Handling Shift Overrun

This information applies to the Scheduler only.

You may have some operations that cannot be stopped and restarted during shift changes. To ensure that an operation completes before the resource goes off-shift, you can specify that the resource on a specific shift interval must complete the operation it is working on at the end of the shift. Also, you can define a grace period to allow the operation processing to overrun the end of the shift in order to complete.

See How "Must Complete" and "Allow Overrun" Affect Resource Allocation Decisions.

To enable the Must Complete and Allow Overrun options, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Resources form and select the resource that can work on the "must complete" operation.
  2. Select the General tab.
  3. Select the Must Complete field.
  4. (Optional) In the Maximum Overrun field, enter the number of hours that this resource may work on the current load beyond the end of a "Must Complete" shift. This value is valid only if the Allow Overrun option is selected on the shift interval record.
  5. Save the changes.
  6. Open the Scheduling Shifts form. For the Must Complete option to have an effect, it must be enabled on both the resource record and on the shift interval record.
  7. Select the shift interval during which the operation must complete.
  8. Select the Must Complete field.
  9. If you defined a Maximum Overrun value on the resource record, select the Allow Overrun field.
  10. Save the changes.
  11. Repeat these steps for any other applicable resources and shift intervals.

If the resource cannot finish the entire operation within the Must Complete shift interval, it will wait to start the operation in the next shift interval where it can finish the entire operation (or where the Must Complete option is not selected). The Scheduler will try to schedule another operation, in selection rule priority, that can be completed within the available time.

For example, Operation 123 takes 3.25 hours to complete, and is released at 2:00. Operation 456 takes 2 hours to complete, and is released at 2:01. Both operations require resource ABC. Resource ABC has 3 hours of remaining on-shift time, and the Must Complete option is enabled. Therefore, Operation 123 does not allocate the resource and instead enters a request in the resource's request queue. Operation 456 will allocate the resource because it can be completed within the available time. If you had defined the Maximum Overrun for .25 hours, Operation 123 would have allocated the resource, because the resource would have worked the extra .25 hours to complete the operation. The Allow Overrun option must be enabled on the shift record for Maximum Overrun to function.

Related topics