Manage which employees should (preferably) be assigned and not assigned to certain shifts.

When there aren't enough people to cover all the work, schedule as much priority work as possible.

Define skills and risk factors to make sure shifts are assigned to employees with the right qualifications.

Manage the number of assigned shifts and even spread the assigned shifts across periods of demand.

Provide a range of times when alternative shifts can be scheduled.

Honor employee contracts and stay complaint with labor regulations.

Manage how many hours employees are contracted to work and what kinds of shifts they can be assigned.

Manage how many consecutive shifts employees can work, how much time they have between shifts, and how overlapping shifts (such as on call shifts) are managed.

Only assign employees to shifts when they are available, and take employee preferences into consideration when making assignments.

Distribute work fairly across all employees.

Assign specific employees to the same shift, for instance, when a trainer needs to train a trainee. Assign specific employees to different shifts from each other to avoid conflicts of interest.

Reduce the amount of time employees spend traveling to their shifts.

Define single and multi-day shift patterns.

Keep the cost of staffing all shifts within budget.

Respond to sudden changes with employee availability and assign new employees to shifts, due to sick leave or additional demand, and to minimize the disruption caused by the re-planning process.

Find the best employee to assign to shifts at short notice.