I've used ORTools to schedule tasks to be done in parallel.
it's really simple.
Employee Scheduling
31–40 of 137 posts
Re: Employee Scheduling
#32I’m a bit uncertain about what Google OR-Tools is…it seems to be some sort of framework for solving optimization problems, but based on the example here I am curious how general such a tool can be, as normally I find that a “drop in” algorithms framework is generally quite difficult to make or use. Is anyone using this for something useful? Does it perform faster than a hand-rolled implementation tailored to the prob…
I've utilized OR-Tools in conjunction with the CBC (Coin Branch and Cut) solver to solve a mold distribution optimization problem of plastic mold injectors for a client of ours. It was free and it got the job done very well. We used it in C# and it's pretty well documented. We tried LPSolve (55) and it was a pain to use and super slow. Also, commercial options like Gurobi and IBM's CPLEX are super expensive for smaller projects.
Re: Employee Scheduling
#33I’m a bit uncertain about what Google OR-Tools is…it seems to be some sort of framework for solving optimization problems, but based on the example here I am curious how general such a tool can be, as normally I find that a “drop in” algorithms framework is generally quite difficult to make or use. Is anyone using this for something useful? Does it perform faster than a hand-rolled implementation tailored to the prob…
It is. The two main components is the CP-SAT solver and the routing library (CP + local search).
As with all discrete optimization problems, a large part of performance and scalability comes down to how well you model the problem. Using a framework gives you the flexibility to focus on modeling and the ability to easily extend your problem to satisfy new constraints without the burden of maintaining an optimization algorithm. Generally speaking, there's no point in reinventing what's more than likely a worse wheel.
OR-tools is a state of the art OR framework. The CP-SAT solver has consistently won the Minizinc challenge the last few years and the routing library is a great local search framework.
It's also worth mentioning the fantastic OscaR, a Scala CP/CBLS library which I've used extensively in my masters thesis on vehicle routing. Gecode is another solid CP solver. Minizinc is an interesting project that aims to create a unified language to interface with a lot of different solvers (CP, SAT, MIP)
Re: Employee Scheduling
#34Great find, thank you. I ended up playing with the tools they provide. I always loved solving optimization problems and this page ia a gem, I did not know it existed.
You should check out http://www.hakank.org/ for a fantastic resource of optimization models for a huge variety of solvers and problems
Re: Employee Scheduling
#35Are there any good projects that implement this in a user-friendly system that allows schedulers to choose from multiple options and make adjustments based day-to-day conditions? Algorithms like this look cool but can end up being too rigid for many real-world scenarios. You can’t just take the output and force everyone to follow that schedule.
One option for real world use is to take the rigid schedule, and tell people that if they don't like it they need to find swaps with other people. Make the fill schedule visible to all so people can easily find swaps by hand. Always pay the original shift owner for the shift, and preferably, don't even keep records or who really did the shift (doing so opens you up to liability if employees swap in some way that is i…
>Always pay the original shift owner for the shift, and preferably, don't even keep records or who really did the shift
Usually the sorta places that need shift scheduling also require you to check in before your shift and will only pay for the hours that you worked, often those places have some sorts biometric check in mechanism, your suggestion doesn’t seem very practical in light of that.
Re: Employee Scheduling
#36Really nice. OR is not my field, and when I must dabble, in the past, I always used MiniZinc constraint solving language (sometimes with Python bindings). On the page above the linked page, on Google’s OR tools, there is mention that their tools won four gold medals in the MiniZinc completions.
Not just this year but the last couple of years
Re: Employee Scheduling
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
One option for real world use is to take the rigid schedule, and tell people that if they don't like it they need to find swaps with other people. Make the fill schedule visible to all so people can easily find swaps by hand. Always pay the original shift owner for the shift, and preferably, don't even keep records or who really did the shift (doing so opens you up to liability if employees swap in some way that is i…
> Always pay the original shift owner for the shift, and preferably, don't even keep records or who really did the shift Usually the sorta places that need shift scheduling also require you to check in before your shift and will only pay for the hours that you worked, often those places have some sorts biometric check in mechanism, your suggestion doesn’t seem very practical in light of that.
My place uses id cards, but people just check in with eachothers id cards.
I only kick up a fuss if someone shows up to do a shift who isn't even an employee.
Re: Employee Scheduling
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Admitting you pressure your employees (not independent (sub)contractors) to pay off part of their wage to do their job? Offloading your logistical planning work to staff and not paying them for the time spent? This is begging for a NLRB lawsuit and I hope someone wises up.
True, although from what I've seen it's actually rare for money to change hands. There seems to be quite an honor code - "I'll do your shift this time, as long as you remember that next time I want the day off.". The only time people get upset is if someone trades a bunch of shifts, then quits. People who don't like that have the option of just not swapping shifts though.
I don't believe that's "the only time people get upset". Even if no one ever quits, this has got to be causing lots of drama. In most places I've worked, managers did management and hourly workers did not. When you want to abuse an hourly worker like this, you have to move them to a salary. Traditionally that salary would be a bump up from their 40-hour wage.
Re: Employee Scheduling
#39Any thoughts about the scheduling projects open sourced by staffjoy a few years ago, regarding the relevant schedule optimizers chosen? https://github.com/Staffjoy
Re: Employee Scheduling
#40I’m a bit uncertain about what Google OR-Tools is…it seems to be some sort of framework for solving optimization problems, but based on the example here I am curious how general such a tool can be, as normally I find that a “drop in” algorithms framework is generally quite difficult to make or use. Is anyone using this for something useful? Does it perform faster than a hand-rolled implementation tailored to the prob…
It is. The two main components is the CP-SAT solver and the routing library (CP + local search). As with all discrete optimization problems, a large part of performance and scalability comes down to how well you model the problem. Using a framework gives you the flexibility to focus on modeling and the ability to easily extend your problem to satisfy new constraints without the burden of maintaining an optimization a…
It's a lot of fun to play with. I used it at work to solve a partition assignment problem (you have data preintersected by property sets and a boolean query that constrains various properties, which set of preintersections are smallest for executing the query and cover all possible respondent documents?). Unfortunately it was not quite fast enough for our use case (runtimes of 50-100ms on harder queries) but it was fascinating to see provably optimal solutions to the problem.