Feb 07 2019 08:16 AM
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
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.