This paper looks at work done on a case-based workforce scheduling application. Generalised patterns of workforce allocation are used to build up a schedule that is then adjusted to remove any problems. Because some constraint elements are incorporated in the case-base, the global problem search space is reduced. The case-base can be maintained either automatically, by generalisation of solutio...

Due to the complexity of nurse rostering problems (NRPs), Constraint Programming (CP) approaches on their own have shown to be ineffective in solving these highly constrained problems. We investigate a two-stage hybrid CP approach on real world benchmark NRPs. In the first stage, a constraint satisfaction model is used to generate weekly rosters consist of high quality shift sequences satisfyin...

A variety of neighbourhood operators have been used in local search and metaheuristic approaches to solving nurse rostering problems. We test and analyse the efficiency of these neighbourhoods on benchmark problems taken from real world scenarios. A variable depth search is then developed based on the results of this investigation. The algorithm heuristically chains together moves and swaps whi...

A practical nurse rostering problem, which arises at a ward of an Italian private hospital, is considered. In this problem, it is required each month to generate the nursing staff shifts subject to various requirements. A matheuristic approach is introduced, based on a set of neighborhoods searched by a commercial integer programming solver within a defined global time limit. Generally speaking...

The development of methods for solving real world scheduling problems such as employee rostering requires the extensive domain knowledge of manual rostering experts. Rostering problems are subject to numerous conflicting constraints and are difficult to solve. Automated rostering has attracted the attention of the scientific community over the last three decades, however the systematic represen...

AIM To describe a pilot project on self-scheduling (self-rostering) for hospital nurses and assess its potential values and difficulties in implementation. BACKGROUND Self-scheduling is one aspect of the effort to make the hospital nursing environment more accommodative of nurses' lives. It is part of the good employment practices that nurses want and that can help recruitment, retention and-...