Spreadsheet, PHP Script, or Linux program for employee shift scheduling

I have been looking everywhere for a few weeks now but can't seem to find anything so I come here to ask for assistance. Right now I am doing everything via a very simple Google Docs spreadsheet.

I need either a Linux-based program, LAMP-based script, or something that might work in google docs or excel. I plan on running it in a virtual machine.

Here are the details:

There are 6 employees
The work week is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Schedule will change like every 3 months, so don't really need anything complex.
Only one person works at a time so there will never be more than 1 person on any shift.
There is no standard shift length, like there is no 9-5... its just rotates around everyone's availability.

I need to be able to:

List which days an employee can't work.
List Min-Max amount of hours an employee can have per week and/or per day.
Randomly assign employee shifts based on above requirements.

I don't need anything complex like don't need to keep track of days off, don't need to keep track of vacations, employees don't need to log into the system, I really don't need anything about the employee in the system except for their name and the information above needed to assign their shift. However if any of that is included with the software or script then it is no biggie. I can deal with something bloated as long as I am able to do the above lol.

Damainman

Posted 2012-02-27T09:00:09.767

Reputation: 167

3Sounds like google docs and/or excel can do exactly what you want. If you decide to change your mind about using one of those programs, be sure to update the question and I'm sure you'll get at least 1 good function answer. – Raystafarian – 2012-02-27T12:34:11.133

I am open to that, a google doc may be preferable and I tried coding one via javascript in it but unfortunately I am not that advanced lol. If you know of a way to assign employees to shifts based on their availability and only one employee per shift then I am all ears. :) – Damainman – 2012-03-01T08:43:47.607

Answers

Have you checked orange HRM? This may have what you are looking for. You should be able to run it in linux.

Or try empscheduler

KKToronto

Posted 2012-02-27T09:00:09.767

Reputation: 26

I looked at your first link a few weeks ago but it didn't seem to have exactly what I was looking for, but I may have over looked something. I will install it and double check instead of relying on their demo. For the second link, same but I avoided it due to the last time it was updated because it was a long time ago and the demo link was broken. However I will just go ahead and install that one too just in case.

Thank you for the links though. I will definitely update this question if I find a suitable solution. – Damainman – 2012-02-27T09:32:45.750

I installed Employee Scheduler and tested it. I can do 1 & 2 but could not find a way to do #3 in your list. Take a look at this snapshot: http://superuser.com/questions/275441/what-are-the-differences-between-virtualization-technologies-and-products another one showing how you can handle overlapping schedule: http://www.diigo.com/item/image/1effz/aqtr

– KKToronto – 2012-03-04T06:22:42.923

Sorry wrong link got posted here is the first link: http://www.diigo.com/item/image/1effz/te10

– KKToronto – 2012-03-04T06:31:34.443

KKToronto, it is crazy you went through all the trouble to provide someone you don't know with possible solutions and even screenshots. Much appreciated!! I am saddened that Empscheduler didn't leave beta, it looks like it would've been exactly what I needed if it was fully coded since there are some areas of functionality which do not function. I will need to discuss with my partners to see if we can proceed with this. – Damainman – 2012-03-04T09:01:33.390

Thanks. I wanted to learn this myself. I have a Xenserver running in my home so it was just one more package to try out and see what it has to offer. You may directly contact with the owner for codes, he/she may share the code in return that you contribute it back to the community. – KKToronto – 2012-03-13T07:20:07.203

As a temporarily solution, I ended up using ABC Roster http://download.cnet.com/ABC-Roster/3000-20411_4-75029778.html?tag=mncol%3B1 , It does everything I need except for the fact that I technically have only one shift which is 24/7 so it's hard to schedule 1 person per shift. However it takes the availability of the staff and is able to randomly assign schedules. The developer emailed me back and said he is updating soon and will see what he can do but isn't making any promises.

– Damainman – 2012-03-17T11:02:46.207

-1

I was looking for a similar solution, and found OpenSkedge.. Also I see they keep working on this project.

here is the description: OpenSkedge is a reinvention of Employee Scheduler, a flexible employee scheduling application designed for companies and organizations (such as education institutions with student workers) which require fluid shift scheduling.

Here is the link: https://github.com/OfficeStack/OpenSkedge

ingalcala

Posted 2012-02-27T09:00:09.767

Reputation: 99