Can it handle my rules?
It is the first question every scheduler asks. Here are the kinds of rule Skedge holds, in the language a scheduler actually uses. You define what each one means for your department, and the algorithm enforces it while it builds the plan rather than checking afterwards.
Coverage
Staffing minimums
Set how many people each shift needs. Different day types can carry different numbers.
Role minimums
Require a minimum presence for any role you define, on the shifts where it matters.
Sub-unit coverage
Separate areas inside one department each get their own cover in the same plan.
Rest and limits
Rest windows
Define the rest that has to follow a duty. Nobody is placed inside it.
Comp days
Set how duties earn comp days, and the plan books them instead of leaving them owed.
Caps and gaps
Limit consecutive duty days, duties per month, and the gap between one duty and the next.
Qualifications and seniority
Duties gated by qualification
Define who is signed off for what. Only qualified people are assigned.
Supervision rules
Set which levels can hold a shift alone and which need cover alongside them.
Pairing rules
Say who must work together and who must not. Both are respected.
Fairness
Load targets
Give duties their weights and set each person's target. The plan drives everyone toward it.
Weekend and holiday spread
Distribute the unpopular dates across the team, not onto whoever says yes.
Rotation across years
Whoever covered a given date last year can be kept off it this year.
Life
Absence and leave
Approved leave and long absences are entered once, and the plan builds around the whole window.
Changes mid-month
A late change reopens only what it has to and proposes a fix in seconds.
Hard blocks and soft preferences
Mark what can never be broken and what should be honoured where possible. The plan treats them differently.
Structure
Parallel tracks in one plan
Rotations, duties, on-call and clinics are solved together, not in separate files.
People from outside the unit
Staff who are not part of the core team take duties under their own rules.
Contracts and part time
Contract percentages drive targets, caps and pro-rating throughout.
A department can run on fifty rules and three parallel schedules. Skedge holds all of them in one plan.
Do not see your rule here? Every department sets its own. The groups above are the shape of what Skedge handles, not a fixed list, and the specifics are yours to define.