Hard
Unavailability
A person cannot be placed on work that overlaps a period when they are unavailable.
Unavailable 14:00–16:00 means no task or transfer in that period.
Optimisation
Rules first · balance second
A workable plan, not a mysterious answer.
MP-Opt explores many possible ways to place tasks and assign people. It first protects the rules that must hold, then compares the valid plans to find a fairer fatigue balance.
Two kinds of constraint
Hard rules decide what is possible. Soft goals compare the possible plans.
MP-Opt never trades away a hard rule to improve the soft result. If no plan satisfies every hard rule, it stops and asks the organiser to resolve the conflict.
Hard rules
Must all be true
Breaking one makes the schedule invalid.
Valid plans
Several may work
The hard rules often leave more than one possible answer.
Soft goal
Choose a better balance
MP-Opt prefers a smaller fatigue difference across people.
The hard rules
Five everyday checks shape every valid schedule.
These rules come from the event data entered by the organiser. Missing or inaccurate input can therefore produce an unhelpful result even when the calculation itself succeeds.
Hard
Daily hour limits
When a daily maximum is set for a person, counted tasks and transfers must stay within it.
An eight-hour limit cannot be exceeded to make another rule fit.
Hard
Assignments & capabilities
Named assignments stay fixed, while every required capability needs the configured number of eligible people.
A task needing two ushers must receive two people with that capability.
Hard
Locations
People must be at the right place and follow possible transfers between locations over time.
For an ‘any location’ task, MP-Opt chooses one valid place for everyone on it.
Hard
No double-booking
One person cannot cover two overlapping tasks or transfers at the same time.
Even a highly capable person still occupies only one place at a time.
Worth knowing: a named assignment and a capability requirement are separate. If a task names one person and also requires one medic, MP-Opt treats those as two roles unless the task is configured differently.
The soft goal
Once a plan is valid, MP-Opt looks for a more balanced workload.
Tasks can carry different amounts of fatigue, while a sufficiently long break can reduce it. The optimiser looks for a smaller gap between the lightest and heaviest workload. Balance is a direction for review, not a demand that every person receives identical work.
Plan A
RejectedOne person is double-booked. The soft score cannot rescue an invalid plan.
Plan B
ValidEvery hard rule passes, but the fatigue is spread unevenly.
Plan C
PreferredThe rules still pass, and the fatigue difference is smaller.
What happens when you run it
From entered rules to a proposal you can review.
- 01
Check feasibility
MP-Opt first asks whether all hard rules can be satisfied together. If not, it reports the conflicts it can identify.
- 02
Search valid combinations
It explores different placements and assignments without relaxing the rules that must hold.
- 03
Compare the valid plans
Among valid options, it prefers the plan with the smaller spread in fatigue between people.
- 04
Leave the decision to you
The result is a proposal. An organiser reviews it, makes any justified changes and decides when it is final.
Human judgement remains
A mathematically valid schedule still needs an organiser.
MP-Opt cannot know whether a capability was entered accurately, whether an hour limit is appropriate for the person, or whether the proposed result fits the human context of the event. Review the assignments, talk to the people involved and only then finalise or publish the schedule.