This is my basic setup: I have five time slots (A, B, C, D, E; each day has these five time slots) over 60 days that all need to be filled with n people each (n must remain a variable). However, each person has a different availability (ex. ABDE, BCDE, AE, BCD, etc.). I want this to be distributed equally so all workers get the same number of shifts, but some workers should be able to input in a number of shifts that they want to do.I recognize that this is a subproblem of the nurse scheduling problem, and I have spend a few hours trying to grind through some academic papers on it. However, it gets very convoluted very quickly and I get lost somewhere in the mix, as I do not have a knowledge of these kinds of algorithms. This seems to be a simpler version with fewer constraints, so I was wondering what a simple yet effective algorithm would be to solve this problem and if you could provide details on it.I have come up with a two crude algorithm ideas, and I don't know which of these (if any at all) would be the most effective: First distribute work to the person with (1) the least number of shifts assigned so far and then (2) with the least number of availabilities.Distribute all work days to those with the least number of availabilities, but fill a person's entire schedule before progressing on to the next person. Shifts get assigned by determining which time slot (A/B/C/D/E) has the least number of people working it. The thing that I don't like about each of these algorithms is that it seems very easy to get stuck at any given point, and from there I really wouldn't know what to do. Thanks.
Working Optimization Algorithm
algorithms;assignment problem