Members Only-Schedules
(& schedule form for 2007)
Background: This committee is a volunteer effort, and there are 3 weeks of events that happen, and we need a certain number of committee volunteers to work each shift. So, basically, we have 21 days (each day has multiple shifts) and 500+ volunteers, and we have to have a schedule to make sure that we have coverage for each shift.
Each committee member receives a master schedule that lists all of the available shifts. They then pick their 8 top choices and fill out a form listing these 8 choices in order of preference. From those 8, 4 shifts are picked (if possible) and assigned to the member. The longer a member has been on the committee, the higher priority they get for picking shifts.
EXAMPLE: John has been on the committee for 10 years. He picks his 8 shifts, and because he is a senior member, he is actually assigned his first 4 picks.
However, Sally, who is a rookie this year, only got assigned her 5th, 6th, and 8th pick. She was also assigned to one shift that was not even on her list, because all her other choices were already taken by members with more seniority.
There is a program or spreadsheet or something that one of the other committee members uses in order to make the schedules. She basically inputs the member's schedule choices and it somehow takes tenure into consideration and then assigns the slots accordingly.
Currently, she collects everyone's schedule selections on pieces of paper or via e-mail and then manually types them in. I'm working on trying to get more information about her program or spreadsheet to see how it works so that we can build something to work with it.
Something I would like to see happen is for people to be able to go online and enter their schedule requests here on the website. I'm not sure if this will work, or if it would be approved by the powers that be. However, here are my thoughts:
The main schedule would be posted online, and there would be some sort of form (I envision a drop down form with 8 slots, but there may be a better, cleaner way to do this) for members to pick their schedules.
The form would be tied to their user ID/login authentication, and then when they click Submit, the data is collected somehow, somewhere. I would like for this online form to be able to collect the information in a way that she can just download it into her program or spreadsheet or whatever and BAM! we have a schedule.
If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions, feel free to send me an e-mail at jmpollock@hotmail.com