Article Review on Staff Scheduling and Rostering: A Review

This report provides a comprehensive review of an article focusing on staff scheduling and rostering, highlighting its increasing importance in service-oriented and cost-conscious business environments. The article explores the benefits of optimized staff schedules and the need for decision support systems to meet customer demands while adhering to workplace agreements, staff preferences, and part-time work considerations. It delves into various rostering problems across different application areas, including transportation, healthcare, and emergency services, and examines the models and algorithms used for their solutions. The review covers methodologies like computer software packages, mathematical models, heuristic algorithms, and artificial intelligence approaches. It emphasizes the evolution of rostering methods, the complexities of demand modeling, and the application of metaheuristics and mathematical programming. The article also discusses future trends in rostering and staff scheduling, emphasizing the need for flexibility in algorithms to address complex problems and adapt to changing work environments. The review references the original article by Ernst, A. T., Jiang, H., Krishnamoorthy, M., & Sier, D. (2004) which provides a detailed analysis of staff scheduling and rostering.

Running Head: ARTICLE REVIEW 1
ARTICLE REVIEW ON STAFF SCHEDULING AND ROSTERING: A REVIEW
APPLICATIONS, METHODS AND MODELS
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Article Review:
Businesses and healthcare organisations often make use of rostering or staff scheduling for
the purpose of meeting the demands of goods and services. The article reviews the emerging
importance of rostering and scheduling which has become integral for service orientation and
cost consciousness within the global environment. With use of optimised schedules prepared
for staffs, there can arise tremendous benefits in organisations with implemented decision
support systems. The literature reviewed in the article proposes two factors associated with
rostering, such as those associated with a number of different modules and general personnel
scheduling subproblems divided into five categories. For the purpose of staff scheduling,
there are various methodologies implemented such as computer software packages,
spreadsheet and mathematical models for arriving at heuristic algorithms. The article
considers various rostering processes for the purpose of duty generation.
The relevant application areas related to staff scheduling is traced back to Edie’s work
related to traffic delays at toll booths. Staff scheduling and rostering methods was primarily
applied in transportation, call centres and healthcare systems. In the healthcare system
rostering focus has been focussed upon scheduling of nurses in acute care wards in hospitals.
Rostering and scheduling also has relevant application in protection and emergency services,
civic services and utilities, venue management, financial services, hospitality and tourism,
retail, manufacturing and now in various other industrial sectors as well.
While there is present a number of rostering methods and techniques which are applied for
solving specific problems. Demand modelling is a complicated procedure that is
encompassed into development of roster. There is also approaches of artificial intelligence
which are currently used in development of rosters. It makes use of fuzzy set theory, search
and expert systems. Constraint programming tools is also used for arriving at feasible

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solutions in rostering problems and it is useful in problems with a number of constraints or in
case feasible solution is not optimal. Metaheuristics is a method used for resolving discrete or
combinatorial optimisation problems. These are applied to solve problems which cannot be
solved using traditional heuristics such as steepest descent or greedy local searches.
Combined SA and GA metaheuristic methods is successfully used for solving manpower
allocation problems and staff scheduling issues. Mathematical programming approaches is
used in problem solving that are presented in linear integer programs, linear programs, or
general mathematical programs.
Future trends in rostering and staff scheduling has been presented in this article in an
explained. However, the article represents tremendous scope for improvements in this area of
rostering algorithms with flexibility in sophisticated rostering software tools. Rostering
already has tremendous application in transportation sector and within the aviation sector.
Another relevant area which have been highlighted in the article is generalisation of methods
and models. The current algorithms require significant modifications to be applicable in
organisation’s internal structures. Due to presence of algorithm inflexibility, technology
transfer is slow. With changing conditions and work environments, there needs to be more
flexibility in the future for resolving complex problems in rostering and scheduling.

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References
Ernst, A. T., Jiang, H., Krishnamoorthy, M., & Sier, D. (2004). Staff scheduling and
rostering: A review of applications, methods and models. European journal of operational
research, 153(1), 3-27. doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(03)00095-X