Weekly Workshift Scheduling

Many services operate six or seven days a week. Since employees usually work five
days a week with two consecutive days off, it becomes necessary to schedule the
employees to different shifts such that the daily requirements are met while
minimizing the total number of employees required. This problem can be formulated
as an integer linear programming (ILP) model.

1. The number of nurses required to meet the demand for emergency services on
different days of the week at a Hospital Emergency Room are given below:

Day M Tu W Th F Sa Su
Nurses 6 5 6 6 6 5 3

Develop a weekly workshift schedule providing 2 consecutive days off per week for
each nurse. Formulate the problem as an integer linear programming model to
minimize the number of nurses needed, and solve using Excel Solver.
Solution
To formulate this problem as an ILP model, we define the following shifts:
Let’s consider xi = number of nurses assigned to the shift that starts on day i (five
consecutive working days starting with day i followed by two days off) for i = 1, 2, .., 7
(i = 1 is Monday, i = 2 is Tuesday and so on).
Objective Function: Minimize the total number of nurses’ Z = x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6
+ x7
Subject to the following constraints:
Number of nurses working on Monday: x1 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 6 (all except those
whose shifts start on Tuesday and Wednesday will be working on Monday)
Number of nurses working on Tuesday: x1 + x2 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 5 (all except those
whose shifts start on Wednesday and Thursday will be working on Tuesday)
Number of nurses working on Wednesday: x1 + x2 + x3 + x6 + x7 ≥ 6 (all except
those whose shifts start on Thursday and Friday will be working on Wednesday)
Number of nurses working on Thursday: x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x7 ≥ 6 (all except those
whose shifts start on Friday and Saturday will be working on Thursday)
Number of nurses working on Friday: x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 ≥ 6 (all except those
whose shifts start on Saturday and Sunday will be working on Friday)
Number of nurses working on Saturday: x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 ≥ 5 (all except those
whose shifts start on Sunday and Monday will be working on Saturday)
Number of nurses working on Sunday: x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 3 (all except those
whose shifts start on Monday and Tuesday will be working on Sunday)
xi ≥ 0 and integer
Constraints:

Monday: x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 6
Tuesday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 5
Wednesday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 6
Thursday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 6
Friday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 x6 + x7 ≥ 6
Saturday x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 5
Sunday: x1 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 3

When the problem is set up in Excel Solver, the following solution is found:
Mon-Fri Tue-Sat Wed-Sun Thu- Fri-Tue Sat-Wed Sun-Thu Total
Shift [x1] [x2] [x3] Mon [x4] [x5] [x6] [x7] Staff
Number 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 8

x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 = 8 => 8 nurses
In other words, 2 nurses will work the Monday thru Friday/ Thursday thru Monday/ Saturday
thru Wednesday shift, 1 will work the Tuesday thru Saturday/Wednesday thru Sunday shift a
total of eight nurses.

x1 = 2, x2 = 1, x3 = 1, x4 = 2, x5 = 0, x6 = 2, x7 = 0
An example of weekly workshift schedule is:
Schedule matrix, x = workday
Nurse Mo Tu W Th F Sa Su
N1 x x x x x - -
N2 x x x x x - -
N3 - x x x x x -
N4 - - x x x x x
N5 x - - x x x x
N6 x - - x x x x
N7 x x x - - x x
N8 x x x - - x x
Total 6 5 6 6 6 6 5
Required 6 5 6 6 6 5 3
Excess 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
2. The telephone reservation department for a car-rental firm has the daily shift
requirements for operators below:
Day Su M Tu W Th F Sa
Operators 4 8 8 7 7 6 5

Prepare a weekly workshift schedule with two consecutive days off.

Solution
Formulate the problem as an integer linear programming model.
Objective function: Minimize x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7
Constraints:

Sunday: x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 4
Monday: x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 8
Tuesday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 8
Wednesday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 7
Thursday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 7
Friday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 6
Saturday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 5

Using Excel Solver yields the following:

x1 = 0, x2 = 2, x3 = 0, x4 = 0, x5 = 3, x6 = 0, x7 = 5
 x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 = 10 => 10 operators
An example of weekly workshift schedule is:
Schedule matrix, x = workday
Operator Su Mo Tu W Th F Sa
O1 - - x x x x x
O2 - - x x x x x
O3 x x x x x
O4 x x x x - - x
O5 x x x x - - x
O6 x x x x x - -
O7 - x x x x x -
O8 - x x x x x -
O9 - x x x x x -
O10 - x x x x x -
Total 4 8 10 10 7 6 5
Required 4 8 8 7 7 6 5
Excess 0 0 2 3 0 0 0
3. The sheriff has been asked by the county commissioners to increase weekend
patrols in the lake region during the summer months. The sheriff has proposed
the following weekly schedule, shifting deputies from weekday assignments to
weekends:
Day Su M Tu W Th F Sa
Assignments 6 4 4 4 5 5 6

Develop a weekly workshift schedule providing 2 consecutive days off per week for
each officer. Formulate the problem as an integer linear programming model to
minimize the number of nurses needed, and solve using Excel Solver.
Solution
Formulate the problem as an integer linear programming model.
Objective function: Minimize x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7
Constraints:

Sunday: x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 6
Monday: x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 4
Tuesday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 4
Wednesday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 4
Thursday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 5
Friday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 5
Saturday x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 ≥ 6

Using Excel Solver yields the following:

x1 = 1, x2 = 1, x3 = 2, x4 = 1, x5 = 1, x6 = 1, x7 = 0
 x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 + x7 = 7 => 7 officers
An example of weekly workshift schedule is:
Schedule matrix, x = workday
Officer Su Mo Tu W Th F Sa
O1 - - x x x x x
O2 x - - x x x x
O3 x x - - x x x
O4 x x x - - x x
O5 x x x - - x x
O6 x x x x x - -
O7 x - - x x x x
Total 6 4 4 4 5 6 6
Required 6 4 4 4 5 5 6
Excess 0 0 0 0 0 1 0