Chapter 15. Deploying and using Red Hat build of OptaPlanner in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform: an employee rostering starter example

Procedure

1. Navigate to the Software Downloads page in the Red Hat Customer Portal (login required), and select the product and version from the drop-down options:

   • Product: Process Automation Manager
   • Version: 7.12.0
2. Download the Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.12 Maven Repository Kogito and OptaPlanner 8 Maven Repository (rhpam-7.12.0-kogito-maven-repository.zip) file.
3. Extract the rhpam-7.12.0-kogito-maven-repository.zip file.
4. Copy the contents of the rhpam-7.12.0-kogito-maven-repository/maven-repository subdirectory into the ~/.m2/repository directory.
5. Download the rhpam-7.12.0-kogito-and-optaplanner-quickstarts.zip file from the Software Downloads page of the Red Hat Customer Portal.
6. Extract the downloaded archive.
7. Navigate to the optaweb-employee-rostering folder.

8. To build the Employee Rostering application, run the following command:

   mvn clean install -DskipTests -DskipITs

9. Log in to an OpenShift account or a Red Hat Code Ready Container instance. In the following example, <account-url> is the URL for an OpenShift account or Red Hat Code Ready Container instance and <login-token> is the login token for that account:

   oc login <account-url> --token <login-token>

10. Create a new project to host Employee Rostering:

    oc new-project optaweb-employee-rostering

11. Run the provision script to build and deploy the application:

    ./runOnOpenShift.sh

    Compilation and packaging might take up to 10 minutes to complete. These processes continually show progress on the command line output.

    When the operation completes, the following message is displayed, where <URL> is the URL for the deployment:

    You can access the application at <URL> once the deployment is done.

12. Enter the URL that you used earlier in the procedure, for either an OpenShift account or Red Hat Code Ready Container instance, to access the deployed application. The first startup can take up to a minute because additional building is completed on the OpenShift platform.

    Note

    If the application does not open a minute after clicking the link, perform a hard refresh of your browser page.

Procedure

1. In the Employee Rostering application web interface, click the Skills tab.

   You can see the numbers of currently visible skills in the top right part of the browser window, for example, 1-15 of 34. You can use the < and > buttons to display other skills in the list.

   You can enter any part of a skill name in the Search box to search for skills.

2. Complete the following steps to add a new skill:

   1. Click Add.
   2. Enter the name of the new skill in the text field under Name.
   3. Click the Save icon.
3. To edit the name of a skill, click the Edit Skill icon (pencil shape) next to the skill.
4. To delete a skill, click the Delete Skill icon (trashcan shape) next to the skill.

Procedure

1. To enter or change spots in the Employee Rostering application web interface, click the Spots tab. You can enter any part of a spot name in the Search box to search for spots.

2. Complete the following steps to add a new spot:

   1. Click Add Spot.
   2. Enter the name of the new spot in the text field under Name.
   3. Optional: Select one or more skills from the drop-down list under Required skill set.
   4. Click the Save icon.
3. To edit the name and required skills for a spot, click the Edit Spot icon (pencil shape) next to the spot.
4. To delete a spot, click the Delete Spot icon (trashcan shape) next to the spot.

Procedure

1. To enter or change the list of contracts in the Employee Rostering application web interface, click the Contracts tab.

   You can see the numbers of currently visible contracts in the top right part of the browser window, for example, 1-15 of 34. You can use the < and > buttons to display other contracts in the list.

   You can enter any part of a contract name in the Search box to search for contracts.

2. Complete the following steps to add a new contract:

   1. Click Add.
   2. Enter the name of the contract in the text field under Name.

   3. Enter the required time limits under Maximum minutes:

      • If the employee must not work more than a set time per day, enable the check box at Per Day and enter the amount of minutes in the field next to this check box.
      • If the employee must not work more than a set time per calendar week, enable the check box at Per Week and enter the amount of minutes in the field next to this check box.
      • If the employee must not work more than a set time per calendar month, enable the check box at Per Month and enter the amount of minutes in the field next to this check box.
      • If the employee must not work more than a set time per calendar year, enable the check box at Per Year and enter the amount of minutes in the field next to this check box.
   4. Click the Save icon.
3. To edit the name and time limits for a contract, click the Edit Contract icon (pencil shape) next to the name of the contract.
4. To delete a contract, click the Delete Contract icon (trashcan shape) next to the name of the contract.

Procedure

1. To enter or change the list of employees in the Employee Rostering application web interface, click the Employees tab.

   You can see the numbers of currently visible employees in the top right part of the browser window, for example, 1-15 of 34. You can use the < and > buttons to display other employees in the list.

   You can enter any part of an employee name in the Search box to search for employees.

2. Complete the following steps to add a new employee:

   1. Click Add.
   2. Enter the name of the employee in the text field under Name.
   3. Optional: Select one or more skills from the drop-down list under Skill set.
   4. Select a contract from the drop-down list under Contract.
   5. Click the Save icon.
3. To edit the name and skills for an employee, click the Edit Employee icon (pencil shape) next to the name of the employee.
4. To delete an employee, click the Delete Employee icon (trashcan shape) next to the name of the employee.

Procedure

1. To view and edit employee availability in the Employee Rostering application web interface, click the Availability Roster tab.

   In the top left part of the window, you can see the dates for which the roster is displayed. To view other weeks, you can use the < and > buttons next to the Week of field. Alternatively, you can click the date field and change the date to view the week that includes this date.

2. To create an availability entry for an employee, click empty space on the schedule and then select an employee. Initially, an Unavailable entry for the entire day is created.

3. To change an availability entry, click the entry. You can change the following settings:

   • From and To date and time: The time span to which the availability entry applies.

   • Status: you can select Unavailable, Desired, or Undesired status from a drop-down list.

     To save the entry, click Apply.

4. To delete an availability entry, click the entry, then click Delete availability.

   You can also change or delete an availability entry by moving the mouse pointer over the entry and then clicking one of the icons displayed over the entry:

   • Click the icon to set the status of the entry to Unavailable.
   • Click the icon to set the status of the entry to Undesired.
   • Click the icon to set the status of the entry to Desired.
   • Click the icon to delete the entry.

Procedure

1. To view and edit the shift roster in the Employee Rostering application web interface, click the Shift tab.

   In the top left part of the window, you can see the dates for which the roster is displayed. To view other weeks, you can use the < and > buttons next to the Week of field. Alternatively, you can click the date field and change the date to view the week that includes this date.

2. To add a shift, click an open area of the schedule. The application adds a shift, determining the slot and time span automatically from the location of the click.

3. To edit a shift, click the shift. You can set the following values for a shift:

   • From and To date and time: The exact time and duration of the shift.
   • Employee: The employee assigned to the shift.

   • Pinned: Whether the employee is pinned to the shift. If an employee is pinned, automatic employee rostering cannot change the assignment of the employee to the shift. A pinned employee is not automatically replicated to any other shift.

     To save the changes, click Apply.

4. To delete a shift, click the shift, and then click Delete shift.

Procedure

1. To view and edit the shift roster in the Employee Rostering application web interface, click the Shift tab.
2. To create the optimal shift roster, click Schedule. The application takes 30 seconds to find the optimal solution.

Procedure

1. To view and edit the shift roster in the Employee Rostering application web interface, click the Shift tab.
2. Review the shift roster for the first week of the draft period to ensure that it is acceptable.
3. Click Publish.

Procedure

1. Click the Rotation tab to view and edit the rotation pattern.
2. Select a spot from the Rotation menu.
3. Click Add New Time Bucket. The Creating Working Time Bucket dialog is displayed.
4. Specify a start and end time, select any additional required skills, select the days for this time bucket, and click Save. The unassigned seats for that time bucket appears on the Rotation page organized by time ranges.
5. To create an employee stub list so that you can add employees to the rotation, click Edit Employee Stub List.
6. In the Edit Employee Stub List dialog, click Add Employee and select an employee from the list.
7. Add all of the employees required for this stub list and click Save. The employees appear above the time buckets on the Rotation page.
8. Click an employee icon to select an employee from the employee stub list.

9. Click and drag the mouse over the seats of a time bucket to assign the selected employee to those seats. The seat is populated with the employee icon.

   Note

   A time bucket can only have one employee assigned to it for each day. To add multiple employees to the same time bucket, copy the time bucket and change the employee name as required.

10. To provision the schedule, click Scheduling and select the spot that you created the rotation for.
11. Click Provision and specify the date range.
12. Deselect the spots that you do not want to include in this schedule.
13. Click the arrow next to the selected spot and deselect any time buckets that you do not want to use in your schedule.
14. Click Provision Shifts. The calendar is populated with shifts generated from the time buckets.
15. To modify a shift, click a generated shift on the calendar.