Automation vs Computer-Assisted Scheduling
Guess what we’ve never heard…I love my automated schedule!
We’ve heard the promises of fully automated schedule building: “Click one button and the whole schedule will auto-populate based on your own custom rules!” It sounds too good to be true, and, as it turns out, often is. Automated systems tend to produce something that takes more time to massage into a useful schedule, than just building the schedule by hand in the first place. So how can we make the most of technology to help save time and cut simple mistakes out of the schedule? Computer-assisted scheduling is the answer; build a quality schedule using a blend of computer programming and speed along with human knowledge and experience.
Building a quality schedule is a complicated process and there are many rules to keep track of: Has everybody got the right number of shifts? Are the assignments distributed fairly? Is anyone double-booked? Add in everyone’s individual preferences and requirements and suddenly building a schedule can be an overwhelming task.
Automated schedule building is designed to alleviate this process by allowing the user to encode a series of rules that the computer will follow to build a schedule. This configuration can be laborious, requiring the user to create dozens (sometimes hundreds) of rules that tell the computer exactly what to do in any scenario. The process is time-consuming and often needs updating for every new schedule build.
“It was easier to just do it myself!” is the feedback we often hear from clients who tried automated scheduling before switching to us. Users trying to build their schedules are left either fiddling with rulesets and repeatedly retrying, or manually correcting the schedule, a frustrating process fraught with timing issues; never enough time to gather all the information now needed and too much time adjusting errors and rebuilding.
Computer-assisted scheduling solves these problems. It allows the user to manually build a schedule, while the computer automatically tracks and provides guidance without having to design complicated rulesets. Everybody’s individual preferences are taken into account to inform the user where assignments should be made while allowing them to build the schedule they need. Additionally, computer-assisted scheduling permits individuals to leave text notes that the user can read, allowing for unlimited adaptability; something fully automated schedules can never accomplish because each new note would need a new rule configured.
With computer-assisted scheduling, the user gets to build the schedule they need while the computer ensures that they don’t break any rules. If a rule does get broken, the computer will automatically inform the user and allow them to undo, or proceed, allowing the user to bend or break rules when required.
MetricAid’s computer-assisted scheduling approach allows users to create better schedules in a fraction of the time.
Using the MetricAid, computer-assisted, scheduling approach will allow you to get the schedule you need, with the quality you want, in a fraction of the time.
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By Jeff Francom
