RosterPlanner USER MANUAL
Edition
:
V2.0
Edition Date
:
01/04/2010
Status
:
Released Version
Commercial – in – Confidence This document contains proprietary data of items, components, processes etc. developed or acquired at the private expense of ATS Data Design ApS and the document is restricted to be used only by GCAA, Abu Dhabi, under the terms of the Contract Ref.42110/1013. Neither said document nor said data shall be furnished, disclosed, copied or used by another person outside the conditions of the Contract Ref.42110/1013 without a written approval of ATS Data Design ApS. The Copyright of this document is vested in ATS Data Design ApS. This document may only be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form, or by any means electronically, mechanically, in copy, or otherwise, with the prior permission of ATS Data Design ApS. GCAA, Abu Dhabi, is granted permission to reproduce this document, in whole or in part, for use only under the terms of the Contract Ref.42110/1013.
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DOCUMENT IDENTIFICATION AND STATUS
Title: Version: Date: Author
User Guide V2.0 01/04/2010 Michael Silau / Finn Quist Andersen
AUTHORITY
Integra A/S
Approval
Name: Signature: Date: Name: Signature: Date:
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DOCUMENT DISTRIBUTION
Edition: 2.0
ORGANISATION
COPIES
GCAA, Abu Dhabi
2
Integra A/S
1
ATS Data Design ApS
2
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Table of Contents 1
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 9
2
OBJECTIVE ................................................................................ 9
3
DOCUMENT OVERVIEW ............................................................. 9
4
DOCUMENT CONVENTIONS ....................................................... 9
5
EPL IN BRIEF .......................................................................... 11
6
EPL ROSTERPLANNER ............................................................. 21
7
INSTALLATION OF EPL ROSTERPLANNER ............................... 22
8
EPL ROSTERPLANNER GENERAL LAYOUT ................................ 22
8.1
Selecting a Period ................................................................................... 24
8.2 The Toolbar ............................................................................................. 25 8.2.1 Toolbar link .............................................................................................26 8.2.2 RPL Standard Colours ...............................................................................26 8.3
9
Getting started ........................................................................................ 27
CREATION FUNCTIONS ........................................................... 30
9.1
Roster Preparation .................................................................................. 31
9.2
Staff & Headers ....................................................................................... 36
9.3
Basic Roster ............................................................................................ 38 Manually using an individual matrix ..................................................................41 Fill in from Stored Shifts ..................................................................................42 Store these Shifts ...........................................................................................42 Fill in Staffing.................................................................................................42
9.4
Teams ..................................................................................................... 44
9.5
OJT .......................................................................................................... 46
9.6
Leave Requests ....................................................................................... 48
9.7
Task Requests (AODs) ............................................................................. 51
9.8
Part time ................................................................................................. 53
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9.9
Rating...................................................................................................... 55
9.10 Individual Shifts ...................................................................................... 57 9.11 Bidding .................................................................................................... 59 9.12 MeetingPlanner ....................................................................................... 61 9.13 Pool Manager .......................................................................................... 65 9.13.1 Pool Distribution Options ........................................................................68 9.13.2 Coupled Shifts ......................................................................................69 9.13.3 Trace Function ......................................................................................72 9.13.4 Fairness ...............................................................................................75
10 CHECK FUNCTIONS ................................................................. 77 10.1 All Checks ................................................................................................ 78 10.2 Check Leave + Task ................................................................................. 80 10.2.1 Auto-fill ................................................................................................80 10.3 Check Working Rules ............................................................................... 83 10.3.1 Fixed weeks: ........................................................................................85 10.3.2 Floating weeks:.....................................................................................86 10.4 Check Conflicts ........................................................................................ 88 10.5 Check Combinations ................................................................................ 91 10.6 Check Staffing ......................................................................................... 93 10.7 Check Rating ........................................................................................... 94 10.8 Check Status ........................................................................................... 95 10.8.1 ESARR5 ...............................................................................................95 10.9 Check Bidding.......................................................................................... 98 10.10
Check Supervisors .............................................................................. 100
11 FUNCTIONALITIES & DATABASE ........................................... 107 11.1 Staff data .............................................................................................. 108 11.1.1 Staff Balances ..................................................................................... 114 11.2 Staff Info Buttons.................................................................................. 117 11.2.1 To activate a person ............................................................................ 118 11.2.2 To deactivate a person ......................................................................... 119 11.2.3 To Move a person ................................................................................ 121 11.2.4 EPL Photo Gallery ................................................................................ 122 11.3 Shift types ............................................................................................. 123 11.4 Staffing Tables ...................................................................................... 127 11.5 Combination Tables ............................................................................... 132 11.5.1 Editing Combinations ........................................................................... 133 Edition: 2.0
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11.5.2
Multible Combinations Tables ................................................................ 134
11.6 Leave Plan ............................................................................................. 138 11.6.1 Quick Update ...................................................................................... 140 11.7 Task Plan ............................................................................................... 141 11.7.1 Updating the TaskPlan ......................................................................... 142 11.7.2 More about RPL Taskplanning ............................................................... 144 11.7.3 The X-task Concept ............................................................................. 149 11.7.4 Reservation Tasks ............................................................................... 149 11.8 Bidding Plan and Biddings ..................................................................... 151 11.9 Status Plan ............................................................................................ 156 11.10 Parameters......................................................................................... 157 11.10.1 RPL Online Help .................................................................................. 160 11.10.2 User Parameters sections ..................................................................... 161 11.10.3 System Parameters ............................................................................. 171 11.10.4 User Parameter Sets ............................................................................ 171 11.11 The Manual Process ............................................................................ 175 11.11.1 Swopping of Shifts .............................................................................. 175 11.11.2 Please avoid ....................................................................................... 176 11.11.3 Short Keys ......................................................................................... 176 11.12
GoTo Functions and Navigation .......................................................... 180
11.13 Data Exchange ................................................................................... 182 11.13.1 Import of Biddings and Leave ............................................................... 183 11.13.2 Bidding – leave ................................................................................... 184 11.13.3 Bidding + leave................................................................................... 185 11.13.4 EPL-mail principles .............................................................................. 185 11.13.5 ePL-mail (Data out) ............................................................................. 185 11.13.6 EPL-mail (Data in) ............................................................................... 187 11.13.7 EPL-mail and pool shifts ....................................................................... 190 11.13.8 Historic Data....................................................................................... 191 11.13.9 Leave ................................................................................................ 192 11.13.10 RPL Interlink.................................................................................... 192 11.13.11 System Upgrade .............................................................................. 197 11.13.12 Publishing of rosters ......................................................................... 198 11.13.13 Performed shifts in RosterPlanner ....................................................... 198 11.13.14 All Shifts ......................................................................................... 199 11.13.15 Transfer of roster data to payrole system or HR system ........................ 199 11.13.16 Bidding Accepted.............................................................................. 199 11.13.17 Bidding Registered ........................................................................... 200 11.13.18 BreakPlanner ................................................................................... 202 11.13.19 Leave ............................................................................................. 202 11.13.20 StatusChecker ................................................................................. 203 11.13.21 Synchronize..................................................................................... 205 11.13.22 Tasks / AODs ................................................................................... 205 11.14
Print Out............................................................................................. 207
11.15
Protection........................................................................................... 209
11.16
Replace Cycles.................................................................................... 211
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11.17 Show Button....................................................................................... 212 11.17.1 Created Rosters .................................................................................. 213 11.17.2 New Rosters ....................................................................................... 213 11.17.3 Delete Rosters .................................................................................... 214 11.17.4 Overlap .............................................................................................. 218 11.17.5 Ratings .............................................................................................. 218 11.17.6 Show non-existing............................................................................... 220 11.17.7 Hours per Year / Working Hours ............................................................ 220 11.17.8 Early/Late Counts ................................................................................ 221 11.17.9 Horizontal Counts ................................................................................ 224 11.17.10 Vertical Counts ................................................................................ 225 11.17.11 Week Numbers ................................................................................ 226 11.17.12 Registration of sickness..................................................................... 226 11.17.13 Staff Names .................................................................................... 227 11.17.14 Pool Lines........................................................................................ 228 11.18 On Screen Features ............................................................................ 230 11.18.1 Fairness Indicators .............................................................................. 231 11.19 Advanced Utilization of EuroPlanner .................................................. 232 11.19.1 Example 1 – Manpower Planning ........................................................... 232 11.19.2 Example 2 – Task Planning ................................................................... 233 11.19.3 Example 3 – Quality ............................................................................ 236 11.19.4 Example 4 – Simulation ....................................................................... 237 11.19.5 Example 5 – Sickness & Stand By.......................................................... 237 11.19.6 Example 6 – Various Statistics .............................................................. 238 11.19.7 Example 7 – Individual Rosters ............................................................. 239 11.20
Protection Levels ................................................................................ 243
11.21 Error Handling .................................................................................... 243 11.21.1 Precautions ........................................................................................ 243 11.21.2 Application Errors ................................................................................ 243
12 RPL STATISTICS ................................................................... 246 13 RPL TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS .......................................... 252 14 RPL DATA CAPACITY ............................................................. 252 15 RPL SYSTEM CONFIGURATION .............................................. 252
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1
Introduction
2
Objective This document is the reference manual for the EPL RosterPlanner Application. The user manual is sufficiently detailed to enable a person with a basic knowledge of Windows-based software applications and rostering principles to operate the system with 10 days of training.
3
Document overview The complete EUROPLANNER® documentation consists of thirteen volumes: 1. EPL Leave & Bidding 2. EPL RosterPlanner 3. EPL DutySwap 4. EPL OJTPlanner 5. EPL StatusChecker 6. EPL CheckIn & Briefing 7. EPL BreakPlanner 8. EPL TrafficPlanner 9. EPL CoursePlanner 10. EPL Administration 11. EPL HR Interfaces 12. EPL Web Support Guide 13. EPL Installation Guide
4
Document Conventions CTL+t
Hold down the CTL key while pressing the “t”-key
ALT+Left
Hold down the ALT key while pressing Arrow Left
Access path “Process / Basic Roster / Fill in from Stored Shifts / Execute” means: Press “Process”-button then select “Basic Roster”, then select “Fill in from stored Shifts” and finally press “Execute”. Database
In this document the term “Database” refers to all information stored as a basis for the EPL RosterPlanner, e.g. Shift Types, LeavePlan, Parameters, etc
AOD
Absence of Duty. in this document referred to using the term “Task”
Select
Left mouse click
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5
EPL in Brief
Bidding and Leave Planning are pre-planning modules. RosterPlanner is the application that creates ATC rosters. Staff Services handles the swap of shifts after publishing and contains the Staff Forum. Check-In makes Staff Check-In and keeps all published rosters. Check-In is also where the supervisor makes last minute changes and where registration of sickness takes place. StatusChecker and OJT-Planner keep track of all ESARR5-ratings and match coaches with trainees. BreakPlanner allocates controllers onto correct working positions and optimises sector configuration according to staffing and traffic flow. Statistics are prints of any kind and transfers roster data to e.g. the payroll system and human resources software.
ATS Data Design ATS Data Design develops and implements highly efficient, user friendly and flexible Shift Rostering Applications to ANS Providers for the benefit of both management and air traffic controllers. Combined with our wide-ranging expertise in ATC environments, ATS Data Design uses modern programming tools and web-based user-interface to provide complete turnkey solutions to meet all customer requirements. ATS Data Design provides tactical and strategic manpower planning service to 1,200 ATCOâ€&#x;s and FDAâ€&#x;s in Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia, Croatia and in Eurocontrol UAC, Maastricht.
RPL System Functionalities The EPL Leave & Bidding uses Internet as a staff gateway for entering leave requests and bidding. It exchanges data with the RPL RosterPlanner application, which handles creation of rosters, monitoring of resources, re-arranging of shifts, and provides the user Edition: 2.0
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with many easy tools to facilitate manual inputs. After publishing deadline of the final roster, data is exchanged with RPL Check-In, StatusChecker and BreakPlanner. In the OPS-room this part of the system manages all staff check-in, absence (due to sickness) updating, monitoring of valid ratings, planning of breaks, etc. After midnight all registration data is available for further processing in your payroll system. Although containing powerful and advanced processes, the tool is highly user-friendly and is easily customized and integrated to national procedures.
RPL Support
ATS Data Design assists in all kind of basic roster definition, setting of parameters, data transfer, processing, printing, etc.
Online Web-support 24H.
Up-to-date software documentation.
RPL-workshops and training of super users.
EPL Leave & Bidding Functionalities
Internet Staff Bidding on any shift. Possibility to add a remark to biddings. Available shift types and setting of manual or automatic deadline are custom parameters.
Internet Leave Planning, including fixed days off. Three priority levels: High, medium, low. Available leave buffer per day and optional setting of open and closed periods. Remaining (or used) leave days for each person.
Possibility for staff to compose individual rosters.
Checking of contractual and governmental regulations. This custom setting prevents undesirable and illegal biddings.
Publishing of accepted leave, accepted biddings, etc. The customer may also decide to publish final rosters via RPL Check-In.
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RPL Roster Planning Functionalities
Automatic roster generation of pre-planned and distributed rosters. Set-up of basic shifts may be carried out automatically according to any kind of recurring pattern, e.g. 5 working days followed by 2 days off, or automatically generated set-up based on manually processed long term patterns (from e.g. Excel files or CSV-files).
Consideration of all public holidays and other specific days where staffing requires special attention.
Consideration of different set-up of ATC units and teams. Max 1,000 persons per unit, unlimited number of units)
Definition of required staffing. Carried out automatically according to fixed patterns or custom defined for any shift. Deviating staffing may be set for specific weekdays or days of the year.
Definition of up to 50 different shift types. Additional time balancing on shifts according to national or local regulations (breaks, evening and night allowances, etc)
Consideration of trainees in the same team (and roster) as full qualified controllers (coach-function).
Consideration of Internet leave planning. A database contains all leave data. Builtin easy monitoring and modification tools. Three priority levels available: High, medium, low.
Consideration of Task planning. A database contains all absence of duty (AOD) data. Built-in easy monitoring and modification tools. Three priority levels available: High, medium, low.
Pre-allocation of manpower resources (with or without staff names).
Consideration of staff doing any kind of part time work.
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Consideration of all staff ratings (maximum 50 rating definitions). Handling of single- or multi-rated controllers, of supervisors, of team leaders, etc.
Consideration of flexible or individual working practices according to shifts of shift patterns including governmental regulations or requirements at resting time and shift patterns.
Considering of Internet bidding and manual preferences. Three priority levels available: High, medium, low.
Automatic, fair and fast distribution of shifts among staff. A pre-planned roster for 100 controllers takes less than 10 seconds, including calculations to which extend RPL is able to meet all requirements set. Result showing either lack of staff, balanced, or still free resources. This automatic distribution contains options for the staff planner to incorporate biddings and/or to match shifts to colleagues.
Checking of incoherence between rosters and database contents.
Checking of contractual and governmental regulations or requirements on e.g. resting time, staffing and shift patterns.
Checking of bidding fulfilment and balancing of biddings.
Checking of ESARR5 status requirements, proficiency license, medical validations, etc.
Checking of the presence of supervisors, deputy supervisors and team leaders according to local procedures.
Checking of time account balances and limits.
Management and analysis of manpower resources. Short, medium and long term planning.
Built-in MeetingPlanner that calculates the best suited days for a meeting with participants from different teams.
Display and monitoring of actual working hours, number of shifts, ratings, biddings, sickness, staff data, fairness indicators, etc.
Handy tools to facilitate manual completion of rosters.
Generation of electronically rosters (Excel-files) that can be attached to e-mails.
OJT Planner tool for rostering of coaches, assessors and trainees.
Print and display of statistics for cost/benefit analyses. The program takes data using copy/paste from any Windows based software application. All data can be taken out for statistical purposes.
Automatic generation of reports.
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RPL Duty Swapping
ATC employees expect service tools such as Internet access, automatic email and SMS to be a natural part of a modern company. Staff satisfaction is really one of the keywords today. The DutySwap module provides online service including „controllers‟ eBay‟, a webbased marketplace where operational shifts can be swapped. DutySwap transmits confirmation emails to all involved persons. The DutyClearing section displays the current swapping status for each controller. OJT Planning
A complex task is allocation of OJT coaches to trainees. EuroPlanner provides a special feature for this by displaying the schedules of relevant coaches, including their current ESARR5 training validation. Simply clicking the system creates a matching trainee roster Edition: 2.0
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followed by an automatic email to the trainee, to his coach and, if required, to the supervisor and the academy administration. StatusChecker
StatusChecker is the publisher module on the Internet that contains published rosters. It also shows all swapped shifts together with a complete swap history, providing full documentation of all changes. License validation plays an important role in any ATC system. ESARR5 status requirements on endorsements are particularly complicated to adhere to. StatusChecker displays the current ESARR5 balance and shows an alert if the number of operational shifts is close to the minimum.
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RPL CheckIn
CheckIn is the day-based OPS-room presentation for supervisors. The module provides an overview of staff on sectors and in other ATC units such as TWR, Ground and Briefing. CheckIn is also where last minute changes are made and where registration of absence takes place. Coaches are displayed with their trainees. If a supervisor needs to call in extra staff, he clicks a button that instantly searches the central database and transmits an SMS message to the relevant controllers.
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RPL CoursePlanner
The CoursePlanner incorporates planning of certain activities on each shift like educations, courses, instructors, trainees, lessons, and which class rooms should be linked to this activity. During the process you can monitor all available HR-resources with detailed load profiles displaying the usage percentages of staff, qualifications, simulators and class rooms. The CoursePlanner module supports ATC Training sections.
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BreakPlanner Functionalities
Optional connection to Intranet/Internet.
Display of current staff (morning, afternoon, night) for any day.
Supervisor tool for planning and optimisation of open/closed sectors, breaks, shift lengths and required staff to match traffic load.
Automatic allocation of staff to working positions
Interface with ATCO time logging systems, ATC information systems, CFMU flight plan database etc.
Supervisors use interactive SMS-communication to call in stand-by duties.
Display of shift historic data and staff comments
Automatic transfer of rosters to Outlook on PDA.
Controllers check-in using card readers and touch screens in the OPS-room.
Supervisor access with extended rights to update the database.
Last minute changes and registration of absence due to sickness, stand-by calls, etc.
Checking of contractual and governmental regulations.
Checking of ESARR5 status requirements, proficiency license, and medical validations with E-mail and/or SMS service to all staff.
Display of duty swapping and published rosters on the Intranet/Internet.
Electronical staff briefing, individual briefing, limited to sections, or to all persons. Three priority levels available: High, medium, low.
Automatic generation of reports, log-files, printed and online statistics.
Integration with payroll systems and/or HR systems.
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Contact information
Integra A/S Trørødvej 63B DK 2950 Vedbaek Denmark Mr. Ole Michael Silau Director Consultancy Services, MSc, Bcom Procurement/Projects and Systems Tel:
+45 45 66 00 44
Mob:
+45 22 66 61 20
oms@integra.dk www.integra.dk
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EPL RosterPlanner General Introduction to EPL RosterPlanner The objective of the EPL RosterPlanner application is to enable staff planners at ATC control centres to generate rosters. To create a roster you use the window shown below to store basic data into the database (e.g. staffing, shift types etc.), and based on this run various processes and checks.
The left part of the window lists Creation functions. The right side shows Check functions. The mid part of the window allows the user to enter which interval shall be affected by the functions. The Go to functions enable navigation within the database and parameters.
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The normal flow of producing a roster would include the following steps: 1. Staff Members for editing the sequence of staff or for entering new persons 2. Basic Shifts fills in shifts and fixed free days according to the team layout using the basic shift generator or takes them from already stored basic shifts. 3. Non-existent removes all shifts from non-existing persons used for team rosters 4. OJT (On Job Training) removes all shifts from persons considered as trainees 5. Leave Requests fills in all requests concerning leave 6. Task Requests fills in all requests concerning tasks 7. Part Time fills in all requests concerning persons doing part time 8. Rating re-arranges shifts according to the ratings of your staff (ensures correct person on correct sector) 9. Individual Shifts handles all shifts not acceptable to the person (some persons do not take night shifts, etc) 10. Bidding re-arranges shifts according to the biddings 11. MeetingPlanner is used to find the best suited day for specific persons to join a meeting. 12. Sector Leaders assigns the sector leader role to qualified persons. 13. Pool Manager reorganises most of the shifts for you onto correct places, regarding fairness, ratings, national labour laws, requirements on sequence, etc The default sequence of the selected Creation Functions is top-down. In case you would consider your task requests more important than leave, this function should be executed first. After every step you monitor the consequence. The top line provides you with a constant overview of your available staff (+ or -). Then do your manual inputs trying to solve out where to put the remaining shifts in the pool. The program provides you with many easy tools. Two shifts change position if you doubleclick them, another key instantly points out the persons that need evening shifts, etc. Finally use the check functions to highlight any shift that does not correspond with working rules, combination rules, agreements, staffing, rating, status requirements and bidding. When the amount of highlighted shifts is acceptable - you’re through. . .
7
Installation of EPL RosterPlanner Please refer to EPL Installation Guide for registration of new users, file structure and validation.
8
EPL RosterPlanner General Layout Two function buttons contain all processes leaving optimum screen area to show the roster.
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The top line shows your current free resources, i.e. the number of available shifts with respect to the required staffing and the pool shifts. The date line shows framed out Sundays, national holidays and/or AIRAC days, which may require adjustments in staffing with a red frame. The bottom line shows created rosters, each covering 6 months. To the left there is a button for each staff member to access info from the Staff data sheet and there is a dynamic counting of working hours with colour coding according to your parameter settings.
8.1
Selecting a Period Select the period on the date line or select it using the Process window. Any selected period is limited to the current roster; i.e. the processes are executable only on the roster you see. The Show button takes a month as default. Select on the date line to set a custom period. The Staff buttons take any period. RPL stores your recent setting. The Statistics function takes any period. It uses the period setting from the Process window.
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8.2
The Toolbar The RPL toolbar provides direct access to 13 of the most used functions
Transfer selected shifts to pool
Reset all colours
Replace selected shifts with free (“F”) and transfer to pool
Change selected shifts to OJT and transfer to pool
Exchange shifts
Add to combinations
Automatic TaskPlanning
Statistical Information (custom graphics)
Highlight all available shifts
Add to BiddingPlan
Attention
Open/close pool
Start Pool Manager
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8.2.1 Toolbar link If several RPL-versions are open at a time, the toolbar can be connected only to one of them. To activate the toolbar to the current version go to Parameters, check the setting of Epl Path, then click Process / Go to / Initialize.
8.2.2 RPL Standard Colours RPL Standard Colours
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Light yellow background
Leave
Light blue background
Task
Light green background
Bidding
Red
Priority 1
Yellow
Priority 2
Green
Priority 3
White
Custom data cells
Grey
Cells/Areas reserved for RPL
Blue
Navigation
Yellow
Notice or data incoherence
Light red
Data error
Orange
Biddings (not fulfilled)
Green font
Biddings (fulfilled)
Red tag
Info
Red tag on Biddings
Shift restricted due to bidding
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8.3
Getting started The set-up of a roster from the very beginning (from an RPL-program with no data filled) incorporates many of the parts described in this document. Here is a step-bystep checklist to lead you through the session: 1. Go to the EuroPlanner® Web Gateway Login site: http://<url of the EuroPlanner®WebPortal> 2. Enter username and password. 3. Click the “RosterPlanner”-button on the menu bar to see a file list
4. Start an RPL-Application: Open the RPL-file Eplxxx.xls from directory C:\EPL with preset password = “sim” 5. Depending on your macro security setting, the macros in RosterPlanner have to be activated. Click the “Options”-button and select “Enable this content”
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6. Then click the appropriate roster sheet:
If there are no rosters defined yet, click the RosterPlanner logo and create a new roster with “Go to Rosters”. 7. Press “Process” and “Go to” and “Staff Data”. Enter all data of relevant staff here. Any person used in any roster must be defined. 8. Press “Process” and “Go to” and “Shift Types”. Enter all data of relevant shifts here. Any shift used in any roster must be defined. 9. Press “Process” and “Go to” and “Parameters”. Many of the custom parameters are already filled in. Check that the setting of all data is correct and suited for your roster project (Basic roster, combinations, staffing, etc). Use the “Go to” button to navigate. 10. Arrange a staff sequence (the vertical column with staff initials). Maybe use a separate sheet where you may drag and drop cells. Enter “???” for non existing staff. Be sure the number of initials corresponds with your teams as set in Parameters. 11. Press “Process” and “Staff Members” and “Edit”, which opens the staff column on the left for editing. Copy the staff sequence and use Paste Special to insert it here. Edition: 2.0
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12. Press “Process” and “Staff Members” and “Check”. RPL checks all initials and resets the staff column. 13. Select an interval on the date line (e.g. a month) and press “Process”. 14. Continue with the 12 creation steps described in Creation Functions
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Creation Functions A roster is being created using up to 12 “building” steps. The result is a pre-planned roster, which may look like this:
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9.1
Roster Preparation If the roster does not yet exist, it must be created. New rosters can be created in three ways: 1. Create a new roster sheet using the Show-button:
2. Create a new roster sheet by clicking year identifier or the RosterPlanner logo:
3. On the start sheet click the EUROPLANNER logo:
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In this example rosters exist for 2009 and onwards. The current selected roster is first part of 2010.
Selecting a non-created line in the list will propose creation of the according roster:
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A new roster contains:
Corresponding dates (6 months)
Months marked with vertical yellow lines
Weekends marked with vertical black lines
National holidays (as filled in from the Parameters / Spc Days)
AIRAC-days (as filled in from the Parameters / Spc Days)
A default staff sequence and linked ratings corresponding to the previous roster
Fairness indicators = zero
Pool counter = zero
All days show balance = zero
Position Use the mouse and drag the roster sheet onto correct place.
Colours Excel allows you to apply colours to each roster (right click on the sheet and select Tab Colors)
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Roster Identifier RPL assigns a default name to the roster comprising of four blocks:
UAC_ATC_1_2007_operating Staff Unit Name The first block (must be 7 characters including underscore) is optional (here “UAC_ATC”). Change the identifier by typing a new name:
Year The second block identifies part of year. Number 1 = First part (January to June) or number 2 = Second part (July to December). The third block classifies the year. Staff Rating The last block is either “operating” (view only rosters for active controllers) or “training” (view only rosters for trainees). Thus, you may create a parallel roster for training staff. RPL automatically assigns “operating” or “training” to roster names depending on your selected Staff rating.
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To delete an existing roster sheet During roster and courseplanning simulations you may need to delete an existing roster completely. As courseplanning includes parallel linked data sheets, there is a need to remove some of those sheets also. 1. Click the RosterPlanner logo 2. Click “Delete” 3. There is a warning. Click “Yes”
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 35 Apr 2010
9.2
Staff & Headers Staff Members Type:
Creation function
Summary:
Allows editing of staff sequence
Access
Process / Staff & Headers
Prerequisites
Prepare an unbroken sequence of initials Define all initials in Staff Data
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Max 1000 initials
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
This process allows editing the sequence of staff on the left dedicating one person to each line.
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 36 Apr 2010
Click Edit to change the roster to edit mode that you can change the init sequence or copy a complete new staff sequence into the roster. The init column turns white (editable):
Arrange a staff sequence (a vertical column with staff initials). Maybe use a separate sheet where you may drag and drop cells. Enter “???” for non existing staff. Be sure the number of initials corresponds with your teams as set in Parameters. Copy the staff sequence and use Paste Special to insert it in the white column. Click Check to let RPL validate the sequence that there are no doubles, that all inits have been defined in Staff Data, etc. When the check is complete, the init column is reset (green). The sequence must be unbroken (which means no blank cells, use “??” or “???” instead on lines to prepare for future extensions). Use another Excel sheet to easily arrange initials using drag-and-draw and then copy/paste. Your staff sequence must correspond with the basic roster pattern you intend to process. Using a 19x6 matrix requires 114 persons, etc. You may use custom colours on inits (see Staff Data)
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 37 Apr 2010
9.3
Basic Roster Basic Roster Type:
Creation function
Summary:
Fills in the basic shift pattern
Access
Process / Basic Roster
Prerequisites
Define the Basic Roster matrix or recurring shift pattern Define Staffing tables
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster Max 128 shifts in cycles using recurring shift pattern Max 1000 persons
Protection Level
High
This function fills in the basic shift pattern with options for number of teams and options to vary position of free days, etc.
Recurring Shift Patterns Edition: 2.0
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Page: 38 Apr 2010
Suppose you wish the basic shift pattern to be generated using a recurring shift cycle. In this case go to Basic Roster and enter a shift sequence in the vertical column:
Here is a part of a recurring pattern example covering 56 shifts. Then go to Parameters and define according settings in the Cycles section:
No of shifts in recurring pattern is max 128 shifts. Team Offset is a number that defines which team offset shall be used in the recurring pattern. Offset = 7 means that if team 1 is on Basic shift 1 then team 2 will be on Basic shift 8. Team 3 will be on Basic shift 15, etc. Edition: 2.0
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Page: 39 Apr 2010
Generating Basic Shifts Go to Parameters and check that RPL is set to a Team-based 2 roster:
Then click Process / Basic Roster and select Fill in from Basic Roster. In the dropdown list select on which day to start the recurring pattern
and RPL generates this pattern:
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 40 Apr 2010
Basic shift pattern starts with N on team no 1, etc
Team Numbers When basic shifts are filled in, team numbers are automatically displayed in left column. Reset During simulation sessions it can be useful to do a reset of a specific interval in order to fill in a quite new basic shift pattern. EPL displays a warning before you can proceed. Accept to perform a complete reset. EPL removes all roster data and all pool shifts.
Manually using an individual matrix Produce any basic roster pattern on a separate Excel sheet and copy the pattern into RPL. Allways use paste Special. Be sure that the pattern is positioned correctly and that it contains correct daily available staff. After that you can keep the pattern by using â&#x20AC;&#x153;Store these Shiftsâ&#x20AC;?.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 41 Apr 2010
Fill in from Stored Shifts Option for re-establishing an already stored basic shift layout. RPL takes the shift pattern out of the stored template. Store these Shifts RPL holds a parallel copy of each roster sheet. When the basic shift pattern is acceptable, all shifts should be stored. The roster should have all basic shifts filled in. Select a period (normally all 6 months), click Process / Basic Roster / Store these Shifts RPL creates a copy of the roster as it looks right now and overwrites all existing data in the template. When processing e.g. the July roster, you may retrieve the exact original basic shifts out of the template. If a template was not available, the staff planner would spend a long time before the Start at Team and Start at Person options were adjusted to correct overlap with the June roster.
Fill in Staffing Option for filling in staffing requirements from the Staffing Tables into the pool. The top line instantly shows the consequence. See Database Staffing Tables how to set up your requirements.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 42 Apr 2010
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 43 Apr 2010
9.4
Teams Teams Type:
Creation function
Summary:
Transfers shifts from non-existent persons to the pool
Access
Process / Teams
Prerequisites
Basic shifts filled in
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 44 Apr 2010
The function removes all shifts from non-existing persons (e.g. lines at the end of team 1). Any inital containing a â&#x20AC;&#x153;?â&#x20AC;? will have its operational shifts transferred to the pool. The result is deducted from the top line.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 45 Apr 2010
9.5
OJT OJT Type:
Creation function
Summary:
Transfers shifts from trainees to the pool
Access
Process / OJT
Prerequisites
Enter correct ratings in Staff Data
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 46 Apr 2010
The OJT-function (On Job Training) removes all shifts from persons considered as trainees (like RCO and SCL in this example) and transfers all their operational shifts to the pool.
RPL adds a “j” as third character to all affected shifts (OJT). This way, you can use the same shift definitions for trainees as for controllers. Trainees have the same shift start time and shift end time (e.g. in RPL-CheckIn) as their coaches. When RPL calculates the top line, OJT shifts are ignored. OJT-shifts are counted (in hours and statistics) but they are ignored by the Pool Manager and Creation Functions in general. OJT-shifts should not be in the pool. When a trainee achieves his license, the corresponding rating should be given by updating his line in Staff Data and maybe by removing the “j” for appropriate shifts in the current roster.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 47 Apr 2010
9.6
Leave Requests Leave Requests Type:
Creation function
Summary:
Transfers shifts affected by requested leave periods to the pool
Access
Process / Leave requests
Prerequisites
Enter leave periods in the LeavePlan
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 48 Apr 2010
RPL fills in all requests concerning leave. A small request-window shows the affected leave periods, when selecting the function. In this example 52 leave requests = 214 days in December were identified.
According to the priority setting, the leave days are inserted with red, yellow or green. All operational shifts are transferred to the pool. Red tags indicate comments.
Prio allows reducing the data lines in the window according to priority (1, 2 or 3). In this case there are 31 requests with priority 2:
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 49 Apr 2010
Select All to see all requests again. Indi (individual) allows you to select a single request. Here only the leave request for CHS is processed.
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 50 Apr 2010
9.7
Task Requests (AODs) Task Requests Type:
Creation function
Summary:
Transfers shifts affected by task periods to the pool
Access
Process / Task Requests
Prerequisites
Enter task periods in the TaskPlan
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
Principally the Task Requests process maches the functionality of Leave Requests process. Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 51 Apr 2010
RPL fills in all requests concerning tasks. In this example 65 task requests = 584 days in April were identified.
All inserted task requests are blue. All operational shifts are transferred to the pool. Red tags show the comments.
The window shows any request that is related to the selected period. Use Prio to reduce the data lines in the window according to priority (1, 2, 3 or Xtasks). Select All to see all requests again. Indi allows you to select a single request.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 52 Apr 2010
9.8
Part time Part Time Type:
Creation function
Summary:
Transfers shifts affected by part timers to the pool
Access
Process / Part Time
Prerequisites
Enter part time in Staff Data Enter corresponding part time percentages in Parameters Define shift for part time in Parameters
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster Only possible to process on a whole month
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
RPL fills in all requests concerning persons working part time and transfers all operational shifts to the pool. Go to Staff Data and enter the appropriate part time percentage for part timers:
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 53 Apr 2010
and set the according number of days in Parameters / Part Time:
In this case NGO will be assigned 11 part time days on the best suited days within a month. Therefore the function may be used only if the period is set to a month. Define which shift to use (here “Pf”) in Parameters. If not already, remember to define “P” as Free in Shift Types. Define limit for part time. In this case RPL continues allocating Pf-days until the top line reaches -10. If RPL cannot allocate the required amount of part time days, there is a message displayed.
Part Time on specific days If part time has to be granted on specific days, enter the request using TaskPlan like this:
Using the Part Time process would allow RPL to allocate Pf-days on the best suited days, whereas using a TaskPlan request would force RPL to allocate Pf-days on the specified period.
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 54 Apr 2010
9.9
Rating Rating Type:
Creation function
Summary:
Transfers shifts affected by inadequate rating to the pool including colleagues with the same shift
Access
Process / Ratings
Prerequisites
None
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
The Rating process takes all shifts not corresponding with the personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rating to the pool. Here GTO got Ms-shift from the basic roster, but his ratings do not include him as a supervisor.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 55 Apr 2010
After using the Rating process GTO’s shifts are converted to dotted and transferred to the pool. The process also takes all shifts of the same kind to the pool. The reason is that in case just a few shifts are put on persons with no matching rating, there would be a need for re-distributing these shifts among the relevant persons. In order to get the other persons “into the loop” (available for another shift) RPL also includes colleagues. They may obstruct the allocation of high rated shifts and in some situations the Pool Manager would need someone to swop with. For example a low rated shift would fit Ok on a high rated person, but it would fit even better on a low rated person, leaving the high rated person able to receive a high rated shift.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 56 Apr 2010
9.10 Individual Shifts Individual Shifts Type:
Creation function
Summary:
Transfers shifts not corresponding with individual shifts from Staff Data to the pool
Access
Process / Individual Shifts
Prerequisites
Enter required shifts in Staff Data
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
The process removes all shifts considered as non-acceptable to the person. Suppose JTH does not accept night shifts maybe for medical reasons. RPL finds his night shifts and transfers them to the pool:
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 57 Apr 2010
Set criteria for individual shifts in Staff Data:
Here the entry for JTH indicates no night shifts (no “N” and no “n”). RM takes only early shifts (“M” or “m” or “d”), etc.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 58 Apr 2010
9.11 Bidding Bidding Type:
Creation Function
Summary:
Transfers shifts not corresponding with bidding requests from the BiddingPlan to the pool
Access
Process / Bidding
Prerequisites
Enter bidding requests Perform Check Bidding to highlight relevant shifts
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
After performing Check Bidding the roster may look like this:
The Bidding process finds all shift not coherent with the BiddingPlan and transfers them to the pool. Only operational shifts are affected.
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 59 Apr 2010
Here VLEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ae-shift is changed to A-dot. By transferring all non-matching shifts to the pool RPL prepares for the Pool Manager to handle the re-arrangement of shifts according to the BiddingPlan. Suppose VLE bids for an early shift. While his shift is Ae, the Pool Manager is unable to fulfil his wish (because it affects only dotted shifts). The Bidding process converts VLEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shift to dotted that it becomes part of the shifts targeted by the Pool Manager.
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 60 Apr 2010
9.12 MeetingPlanner MeetingPlanner Type:
Creation Function
Summary:
Finds the best suited days for a meeting and stores according data lines in TaskPlan
Access
Process / MeetingPlanner
Prerequisites
Enter participants in meeting groups in Parameters
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Use MeetingPlanner to find best suited days for meetings that are relevant to persons from different teams. When you have determined the date for a meeting, RPL automatically creates according lines in the TaskPlan. Step 1 Select within which interval youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re planning a meeting. Step 2 Click Process / MeetingPlanner. At this first stage all roster lines collapse and RPL shows options for Groups and Participants:
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 61 Apr 2010
Step 3 Select Groups to be part in the meeting. Groups can be defined in Parameters / Meeting Groups:
As you click groups active, the corresponding participants are highlighted. You can select e.g. two groups and manually add three more participants. There are small counters above the lists that show total selected list items. Click on the counter to reset the list. Hold the mouse over to see current selected participants. In the roster RPL shows roster lines for these persons: Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 62 Apr 2010
Light green
= Well suited day. Available shift
Dark green
= Partly suited day. Operational shift
Yellow
= Not suited day. Day occupied by task
Red
= Not suited day. Day is free
and RPL dynamically calculates the best suited days (according to number of green days):
Custom date
Options
Step 4 Determine which date to use for the meeting. Edition: 2.0
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Page: 63 Apr 2010
You can select date in two ways: Either choose one of the options or select a custom date as Selected Interval (one day only). Then select which Task the meeting shall refer to. You can preset contents in this list in Parameters. Finally press Execute
There is a message:
and a summary:
Click OK to let RPL create all according TaskPlan lines with comment “Meeting (Mpl)” attached: LIZ ABO LER SHJ HSC TOU RBN TGA MBA PBR
23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009
23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009 23-11-2009
Kduk Kduk Kduk Kduk Kduk Kduk Kduk Kduk Kduk Kduk
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Meeting (Mpl): Meeting (Mpl): Meeting (Mpl): Meeting (Mpl): Meeting (Mpl): Meeting (Mpl): Meeting (Mpl): Meeting (Mpl): Meeting (Mpl): Meeting (Mpl):
Step 6 Click “N” on the toolbar to exit from the MeetingPlanner and return to normal RPL roster presentation.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 64 Apr 2010
9.13 Pool Manager Pool Manager Type:
Creation Function
Summary:
Distributes shifts from the pool onto correct person matching various criteria
Access
Process / Pool Manager
Prerequisites
Transfer shifts to the pool
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
Edition: 2.0
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 65 Apr 2010
The 11 creation steps take less than 10 seconds. The consequence can be monitored immediately on the top line. Every creation step gives a precise overview of your free resources (+ or -) so far. On Feb 5 there is balance in staffing. On Feb 6 there is a surplus of three controllers, meaning you could grant 3 more free days and still meet the staffing requirements. The pool contains 604 shifts for the last step, to be processed by the Pool Manager. Here is an example after the pool manager processed the first 15 days:
There are 340 remaining shifts in the pool, which means the pool manager placed 264 shifts onto correct persons, building correct combinations, etc. The speed is approximately two shifts per second depending on your settings and your computer. Note that the top line did not change as RPL basically assumes the pool shifts can and will be placed and already incorporates this in the calculation.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 66 Apr 2010
The Pool Manger can be executed on the entire roster (maximum) or on 1 day only (minimum) or even on a single pool shift if you select it. You may of course execute the Pool Manager at any time (after each step or at the end of several steps). Tip Use
Edition: 2.0
to transfer any shift combination you wish to optimise to the pool.
ATS DATA DESIGN, USER GUIDE
Page: 67 Apr 2010
9.13.1
Pool Distribution Options
The Pool Manager reorganises most of the shifts for you into correct places, regarding fairness, ratings, national labour laws, requirements on sequence, etc. You have the option to set priorities to the Pool Manager to determine the sequence of shifts to be executed by the process (alphabetic, custom, random or none) and whether to take biddings of any kind or only some in consideration. While processing (and also every time a shift is changed manually in the roster), RPL calculates the relative number of that particular shift for all persons. If possible, a shift from the pool will be placed on the lowest ranked person. If not, then on the next lowest, etc. Process Options The distribution process may include All shifts in the pool The option Biddings only processes only pool shifts that are bidded for. Suppose someone bidded for an “m” shift and there are many pool shifts on this day, but only one “m”. Using the “Biddings only” option will ensure the “m” is not allocated to somebody else because the Pool Manager prior to processing shifts checks the BiddingPlan. Trace function: See specific description of this feature. Only allows you to specify which shifts shall be processed and which shifts shall be affected. Include Options Edition: 2.0
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Page: 68 Apr 2010
The Pool Manager can be customised to match its distribution to Bidding; i.e. the Pool Manager takes into consideration the contents of your BiddingPlan. Colleague makes RPL consider colleaque matches from Staff Data. There is an additional Combinations option enabling the staff planner to allow the Pool Manager to disregard all criteria on combinations. In some cases it is Ok to create an unconventional shift combination, if the person asked for it. With the setting “All”, the Combinations field is fixed regarding to the basic principles of the RPL.
9.13.2
Coupled Shifts activates a special feature that looks for certain sequences. Before the Coupled Shifts feature can be used, you have to set certain parameters 1. Go to Parameters (List) and set Coupled Shifts = “on”
2. Go to Parameters / Coupled Shifts and enter shift combinations that shall be coupled
RPL ranks persons with allocated shifts higher than dotted shifts. As shown here, optimising the automatic distribution of shifts can be done by allocating e.g. “c” followed by “S”: Edition: 2.0
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Page: 69 Apr 2010
To detect coupled shifts RPL considers the shift before, here “c”, and checks if “cS” is listed as coupled shifts and
becomes Similarly, the shift after is considered, here “S”
becomes
Set the Coupled Shifts option in the Pool Manager
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 70 Apr 2010
Comb Priority allows you to perform an allocation according to priority setting in the combinations table
Set to “All” to consider all cycles in the combination tables, set to “Prio 1” to consider only combinations markes as priority 1 (red sections), etc Sorting Options According to its basic principles it is obvious that Pool Manager is sensitive to which sequence you decided for the pool shifts. Some shifts are easier to allocate than other. RPL executes pool shifts one by one and it has no look ahead feature to detect what strategy to use in order to facilitate coming distributions. We recommend that you customise your preferred sequence using Pool Priorities. Here RPL considers Ns to be allocated first, then ns, etc:
Use Alphabetical to sort the pool shifts by first letter. If the sorting option Priority is selected, the pool shifts are organised according to the Pool Priorities (as set in Parameters / Pool Priorities). Use Random to let RPL arrange the pool shifts in a new sequence. Use None to keep your own pool sequence.
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Page: 71 Apr 2010
9.13.3
Trace Function The Trace function shows a distribution list for a selected pool shift, i.e. that a trace may give the answer to why a pool shift was not distributed. Select a single shift in the pool that cannot be allocated and start the Pool Manager. Select the Trace feature and press Execute.
A small red info tag will appear on the shift. Hold the mouse above to display the results
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 72 Apr 2010
In this case IB would be the first person to get the M-shift, WP the next, etc. The ranking is based on their individual M-percentages (how many M compared to the number of operational shifts). The rank is always calculated according to the operational shifts, meaning a person doing many office shifts (defined as Task) would not change his position in the row. Go further down and check the target persons to see the reason for not allocating to them:
The Trace function puts an explanation on each person having an available (dotted) shift. Here RK is candidate number six. His cycle would be ?AAM in case, because the first shift is dotted followed by two A and then the calculated M. No such cycle is a valid A-combination.
CI is in focus as number three but the cycle would not match his individual shift pattern. Go to Staff Data and notice that he is protected against the M-shift and mshift:
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 73 Apr 2010
In the next example the Pool Manager would attempt to put an “S” shift onto TH. If unable it tries onto HR, then on MJ, etc.
In this case the pool shift “S” would be allocated here if you added the “ASSm” combination. Parameter settings for Trace You can activate or deactivate trace messages. Go to Parameters / Display and select the option on/off.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 74 Apr 2010
9.13.4
Fairness RPL always uses its built-in fairness. There are some ways to see how RPL calculates these results. Use the framed out shift-box on the left. Enter for example “M?” and press Enter. Green indicators will point onto who needs an M-shift. (If no reaction, type “A?” + Enter and then “M?” + Enter again to start the calculation). While distributing RPL will primarily try to put the M-shifts onto these persons.
Another way would be to produce a statistic with counts of shifts set to relative, which compares each shift to the person’s total operational shifts (See Statistics). RPL also displays the rank number. Here TNI is number 4 and CHS number 7 according to A-shift fairness. Thus, TNI’s A-percentage is lower than CHS. RPL may display more than one person with same ranking.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 75 Apr 2010
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 76 Apr 2010
10
Check Functions After the manual process you may wish to check that the roster complies with a wide variety of requirements: Use All Checks to run through all check functions at a time. Use Check Leave + Tasks to point out, when requests entered directly in the roster are missing in the TaskPlan. After they are highlighted, you may decide to let RPL transfer all the according data lines automatically. This way hundreds of data lines can be stored in seconds. Use Check Working Rules to ensure that all shift combinations accommodate with your national labour laws, i.e. that there is sufficient rest between shifts according to collective agreements, etc. Use Check Conflicts to highlight where a person may be requested for two tasks on the same day. Use Check Combinations to view all shift sequences that do not match with the corresponding A- or B-combination. Use Check Staffing to let RPL run through each day checking that the roster meets the required amount of staff. Differences are shown as plus/minus and which shift is missing (or too much) on the according days. This check also detects if the staff planner accidentally deletes or even changes a shift from its original characteristics (e.g. that a Mw is changed to a Me). Use Check Rating to view all shifts that do not correspond with the personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rating. Use Check Status to let RPL check, who runs out of medical status or proficiency validation or even the ESARR5 requirements (see the Advanced Utilisation of RPL). Use Check Biddings to view all shifts not corresponding (colour = orange) with the personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wishes in the BiddingPlan and already fulfilled wishes (font = green). Use Check Supervisors to ensure correct staffing with persons rated as supervisors (3 levels).
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Page: 77 Apr 2010
10.1 All Checks All Checks Type:
Check Function
Summary:
All Checks runs through all check functions at a time
Access
Process / All Checks
Prerequisites
The Database must contain relevant information
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
None
Use the All Check function to perform a complete check of the roster. This is a multifunction using all check-routines: Check Leave + Tasks, Check Rest Intervals, Check Conflicts, etc, as listed in the window. Each marked shift receives a comment with one (or more) text lines:
You can select which checks to incude. RPL stores your setting here as default.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 78 Apr 2010
Select to use the optional check window in Parameters:
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10.2 Check Leave + Task All Checks Type:
Check Function
Summary:
Finds and highlights all shifts that are not part of the LeavePlan or the TaskPlan. These shifts may be automatically transferred to the Database.
Access
Process / Combinations
Prerequisites
The Database must contaion relevant information
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Use the Check Leave + Task to point out, which requests entered directly in the roster are missing in the LeavePlan or TaskPlan. Here NGO got a leave period and JLA got two Inst-days entered manually. For some reason the Staff Planner forgot to store the inputs in the Database and RPL highlights them. After they are marked, you may decide to let RPL transfer all the according data lines automatically using Autofill. This way hundreds of data lines can be stored in seconds.
10.2.1
Auto-fill
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Page: 80 Apr 2010
Use Auto-fill to transfer all the according data lines into the LeavePlan and TaskPlan. RPL presents a message:
Select “Yes” to include transfer of leave periods. Select “No” to transfer only to TaskPlan.
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Page: 81 Apr 2010
RPL adds two lines into the Database with the comment “EPL auto-updated”:
Next time you run Check Leave + Task, no shifts would be highlighted.
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10.3 Check Working Rules Check Working Rules Type:
Check Function
Summary:
Finds and highlights all shifts that are not coherent with national and local requirements
Access
Process / Check Rest Intervals
Prerequisites
A user parameter set must be defined
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
RPL holds a special set of customised parameters concerning requirements on working time, cycles, number of shifts, etc and how they are prioritized. These requirements are based on national legislation and local staff or union rules and agreements. All not-coherent shifts are highlighted. Click Process, select a period and select Check Working Rules:
RPL highlights all shifts that do not match the working rules and attaches a text message with info of which rule (one or more) is not met.
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 83 Apr 2010
In this case two parameters concerning resting time for AKE are not met:
Edition: 2.0
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Page: 84 Apr 2010
A parameter set may look like this:
All user parameter settings can be adjusted. However, any entirely new parameter or a changed way of administrating an existing parameter would require RPL to be updated. A perfectly tuned set of parameters protects a Service Provider against publishing rosters that could conflict with all valid civil aviation regulations.
10.3.1
Fixed weeks: Using fixed weeks compared to floating weeks reduces the calculation of working hours. In this example the green shift â&#x20AC;&#x153;E.â&#x20AC;? is part of one particular fixed week. Edition: 2.0
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Page: 85 Apr 2010
1
2
The shift before the week starts (here N.) and the last shift (here also N.) may have partly influence on the result as night shifts can be defined across midnight. RPL considers a night shift on a Sunday to count the hours before midnight to the previous week and the hours after midnight to the following week.
10.3.2
Floating weeks: Selecting User Parameters with floating weeks has great impact on the calculation of working hours. In this example the green shift â&#x20AC;&#x153;E.â&#x20AC;? is part of 7 floating weeks. Each week will have to be calculated individually.
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That means, any allocating of a shift while using floating weeks includes calculating of working hours within an interval covering 13 days:
If any of these 7 floating weeks exceeds maximum working hours, the shift cannot be positioned.
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10.4 Check Conflicts Check Conflicts Type:
Check Function
Summary:
Highlights all conflicts in the roster where a person has been allocated to e.g. a non-operational project and leave on the same day.
Access
Process / Check Conflicts
Prerequisites
Fill in data in TaskPlan and LeavePlan
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
The Check Conficts process is equal to the conflict check that can be performed in the Database (See also LeavePlan / Show & Check / Check Conflicts). Here is a task with office days for AKE starting on JAN 9:
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If you enter a leave period for AKE that overlaps his task, the Check Conflicts process will find and highlight the complete period with a message:
Go to the Database and investigate the reason. A quick way is to put the cursor somewhere on the marked period and press CTL + t. There are â&#x20AC;&#x153;Conflictâ&#x20AC;?messages on the relevant lines. Hold the on the red tag to display the conflicting data.
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Notice that all conflicts should have been solved before creating rosters. At least any conflict refering to the period you are about to create (including overlaping conflicts). Marked conflicts in the Database (where RPL changes the Status field to “Conflict”) are NOT processed. Unmarked conflicts in the Database (no Conflict message but still a divergence in data lines) does not prevent RPL from running, but you may loose data as the last processed data line overwrites the previous. Tip Tell RPL to ignore a data line by entering “?” in the Status field. Sometimes your Database contains lines awaiting e.g. a decision on a meeting. Put a question mark on them and remove it at any time to activate the lines again.
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10.5 Check Combinations Check Combinations Type:
Check Function
Summary:
Use Check Combinations to view all shift sequences that do not match with the corresponding A- or B-combination.
Access
Process / Check Combinations
Prerequisites
The Combinations Tables must contain relevant shift cycles
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Use Check Combinations to highlight all occurences where a cycle does not match contents of the combinations tables. RPL marks cycles yellow and attaches a comment like â&#x20AC;&#x153;A-Combination not recognized, depending on the personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rating (A or B). Notice that some combinations are not recognized across your selected interval. Tip: If your combination tables do not contain data at all (because you prepare a completely new version), perform Check Combinations and use the marked cycles to determine which combinations should be in combination tables. Select the appropriate cycle, then click +C on the toolbar, and RPL stores the cycle as a valid combination. Remove al colours (click N on toolbar). Proceed until all most used cycles are stored.
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10.6 Check Staffing Check Staffing Type:
Check Function
Summary:
Use Check Staffing to check that the roster meets the required
amount of staff. Access
Process / Check Staffing
Prerequisites
The Staffing Table (and Custom Staffing) must contain relevant data (shifts per day)
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Selected period on current roster
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
Check Staffing counts all shifts for each day checking that the roster meets the required amount of staff as set in the Staffing Table. Differences are shown with red tags and comments. Staff minus = missing shifts, Staff plus = extra shifts. This check also detects if the staff planner accidentally deletes or even changes a shift from its original characteristics (e.g. that a Mw is changed to a Me). In this case one more â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mwâ&#x20AC;? was expected on January 4:
Notice that RPL checks only the presence of shifts, not their correct position. Here, the Mw-shift is likely to be missing on JTH (who has no shift filled in), but even though, the reason for deviation of an Mw-shift may occur on other persons. OJT-shifts are ignored.
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10.7 Check Rating Check Rating Type:
Check Function
Summary:
Use Check Rating to view all shifts that do not correspond with the person's rating.
Access
Process / Check Rating
Prerequisites
Enter ratings for each person in Staff Data
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Check Rating matches all shifts with the person’s ratings as listed in Staff Data. Non-matching shifts are highlighted including red tags with comments. In this case JTH does not hold the “e-rating”.
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10.8 Check Status Check Status Type:
Check Function
Summary:
Use Check Status to highlight all incoherence with staff status qualifications as stated in StatusPlan
Access
Process / Check Status
Prerequisites
Enter relevant status data for each person in StatusPlan Relevant settings in Parameters
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Check Status performs a complete check of all persons according to status data, i.e. who
runs out of medical status or proficiency validation or even the ESARR5 requirements. If the expiring date is within the selected inteval, RPL highlights the shift.
See also: StatusPlan
10.8.1
ESARR5 At the end of 2007 many EUROCONTROL member states will meet the requirements of ESARR5 status for air traffic controllers. RPL provides a function that instantly highlights if controllers run out of status.
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In this case, ABB has exactly 20 shifts over the past 3 months. However according to the future ESARR5 requirements his status validation may expire on the OCT 1, as the number of shifts over the past 5 months needs to be more than 20 per endorsement (here t = TWR and p = APP) and ABB has only 19. Jokers are shifts with no sector indication (like Stand by and shifts where the Supervisor decides the sector when the controller arrives). Using the RPL and this information, the Supervisor would put ABB on TWR-shifts. According to the colour coding, the supervisor will know who is â&#x20AC;&#x153;out of statusâ&#x20AC;?, who is close to run out of status, etc
Options The Parameters section contains options for ESARR5 settings on which sectors should be considered as one endorsement:
and limits for status:
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10.9 Check Bidding Check Bidding Type:
Check Function
Summary:
Use Check Bidding to highlight all shifts that do not correspond with contents in the BiddingPlan
Access
Process / Check Bidding
Prerequisites
Enter relevant data in the BiddingPlan
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
Use Check Bidding to highlight all shifts that do not meet the requirements in BiddingPlan. Bidding is not fulfilled Bidding is fulfilled See BiddingPlan for details. Edition: 2.0
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Notice the difference between the Process Bidding (that transfers all non fulfilled biddings to the pool) and the Check Bidding (that only displays biddings). Check Biddings facilitates your manual work a lot. Shifts that are marked with green font (fulfilled) should not be changed. By pointing with the mouse on biddings you can easily see the reason (a comment is shown). In parameters you can decide to keep the display of biddings even after clicking N on the toolbar:
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10.10
Check Supervisors Check Supervisors Type:
Check Function
Summary:
This function is a specific feature for Control Centres with more than one supervisor (Duty and deputy supervisors)
Access
Process / Check Supervisors
Prerequisites
Enter relevant data in Staf Data
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
Current roster
The Supervisor Check function enables the Staff Planner to overview all supervisor shifts pointing out the days that do not meet the required staffing. The function shows the number and the shift type for all present or missing supervisors. Objective The objective of the Supervisor Check is based on the following rules: The orange sup is the Duty supervisor (Center supervisor) and is responsible for the whole ops-room. The need is one orange sup to cover the whole day, one on: - A1 or A2 - AS or 2MS or 3MS - 3M or 4M - N1 or N2 The Duty supervisor can come from the three sector groups (Brussels, Deco or Hannover). That's why on certain days you will find only one or even no orange Duty supervisor as they will be covered by the other sector groups. Within the sector (f.i. Brussels) you also need a supervisor covering the whole day â&#x20AC;&#x201C; unless there is a Duty Supervisor on that sector. One on: - A1 or A2 - AS or 2MS or 3MS - 3M or 4M - N1 or N2 Those can be covered by either an orange sup or a green sup. The blue sup can only be used for N1 or N2. Edition: 2.0
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EUROCONTROL shift set-up could be like this: New Prev
Use these steps to check Supervisors Adjust all SUP-parameters Open the SUP Roster and use Data Exchange to produce an Epl Mail Open the current roster (e.g. Brussels Sectors) and use Data Exchange to import all shifts for the Duty Supervisors. Use Check Supervisors to see days with too many (or too few) Supervisors. Adjust the Supervisor shifts in the current roster to correct number by deleting (or inserting to the pool) until Check Supervisor leaves all days unmarked Supervisor Ratings All controllers are given for example rating “a” to separate them from trainees with no ratings. Supervisor shift codes have been defined as D = Duty Sup (Upper case Orange) t = Team Sup (Lower case Green) n = Night Sup (Lower case Blue) The shifts AD, At, MD, mt, sD, etc are Supervisor shifts. Use Show/Ratings to see colour coded ratings on the left.
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In this case AK is a Duty-SUP (D-rated), PT is a team-SUP (t-rated), etc. All controllers are a-rated (active controllers). LL is coloured grey due to part time. Check Supervisors Use the Process/Check Supervisors to ensure that the number of present supervisors meets the required limit.
RPL detected an unbalanced number of supervisors on JAN 18. Within Sup Group 1 there is an AD present, within Sup Group 2 there is an Mt present. The reason for marking this day is a missing Supervisor in Sup Group 4 (night SUPs). After the Staff Planner enters one Nn or ND, etc. in the roster or in the pool the mark will disappear. All supervisor shifts are highlighted as the process is executed. The shifts may also be highlighted at any time using Show/Other/Supervisors. Custom Parameters The ratings, colours and criteria can be set as custom parameters
Supervisor Roster File is the name of your current SUP Roster. The parameter is to be used in coming enhancements. Edition: 2.0
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Enter all supervisor ratings (like D and t and n) in Sup ratings. Which rating = orange gives the colour for all shifts like MD, AD, SD, etc Which rating to remain unaffected. The parameter sets the shifts of specific rated persons to remain unaffected. If set to “D”, all shifts on a D-rated person would be “unchangeable” by the program. An orange Sup gets all ratings = “aDtn”, a green Sup gets “atn” and a blue Sup gets “an” The supervisor shifts could be entered in the Basic Shift Table like this:
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Go to Parameters/Supervisors to set shift criteria:
There are 4 groups, which means the “Check Supervisors” function performs 4 separate checks on each day. In this case RPL would look for “AD” or “aD” or “at” or “At” to be present. After that RPL looks for “MD” or “mD” etc. Using RPL Data Exchange Normally the Duty Supervisor Roster would be the first roster to be produced. Here is an example:
1. Open the RPL Sup Roster file 2. Select a period 3. Press “Process” and go to “Data Exchange”
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Select “Epl Mail” in the “Data out” section and press “Execute”
RPL transfers all shifts onto a separate Excel sheet with time-stamp = information of date/time and the name of the original file. 4. Give this sheet a name. Keep it open - but the RPL Sup Roster may now be closed. 5. Go to the current roster. Select a period then Press “Process” and go to “Data Exchange”. Now select “Epl Mail” in the “Data in” section and check that the data file is selected in the “From Source”. Press “Execute”
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RPL transfers all shifts from the data file to the rosters onto the corresponding persons (like the blue line on JH). RPL transfers only data onto corresponding persons. Any other staff in both files remains unaffected.
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11
Functionalities & Database The Database contains all basic data necessary for the creation of the roster. This chapter describes all the basic data necessary for the creation processes to run. It is recommended that all RPL-applications and all RPL-related files are stored in a directory called “EPL” on your Intranet and a directory called “EPL Local” on a laptop computer. Enter the path under Parameters.
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11.1 Staff data Staff Data Type:
Database
Summary:
Stores all staff related data
Access
Process / Go to / Staff Data
Target Area
All rosters
Limitations
Year 1999 to 2025.
The Staff data sheet contains essential information about all persons. Any person used in a roster must be defined here with at least initials and a combination setting (A, B or A/B). ID is transferred by RPL when synchronizing with EPL Web in Data Exchange Team is filled in by RPL when clicking “Team” on the header. Staff Data is sorted according to the sequence in the roster you just came from. Team numbers are calculated according to setting of Number of Persons and Number of teams in Parameters. The string “02 N 04” means that the person is placed on team 2 and listed as number 4, etc. Working Hours per year may vary because of part time employment. Part time percent effects the number of “Pf”-days (e.g. 80% gives 4 part time free days per month, etc, according to a specific Part time table). The default allocation of Pf days is on days showing the highest number of staff available. Ratings Edition: 2.0
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Ratings provide RPL with information of which person to be put on which sector (no rating means a trainee). Here you enter different ATC-qualifications as some controllers are certified only for a subset of operational positions. You may apply colours to ratings by selecting the cell and click “Colors”
and apply colours to a rating. Select colours for “Cell” or “Font”. RPL will instantly change the colors of all matching ratings in Staff Data to the same formatting: If you selected e.g. “an” all these ratings will change colour.
Go to the roster and switch the ratings off and on again with the new settings.
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It is also possible to use the same steps to apply colors to a certain person (initials). Here TNK and TJZ were changed to green with white font:
Go to the roster and press Process, Staff Members and Check Inits to display the change.
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Rating colour codes Use rating colour codes to overview staff with multible ratings:
1. Go to Parameters / Display and set favourite rating colours 2. Check that “Display ratings with colour codes” = “yes” 3. Go to Staff Data, click “Update Colours” and wait until all colour codes are reset, follow progress on the status bar 4. Go to a roster and click Show ratings off and then on
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Individual shifts tells RPL which shifts to avoid using in the roster (Nn- means no night shift allowed, M+ means only morning shifts, etc) Matching colleague sets up two persons to match their shifts. Use Match Type to decide the kind of match (1=all shifts, 2 = free days only, 3 = free days but opposite shifts). Combination determines whether to search for combination rules for shift cycles in the A- or B-table (or AB = both).
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The Team column is blue (no custom entry). Press Team in the header to sort the shift table according to the preset sequence in your roster. If there are more than one, the sequence is default taken from the roster you arrived from. Info tags: Staff data columns have short information tags
t To create a new person 1. Enter new init 2. Fill in relevant data (Hours per year, part time, A/B as minimum) 3. Goto to a roster and activate the init To delete a person 1. Select init data line and press Delete
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11.1.1
Staff Balances RPL enables specific counting of shifts and individual balances. Each staff member has 24 optional balances. Go to Staff Data and update relevant balance columns:
Then go to Parameters / Balances and in relevant tables enter which shifts shall be added or subtracted. Select the balance to be “+” or “-“.
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In this example all “c”-shifts and all shifts starting with “F” and all “Xp”-shifts are added in balance 1. "C" means all C-shifts "C?" means all C-shifts with C as starting character The results are calculated by RPL in separate columns in Statistics:
Go to Parameters / Statistics and Press “New Statistics” and Ok. Click the “>>”-button until the balance section is visible. RPL displays the value from Staff Data as plus and the value from Parameters as minus and calculates the difference:
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Check that there is consistence between the selected interval and the current values in Staff balances. If the values in staff balances relate to the first 8 months, you should run a statistic for the remaining 4 months to complete values for a year.
Import Balances All Staff Balance data can be imported to RPL using Data Exchange.
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11.2 Staff Info Buttons To see staff details click the appropriate init in the roster.
and RPL displays a standard staff info window:
Staff info
Update Sta Statistics
Staff Info is data taken from Staff Data. Team is calculated by RPL. Team “04 N 11” means that MCK is with team no 4 and listed in that team as team member no 11. Edition: 2.0
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Click the e-mail address to start MS Outlook and type a message. It is possible to: Select a specific interval by selecting on the roster date line before clicking the init. RPL remembers your selection. Change the interval in the window followed by clicking the “Update”-button. Display a preset interval like Current Roster, Month, etc You can take statistical data from the roster to count shifts and working hours:
Or you can take data from the LeavePlan, from TaskPlan or from BiddingPlan.
Click “Go To” to navigate to the acording position in the database. Clicking a shift shows all linked basic data in Shift Types, clicking leave shows the corresponding data line in LeavePlan, etc. Use Print to make a hard copy of the staff info window.
11.2.1
To activate a person in a roster requires that the person is defined in Staff Data. 1. Click Show-button and check that Show Non-Existing is on. 2. Click on a free rosterline marked with “???” to see a list with non-active staff 3. Select which init to activate 4. Click “Yes”
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11.2.2
To deactivate a person 1. Click the appropriate init 2. Click “Deactivate” 3. Click “Yes”
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11.2.3
To Move a person To move a person to another roster position 1. Click the appropriate init 2. Click “Move” to see the current init-sequence 3. Select a position marked “???” 4. Click “Yes”
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11.2.4
EPL Photo Gallery You can define the standard location of photo files in Parameters:
RPL looks for file formats .jpg and .bmp. Photos can be linked to staff by using initials or staff ID. Examples of file names: ABC.bmp, 00406307.jpg, etc
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11.3 Shift types Shift Types Type:
Database
Summary:
Stores all information related to shifts
Access
Process / Go to / Shift Types
Target Area
All rosters
Limitations
Lower and upper case characters, numbers, etc
The shift table defines basic information of the shift codes. RPL provides 8 additional time calculations for every shift enabling you to separately count time concerning night allowances, extra stand-by time, breaks, etc. Any shift used in a roster must be defined here.
RPL Shift Code Principles Operational Shifts RPL prescribes some general rules for operational shift codes. The first character position determines the time. The second character defines which sector the shift is designated to (could be w = “west” and e = “east”). The 3rd and 4th character is optional except for a few reserved letters like j, s, x and c. Task Shifts and Free Shifts
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The first character position determines the time. The following characters are optional. Behaves Like Use this option if several shifts have almost same start and end times. Opr Each shift is defined to be either Opr (operational), Task (an AOD-shift), or Free. Start Starting time (format hh:mm) End End time (format hh:mm) Hours Calculated by RPL when clicking “Sort & Calc” Variable shift intervals Suppose the M-shift has changed from 0800-1500 to 0830-1600 and the change should be valid from 01 August. As RPL takes only one time interval per shift you need to define a new letter. We could decide to use a “D” and to set up Shift Types like this: D 0800
1500
M 0830
1600
Then we replace all M-shifts before 01 August with D. Do this by selecting the roster area until August 01, press Edit / Replace. Be sure the options Match Case Match entire cell contents are set correctly. Check that all shifts are replaced as you expected. Now generate a new statistic. Working hours change accordingly. The reason for defining a new letter and replacing in the old rosters is that we prefer to keep the letter M active for the current and coming rosters. This way, only the staff planner notices the change. The M continues to identify a morning shift, so no need for your staff to get used to a new letter.
Shift Duration with Time Limitation In certain situations it may be necessary to change the duration of a shift from its standard setting. RPL now supports shift duration settings that can be assigned to a Edition: 2.0
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specific date interval. This way, you can assign M-shifts from 0800 to 1500 (valid 1/6 to 30/6), and from 0745 to 1515 (valid 1/7 and onwards). Change shift duration
Click Process / Shift Types Select the appropriate shift and set the according options
Shift Select shift Shift valid from date Select from which date the new duration shall be effective. Durations have no expiring date, i.e. once entered they remain effective until changed. That means that all shifts must be defined at least once in the list. Start / End Set time interval (format ttmm or tt:mm) History Shows all shift changes in the database. Functions
Click Add to enter new duration Click Delete to remove the selected item
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Click Close to exit
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11.4 Staffing Tables Staffing Tables Type:
Database
Summary:
Contains demand of staff
Access
Process / Go to Staffing
Target Area
All rosters
Limitations
365 days/year, max 100 shifts
RPL supports differential staffing (i.e. demand of staff) using enhanced Staffing Tables.
The Staffing Tables handle all kinds of differential staffing requirements. Staffing is based on four tables. They are processed by RPL this order: 1. Day Table (individual staffing on e.g. APR 25) 2. Week Table (staffing in e.g. Week 23) 3. EC Tables (e.g. Mon to Sun in February) 4. RPL Standard Staffing Table (Mon to Sun)
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RPL looks up staffing first in Table 1. If no data is filled in, it proceeds to Table 2, etc. Day Table Enter staffing on specific days here. On some national holidays you may need a reduced staffing. On days with e.g. military exercises you may need higher staffng:
Week Table Adjust staffing to certain weeks here:
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EC-Tables These tables allow the user to set a specific staffing on each Tuesday in January, but another on Tuesdays in February, etc:
RPL Standard Staffing Table The Standard Staffing Table contains staffing concerning only days of the week:
Calculation of Staffing RPLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basic principle is to look up staffing first in Table 1. If no data is filled in, it proceeds to Table 2, etc. You should activate a certain kind of staffing just by filling in relevant data. Leaving lines blank would automatically lead RPL to the next table. So, if no data information according to a particular day is found at all, RPL always takes the staffing out of the RPL Standard Table, which in that case must contain data.
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An example: Suppose you have a special demand on APR 25 and NOV 14, but otherwise the EC Table would be valid. 1. Enter the required demand for the two special days (APR 25 and NOV 14) in the Day Table. 2. Check there is no data in the Week Table 3. Check that your EC Table contains correct data 4. The Standard Table may be left blank (as RPL in this case would always find data in the EC Table before performing the last step). 5. Use Process / Basic Roster / Fill Staffing to update the roster In case you later on need reduced staffing in the summer weeks 28 and 29, it is necessary to fill in data only in those two specific lines, as the Week Table overrules your EC Tables. Enter required custom shifts on the top line (like Ys, Ms, etc). Maximum 2 characters.
Indication of additional staffing data When RPL detects staffing data in the additional tables, yellow indicators will highlight. Here you entered a particular staffing requirement for Jan 18:
Staffing data in tables below
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Use Reset Formats to restore the grid and colors. The file names of the EC Staffing “H_JAN_MON.xls” are optional. RPL does not use this text while calculating the valid line, but relies on the table structure. Use Process / Check Staffing to check that the required number of shifts exists in the roster or in the Pool. RPL considers all operational shifts (i.e. defined as “Opr”) as valid for the check. It will find a surplus of shift B, even if B is not part of the Staffing Table. So, RPL assumes that there is (or should be) a demand setting for any defined operational shift. All trainee shifts (with “j” as third character) are ignored. A trainee can have M like his coach but he is not part of the staffing and therefore not counted in. Validate your requirements instantly after you have used Fill Staffing by then executing Check Staffing (it should show balance on all days). New Staffing option (OR/AND) Go to Parameters / Miscellaneous and set the OR/AND option. Set to OR if you want RPL to skip the next table, if staffing data is found. Useful if you work with a standard staffing structure combined with a few exeptions (e.g. summer weeks and special days). Set to AND if you want RPL to fill in staffing from all tables. Useful if you work with a precisely defined staffing structure based on several tables. Mostly the Fill Staffing function would be able to load the complete demand into the pool in one step. Notice: To keep the overview you should make sure there is no overlapping staffing data in the tables. In case, the last processed table wins.
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11.5 Combination Tables Combination Tables Type:
Database
Summary:
Contains all valid cycles
Access
Process / Go to Combinations
Target Area
All rosters
Limitations
Max 2,000 combinations
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The Combination tables hold information to RPL, which shift cycles to create. While executing the Pool Manager looks up acceptable combinations here. The Staff Planner may optimise RPL by adding new combinations to the table as he detects them, or he may delete any non-acceptable combination. A table containing many combinations gives the Pool Manager equal possibilities to allocate shifts. On the contrary: The consequence of having a table containing only a few combinations may be that the Pool Manager leaves almost all shifts in the pool. Epl does not need all combinations filled in – just a small number to make the process run. At the beginning enter only a few typical combinations. Be sure all letters are used at least once, otherwise Epl will not know how to handle them. Try to enter only two cycles that are mostly used, like ”MMMA” and ”MMAA” as Acombinations. Run the Pool Manager on a couple of days in January and watch the result. Enter every combination of acceptable cycles into the table. You can easily detect new cycles for the tables by using Check Combinations and then transferring the yellow marked cycles with on the toolbar. The entry: “MMMA” makes a valid combination. RPL will automatically substitute non-operational shifts to fit to the table as they are considered as jokers. This means that a cycle like Mw Mw Osim Ae would be Ok as it matches “MMMA”, with Osim as a joker. All dotted shifts are also considered as jokers (i.e. a cycle like Mw A. Mw Aw would also be valid). Notice that the sector ID (second character in a shift) is ignored as far as combinations are concerned.
11.5.1
Editing Combinations Enter combinations manually or use the button on the RPL toolbar to add the selected combination in the roster to the table. Use Sort to arrange all combinations alphabetically. As RPL is working with upper and lower case characters, all “m” are sorted before “M”, etc Use Find A-doubles to detect and highlight non-unique combinations. RPL is able to delete doubles as well in order to reduce the size of the table. Notice that Excel offers build-in features that helps you in maintaining combinations Use Search to find certain lines, use Search and Replace to replace specific characters, use another sheet to create new combinations and copy them to RPL, etc If you need to investigate the Combinations Table for specific matters, a quick way is to select all combinations (or some) and press CTL + F (windows search function, notice the setting of options). Type “????M?” and step through combinations that have M as character no. 5. Type “Y???M?” to find combinations starting with Y and M as no. 5, etc. If the Basic Roster of Staffing Tables are changed, it consequently requires an update of the combinations. The combinations should contain some variations to allow RPL to use its fairness feature. Sometimes situations occur where building a cycle with M-shifts in the beginning allow only combinations to proceed with another M. And the fourth shift is then restricted to an M again. But you seem to have some variations to prevent that. Edition: 2.0
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11.5.2
Multible Combinations Tables The Staff Planner may wish to operate two (or more) Combinations Tables at the same time. In the beginning he would mainly use a limited table of combinations to achieve a rough distribution of shifts (so that everybody gets a quite normal cycle). Then a more fine-tuned Combinations Table. Finally, to force Epl to allocate the remaining pool shifts, he would use an almost complete table of combinations that gives some (inevitable) unnormal cycles. As it takes only seconds to replace the entire table with new data (copy/paste), you are able to change the way RPL works at any time. An easy way is to keep additional Combinations Tables on a separate sheet. Then copy the relevant table into the A- or B-Combinations column. Use Copy and Paste Values. Be sure there are no old combinations left over, if the new table is smaller than the previous. That way you could have many sets of combinations, each matching specific criteria.
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The combination tables are capable of handling 3 priority levels: Change a combination to another priority by selecting it and press Red (priority 1), Yellow (priority 2) or Green (priority 3). White combinations (priority not yet decided) are sorted last in row. RPL considers combinations with priority 1 to be used before priority 2, etc.
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Press Sort to sort both combination tables normally (alphabetical):
Press Sort Prio to sort combinations according to priority colours:
While sorting, RPL checks that User Parameter limitations are met. Any combination not in accordance with requirements is displayed with a red tag. :
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Here “xDN” does not comply with User Parameters settings a), d) and f).
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11.6 Leave Plan LeavePlan Type:
Database
Summary:
The LeavePlan contains all data concerning staff leave requests
Access
Process / Go to / LeavePlan
Prerequisites
Enter inits in Staff Data
Target Area
All rosters
Limitations
Year 1999 to 2025. Max leave req 2,000
After deadline all leave requests are imported from EPL Leave & Bidding into the RPL using the web import routine. Data is stored in the ”LeavePlan”. An ”i” indicates staff Internet-requests. Blank indicates a manual input. Priority provides 3 levels (e.g. 1 = urgent, 2 = normal (default) and 3 = nice to have). The comment field shows comments transferred from the Internet or (if no ”i”) entered by the staff planner. Click on the headers to sort data. The transfer of 3,000 requests takes less than 1 minute. Here the LeavePlan contains 219 lines.
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Use the buttons >> to toggle between LeavePlan, TaskPlan and BiddingPlan. Use Show & Check to see only requests concerning a certain period of e.g. 1 month and to check out conflicts between the LeavePlan and the TaskPlan, e.g. persons requested for a task on the same day as they bidded for leave. RPL marks all lines affected by the check and shows the kind of conflict. Use Quick Update to enter lines automatically while selecting specific weeks, days or periods, that may be recurring. Only initials defined in the Staff Data can be entered. In the From and To cells you may enter 2-3-07 only or, for entries concerning current year even 2-3. The cell automatically adjusts to the format 02-03-2007 (ddmm-yyyy). Enter the appropriate leave Type. This could be an operational shift if you wish to force certain shifts, for example an “M” shift, on someone on a specific day. In this way the BiddingPlan can be “overruled” by the staff planner. Use one of 3 priority levels (1,2 or 3). By executing the process “Task Requests” you then have the opportunity to insert e.g. only requests with priority-setting 2. Enter a “?” in the status column to make RPL ignore the data line. In this way several lines can be easily changed to a temporary “sleeping state” until you receive a final decision. Tip Select a leave day in the roster and use CTL + t to navigate directly to the corresponding line in the database.
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11.6.1
Quick Update Use the Quick Update window to facilitate the input of data lines.
Switch between LeavePlan and TaskPlan. Click date From followed by date To on the grey vertical bar and the period changes accordingly. Since the “date to” and “date from” setting depends on your first and second click, you may use Reset to start all over again. The following click then enters the “date to”. Select Week No and press Find Days to change the period to a certain week
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11.7 Task Plan TaskPlan Type:
Database
Summary:
The TaskPlan holds all data concerning AOD requests
Access
Process / Go to / TaskPlan
Prerequisites
Enter inits in Staff Data
Target Area
All rosters
Limitations
Year 1999 to 2025. Max tasks 2,000
The TaskPlan holds all data regarding AODs, which are non-operational duties like office or administrative shifts, refresher courses, simulator training, test of new system software, maternity leave, working groups, etc. All staff required for a non-operational shift must be entered here. Only initials defined in the Staff Data can be entered. In the From and To cells you may enter 2-3-07 only or, for entries concerning current year even 2-3. The cell automatically adjusts to the format 02-03-2007 (ddmm-yyyy).
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Enter the appropriate shift Type. This could be an operational shift if you wish to force certain shifts, for example an “M” shift, on someone on a specific day. In this way the BiddingPlan can be “overruled” the staff planner. Thus, “M” entered in the BiddingPlan would make RPL try to allocate “M” and look for it being available in the pool (there is no influence on staffing). Whereas “M” entered in TaskPlan would definitely make RPL allocate this shift (and would increase staffing by one). Use one of 3 priority levels (1,2 or 3). By executing the process “Task Requests” you then have the opportunity to insert e.g. only requests with priority-setting 2. Enter a “?” in the status column to make RPL ignore the data line. In this way several lines can be easily changed to a temporary “sleeping state” until the staff planner receives a final decision. Use W/M to tell RPL how to handle free days in task requests. Enter W = Weekend (RPL changes all weekend shifts to F) or M = Module (RPL keeps the persons free days according to his team). Note: This is the only way RPL would affect free days.
11.7.1
Updating the TaskPlan The most significant and time-consuming job for the staff planner is to keep the data sheets updated. RPL has several routines to facilitate this job.
Lines may be entered manually
OR use Quick Update to enter lines automatically.
OR enter task shifts directly into the roster. Then, use Check Leave + Task and Auto-fill
OR use the automatic TaskPlanning feature to manipulate and to adjust your task requests.
The window presents tasks concerning one person. Suppose you would solve the conflict between the selected periods, where “HS” is requested to office
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during his leave. Use the Split-function to split up the leave period with the task day. Just one click creates correct data lines. Press Info to show the basic principles of the Split-function
ď&#x201A;ˇ
OR enter the requests direct in the roster and use RPL to point out where it detects missing task requests. After they are highlighted you may decide to let RPL transfer the according data lines automatically. This way hundreds of data lines can be stored in seconds.
The reason for storing leave, tasks and bidding on data sheets (LeavePlan and TaskPlan) is that RPL may help to detect and solve potential conflicts and that it makes it possible to create a roster from scratch (so you may wait until short before deadline). Data can be easily maintained, sorted, counted, printed out, etc. Furthermore it gives the possibility to run what-if-sessions well ahead of deadline to analyse the consequences of different settings. If shifts are entered direct into the roster you lose these advantages. In case two persons would share the roster production, one could update the LeavePlan and TaskPlan and make sure there are no conflicts. The other person could then run the processes and do all manual inputs to complete the roster. Storing data also enables you to use EPL RosterPlanner as a planning tool. You could delete all roster data, then process only leave requests for e.g. six months to publish a leave overview. Or you could delete all roster data, then process only task requests in order to produce documentation for a meeting concerning planning of resources.
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11.7.2
More about RPL Taskplanning The RPL automatic Taskplanning function (TPL) is a highly advanced feature that enables the staff planner to “remote” update the TaskPlan. It supports complex splitting of periods and saves time when editing task lines. Call the TPL-function from a roster by clicking “TPL” in the toolbar and the TPLwindow appears:
Data lines from TaskPlan and LeavePlan
Editing line
Editing function buttons Add to LeavePlan or to TaskPlan
Click to expand to current month
Click to set default period
month
as
Navigate to Database
Click to display the Infowindow
Selecting data lines All data lines in LeavePlan and TaskPlan that relate to the selected period are displayed in the window. These lines are copies from the database.
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Because you would often decide to view data lines for a whole month and because the data lines concerning periods just before or just after current month should still be considered, RPL displays these periods in the window too. By selecting one or more data lines and using the editing functions it is possible to let RPL update the database. When a data line is selected its data appears in the green editing line below. If you select more data lines, data from the last selected line is shown. Selecting a period The default period refers to the selected days in the roster. Click <M> to expand the period settingto the current month. Click „Current Month“ if you would prefer RPL to change the default period to current month. Notice: That RPL shows only the relevant data lines according to your selected period. Check which period is valid in the roster if you miss data lines in the window. Insert a Task Enter the task manually into the roster and select the days:
Here 3 office days (O4) were entered. Then press „TPL“ and the data line is already filled in.
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Priority is default set to 1. The edit data line is blue (colour for TaskPlan update) and the radio-button is already changed to point to the TaskPlan. The cursor is default ready to take your remarks entry: Enter some text:
Press „Add“ and RPL stores this data line in the database:
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The data line is instantly shown in the window and the editing line is ready to take a new input.
Update a Task Select a task in the window and do your updates to Priority, Status, Weekend or Notes, then press „Update“. The cursor is default in the Notes field. Changes to the period or type is not possible (RPL displays a message). Such changes means basically that there is need for a new task. In this case use „Add“ to store a new data line followed by „Delete“ to remove the previous. Using Split Splitting tasks is a wellknown situation to all staff planners. Performing manual split in the database is a time consuming job. RPL facilitates these routines and minimizes errors with the split-function. Press the „Info-button“ to display how RPL handles different situations where tasks overlap.
Generally RPL considers a new task to have higher priority than the existing. Also, a short task is presumed to be incorporated in a long task as indicated by the coloured lines above. If you are looking for another split result than the RPL default, select the low priority task with your first click and high priority task with your second (the last wins).
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LeavePlan or TaskPlan The TPL-window has two radio-buttons enabling you to determine where to store new datalines. If you select some leave days (shift = C), RPL presumes you intend to use the LeavePlan as destination and the editing line turns yellow. If you select office days (shift = O), RPL points to the TaskPlan and turns blue. Use the navigation buttons to go direct to the database. If you select a data line concerning leave, the leave-navigation will take you direct to the corresponding data line in LeavePlan. Conflicts TPL checks automatically any conflict in the database and consequently removes conflict messages after they are solved by e.g. using the Split-function.
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11.7.3
The X-task Concept Use X-tasks for requests that are not associated to specific days. Suppose “ABC” is permitted to have 4 office days each month (no requirements to be put on certain days, just 4 days). The data line would be:
RPL allocates four “OO” days on the best suited days (according to surplus). If this is not possible, RPL shows a message. The limit (e.g. –5 on the +/- line) for the number of X-tasks to be accepted is a custom parameter. If ABC requires his office days rostered as 1 each week, the following data lines should be entered instead:
Provided that “ABC” needs Sep 19 as a fixed office day and is otherwise flexible, the data lines would look like this:
Provided “ABC” needs 13 office days within a month, but limited to only workdays, the lines may be entered like this:
The first line changes all shifts to M. (M-dotted) and ensures free on all weekends (W). The second line tells RPL to change 13 of these days to “Omg”. X-tasks are processed last in row compared to other tasks. Suppose you have entered two office days (Omg) on specific days and there is also an X-task line that codes for 5 Omg per month. In this case RPL allocates two specific days and adds three flexible days.
11.7.4
Reservation Tasks In many respects it is necessary for the staff planner to enter task requests well before a person has been assigned to it. RPL allows you to enter a request with initials “???” or “??” and still have the task executed. Suppose you need 3 controllers on re-education simulator from Sep 14 to Sep 25 but you are not in possession of the exact names yet. Enter this data line:
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RPL will load it into the pool. Since the Pool Manager takes only operational shifts the reservation task will remain in the pool. Consequently the +/- line is reduced by one which is exactly what you intended. When the name of the person is published you will transfer the task into the roster (which has no influence on the +/- line) The default sorting of the pool is alphabetically. If you define reservation tasks with the first character position to be a number, they are arranged together in the pool. Tip Select a task in the roster and use CTL + t to navigate directly to the corresponding line in the database.
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11.8 Bidding Plan and Biddings BiddingPlan Type:
Database
Summary:
The BiddingPlan holds all data concerning staff wishes for a specific shifts.
Access
Process / Go to / BiddingPlan
Prerequisites
Enter shift sequences for buttons “Early, Late, Free, Any shift” in Parameters Enter inits in Staff Data
Target Area
All rosters
Limitations
Year 1999 to 2025. Max biddings 2,000
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The web import routine stores all requests concerning bidding in the ”BiddingPlan”. Preferences show the combination of shifts the person bidded for (here “Free” would be FHP, free, holiday and part time). The BiddingPlan may be updated in three ways:
Automatic import from EPL Leave & Bidding System
Manually by editing a line
Manually by entering a bidding into the roster
Automatic import from EPL Leave & Bidding System See Data Exchange. Manually by editing a line Lines can be stored manually (if a request comes in after Internet deadline expired). Enter data on any available lines. Use Early, Late, Free, Any Shift to insert defined shift combinations. To change the sequence of shifts entered by e.g. “Early” go to Parameters / Translation). An orange “i” indicates an Internet-bidding. Manually by entering the bidding into the roster Select the appropriate shift in the roster. Click relevant data:
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on RPL Tool bar and enter
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Only initials defined in the Staff Data can be entered. In the From and To cells you may enter 2-3-07 only or, for entries concerning current year even 2-3. The cell automatically adjusts to the format 02-03-2007 (ddmm-yyyy). Text is descriptive text Use Preferences to determine which shifts could fulfil the bidding. Priority level can be set to 1,2 or 3 (used for later RPL enhancements) Enter a “?” in the status column to make RPL ignore the data line. In this way several lines can be easily changed to a temporary “sleeping state” until the staff planner receives a final decision. Manually entering comments to shifts The BiddingPlan can handle normal bidding requests (entered with a preference by staff) and comments to shifts (entered with no preference by the Staff Planner). To enter a comment, select a shift, Click leave the preference field blank, press OK:
on RPL Tool bar, enter some text,
The information is in each case stored in the BiddingPlan and shown in the roster with a red tag. Here is a comment line on PP in the BiddingPlan and a normal bidding request line:
PP
20-01-2005
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20-01-2005
Remember to confirm…
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PP
26-01-2005
26-01-2005
Very important FHP
3
i
And here is the comment on PP in the roster
A comment can be changed to a bidding request and v.v. by clicking +B again. You may enter even more comment lines concerning the same day. RPL will display all of them in the roster. (The BiddingPlan is capable of holding max 60,000 lines). Notice that you can easily move from a shift with a bidding or comment to the BiddingPlan using the short cut CTL + t (”t” actually means ”TaskPlan” because RPL starts searching in the TaskPlan, thereafter in the LeavePlan and finally searches the BiddingPlan). Basically all red tags (including comments) are removed by clicking “N” on the toolbar. Until now the “N”- button cleared all kind of colors. Now RPL is able to maintain presentation of biddings and comments. To keep comments visible, the “Normal Setting” ahs been extended with 4 levels. Go to “Parameters - Display” and select the appropriate level: 0 = All 1 = All except biddings/comments 2 = Only selected month 3 = Only selected month except biddings/comments Level 1 = "All except biddings"" means reset all colors to standard but still show biddings and comments, etc. In this way you always have updated info on the screen. Individual Bidding See Example 7 – Individual Rosters Tip Select a bidding in the roster and use CTL + t to navigate directly to the corresponding line in the database.
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11.9 Status Plan StatusPlan Type:
Database
Summary:
The StatusPlan holds all data concerning staff certificate validations
Access
Process / Go to / StatusPlan
Prerequisites
Enter inits in Staff Data
Target Area
All rosters
Limitations
Year 1999 to 2025. Max entries 2,000
Enter all data concerning staff status in the table. The date is always the end of validation (expires at date). Use Process / Check Status to see warnings in the roster on the expiring days Only initials defined in the Staff Data can be entered.
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11.10
Parameters Parameters Type:
Database
Summary:
Parameters holds all custom parameters
Access
Process / Go to / Parameters
Prerequisites
None
Target Area
All rosters
Limitations
Individual
All setting of parameters in RPL is handled in this section. Enter all necessary values here to tune the RosterPlanner exactly to the requirements in your ATCenvironment. White cells are definable. Some cells are limited to certain values. Edition: 2.0
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Custom Parameters Use the parameters to customise RPL regarding special settings, such as time limit for an “early” shift, your limitations concerning working hours and to set the staffing limit for specific functions (e.g. that you do not accept RPL to give “part time free” when the top line shows less than minus two). Also the values of national requirements (working hours and the maximum period of duty, etc) are set here so they may easily be altered. System Parameters Various RPL offline settings that should not be changed. Navigation in Parameters Press Process / Go to and select Parameters:
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The Parameters section provides a sub-navigation for the database. Press Go To:
Select the appropriate sub-section.
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11.10.1 RPL Online Help Many parameters are provided with information hints:
If online help info should not be visible, press Show / Reset. Please report any online info that should be changed. All RPL-messages and online info is stored in an off line sheet (the language sheet) and easy to update:
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11.10.2 User Parameters sections General Settings
Primary Path to RPL-directory: Select from the list or type the path. Secondary Path to RPL-directory: Type alternative RPL-directory here. Path to EPL Photo Gallery: Select from the list RPL Toolbar name: Enter the name of RPL toolbar. Excel Version: In order to facilitate modifying all support messages and error messages are off line parameters. RPL contains a special feature to change the language default setting. Set preferred language here (English is standard). All messages must be translated on the Language sheet.
Parameter Set: Select which set of working rules RPL shall refer to. Windows Office version: Select Office 2003 or 2007 Edition: 2.0
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Teams
Roster: RPL can perform rosters that are team based or non-team-based Number of persons on each team: Enter team size. Use â&#x20AC;&#x153;Linesâ&#x20AC;? to reset team lines in all rosters. Current limit of inits: Enter current max Periods Set all start and end times here.
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Cycles
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Shifts
Match to Colleague
Working Hours
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Supervisors
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Defining standard colours to “N” on the toolbar There is a possibility to define the default colors when clicking “Normal” (“N” on toolbar)
In this case C = green, O = yellow, P = grey, Sick = red (all shifts with x as third character) Set “N” (Normal) mode Set which way RPL shall react when clicking "N" on the toolbar. "All except biddings" means reset all colors to standard but still show biddings, etc: 0 = All 1 = All except biddings/comments 2 = Only selected month 3 = Only selected month except biddings/comment Roster Standard Colours Set “Roster Standard Colors to “on” or “off”. Shift Standard Colour Enter some shifts that should be default colored. Use the button "Colors" to apply the color to the cell and, if preferred, also to the font. "OO" means all shifts starting with "OO" etc. "??x?" means color for shifts indicating sickness (3rd character = “x”) Notice that the contents of the table is case sensitive so you may set a specific color for “C” and another for “c”. After clicking “N” the roster would look like this:
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It is only possible to use standard colors if "Normal Mode" is limited to a single month (i.e. Normal Mode parameter above is set to "2" or "3"). Display colours for max counts
Display shifts, ratings Enter which shifts shall be default setting I dialogues.
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Miscellaneous:
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Weekend setting: Use this parameter to define which days shall be considered as weekend. EPL will mark weekend days with frame. European setting
= 7 (Gregorian: Sat + Sun)
Emirates setting
= 6 (Fri + Sat)
Arabic setting
= 5 (Hijra: Thu + Fri)
Directories, URL
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CoursePlanner settings:
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11.10.3 System Parameters System Parameters should not be changed by users.
11.10.4 User Parameter Sets To facilitate the adaptation to national legislation RPL provides separate tables with definition of working rules called User Parameters Sets. Depending on which User parameter Set RPL refers to, you can activate different definitions of national working rules. ATS Data Design will deliver a User parameter Set that exactly matches the ATC environment in which RPL shall be used.
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Then click the “Go to”-button:
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and select User Parameter Set:
A parameter set consists of several rules. Rules can be enabled or disabled by clicking them on/off. In case you run RosterPlanner with simulation data you could disable some of the working rules because they may prevent some shifts from being allocated by the Pool Manager. When a rule is set to â&#x20AC;&#x153;offâ&#x20AC;? the text is dimmed. Rules have attached numbers that RPL refers to in certain messages. The number in brackets are standard settings. If the parameter is changed, this number indicates the original value. Values from the User Parameter Set are used in Check Working Rules, Pool Manager, Combination Tables, Statistical data, etc
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11.11
The Manual Process
The remaining shifts in the pool are to be positioned manually. The program provides you with many easy tools. Two shifts change position if you double-click them or you may highlight all available shifts to view possible destinations. Use the Trace-function to investigate why the pool manager did not place certain shifts onto certain persons in order to facilitate detection of new combinations. Use the Fairness-feature on the left next to the staff buttons, which uses small green pointers to show who deserves a specific shift (here n? meaning any kind of night shift should be put primarily on CG or on SLM or on SNM etc). This manual part can in some situations be complicated, especially during periods when you’re low of staff. During a “normal” creation session there should be no need to make manual inputs. All shifts are generated using the Basic Roster process or extracted from the database (like leave and AODs) and thereafter kept in a closed circuit between the roster and the pool. A shift may be transferred to the pool several times. Only if shifts are accidentally deleted/changed, which the program will point out, a manual edit is necessary. Shifts can be entered everywhere in the roster. If you enter a dotted shift into the roster the top line is increased by one – if you enter a shift in the pool the top line deducted by one.
11.11.1 Swopping of Shifts
Use double-click or “swop” on the toolbar to swop a single shift
Use “swop” on the toolbar to swop multiple shifts
Go to Parameters / Miscellaneous and set “Swop info to BiddingPlan” to e.g. 4.
When a row of 4 shifts (or more) is swopped, RPL automatically stores info in the BiddingPlan like this: HS
25-01-2005
28-01-2005
swopped with CG
CG
25-01-2005
28-01-2005
swopped with HS
If the display level for “Normal” is 1 or 3 (as described in modification no. 7) RPL will show swop info in the roster after resetting the colors. Here HS swopped first with CG, then with SN and finally with ZS: Edition: 2.0
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11.11.2 Please avoid Excel is sensible to deleting (or insertion) of cells. Please use the “Delete” key instead. Do not use math operators like a dash “-“ or a “+” (which Excel interprets as minus and plus) All custom parameters and custom tables are white and may be altered. All system parameters and areas are greyed out. Generally, do not use drag and drop as RPL has no change to warn if e.g. shifts are moved across days, etc. Avoid using Copy/Paste but always use Paste Special or Paste Values. Use Copy/Paste Special/ Values (ALT + e + s) and check that data was correctly positioned. Most of the RPL-database is auto-validated (there will be a message if non-valid data is entered). The headers are protected and they cannot unintentionally be altered.
11.11.3 Short Keys In many respects the keyboard is a faster and a much more ergonomic device than your mouse. Here are some key hints, however some of them may of course be familiar to you: Facilitate scrolling by always resting your finger on PageUp and PageDown while considering solutions in stead of dragging the Windows scrollbar. The most used short keys CTL + C copy the selection CTL + V paste the selection CTL + Z undo the last action However, use Copy followed by Copy Special/Values – it will be one of your most frequently used short cut key combinations. Always use this Copy Special action (insert only text) when transferring data in the RPL to avoid inserting colours and overwriting names. On English keyboards the short cut is ALT + E + S + ArrowDown + ArrowDown. Edition: 2.0
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Toggling Toggle between RPL programs (Excel-files) using CTL + TAB One of the most useful short cuts is to toggle between Windows applications (e.g. Word and Excel) using ALT + TAB Selecting Press and hold Shift to select more items (in a row). CTL+SHIFT+ArrowRight selects to the end of CTL+SHIFT+ArrowDown selects to the end of e.g. data lines.
e.g.
dates.
Press and hold CTL to select more items (separately) If the cursor is somewhere inside a data area and you want to select the entire data block, use CTL + SH + asterisk CTL + A selects all data Navigating Use ALT + Page Up/Down to quickly scroll the roster horizontally. Jump to last cell in a row using CTL + ArrowDown Use CTL + Home to go to upper left corner Press ALT and the menu bar is highlighted on “Files”, then use the Arrows to find the item you’re looking for, then Enter to execute. Other Windows Short Cuts CTL + F starts the searching window. Step through the entry fields by TAB. (Space toggles case sensitive search on/off) Use F2 to edit or add to a cell without overwriting the contents. CTL + mouse wheel enables you to zoom up and down ALT + F4 closes any kind of active window in front of your roster. The Windows Key Notice the Windows key on your keyboard. It can be useful with these short cuts: Windows key + D goes to desktop Windows key + E starts Explorer Windows key opens Start Locating files Again and again you search a specific file. Try using the only the keyboard. Here is an example: 1. Press Windows key + E to start Explorer 2. The cursor defaults on “My Computer” 3. Press arrow down to highlight the C-drive Edition: 2.0
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4. Press arrow right to open folders 5. Press “e” to go directly to the EPL-folder 6. Press arrow right to open contents 7. Press TAB to step into the files section (SH TAB to go back) 8. Press “epl” to go to epl-files 9. Press arrow down to step to correct file 10. Press Enter to open Internet Use ALT + ArrowLeft to quickly step back to previous window. And, of course, ArrowRight to go forward. Excel counter and sum Note that you have a build-in Excel facility on the status bar (bottom right on screen) showing sum, number of entries, etc. It is useful when counting data lines, when counting number of shifts within an area.
Right click on the result to get more options:
RPL Short Cuts: Double-click or click
= Exchange shifts
CTL + t goes directly to the according line in the database. If a “C” (leave day) is selected it switches to the corresponding entry in the LeavePlan. If a Task is selected it finds the appropriate line in the TaskPlan. If the shift is not stored in the database, RPL goes to the top of TaskPlan.
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CTL + i = moves the cursor vertically to the line with the specified initials. Useful in rosters or in the database.
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11.12
GoTo Functions and Navigation
These functions provide quick navigation between the parts of RPL
Use BiddingPlan, LeavePlan, StatusPlan and TaskPlan, etc to switch to the according section. Use Accounts (not yet installed). Use Data Exchange to let EPL RosterPlanner communicate with RPL Web. Use Initialise to set up the configuration between the current RPL Program and the toolbar (e.g. if another excel file is open and you return to RPL). Use Print Out to print selected periods or any part of the database to connected printers. Use Protection to prevent selected periods from unforeseen changes. The program will reject any input by the user within periods containing already published rosters. Statistics Navigation between rosters All created rosters are on separate sheets. You may navigate to a specific roster in two ways: ď&#x201A;ˇ
Click the relevant roster sheet tab at the bottom of screen
ď&#x201A;ˇ
Press Show / Rosters and click the relevant roster
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Notice the Excel scrolling arrows:
In case a roster is not visible, right click on the arrows to get a list of valid sheets.
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11.13
Data Exchange Data Exchange Type:
Interface
Summary:
Handles all import and export of data
Access
Process / Go to / Data Exchange
Prerequisites
Open the import source file
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
None
RPL Data Exchange contains all interface facilities for importing or exporting data. Press Process / Go to and select Data Exchange:
There are three main categories:
Data in
Which kind of data to import Import files have to comply with certain RPL formats in order to be processed correctly.
Data out
Which kind of data to export. RPL exports data as text-files or excel-
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Files ď&#x201A;ˇ
From Source
Which file to read from or write to. All open excel-files are displayed in the list.
Internet Connection online with the Internet = green, offline (selected state or no connection) = red you use a LAN connection = green you are connected via proxy server = green you are connected via modem = green Data Exchange to other EP- modules via Internet requires that you are online and that that your workstation is connected.
11.13.1 Import of Biddings and Leave If your parameters are set correctly, RPL makes it possible to transfer thousands of biddings and leave requests via the Internet. These requests are instantly ready to be processed in the roster. The target period is flexible, so you may transfer data for e.g. two days or for several months. Normally, you would transfer leave requests two times a year. In addition, according to your company policy, you could decide to transfer biddings each month. The options settings make it possible to separate bidding data from leave data. After the import there will be a transfer message
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delete requests with attached comments, because you may have added these comments after import deadline. In order to establish a flexible way of connecting to EPL Leave & Bidding there are certain parameters, which should be set correctly: Go to Parameters and set Use Internet access to “yes”. Normally, the RPL modules are using Internet as interface. Alternatively, it is possible to interface by using file transfer in case you wish to work on a local work station. Please advise ATS Data design if you intend to use a manual interface. The URL for Data Exchange Bidding is the current web address to be used. Enter your favorite URL’s in the list and then select which one to use as connection:
Before you start import of data from EPL Leave & Bidding, please check
that you entered the correct web address
that you are online with the Internet
that you selected correct period in EPL RosterPlanner
11.13.2 Bidding – leave RPL imports data from a bidding file, but ignores data concerning leave. Use this function if you intend to extract only bidding data from a file that also contains leave days. Data is stored in the BiddingPlan with “I”-marking
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11.13.3 Bidding + leave RPL imports data from a bidding file and includes leave days. Data is stored in the BiddingPlan and LeavePlan.
11.13.4 EPL-mail principles The “Epl Mail” function handles
Distribution of roster information
Exchange of roster data between RPL users.
The function can be used to easily create a separate data sheet that can be attached to E-mail. If the receiving person has installed an RPL application, the roster data can be imported and processed further. EPL Mails are useful for distributing published rosters to staff, because you want to send only roster data and not the whole application.
11.13.5 ePL-mail (Data out)
Select a period and go to data Exchange.
Select “Epl Mail” in the “Data out” section
Press “Execute”
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RPL transfers all shifts onto a separate Excel sheet with time-stamp (date/time) and with information of the name of the original file.
EPL Mail in colours
EPL Mail in black/white
Press Save as and give this sheet a name, then attach it to an E-mail.
11.13.6 EPL-mail (Data in)
Select a period and go to data Exchange.
Select “Epl Mail” in the “Data in” section
Select in From Source which file to take data from (the file must be open)
Press “Execute”
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An option message according pool shifts is presented
RPL imports roster data. Notice that previous roster data for this period is overwritten.
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11.13.7 EPL-mail and pool shifts If the selected period contains pool shifts, they are included in RPL Mail.
RPL Mail with pool shifts
If you import RPL Mails containing pool shifts, the pool in the receiving file is updated accordingly.
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11.13.8 Historic Data There is a possibility for ATS Data Design to load historic data into the RPL. In order to process the input automatically the import data should be in this format <init> <tab> <date> <tab> <shift type>:
AB
1072006
m
AB
2072006
M
AB
3072006
F
AB
5072006
m
AB
4072006
F
AB
6072006
M
AB
7072006
N
AB
8072006
n
AB
9072006
F
AB
10072006
e
AB
11072006
E
AB
12072006
N
AB
13072006
n
AB
14072006
F
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11.13.9 Leave RPL imports leave data. Data is stored in the LeavePlan.
Check the according settings in Parameters:
Use Internet Access: Set to “yes” to import leave data via the Internet. Set to “no” to import leave data from a separate data file. This file must be open and selected as Source. URL for Data Exchange Bidding: Set URL for Internet connection
11.13.10
RPL Interlink
RPL Data Exchange contains a complete Interlink function that takes data from either a specific RPL-application file (open) or from custom pre-defined files (open or not open).
Go to “Data Exchange” and select “EPL Interlink”. The “Data In” list expands with additional options: Rosters, Leave, Tasks, etc. Select one or more of these options.
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The “From Source” list holds all open file names. Select which file to take data from or click the “Pre-defined Files” to let RPL open custom defined files and search them for corresponding data to transfer and automatically close the file again. Go to Parameters and set the pre-defined files:
In this case RPL would search the standard directory (normally C:\Epl) for a file name that matches “epl150sup” and open the highest extension number found and then transfer data. Provided there are several files named “epl150sup” like epl150sup004, epl150sup005 and a epl150sup008, RPL would open the most recent version, which would be the extension 008. This allows you to store many files in the RPL-directory, but still only take data out of the latest version. After opening the file RPL looks for corresponding staff by comparing all inits in the opened file (in this case epl150sup008) with the staff in your active file. To take data from a SUP-file into an ATCO-file: If your active file is a Brussels version (like epl201bru001) and you interlink to a supervisor file (like epl150sup008), RPL would normally find corresponding inits for JH, KH; AK etc, and transfer their data. To take data from an ATCO-file into an SUP-file: In the opposite situation your active file would be a supervisor file (like epl150sup008) and you interlink to the ATCO-files by setting 3 kinds of pre-defined files
RPL would open the latest version for Brussels and find corresponding inits for JH, KH; AK, etc. Then it would open the latest version for Hannover and find some other corresponding inits, then open the latest version for Deco to find the rest, etc
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More about RPL Interlink: The difference between RPL Mail and RPL interlink is basically that RPL Mail produces a new file (= new Excel sheet) limited to carrying only roster data, whereas RPL Interlink automatically opens several files and copies any staff related data between RPL-applications located on a network server. RPL is capable of opening files even if another user is modifying the file. Data is then taken from the last saved version. As RPL Interlink cannot be cancelled (there is no “undo”), a warning is shown before starting.
The period, to which RPL Interlink shall refer when transferring roster data, is selected by pressing “Process” and setting the “Selected Interval” as usual. If you wish to transfer roster data for e.g. 12 months, RPL Interlink must be executed twice. All changed shifts are marked blue:
When comparing staff, RPL looks in the roster staff sequence (the inits on the left of the roster) and not in Staff Data. This means that you may always have staff defined that is no longer in the roster: If a person “AB” is in the roster, RPL Interlink would transfer all his Task Data – if “AB” is only defined in Staff Data, RPL Interlink would transfer no of his Task Data. New roster data - of course - overwrites existing roster data. But RPL Interlink adds only new data lines with data like leave, task, bidding and status. Suppose “AB” in Edition: 2.0
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the active file has got 4 leave requsts and 2 requests in the file to transfer from. RPL Interlink would check if the 2 requests match any of the 4. If only one matches, it would add the other request and â&#x20AC;&#x153;ABâ&#x20AC;? now has 5 requests. This makes it possible to collect data from several files and prevents double entries. Finally the user would run a Conflict Check to see if the added request would overlap some of the previous 4. The time it takes to use RPL Interlink depends on your computer and the network connection. Normally you should be able to make a full update within 10 to 20 seconds. When completed, RPL Interlink shows a message:
The message contains the result of the RPL Interlink execution. If you perform an Interlink with the same data twice, the second run would always show no changes.
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11.13.11
System Upgrade
This function is used by ATS Data Design when transferring data from one RPL version to another.
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11.13.12
Publishing of rosters
RosterPlanner can publish rosters on EPL StatusChecker or EPL BreakPlanner. When a roster for a specific month is finished, the Staff Planning Office would use Data Exchange to publish roster data:
You may decide to re-publish a roster on StatusCheker after some changes have been included. Again, Data Exchange is used and the new roster overwrites the previous roster on the Internet. An update takes only a few seconds.
11.13.13
Performed shifts in RosterPlanner
RosterPlanner may also be used to keep details of the actual performed shifts. In that case there would be two file versions: The first file includes the published roster and is created some weeks in advance by the Staff Planning Office. The second file is the current version including all changes of shifts, normally entered by the supervisor. This file would contain exact roster data every day at midnight. Data Exchange can be used to transfer data to your payrole system from any of these files. Thus, evening allowances and statistics may be calculated either based on published rosters or on actual rosters.
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11.13.14
All Shifts
RPL exports all shifts in selected period onto a separate TAB separated text file (code = P5) LKH LKH LKH LKH LKH LKH LKH LKH LKH LKH ABU ABU ABU ABU ABU ABU ABU ABU ABU ABU
01042010 02042010 03042010 04042010 05042010 06042010 07042010 08042010 09042010 10042010 01042010 02042010 03042010 04042010 05042010 06042010 07042010 08042010 09042010 10042010
M.**P5 M.**P5 F***P5 Fm**P5 M.**P5 M.**P5 M.**P5 N.**P5 n.**P5 F***P5 M.**P5 M.**P5 F***P5 Fm**P5 M.**P5 M.**P5 M.**P5 N.**P5 n.**P5 Fh**P5
11.13.15 Transfer of roster data to payrole system or HR system Use Data Exchange All Shifts to export data. This function is very flexible and can be extended and adjusted to process data and formats as required by other data systems.
11.13.16
Bidding Accepted
RPL exports all accepted biddings in selected period onto a separate excel sheet (code = P8). RPL considers accepted biddings to be the green marked shifts in the roster. Before the export is performed, RPL automatically runs Check Bidding to determine whether biddings are fulfilled:
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11.13.17
Bidding Registered
RPL exports all registrered biddings (as found in the BiddingPlan) in selected period onto a separate excel sheet (code = P7) RPL automatically runs Check Bidding to identify biddings in the roster.
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11.13.18
BreakPlanner
RosterPlanner transfers data to EPL BreakPlanner (See Data Exchange to StatusChecker).
11.13.19
Leave
RPL exports all leave days in selected period onto a separate excel sheet (code = P4) In case you wish to transfer only certain leave shifts, press Go to Parameters / Leave & task Codes and enter which kind of leave days to export.
By setting only “C” in the table as shown above, and selecting “No” in the following window, RPL exports only shifts which are exactly “C” (but ignores all associated “Fc” and “FC”). By selecting “Yes”, RPL exports all shifts related to leave (including all associated “Fc” and “FC”).
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RPL exports all leave days onto a separate sheet:
11.13.20
StatusChecker
EPL RosterPlanner uses Data Exchange to interface to EPL StatusChecker as roster data requires a certain format to be accepted by the StatusCheckerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s import function. Suppose you have completed and published a roster for February and you intend to transfer roster data to the StatusChecker. First, go to Data Exchange
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then select StatusChecker
After a few seconds RPL creates the STC import file:
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The File is identified by name: BPL_import_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS Directory is the EPL standard directory as set in Parameters The file format is *.txt (Tab-delimited) and looks like this
The file is instantly ready to be loaded into the StatusChecker.
11.13.21
Synchronize
Use this function to synchronize basic RPL data (like Staff Data, license expiry dates, etc) with EPL Web modules.
11.13.22
Tasks / AODs
RPL exports all task days in selected period onto a separate excel sheet (code = P4). It is possible either to export all shifts or to generate a limited export of specific tasks. Sometimes you wish to transfer only certain tasks (like e.g. simulator and instruction) to the Internet. All future AODs would be published on the Bidding system. Thus, controllers can make no bidding on a reserved shift. Go to Parameters / Leave & Task Codes and enter which kind of task days to export.
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Select “Yes” for all shifts or “No” for exporting according to table. RPL transfers data onto a separate sheet:
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11.14
Print Out Print Out Type:
Function
Summary:
Printing of current roster
Access
Process / Go to / Print Out
Prerequisites
Roster data filled in
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
None
Protection Level
High
Related Functions:
-
Use the function to send rosters to a specific printer. Go to Parameters / Miscellaneous and set the appropriate option to yes/no
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Select your printer destination and click Execute
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11.15
Protection Protection Type:
Function
Summary:
Protects published rosters
Access
Process / Go to / Protection
Prerequisites
A published roster
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
None
When rosters are complete and published there should be no more changes to the cells. In order to prevent rosterdata from being accidentally changed, you can use the Protection function. 1. Select an interval on the date line 2. Click Process / Go to / Protection 3. Select Closed
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11.16
Replace Cycles Replace Cycles Type:
Function
Summary:
Finds (and replaces) custom sequences
Access
Process / Go to / Replace Cycles
Prerequisites
None
Target Area
Selected period on current roster
Limitations
None
Related Functions:
Show Custom Sequences
Use the function Replace Cycles to highlight and maybe also replace custom cycles. Normally, using Excel you are able to find any roster shift combination in one cell. Finding certain cycles like Mw Aw Aw Mw in several cells and maybe replacing this sequence with Me Ae Ae Me, would be difficult. Type the shifts in to look for:
And click Find Next, Replace or Find All, Replace All. Notice that the entries are case sensitive.
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11.17
Show Button
The second of the two main buttons, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Showâ&#x20AC;?, contains additional functions. Since rosters with more than 100 persons become complicated to overview it is essential to have efficient tools to support your planning. The difference between the two main buttons is principally that the Process-button allows you to alter rosters, database, parameter settings, etc, whereas the Show-button makes it possible to view the roster from different angles using colours and information tags, and it offers various features for customising your set-up.
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11.17.1 Created Rosters Use Go to Rosters to quickly navigate between created rosters.
RPL is capable of displaying rosters until 2025.
11.17.2 New Rosters If a non-existing roster is selected, the RPL will propose to create it.
Press Yes and RPL creates a new roster including:
An interval of 6 months
A calendar with national holidays and AIRAC dates
Marked weekends (vertical black lines) and months (vertical yellow lines)
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ď&#x201A;ˇ
Pool contents = 0
ď&#x201A;ˇ
Preset staff. RPL assumes you wish to continue with the staff sequence used in the previous roster. If the roster just before the current roster exists, RPL copies the staff sequence from there and loads data into the new roster. Then, when coming to the next step, Process / Staff Members and Check Inits, the sequence is already filled in.
11.17.3 Delete Rosters Click Delete to remove the current roster completely. All roster data will be lost. RPL displays a message:
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Use the Identifier to provide your rosters with an appropriate name (must be 7 characters). Use Staff Rating to switch between rosters dedicated to operational staff or trainees. Use Reset to reset all colours plus team lines, weekend lines, etc. Use Black/White printing to change from colour printing to black and white printouts. Use Shift Types to highlight any pre-defined shift with one of four available colours (first character only).
Click Whole roster to mark shifts also outside the current month. The number of marked shifts is displayed in the status line below the roster
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Use Partial to highlight any custom-defined shift (like all shifts with second character = “w”).
Use Other to highlight all B-combinations, all late shifts, all leave, all operational shifts, etc.
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Use Custom Sequences to highlight any custom-defined combination of shifts (you may wish to view all “nFO” combinations to check who ends with a night shift and starts office with only one day off).
Go to Parameters / Custom Sequences and set which shift sequences you prefer in the list:
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11.17.4 Overlap Use Overlap to view the previous week of your current roster to leverage the transition from for example winter to summer. The last week from the winter roster will be displayed on the left side of the screen.
11.17.5 Ratings Use Ratings to see staff combination choice and their ratings. Set colours on your ratings under Parameters. There are two ways of displaying ratings: Rating Text only shows combination code A, B or AB and the rating characters in colours
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Rating Colour Coding shows combination code A, B or AB and ratings with colour codes
Set which way to display and colours to use in Parameters
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11.17.6 Show non-existing Use Show non-existing to see all roster lines for non-existing persons or to minimise these lines.
11.17.7 Hours per Year / Working Hours
Use Hours per Year to show summarised annual working hours on the left side of the screen. The result is colour coded to display persons that differ from userdefined limitations (as set in Parameters). Click â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hoursâ&#x20AC;? to refresh results.
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Red
= Too much
Orange
= Above limit
No colour
= Ok
Light blue
= Below limit
Click the small “T” to toggle between displaying hours in T = Totals or D = Differences (compared to year/month in Staff Data):
11.17.8 Early/Late Counts RPL contains a feature to display counts of all early and all late shifts within a certain interval. Click Show and select “Hours per Year”
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Go to Parameters and define which shifts shall be counted:
Select Interval for Working Hours In order to change the interval for counting of working hours, rightclick on “Hours”, wait for the updating and a window is displayed:
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Calculation of Working Hours There are three ways of calculating working hours: In Statistics, in the current roster, and individually for a single person.
1. Statistics
2. Roster
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3. Person
11.17.9 Horizontal Counts Use Horizontal Counts to count any kind of shift horizontally for all persons
Here “M” shifts are counted (dynamic update - always for a calendar year). RPL contains 25 custom settings of color presentation for horizontal counts. Go to Parameters and then to the “Counted Shifts Max table”. Enter limits and use the “Colors” button to apply cell and font color.
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“C? > 35” would count all shifts starting with “C” and change color if the number of leave days exceeds 35 days. “??x?” > 10 would highlight the counts of sickness days with a specific color. “N?” < 2 would indicate if a person has less than 2 night shifts. Here is a count of leave days with the limit set to 35:
11.17.10
Vertical Counts
Use Vertical Counts to count any kind of shift vertically for all days Press Show and set Vertical Counts on. An extra line appears above the dates:
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Type any shift combination in the green box and press Enter. Results are calculated instantly. You may type only “M” to count all occurences in the roster with a starting “M”. In this case we check that an “Ms” is present every day. Notice: This function counts only roster contents (pool contents are ignored)
11.17.11
Week Numbers
Use Week No. to display current week numbers on the date line.
11.17.12
Registration of sickness
RPL considers all shifts with an “x” in the third character position to be staff registered as sick. RPL highlights all sickness days (red). All stand-by shifts with a “c” in the third character position are also displayed (green):
Here FEL is registered as sick and NOV is on duty in stead.
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11.17.13
Staff Names
Use Show Staff Names to display names left of the roster:
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11.17.14
Pool Lines
sets the default number of visible lines in the pool. Options are: 0 to 15 lines, 16 is automatic (RPL adjusts the pool area according to the highest number of pool shifts), from 20 to 100 which is the maximum.
Depending on your zoom setting, the pool area may cover the entire screen. . . Select a smaller number of pool lines to see the roster again.
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11.18
On Screen Features
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11.18.1 Fairness Indicators RPL shows dynamic fairness indicators on staff
Here HS and NO need “M” shifts according to the entry upper left (M?). There are always around 10 active indicators. Fairness indicators are based upon counts for 1 calendar year. Use M? = Any kind of M - but use MD to count exact MD shifts (case sensitive).
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11.19
Advanced Utilization of EuroPlanner
This section shows various examples of advanced set-up of the application. Parts of them are build-in functions. It is important to point out a few limitations of RPL: 1. The program does not calculate any kind of salary, but it counts all kinds of shifts and it interfaces with your payroll system. 2. Write access cannot be given to more than one person at the same time per file. But RPL handles separate ATC units as APP in one file, ACC in another, etc. 3. The program cannot handle for instance M1 and M2 as two different shifts, but runs them if they are renamed M and m.
11.19.1 Example 1 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Manpower Planning Problem: Our company has difficulties in foreseeing periods well ahead with lack of staff. Solution: RPL has a top line showing the current additional staff or lack of staff. In this example the staff planner still has considerable resources in June and August, but the roster is close to minimum level in July (due to summer leave). A couple of days show lack of staff (minus 2 controllers) In case you need 5 controllers on a 2 weeks course, the only possibility would be in June or September. Staff
Staff Capacity
20
15
10
5
0
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11.19.2 Example 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Task Planning Problem: Our roster gets more complicated as controllers are taken out of duty for re-education, test of new system software, special training, ESARR5 status check, maternity leave, working groups, etc. How can we overview all these arrangements and make sure no days are missing? Solution: RPL works with Tasks. All information is being stored in a database. You have many features to facilitate editing and maintenance of your tasks. The basic advantage is that data is stored only once. The next advantage is that you can print all tasks concerning a selected period, like this:
OR you could use RPL to process a roster with only tasks filled in â&#x20AC;&#x201C; like this:
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In case you are called to a meeting concerning staff resources, these prints easily show the requested amounts, and it shows whether the staff planning office is in possession of correct information.
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OR use the RPL to collect all requests concerning leave and task days for controllers who are partly employed in the administration. Here is an example with the RPL set to show all persons e.g. in the technical department
Leave
Office
Meeting
Office
This way all staff connected to the administration will be in a file, which is compatible with the files in your Roster Office. It’ s a ”multi-user system” where staff can enter their requests until deadline.
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11.19.3 Example 3 – Quality Problem: The quality of our published rosters does not reach the acquired level. We use too much time checking that shifts match the controller’s ratings, that the shifts meet requirements for resting time and that all days have sufficient staffing. Solution: Provided that the parameters are set correctly, RPL will generate a perfect roster. Normally the program fills in 90 % and a quality target of 100% is met. However in order to complete the roster the staff planner rearranges the remaining 10% of the shifts manually. RPL will instantly highlight any shift that does not correspond with the shift expected by the program (considering resting time staffing, ratings, task requests, etc.) and it will indicate the reason – like this:
Here the staff planner put morning shifts on sector East (Me) on a person only rated for the West-sector (w). This means that you can publish a roster that is maybe not 100% correct, but you know exactly which discrepancies you accepted. ESARR5 At the end of 2007 many EUROCONTROL member states will meet the requirements of ESARR5 status for air traffic controllers. RPL provides a function that instantly highlights if controllers run out of status.
In this case, ABB has exactly 20 shifts over the past 3 months. However according to the future ESARR5 requirements his status validation may expire on the OCT 1,
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as the number of shifts over the past 5 months needs to be more than 20 per endorsement (here t = TWR and p = APP) and ABB has only 19. Jokers are shifts with no sector indication (like Stand by and shifts where the Supervisor decides the sector when the controller arrives). Using the RPL and this information, the Supervisor would put ABB on TWR-shifts. According to the colour coding, the supervisor will know who is “out of status”, who is close to run out of status, etc.
11.19.4 Example 4 – Simulation Problem: We have difficulty in foreseeing the impact of changes in staffing if we decide to merge 2 sectors including staff and their shifts. Or if we decide to introduce a new shift, to introduce new combinations of shifts, or new tasks that may take quite many controllers out of traffic, etc. Solution: The RPL uses flexible parameters that easily allow ”what-if-sessions”. Run a roster simulation on almost any change (many or just a few). The consequence and the cost/benefit of your changes will be visible within seconds using the statistical functions and the plus/minus top line.
11.19.5 Example 5 – Sickness & Stand By Problem: We use too much manpower for the registration and calculation of actual shifts compared to planned shifts (sickness, the use of stand by, evening/night allowance, etc) Solution: RPL statistics allows you to enhance efficiency considerably. At the beginning of every shift the Supervisor puts ”x” on controllers being sick and ”c” on controllers called in to replace them (stand by). When statistics are executed it looks like this: Registration of Sickness and Stand By (in days) 2004
Days 110
Sickness Stand by 100
90
80
70
60
50 jan
feb
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11.19.6 Example 6 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Various Statistics Leave Days & Task Days 2004
Days 250
200
150
Leave 100
Tasks 50
0 jan
f eb
mar
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11.19.7 Example 7 – Individual Rosters There are different approaches to the implementation of individual rosters. Here are some examples: 1. Publish individual shift lines Publish some more or less fixed cycles to choose between using EPL Leave & Bidding. When the controllers have selected their preferred line, copy these sequences into the roster. Some cycles contain a couple of unpopular shifts, but also some extra free days to compensate, etc. The Staff Planner finally completes the roster.
2. Free Bidding. EPL Leave & Bidding is designed to handle individual rosters. Controllers enter their individual requests using the Web interface. Normally staff only enter specific biddings here, but there are no limits to the number of biddings. Thousands of biddings or complete roster lines could easily be imported at deadline. They are instantly executable after import and RPL secures that shifts are correctly allocated. You may decide whether to have the free days fixed or flexible. EPL Leave & Bidding can be expanded to prevent any illegal combination of shifts. Controllers select via basic options, whether they prefer to create all 30 days, only their free days, only forward or backward rotating, etc. Counters instantly show number of free days (used and left) and number of working hours, etc, that must be reached (or not exceeded). Entering a bidding on a certain day immediately reduces shift options for the following day. Each bidding increases the controller’s working hours for the current month and, at the same time, it decreases the number of bidding possibilities for the days before and after (as they must match the allowed combinations). To simplify this step you could allow only “Shift” or “No shift” options. With this setup it is not possible to select specific shifts, only dotted (like M.). Later, the Staff Planning Office will decide which shift shall replace the M. All future AODs can be presented (preset) in EPL Leave & Bidding. Thus, controllers can make no bidding on a shift already reserved for e.g. office.
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Free Bidding is handled automatically, so for the Staff Planner this is the optimal way to solve problems. However, a company policy with precise procedures regarding fairness and how to cope with lack or surplus of staff would perhaps be even more complicated incorporate in EPL Leave & Bidding, than to use the RPL Pool Manager function. Free bidding simulation 1. The first step may be to realize that individual rosters require two modules (EPL Leave & Bidding & EPL RosterPlanner). Bidding is the top layer, visible for controllers, which creates roster lines. RosterPlanner is the layer below, visible for Staff Planners, with a much more detailed presentation of these roster lines. The roster lines are available in this layer after some agreed deadline. A simulation on the Bidding part would involve setting up an advanced Bidding module (like Epl-Bidding) and ask 100 controllers to test it only for simulation purposes (because we want to collect realistic data). But hardly a feasible way to go right now. In stead, we could simulate that we have passed deadline and received 100 roster lines. Normally, the basic roster pattern is nicely arranged and looks like this with team no 1 starting their cycle on the 1st, team no 2 on the 2nd, etc.
But, with an individual roster we would expect to see a mixed pattern like:
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AA decided to start with a free day, AB prefers two shifts and then free days (to get this result perform a random sort on rows) 2. But some controllers would prefer to have non-conventional cycles like:
AA decided to start with 3 shifts followed by 1 free, then 2 shifts followed by 1 free, etc (to get this result perform a random sort on columns). Still, everybody has 12 to 13 free during the month, as we expect. The Bidding system will secure that each person meets this required amount of free days (provided it is company policy - otherwise there would be some limit after e.g. 3 months).
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And still, the roster complies with the availability each day (number of dotted shifts). This also controlled by the Bidding system. So, a worst case where everybody decided free on the same day, is not possible. 3. From here the next question is, what shift type was chosen. In case we have all 27 shifts defined, only some of them are active on a particular day. Again, the Bidding system would prevent controllers from choosing other than defined shifts. So with correct shift definitions included the roster could look like:
The Bidding system checks that cycles comply with the working rules. For staff planners this may seem to be the ideal work setup. The Bidding system handles most of their job. The RosterPlanner module is being reduced to generating statistics. But preparing data for bidding could take some time. Conflicts have to be solved in advance, how to cope with late incoming task requests. Individual rosters in some way prevent management to make preplanning, analysis, what-it-sessions, because it is difficult to predict which roster will be generated. Other comments: Last person may end up with very few shifts. What to do if they all break the rules. What to do if remaining shifts cannot balance monthly hours correctly. What to do if remaining shifts cannot meet a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wishes. Should bidding requests then be transferred to RosterPlanner. Many persons are happy with standard cycles. Some persons prefer non-standard cycles and therefore force others to do the same. Controllers are sensible to teams and colleagues especially on N-shifts. An individual roster could mean new staff combinations (social groups) on N-shift.
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11.20
Protection Levels
EPL RosterPlanner is based on Excel files which may be protected by several security levels. The customer may decide to make use of the following precautions: EPL RosterPlanner User/PC Registration. All EPL RosterPlanner files are restricted to be opened only by registered/authorized users on registered PCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (staff and hardware on your advice). Excel File Protection All EPL RosterPlanner files should be provided with read/write access pass codes (code on your advice) EPL RosterPlanner Processing The main RPL-function buttons can be provided with user access rights. Directory Access All RPL-files should be stored in a directory allowing only management and roster experts with permission to open them. Data Export on publishing Roster experts should decide only to export data to external users as text-files or as PDF-Files. RPL contains a specific feature, Epl-Mail, allowing roster experts to exchange roster data as attachments to e-mails.
11.21
Error Handling
11.21.1 Precautions It takes only a few seconds to save your file. If used frequently, a worst case situation affects only data input from e.g. the previous 30 min. Re-number your RPL file for example once a day.
11.21.2 Application Errors In case of application code errors, the RPL is aborted and all program-execution is immediately stopped. Should the error occur a second time, please login on the ATS Data web site and enter a description with name of routine, parameter settings, etc. Other useful ways to recover 1. Reset the RPL to Normal by clicking . This will reset all colours and restore your roster area, perform a sorting of the pool shifts, etc. Edition: 2.0
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2. Put the cursor into the roster and try once more. 3. Use Show/Reset to restore team lines and weekend lines, etc 4. Use Process/Initialize to reset the toolbar links 5. Verify that you defined all shifts and all staff (mandatory in RPL) 6. Try, if possible, to minimise the performed task by running only one process at a time. 7. Check the selected period. Try only one week. 8. Did you enter O (the letter) in stead of 0 (zero)? 9. Did you enter a space in stead of blank? Use Show/Other/Spaces to find the exact position? 10. Did you enter correct upper or lower case letters? 11. Did you use colon in stead of semicolon? 12. Did you enter a – (minus) or + (plus)? 13. Use the TaskPlan/Show & Check/Check Input Errors to find data lines with non-valid entries. 14. Use the TaskPlan/Show & Check/Check Conflicts to search data lines with mutual conflicts. 15. If RPL is aborted during runtime by pressing ESC some variables may not be properly set. Try using the Normal button, Reset or Initialize. 16. In case you’re not able to recover at all, i.e. frozen screen try to press a screen shot, the “PRT SC” key and use MS Paint to save the screenshot or try “Save As” and change the file name. Speed If your RPL-version seems to run slow, do any of the following: 1. Be sure there is only one RPL running at a time (RPL can handle more files Ok, but as a user you easily loose track of your changes, if they are mixed up. The toolbar is only connected to one of them. Several opened programs may slow down the speed. 2. Close all other applications that are not needed. 3. Try to press Save As (and increase the number from e.g. 002 to 003). This makes Excel adjust buffers and re-allocate disk space. Then close the file (and Excel) and open file again. Test of speed Go to Parameters and execute a speed test
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Press â&#x20AC;&#x153;Test of Speedâ&#x20AC;? and check the result.
Internet Connections 1. Check that you entered the correct web address in Parameters 2. Check that you are online with the Internet 3. Check that the web address login has been passed 4. Some applications use internal time out. If your connection is slow, you may be stopped by a time out 5. Company firewalls may prevent certain data transfer requests to pass into your network or prevent some queries to pass out
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12
RPL Statistics Protection Type:
Function
Summary:
Statistical overview
Access
Process / Go to / Statistic 1
Prerequisites
Filled in roster data
Target Area
Selected interval in Process
Limitations
None
EPL RosterPlanner produces various statistical prints.
Press Process
Select an interval
Click Statistics 1.
Click New Statistics to erase previous data and perform new counts.
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Statistical data is displayed in 4 sections:
4 Bala 2 Count of custom defined shifts (fixed) 1 Count of all defined shifts and working hours
Section 1
3 Sum of columns (flexible)
Count of all defined shifts
Interval
Average & Totals
This section counts all defined shifts (according to Shift Types Table), i.e. by first character. The sequence in Statistics is always set according to the way staff is arranged in Staff Data. If you wish to change from alphabetical to team-sorted, then go to Staff Data and change the sequence there. RPL automatically shows columns with data and hides empty columns. Select Absolute (normal counts) or Relative (counts relative to the number of operational shifts). Relative average of â&#x20AC;?Mâ&#x20AC;? is 21
Relative counts
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(as it is not relevant to calculate task shifts and free shifts). Only operational shifts are calculated. Use Colour Diff to see exact fairness results. Select “Include Team Lines” to display teams (if Staff Data sorting is also set to teams) Press >> to see more statistics (operational shifts, working hours, differences (between counts and working hours set in Staff Data), employment (according to Staff Data). Part timers are bold. Notice that RPL always calculates the number (in units) in respect of defined shifts including hours (in units). These statistics are source data for further calculation in your payroll system. Select “Colour Diff” to mark deviation from average. Reset colours again by clicking N on the toolbar.
25 %
50 %
Orange colour is more than 50 % from average Yellow colour is more than 25 % from average
Working Hours Working Hours
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Count working hours according to shift start and end time. Remaining hours are counted according to values set in Staff Data: Working Hours per Year
Working Hours per month
Additional time calculations RPL generates a section for additional time as defined in Shift Types. You can enter custom time definitions and also their values:
Section 2
Custom defined shifts (fixed)
In this section you can count specific shift codes (more than one character). Enter which shift to count in the header. It is possible to use “M?” to count all shifts with starting character “M”. You can narrow counts to “Workdays”, to “weekends”, etc.
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Enter a specific shift
or a variable shift Set criteria
Section 3
Custom counts (flexible)
Enter sum of columns in this section.
1. Click Reset All to remove all previous data. 2. Position the cursor in the column where results shall be shown. 3. Click “Sum” to specify which columns to calculate together. Click “a”, followed by “+”, followed by “A”, etc. Your custom defined shifts are at the bottom of list. The current formula is displayed. 4. When finished, click “Ok
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13
RPL Technical requirements
14
RPL Data Capacity RosterPlanner
15
ATC units (files)
Unlimited
Staff capacity
Max. 1,000 persons per file
Roster calendar limits
From 1999 to 2025
National holidays and special days
Max. 100 defined days
Pool capacity
Max. 1,000 shifts per day
Shift definitions
Max. 60 definitions
Sector ratings
Max. 60 definitions
Part time
Max. 100 percentages
LeavePlan
Max. 2,000 requests
TaskPlan
Max. 2,000 requests
BiddingPlan
Max. 2,000 requests
StatusPlan
Max. 2,000 data lines
Combinations
Max. 2,000 A and 2.000 B
Basic Shift generator
Max. 128 shifts per recurring cycle
Balances
Max 25
RPL System Configuration Single user system with multiuser access. Hardware requirements 2 x Intel Dual-Core XEON 5060 3.2 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard drive. Software requirements Microsoft XP Professional (English version) and Microsoft Office 2003 (English version) or later. Microsoft Office 2007 recommended.
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