The Disaggregation of Aggregate Manpower Plans

Aggregate manpower plans can be made operational only if they are translatable into shorter range assignments of personnel to specific work groups, operations, and products or services. This paper describes a combined heuristic programming and simulation algorithm amenable to this process of decomposition. Due to the complexity of the problem and the multiplicity of objectives, optimization techniques are only of academic interest. The algorithm is adapted to a particular environment, namely the construction of tour assignments in a post office. A “tour assignment” specifies simultaneously the exact timing days and hours of the work week shift or tour as well as the particular job assignment for each employee in the workforce. After describing the problem structure, the algorithm's logic is explained along with the interactive nature of the man-machine approach. Several options can be exercised to combine the power of a computer model with the judgment of the decision maker. The application of this methodology is illustrated with representative data, showing how the search and decision process can be conducted.

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