Schedule optimization is a class of problem that can be solved effectively with linear programming.
Different open source solvers that are available for linear programming such as SCIP, GLPK, or Google’s GLOP, and advancement in python programming framework to adapt writing constraints understandable by the solvers has led to many applications being solved as linear or integer programming. This is a very useful technique in quantitative decision making in business planning and is widely used in many practical applications. Linear programming is a mathematical modeling technique which uses optimization to give a best possible outcome to a set of input constraints. The automation of shift schedule with a minimum number of input parameters from the manager is an effective solution that will reduce the time taken by the manager for preparing the roster. Further, the number of associates required to be present on a shift might vary depending on various factors like weekday vs weekend, the workload forecasted for the week. The preparation of a roster for a team is a time-consuming activity for the manager, when done manually, especially in teams with a large number of associates, where the manager has to give considerations to the preference of each employee. In this particular example, we formulate roster preparation as a linear programming problem. The program also becomes highly scalable when new constrains or new resources are added to the environment. By formulating the scheduling as a linear programming problem, we are able to determine the best possible outcome for many constraints such as number of resources, number of shifts, week-off for each resources, allocating resources based on budget or work load and so on.
This is where linear and integer programming, which are key techniques for discrete optimization problems, helps us in solving complex scheduling problems with a multiple set of constraints. When done manually, this can prove to be a very time consuming and often might not lead to the most optimum solution and is not deterministic. Proper scheduling can help optimize many avenues of business from staff scheduling to fleet scheduling where there are many different combination of utilizing resources with different set of constraints. Scheduling is an important step in planning the workload in any organization. Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash Introduction
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