This system was designed for the University Center resident advisor staff. The system has worked extremely well, and saves more than 120 man hours each time the staff schedule for duty, compared to the old in-person way of scheduling duty.
To implement a sign up, the following steps are needed.
Step 1: Determine Duty Requirements
The first step to schedule for duty is to determine how many duty shifts, or slots, are needed. Each slot represents one unit of duty that one staff member needs to fill.Example
Assuming that, for a 10-week period, there are 5 RAs on duty each week night, the total number of week night shifts are:10 weeks * 5 days per week * 5 RAs each night = 250 slots.
As another example, for the same 10-week period, there are 7 RAs on duty each weekend (Friday - Sunday), so the total number of weekend shifts are:
10 weeks * 1 weekend per week * 7 RAs each weekend = 70 slots.
Hint: When deciding the total duty coverage requirements, it is best to consider separate types or classes of duty separately. For example, even for the same 10 weeks period, the week night and weekend duty should be calculated separately.
Step 2: Determine Available Staff
Once the total number of slots has been determined, the next step is to determine how many staff members are available to fullfil the duty. Normally, this is the number of people on staff. However, in periods where additional staff are expected to be added, or some staffs are expected to be leaving, the number should be adjusted to reflect the ultimate available staff count.Example
During the sign up time for the 2005 Winter duty sign up, there were a total of 33 RAs on staff. However, management had plans to hire 2 more RAs soon, so the number used for per-staff calculation was actually 35 RAs.This difference between the current staff count and targeted staff count would leave "gaps" or empty slots unfilled on the schedule, and needed to be scheduled later when the additional staffs were hired.
Step 3: Calculate Per - Staff Requirements
Once the total duty coverage needed and the total number of staff counted, the next step is to figure out how to evenly distribute the duty slots to each staff. Even though the spirit of the distribution is to be fair, the numbers rarely divide evenly in practice, so two calculations need to be carried out. One is the base requirements, which is the minimum requirement that each staff needs to sign up for. The other is the extra requirements, which is the number of staff who need to sign up for 1 extra slot in order to fill the schedule.Example
Using the previous 10-week period example, the per-RA shift requirements are:250 slots / 35 RAs = 7 slots per RA (discarding the remainder).
In addition, because 35 RAs * 5 slots per RA is only 245 slots filled, we need additional RAs to take 1 extra slot:
250 total slots - 245 base filled slots = 5 extra, unfilled slots.
So 5 RAs would need to pick an extra slot.
Therefore,
- 30 RAs need to take 7 week night shifts.
- 5 RAs need to take 8 week night shifts.
In the case of weekend duty in the same 10 weeks period, the total number of slots of 70 divides evenly with the number of staff, so each RA needs to take 70 / 35 = 2 slots exactly, and no staff needs to take extra slot.
Step 4: Assign Sign Up Order
Once the per-staff requirement is determined, the next step is to schedule the staff to sign up for duty, in an one-by-one fashion. Each staff is assigned a number, from 1 to the number of staff total. The number determine the order by which the staff can sign up for duty.To minimize the disadvantage of having large numbers, the actual sign up process is broken into 2 rounds. The staff sign up in the first round by the order 1, 2, 3, ..., and on the second round, the order reverses, so it goes in the direction of 36, 35, 34, ... (assuming 36 staff).
An example of sign up table is available.
Example
Assuming from the previous example, a staff may need to schedule for a total of 7 week nights and 2 weekends. One the first round, the staff would schedule for 4 week night shifts and 1 weekend shift, and on the second round, 3 week night shifts and 1 weekend shift.Step 5: Actual Sign Up
When the staff actually sign up for duty, each of them is given a time slot. This time slot represents an exclusive lock on the duty schedule, during which the staff can freely modify the schedule. Each staff has 2 actual time slot, which corresponds to their order on the 2 rounds.The length of the time slot varies, but should depend on the actual complexity of the scheduling needs. It should include ample time for each staff to compare the duty schedule and the person schedule, and sign up for the required number of slots. The length should be at least 10 minutes, and more time is needed for larger, more complicated scheduling.
Example
During the Spring scheduling period, an RA may need 7 week night shifts and 3 weekend shifts. The RA is given 30 minutes on each round. During the first round, the RA has 30 minutes to sign up for 4 week nights and 2 weekends, and on the second round, the RA has another 30 minutes to sign up for 3 week nights and 1 weekend.The RAs are only allowed to sign up during the hours between 6:00 PM - 12:00 AM each day. Since each RA has 30 minutes, we can schedule a total of 12 RAs per night, or 36 RAs in 3 nights. The entire process takes 7 days, which includes the 2 rounds and 1 extra day in the middle for supervisor verification.
Implmentation of Scheduling Medium
The previous discussion of the steps needed are intentionally abstract, and does not mention where the duty schedule is located, and how each RA can sign up in the duty schedule. The idea is that the same system can be implemented on multiple types of medium, ranging from electronic to paper-based.Wiki-Based Medium
The scheduling process can be implemented on a Wiki site. A Wiki site is a web site that every visitor can edit. To implement a Wiki-based duty scheduling system, each staff is given a user account. Initially, the schedule is empty, and consists only of a list of available duty slots (example). As the process starts, each RA would log on to the system, and put their names next to the date/slot that they want to sign up for. After the 2 rounds completed, the resulting Wiki page is a schedule of the duty (example).When using a Wiki-based system, it is very important that each staff only edit the page during their assigned time slot. Wiki pages do not react well to concurrent edits, and if 2 staffs edit the page at the same time, the staff who saves the page first would lose all the changes. If a staff member forgets the sign up time, it is very important for him/her to be reassigned a different, dedicated time. A separate page should be used to document such re-assignment, and be used to prevent the re-assigned time slot from conflicting (example).
Assuming that the Wiki site keeps track of version history (example) and enforces access control, the system is able to show when one staff has overwritten another staff's change. The fact that the schedule is availble on a web site also allows the staff to plan ahead with available dates, which can be put in easily when the assigned time comes.
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