Configuring Master Rotations

The Master Rotation (MR) is a scheduling tool used by the Unit Manager and Scheduler in the schedule planning stage. The tool helps plan labor coverage for the expected labor demand (workload requirements) within a unit according to the rules of their specific collective bargaining agreement or healthcare organization. Schedules created as MRs repeat until an operational need requires changes to the schedule. For example, a MR with a length of 7 days repeats every week, and MRs with length of 21 days repeats every three weeks. Each MR is anchored to a start date, on which the first MR starts.

A team or unit can create multiple MRs for planning the schedule of the unit. Each of the MRs can be a different length. The number of MRs to use is typically a business decision. If the staff members work on different repetition lengths, then multiple MRs can be used. If the staff members all work on the same duration of repetition length (for example, all the staff members work a 7-day schedule), then there is no need to use multiple MRs.

Some units may prefer to configure multiple MRs even if the staff members all work the same duration of repetition. For example, the unit may wish to group the similar jobs into MRs, which results in multiple MRs for the multiple categories of jobs.

The repeating nature of MR schedules means that this scheduling mechanism is best suited for units with staff members working relatively static schedules.

The following sections describe the configuration of the MR.