Chapter 4. Create the data model for the employee rostering project

Use this section to create the data objects required to run the employee rostering sample project in Decision Central.

Prerequisite

You have completed the project set up described in Chapter 2, Set up the employee rostering sample project.

Procedure

  1. With your new project, either click Data Object in the project perspective, or click Create New Asset → Data Object to create a new data object.

  2. Name the first data object Timeslot, and select employeerostering.employeerostering as the Package.

    Click Ok.

  3. In the Data Objects perspective, click +add field to add fields to the Timeslot data object.
  4. In the id field, type endTime.
  5. Click the drop-down menu next to Type and select LocalDateTime.
  6. Click Create and continue to add another field.
  7. Add another field with the id startTime and Type LocalDateTime.
  8. Click Create.
  9. Click Save in the upper-right corner to save the Timeslot data object.
  10. Click the x in the upper-right corner to close the Data Objects perspective and return to the Assets menu.

  11. Using the previous steps, create the following data objects and their attributes:

    Table 4.1. Skill

    idType

    name

    String

    Table 4.2. Employee

    idType

    name

    String

    skills

    employeerostering.employeerostering.Skill[List]

    Table 4.3. Shift

    idType

    requiredSkill

    employeerostering.employeerostering.Skill

    timeslot

    employeerostering.employeerostering.Timeslot

    Table 4.4. DayOffRequest

    idType

    date

    LocalDate

    employee

    employeerostering.employeerostering.Employee

    Table 4.5. ShiftAssignment

    idType

    employee

    employeerostering.employeerostering.Employee

    shift

    employeerostering.employeerostering.Shift

For more information about creating data objects, see Getting started with decision services.

4.1. Create the employee roster planning entity

In order to solve the employee rostering planning problem, you must create a planning entity and a solver. The planning entity is defined in the domain designer using the attributes available in the Red Hat Business Optimizer dock.

Use the following procedure to define the ShiftAssignment data object as the planning entity for the employee rostering example.

Prerequisite

Procedure

  1. From the project Assets menu, open the ShiftAssignment data object.
  2. In the Data Objects perspective, open the Red Hat Business Optimizer dock by clicking the Red Hat Business Optimizer icon on the right.
  3. Select Planning Entity.
  4. Select employee from the list of fields under the ShiftAssignment data object.

  5. In the Red Hat Business Optimizer dock, select Planning Variable.

    In the Value Range Id input field, type employeeRange. This adds the @ValueRangeProvider annotation to the planning entity, which you can view by clicking the Source tab in the designer.

    The value range of a planning variable is defined with the @ValueRangeProvider annotation. A @ValueRangeProvider annotation always has a property id, which is referenced by the @PlanningVariable property valueRangeProviderRefs.

  6. Close the dock and click Save to save the data object.

4.2. Create the employee roster planning solution

The employee roster problem relies on a defined planning solution. The planning solution is defined in the domain designer using the attributes available in the Red Hat Business Optimizer dock.

Prerequisite

Procedure

  1. Create a new data object with the identifier EmployeeRoster.

  2. Create the following fields:

    Table 4.6. EmployeeRoster

    idType

    dayOffRequestList

    employeerostering.employeerostering.DayOffRequest[List]

    shiftAssignmentList

    employeerostering.employeerostering.ShiftAssignment[List]

    shiftList

    employeerostering.employeerostering.Shift[List]

    skillList

    employeerostering.employeerostering.Skill[List]

    timeslotList

    employeerostering.employeerostering.Timeslot[List]

  3. In the Data Objects perspective, open the Red Hat Business Optimizer dock by clicking the Red Hat Business Optimizer icon on the right.
  4. Select Planing Solution.
  5. Leave the default Hard soft score as the Solution Score Type. This automatically generates a score field in the EmployeeRoster data object with the solution score as the type.

  6. Add a new field with the following attributes:

    idType

    employeeList

    employeerostering.employeerostering.Employee[List]

  7. With the employeeList field selected, open the Red Hat Business Optimizer dock and select the Planning Value Range Provider box.

    In the id field, type employeeRange. Close the dock.

  8. Click Save in the upper-right corner to save the asset.