Constraints

This table shows the constraints that are used in schedule optimization:

Name Description and Parameter Information
Honor skill requirements The system will not schedule an employee to cover a staff requirement unless they have the specified skill for that staff requirement.
Place staff on fixed shifts The system will schedule employees to fixed shifts as set up through the Employee Shift Pattern form. This constraint works in conjunction with the employee setting for Fixed Schedule (Only/Partial/None).
Honor employee availability The system will not schedule employees during times they are unavailable as per the available times in the Employee Availability form.
Use schedule to budget The system will spend the entire budget when creating the schedule, even if the staff requirements do not indicate a need to use the whole budget. Can be used in conjunction with the Budget Adjusted Workload registry setting.
Do not assign staff to more than employee specific max hours The system will not schedule an employee for more hours than specified in the Max Hours / Day and Max Hours / Assignment Period values on the employee settings record.
Do not assign staff to less than minimum hours per shift The system will not schedule an employee to a shift shorter than the Min Hours / Shift on the employee settings record.
Do not schedule staff more than __ shift(s) per day The system will not schedule an employee for more than the specified number of shifts per day. Note that the employee settings value Apply Max Shift Per Day Rule can be used to allow individual employees to opt in or out of this rule within the same staff group.
Do not schedule staff more than __ shift(s) per schedule The system will not schedule an employee for more than the specified number of shifts per schedule.
Max 2 nights per week after ___ The system will not schedule an employee for more than two nights per week after the specified time. This rule is frequently used for staff groups with minors.
Assign staff using ____ technique Assign staff using the specified technique tells the optimizer in what order to start looking for optimal schedules:
  • randomization: Employees are mixed randomly, creating the possibility for different schedule solutions each time the schedule is created.
  • seniority: Employees are considered in order of seniority date.
  • date-of-hire: Employees are considered in order of hire date.
Maximum consecutive work days System will not schedule an employee for more than the specified number of days in a row. This parameter considers scheduled days from the previous week when creating the schedule.
Do not exceed budget System will not exceed the specified budget.
Minimum __ hours between shifts System will only schedule shifts that are more than the specified number of hours apart.
Do not assign staff to more than ___ hour(s) in schedule System will not schedule staff to more than the specified number of hours in a schedule period.
Do not assign staff to more than ___ hour(s) in day System will not schedule staff to more than the specified number of hours in a day.
Do not assign staff to more than ___ day(s) in schedule System will not schedule staff to more than the specified number of days in a schedule period.
Schedule to Ownership System will schedule employees for their minimum hours, even if there is not a staff requirement for the employee to cover.