Struggling with 24x7 Shift Scheduling for a Small Team? Need Urgent Help!

I am facing a challenge in creating a roster for my three-member team to handle a 24x7 environment. Below are the constraints. Is there any tool by which we can schedule automatically for staff? Please help.

Constraints for Scheduling

1) Number of Employees - 3
2) 24x7 Environment
3) 3 Shifts Per Day, 8 Hours Each
4) Like to distribute equal morning, afternoon, and night shifts between team members, and it should be rotating
5) Like to give a weekly off after 5/6 working days
6) Weekly off should be consecutive
7) A reliever for these shifts is provided, but he will do only morning and evening shifts.

Kindly help me out. It's very urgent.

Regards

Dear Rahul,

Please check the attached XL file. Normally, a reliever is supposed to cover any of the three shifts. However, your requirement states that he would only work the morning and afternoon shifts. I am not aware of any specific tool. Kindly provide further details regarding the XL file.

Once you have developed this for a few months, you can gain a fair idea of the process. Eventually, it will become repetitive and easier to manage.

V. Raghunathan

Dear Mr. Raghunathan,

Working 7 continuous night shifts won't work. Kindly suggest a roster that will have individual shifts of a maximum of three days. It would be favorable for employees too.

Dear Mr. Rahul,

I wish you had tried once before making a request. In the schedule given by me earlier, the maximum working days between two OFF days was only SIX and not seven as you have mentioned. Anyway, I have now made a FOUR-WEEK schedule keeping all your requirements in mind. Please extend this for three or four months using the columns so that you will get practice before putting it into use.

Good luck,
V. Raghunathan

You cannot make the roster with three people; it requires three and a half people.

You are right, Mr. Venu. Theoretically, three and a half persons are required for one spot operating 24/7 on all days. However, to overcome this unrealistic "three and a half" person scenario, a fourth person is taken as a reliever. He works the general shift for three days and covers relieving shifts for the next three days, with the seventh day designated as his weekly off day.

In operating plants, we consider seven persons for two spots so that the seventh person can act as a reliever for both spots. If there is only one spot, obviously a fourth person has to be there, working three days of shift duty and three days of general shift duty.

Rahul's case is different, though. He has a reliever who only covers the morning and afternoon shifts. Additionally, he prefers to limit any individual to a maximum of three consecutive night shifts. Therefore, effective planning spread over several days is necessary.

Please refer to Sr. No. 7 in the first post by Rahul. Also, review the Excel file and provide your suggestions to Rahul.

Regards, V. Raghunathan