Suggested Shift and Intelligent Shift Layout

method What is the proposed shift and what problem does it solve?

In many hospitals and shift complexes, the month begins with a common pain: dozens of people apply for their shift from different directions; One sends text messages, one writes in the messenger group, one coordinates by phone, and one delivers on paper. The head nurse or shift manager must put together these scattered requests, remember the rules of each department and each role, control the capacity of each shift, and at the end make a schedule that both maintains the coverage of the department and respects people's preferences as much as possible. As the number of staff increases and the rules become more complex, this seemingly simple task turns into a multi-day process, with several parts having to be redone with each small change.

Suggested shift One of the two main methods is to register a request in the Axis Puls system, which is designed exactly for this issue. In this method, employees select the days and shifts they want within the system, and for each selection, Application priority They define themselves. All these requests are collected in a single place; The header sees them together and the system layout engine, when building the program, uses the same requests as a basis for calculation. Simply put, instead of the path of "text and paper → manual collection → mental review of rules → tabulation → multiple corrections", the path of "structured registration → automatic aggregation → rule-based review → layout → administrator approval" is replaced. This method is part of the comprehensive guide Shift Management and next to the second method is Desired shift, forms two paths of system request registration.

Registration of priority 1 to 3 and collection of requests in a structure

The heart of the proposed method is the concept of "priority". The employee doesn't just say which shift he wants; Rather it says every shift How much wants According to the product documentation, three priority levels are considered for requests: priority 1 meaning very desirable, priority 2 meaning desirable and priority 3 meaning preferred. This simple grading makes a big difference; Because the system understands during arrangement which requests are more critical for the person and in case of conflict between the requests of several people for a limited capacity, it can make a decision based on these priorities and department rules. For example, a nurse who must be on day shift for the night of her child's exam, records that day with priority 1 and marks the shift she only prefers with priority 3; The system takes this intensity difference into account.

Importantly, aggregating requests isn't just "aggregating"; Each request is linked to the identity of the person, their role, the relevant department and the rules governing that shift. That is, when thirty people register requests in one department, Headners sees not only the list of requests, but also the status of each request in relation to capacity and rules. It is this link that makes the next step, the arrangement, possible. If your collection structure is not yet legislated, read the article Shift adjustment It helps you understand the principles of rule-based layout better, and to learn about post-layout monitoring, see the article Shift control The next path is study.

Layout and sorting engine based on capacity completion

After registering and gathering the requests, it's time for the main part of the system: Shift arrangement engine. This engine checks the requests of people who have registered and places them in the program according to the rules and capacities defined. The rules are the ones defined by the manager once for each department, role and shift; From the minimum and maximum number of people per shift to the capacity based on role and gender and daily, weekly and monthly limits. For each request, the system checks whether the placement of this person in that shift is compatible with all these conditions or not, and only if it is compatible, it performs the placement.

One notable behavior of the layout engine, Sorting requests based on the completion of shifts is A shift that is almost at capacity or has no vacancies at all is given a different priority than a shift that is still at capacity. The logic of this work is clear: the shifts on the verge of completion are more sensitive and should be assigned earlier so that their capacity is not wasted and potential conflicts are identified earlier. In contrast, open capacity shifts provide more flexibility to shift requests. This capacity-oriented sorting makes the final composition of the program more balanced and closer to the reality of sector coverage. To understand the place of this engine in the whole process, review the manual Shift Management It is recommended.

Rearrangement, instant viewing and uncompleted shift announcement

Shift planning is inherently repetitive work; It rarely happens that the composition made in the first step is the same as the final composition. That's why the option system Rearranging provides the administrator with: By running the process again, the system creates a new composition from scratch. This allows the administrator to test different deployment scenarios, see the effect of changing a rule or adding new requests, and finally choose a combination that is more acceptable in terms of segment coverage and respect for requests. Rearranging does not mean throwing away the previous work; It means having the opportunity to compare and make an informed choice.

Another feature, Instant view of program status It is at the same time as requests are received. The system does not need a separate and long "calculation start" step to generate the program; At the same time as each request is registered, the information can be processed and the manager can see how many people have sent their request, how much of the capacity of each shift has been completed, which shifts still have capacity and how the general status of the requests is. This momentary transparency removes the management of the month from the mode of "waiting until the end of the registration period and then starts picking" and enables active follow-up; For example, if three days before the end of the deadline, only half of the staff have registered, the manager will follow up sooner.

The first item in this list is one of the most important principles of trusting the system and it is worth emphasizing separately: Axis Puls does not ignore the rules to forcefully fill a shift. If no virtual combination of staff is consistent with the rules of the section, the output of the system is an apparently complete but not rule-breaking table; rather Clear announcement "This shift cannot be completed according to defined conditions" is for the manager to make management decisions with open eyes; For example, to revise the capacity, allocate additional staff or modify a certain law. This behavior keeps the system output verifiable and reliable.

Explanation of the reason for the arrangement; Why was this person placed in this shift?

One of the most common misgivings about any scheduling system is that it is a "black box": a table is delivered but no one knows why each person is placed exactly where they are. Axis Puls system to answer this doubt, in cases where the logic of the decision can be explained, Reason for layout It specifies: why a person was placed in one shift, why he was not placed in another shift and what restrictions prevented him from being placed. For example, it may be determined that a nurse's priority 1 request for the morning shift is not included due to the completion of the capacity of that shift, and instead her priority 2 request is covered in the evening shift; Or a person not being placed in the night shift was due to the limit of his night shift in that month.

The practical value of this transparency can be seen in three places. First, Defense of the program It is against protests; When an employee asks why their request was not considered, the manager provides a specific reason instead of a general answer. Second, Amendment of the rules of is If a repeating pattern of "requests not covered due to a specific rule" is seen, the administrator realizes that the same rule may need to be revised. Third, Gradual trust building is A team that sees the reasons for decisions for a few months will apply more confidently and its participation will increase in the following months. This is why the product documentation emphasizes that the administrator does not have to rely solely on a final table; It can review the logic of the system's decision and then issue a final approval.

The ratio of the proposed shift to the desired shift and the starting steps

It is natural that the question arises: if there is a proposed shift, Desired shift What is its position? The short answer is that in the proposed method, the employee says "I prefer these shifts" and the system picks the schedule; But in the desired method, the employee says "I will choose this shift from the allowed options" and the system controls the capacity and rules at that moment. The proposed method is more suitable for departments where the manager wants to see all the requests at once, adjust the balance of the department himself and confirm the final composition; Especially in crowded hospital departments such as inpatient departments where round-the-clock coverage and combination of roles are sensitive. Read the full details of the second method in the Custom Shift article, and for a bigger picture, go to Shift Management Guide come back

To start using the proposed shift in a department, the recommended path according to the product documentation is as follows: first, the structure of the department, their roles, shifts and capacities are defined once in the system; Then the employees become members with the specific code of the department and their role is approved by the manager; Then, the application deadline is announced and each person registers their preferences; The engine builds the layout of the app and the administrator approves the final version after checking and re-layout if needed. If a change is necessary in the middle of the month, the route Leave and shift management This is the continuation of the process. Experience of therapeutic departments such as Nurses shift It shows that the more precise the section rules are defined, the closer the layout output is to reality and the less the need for manual correction; And the basic principles of this accuracy can be found in Shift adjustment and Shift control review