Companies and institutions can now acquire a solution that has been launched by a tech company operating under Hong Kong’s Smart Government Innovation Lab.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology, the AI Rostering Solution created by the company aims to automate and optimise staff work schedules. This solution takes into account forecasted demand, staff availability, skillset, and human preferences in order to produce rosters that fulfil all specified constraints in a cost-effective and efficient manner.
By streamlining the roster creation process, the solution effectively minimises the time and effort required. This allows for quick “what-if” and scenario analysis with various objectives. With the AI rostering solution, planning staff can effortlessly devise different workforce management strategies for different situations, ultimately enhancing overall efficiency and productivity.
The solution provides the following benefits:
- Demand forecasting is a process that helps organisations determine the optimal number of workers with the necessary skills to be at the right place and time. This is achieved through the following methods:
- Predicting future labour demand based on each organisation’s individual staffing policies.
- Identifying periods with anticipated labour demand in advance to enable smooth operation planning.
- Allowing users to perform “what-if” scenario planning, which enables the review of different scenarios for both demand (such as the impact of additional demand) and supply (such as changes in supply).
- Staff rostering involves the automatic generation of rosters to efficiently fill shift demands with appropriate personnel. The process includes:
- Allowing for pre-assignment of leave and special tasks such as training.
- Automatically generating a roster schedule that optimises staff utilisation based on individual skills, preferences, and availability.
- Ensuring compliance with labour laws and company policies.
- Providing real-time synchronisation with employee self-service (ESS) platforms.
- Changes handling refers to the ability to easily manage inevitable changes that occur within staff rosters. It involves the following:
- Capability to handle various types of changes, such as leave requests, swap requests, temporary secondment to another shift, and sudden changes in demand.
- Ability to re-schedule the roster either through AI or manual adjustment.
- Identification of re-scheduling conflicts, with alerts provided to help staff resolve conflicts in a timely manner.
- Employee self-service is a tool that empowers employees to manage their own roster, streamlining HR workflow and increasing engagement. This includes:
- Allowing employees to indicate their roster preferences, view upcoming shifts, perform shift swaps, and apply for leave from anywhere and at any time via their mobile devices.
- Suggesting suitable colleagues for shift swaps while upholding compliance and business policies.
- Task assignment and staff performance management involves automatically assigning tasks to the appropriate personnel on the day of operation, which includes:
- Allowing for pre-assignment of tasks such as training, meetings, and static tasks.
- Automatically generating tasks based on client demand.
- Auto-assigning tasks to staff with the necessary skills, qualifications, and availability to maximise resource utilisation and efficiency.
- Ensuring compliance with the latest labour laws and company requirements, such as fatigue and rest break rules.
- Sending task-related notifications to employees via the mobile app.
- Real-time track and trace involves capturing operational status in real-time. This includes:
- Allowing employees to record real-time data that can be used for monitoring and post-task analysis to improve transparency and efficiency.
- Supporting task allocators to resolve disruptions with real-time information.
- Allowing employees to request task extensions.
Application Areas
The solution was design to be applied across the areas of Broadcasting, City Management, Climate and Weather, Commerce and Industry, Development, Education, Employment and Labour, Environment, Finance, Food, Health, Housing, Infrastructure, Law and Security, Population, Recreation and Culture, Social Welfare as well as Transport.
Technologies Used
The solution employs the latest in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Analytics, Deep Learning, Machine Learning, Mobile Technologies, Natural Language Processing and Predictive Analytics.
Use case
A list of use cases for AI Rostering solutions is as follows:
- Government Agencies: AI rostering can optimise the scheduling of government agency staff, such as tax offices and licensing departments, to reduce wait times and improve citizen experience.
- Public Works: AI rostering can optimise the scheduling of maintenance staff in public works departments, such as road maintenance and landscaping, to ensure effective resource allocation and timely completion of work.
- Healthcare: AI rostering can schedule healthcare staff, including doctors, nurses, and support staff, in hospitals and clinics to ensure adequate staffing for quality patient care.
- Logistics and Transportation: AI rostering can optimise delivery schedules for logistics and transportation companies, reducing delivery times, increasing efficiency, and lowering transportation costs.
AI rostering can provide businesses and organisations with optimised scheduling processes, reduced costs, and improved efficiency.
