The new generation of personnel dispatching
For a long time, tabular planning methods were considered the standard in personnel scheduling. Modern solutions, on the other hand, increasingly rely on graphical approaches that clearly visualize individual planning aspects and their interrelationships. In this article, you will learn why the combination of both approaches will shape the future of duty scheduling.
Challenges of pure matrix planning
When planning shifts, dispatchers in transportation companies have to take many parameters into account, above all legal and collective bargaining rules, as well as operational requirements and employee preferences. Personnel planners are supported by dispatching systems that generate automated or semi-automated suggestions and further improve planning through optimization runs. In the past, software solutions were based almost exclusively on planning methods using tables or matrices. These approaches have proven themselves in many planning issues, but they have also revealed weaknesses. For example, changes that need to be made at short notice require many clicks and manual entries. These cost dispatchers valuable time and are prone to errors. In addition, the more spontaneous the planning scenario, the more likely it is that the classic tabular Disposition with high manual processing requirements reaches its limits (Fig. 1).
This applies, for example, to a special trip ordered at short notice for the same day. From a business perspective and for high productivity, it makes sense to add this special trip to an existing service. For the corresponding planning, a dispatcher must know the exact start and end times of the service elements. However, in order to display this information in the matrix view, dispatchers have to perform many manual processing steps—and under considerable time pressure.
Quickly visible planning options
Against this backdrop and in view of changing user expectations regarding the software solutions available to them, interest in graphical scheduling approaches is growing. Younger colleagues in particular are demanding intuitive operating concepts that require less manual intervention thanks to a higher degree of automation and offer efficient decision support for demanding planning tasks.
Graphical approaches use various visual elements to present planning contexts in an easily understandable way. These include, for example, Gantt charts and bar charts, calendar views, and color coding. Unlike tabular processing, this form of presentation also shows the time frame, i.e., the necessary reference to the previous and following day.
High transparency thanks to real-time updates
Appropriate visualizations allow layers and resources to be distinguished at a glance and gaps and bottlenecks to be quickly identified. The same applies to the display of scheduled and open services in a single view: dispatchers can quickly identify suitable drivers and use drag-and-drop functionality to easily move and assign the corresponding graphic elements. Graphical elements are particularly useful for finding solutions quickly in the situation described above, where a short-term special trip has to be planned for the same day. This is because dispatchers can see all the relevant planning aspects in a small time window. This approach is particularly efficient thanks to real-time updates: this means that every change to the graphical interface and all related information is automatically and immediately updated in the system. This eliminates numerous clicks, reducing errors and increasing transparency.
Compact matrix display of details
However, practical experience shows that not all planning tasks can be handled more effectively using visual building blocks. One reason for this is that detailed information on multiple employees and services can be presented much more compactly in tabular form. This in turn means that, for example, the block allocation of services, i.e., the assignment of services to an employee over a longer period of time, can be carried out much more quickly using a matrix approach. Graphically, this large time window cannot be easily displayed or efficiently processed due to the many small visual elements. Dispatchers therefore appreciate the combination of graphical and tabular display and editing options.
Graphical and tabular layout: It's all in the mix
The introduction of modern, graphical scheduling elements is an important step toward efficiently supporting and relieving schedulers in short-term planning situations. They provide a clear overview of elements over time, are intuitive to use, and accelerate workflows in situations where quick decisions are required. At the same time, matrix approaches are indispensable for long-term service planning. In the future, therefore, there will be a particular demand for scheduling systems that incorporate planning elements from both worlds, thus combining the strengths of both approaches.
