasks, said generating means having placement logic for scheduling tasks and optimization logic for dividing the schedule into shifts according to skill levels; and

a display coupled to said generating means, for displaying the schedules including the indications of the employees and tasks and the start and stop times therefor.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein

said memory further comprises information regarding applicable labor regulations regarding timing of daily shifts, overtime, required number and timing of paid and unpaid breaks, and minors;

and representation of corporate standards and policies;

wherein said means for generating applies applicable regulations, standards and policies for weekly and daily overtime, minimum daily shifts, maximum daily shifts before overtime, required paid and unpaid breaks, lengths of paid and unpaid breaks, and regulations applicable to minors for generating therefrom staff schedules.

3. The system according to claim 2 wherein said means for generating selectively modifies the staff schedules in response to the combining of data about tasks at the location including location-specific values, location historical data, corporate standards to determine task duration, task start time, and the amount of time permitted for an employee to complete the task.

4. The system according to claim 1 wherein said means for generating selectively modifies the staff schedules by controlling the placement and movement of tasks on the staff schedules by relationships to other tasks, task start times, and task positive and negative slide relative to the completion time and duration of a task.

5. The system according to claim 1 wherein the means for generating selectively modifies the staff schedules by editing the generated staff schedules to override selected employee limitations and restrictions;

and

said display displays messages of violations of any regulations and standards attributable to the editing of the staff schedule.

6. The system according to claim 1 wherein said means for generating selectively assigns filler tasks to shifts of employees to form minimum shifts in accordance with the applicable regulations and standards.

7. A computer-implemented process for creating a staff schedule for a selected remote location from a plurality of variables stored in a memory, the process comprising steps of:

storing in the memory separate data files of information including tasks to be performed and scheduled;

the sequential relationship of the tasks to other tasks;

employee skill levels;

resources available;

employee availability by day of the week, employee'"'"'s skill level, and employee'"'"'s priority or seniority.

introducing information indicative of projected daily business volume and representative tasks to be performed and their priority.

designating the tasks to be performed by their priority;

retrieving the separate data files from memory for generating therefrom and from the information introduced, the tasks to be performed within selected time intervals to form therefrom schedules of the tasks to be performed and the employees required by time interval and skill level to perform the designated tasks;

optimizing the schedule generated in the retrieving step by dividing the schedule into shifts according to skill levels;

selecting employee availability by day of the week, employee skill levels, and employee priority or seniority, and minimum and maximum hours available per employee; and

displaying the schedules including the indications of the employees and tasks and the start and stop times therefor.

8. The process according to claim 7 comprising the additional step of:

entering daily information representative of an alteration in the placement of a task in the schedule or representative of an additional task to be performed; and

modifying the schedule to indicate the altered or additional task.

9. The process according to claim 7 comprising the steps of:

storing in the memory data files of information regarding corporate standards and policies;

modifying the schedules in response to the combining of data about tasks at the location including location-specific values, location historical data, corporate standards to determine task duration, task start time, and the amount of time for an employee to complete a task relative to standard time allotted for completion of the task.

10. The process according to claim 7 comprising the step of:

controlling the placement and movement of tasks on the staff schedules by relationships to other tasks, task start times, and task positive and negative slide relative to the completion time and duration of a task.

11. The process according to claim 7 comprising the steps of:

storing in the memory data files of information regarding applicable labor regulations regarding timing of daily shifts, overtime, number and timing of breaks, and minors; and

representations of corporate standards and policies;

editing the generated staff schedules to override selected employee limitations and restrictions; and

displaying messages of violations of any regulations and standards attributable to the editing of the staff schedules.

12. The process according to claim 7 comprising the step of:

assigning filler tasks to shifts of employees to form minimum shifts in accordance with the applicable regulations and standards.