Forum Discussion
A more complicated solver scenario, workload distribution
Hi, I would like to use the solver plugin to automate the task of worker allocation, I have watched a few solver videos which give a basic introduction on how to use it, and I would like some advice is solver can perform in the following scenario.
The problem
- Each year 25 customers are distributed between the 5 staff members based on a workload ability (table1)
- Next the staff pick and equal or greater number of customers who they feel their skill set will help as a backup, As there are a greater number of Backup choices there will be some overlap. (table3)
- Finally the staff are allocated their backup customers ensuring they meet at least their workload ability quota.(table2)
Here's a sample set of data for part 1.
Each staff members maximum workload (table1)
Staff Name Workload Bennie 5 Marchelle 3 Gita 7 Albert 4 Cecil 6
A list of customers, their pre-allocated staff member, and the Backup1 to be solved (table2)
Customers Staff Staff Name Primary Support Backup Ada Gita ? Awilda Marchelle ? Beula Gita ? Brenna Bennie ? Delora Bennie ? Elisha Albert ? Esta Marchelle ? Janis Albert ? Jann Gita ? Julissa Cecil ? Kareem Cecil ? Lacy Gita ? Maida Gita ? Marta Cecil ? Nadene Bennie ? Nanci Cecil ? Precious Albert ? Rebbeca Cecil ? Rene Gita ? Roy Albert ? Sherie Cecil ? Soo Bennie ? Soraya Gita ? Suzi Marchelle ? Wilmer Bennie ?
And here is a sample set of data for the staffs choices as backup (table3)
Staff Customers Bennie | Ada Elisha Janis Kareem Lacy Nanci Marchelle | Beula Brenna Delora Julissa Maida Precious Rene Soo Suzi Gita | Ada Delora Esta Julissa Marta Nadene Roy Soo Albert | Awilda Esta Jann Julissa Maida Nadene Rebbeca Sherie Wilmer Cecil | Beula Elisha Esta Lacy Nadene Precious Rene Soraya
As you can see each staff member has picked at least or more than their current workload figures. I now need to distribute each staff member as the backup making sure that they are not already the primary support, and everyone gets a single unique backup based on the staff choices from table3.
I know this is simple enough to achieve by hand using simple trial and error however with a larger sample set of tens of staff and hundreds of customers this becomes a lot more difficult. I hope I have explained the question correctly and please feel free to give me some pointers on how I can achieve this.