Workforce Assignment /

Scheduling
Dr Yamini S.
Faculty of Operations and
Analytics

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 Assignment Problem
• An assignment problem determines an optimal way to assign m subjects
to n subjects in the best possible way
• Although the typical objective is to minimize the cost, maximization
objective is also possible
• It assumes all workers are assigned and each job is performed
• An assignment problem is a special case of a transportation problem in
which all supplies and all demands are equal to 1; hence assignment
problems may be solved as a linear program
• The special integer flow property of network models automatically ensures
unique assignments
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 Applications of Assignment problem
• Problems related to assignment arise in a range of fields, such as,
health care, transportation, education and sports
• Resource allocation problem
Managers matching up their personnel with tasks/projects to be
performed
Assignment of machines, vehicles, or plants to tasks/jobs
• Course bidding
• Timetabling problem
Class rooms, Timeslots, Faculty availability

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 Network representation of Assignment
Problem
c11
1 1
c12
An assignment problem seeks c13
to minimize the total cost Agents Tasks
assignment of m workers to m c21
c22
2 2
jobs, given that the cost of
c23
worker i performing job j is cij.
c31
c32
3 3
c33

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 Formulation for Assignment Problem

Formulation
Notations
m n

xij 1 if agent i is assigned to task j

Min c x
i =1 j =1
ij ij

n
0 otherwise x = 1 i =1,2, , m Agents
ij
j =1
m

cij - cost of assigning agent i to task j x

i =1
ij = 1 j =1,2, ,n Tasks

xij > 0 for all i and j

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 Assignment Problem - Example
Scott Inc. is an accounting firm that has three new clients. Project leaders will
be assigned to the three clients. Based on different backgrounds and
experiences of the leaders, the various leader clients assignment differ in
terms of projected completion times. The possible assignment and the
estimated completion times in days are as follows:
Leader Client 1 Client 2 Client 3

Jackson 10 16 32
Ellis 14 22 40
Smith 22 24 34

Develop a network representation and formulate the problem as LP and solve

to find the total time required
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 Special Cases of Assignment Problem
Unbalanced Assignment Problem
Number of agents exceeds the number of tasks:
No modification required in the linear programming problem
Extra agents simply remain unassigned

Number of tasks exceeds the number of agents:

Add enough dummy agents to equalize the number of agents and the number of
tasks
The objective function coefficients for these new variable would be zero so that new
objective function value represents the actual cost.
No assignments will actually be made from dummy agent. The tasks assigned to the
dummy agent will not have any actual agent assigned

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 Special Cases of Assignment Problem
The assignment alternatives are evaluated in terms of revenue or profit
Solve as a maximization problem
An assignment is unacceptable
Remove the corresponding decision variable,
xij = 0
An agent is permitted to work t tasks:
𝑛

෍ 𝑥𝑖𝑗 ≤ 𝑡 𝑖 = 1,2, … , 𝑚 Agents

𝑗=1

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 Assignment Problem - Example
The U.S. cable company uses a distribution system with 5 centers and
customer zones. Each customer zone is assigned a sole source supplier;
each customer zone receives all of its cable products from the same
distribution center. In an effort to balance demand and workload at the
distribution centers, the company’s vice president of logistics specified
that distribution centers may not be assigned more than three customer
zones. Determine the assignment of customer zones to distribution
centers that will minimise cost. Suppose each distribution center is
limited toa maximum of two customer zones. How does this constraint
change the assignment and the cost of supplying customer zones?

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Northshore Bank is working to develop an efficient work schedule for full-
time and part time tellers. The schedule must provide for efficient operation
of the bank including adequate customer service, employee breaks and so on.
On Fridays, the bank is open from 9.00 A.M to 7.00 P.M. The no. of tellers
necessary to provide adequate customer service during each hour of
operation is given here
Time Number of Tellers Time Number of Tellers
9.00 A.M to 10 A.M 6 2.00 P.M to 3.00 P.M 6
10.00 A.M to 11 A.M 4 3.00 P.M to 4.00 P.M 4
11.00 A.M to Noon 8 4.00 P.M to 5.00 P.M 7
Noon to 1.00 P.M 10 5.00 P.M to 6.00 P.M 6
1.00 P.M to 2.00 P.M 9 6.00 P.M to 7.00 P.M 6

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Each full-time employee starts on the hour and work for a 4 hour shift,
followed by 1 hour for lunch and the then a 3 hour shift. Part-time
employees work one 4-hour shift beginning on the hour. Considering
salary and fringe benefits, full-time employees cost the bank $15 per hour
and part-time employees cost the bank $8 per hour. Formulate an LP
model that can be used to develop a schedule that will satisfy customer
service needs at a minimum employee cost.
Solve for the optimal schedule of tellers. Comment on the solution.
After reviewing the solution, some additional requirements are specified.
The manager wants to ensure that one full-time employee is on duty at all
times and that there is a staff of atleast five full-time employees. Revise the
model to incorporate additional changes and solve the problem

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Union Airways is adding more flights to and from its hub airport and so
needs to hire additional customer service agents. However, it is not clear
just how many more should be hired. Management recognizes the need
for cost control while also consistently providing a satisfactory level of
service to the company’s customers, so a desirable trade-off between
these two factors is being sought. Therefore, a management science team
is studying how to schedule the agents to provide satisfactory service with
the smallest personnel cost.
Based on the new schedule of flights, an analysis has been made of
the minimum number of customer service agents that need to be on duty
at different times of the day to provide a satisfactory level of service.

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The minimum number of agents needed to keep customer waiting times
reasonable are given in table. Each agent works for an eight hour shift and the
authorised shifts are given below. Because some shifts are less desirable than
others, the wages specified in the contract differ by shift. The daily compensation
for each shift is given below:
Shift 1: 6.00 A.M to 2.00 P.M, $170
Shift 2: 8.00 A.M to 4.00 P.M, $160
Shift 3: Noon to 8.00 P.M, $175
Shift 4: 4.00 P.M to Midnight, $180
Shift 5: 10.00 P.M to 6.00 A.M, $190
The problem is to determine how many agents should be assigned to the
respective shifts each day to minimise the total personnel cost for agents.

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 Time Period Minimum number of people
needed
6 AM - 8 AM 48
8 AM - 10 AM 79
10 AM - 12 PM 65
12 PM - 2 PM 87
2 PM - 4 PM 64
4 PM - 6 PM 73
6 PM - 8 PM 82
8 PM - 10 PM 43
10 PM - 12 AM 52
12 AM – 6 AM 15
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