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copied!<p>I'd approach it like this. First a database table that links schedule slots to available carers...</p> <pre><code>Table schedules_shifts id service_user_schedules_id carer_available_shifts_id </code></pre> <p>Now a function that matches available carers to required schedule slots and populates the table...</p> <pre><code>* Fetch service_user_schedules for the next week * For each service_user_schedules row * Fetch carer_available_shifts that match the schedule slot * For each carer_available_shift row * If results * Fetch schedules_shifts rows where carer_available_shifts_id is already used * If no results * Insert a row in the schedules_shifts table for each carer * Otherwise carer is busy, do nothing and continue * If no results, flag for review or trigger e-mail to manager, or other action * Trigger e-mail or save log of completion for peace of mind </code></pre> <p>The new table now has possible carer matches for schedule slots with no duplicate allocation of a carer's time. It does however match multiple carer's shifts with a schedule slot. This could be a feature! Leave them as-is and add a <code>confirmed</code> column on <code>schedules_shifts</code> so a manager can manually assign the work, or carers can volunteer, or automatically mark the first match as <code>confirmed</code> and keep the other rows as alternatives in case the first carer can't make it.</p> <p>This can all be triggered by a cron every week, or when the final career updates their week's schedule. Probably the first because users are often unpredictable.</p> <p>Now the automated data is in a table you can open it up for editing. Create a normal admin console as you would to change the rows in <code>schedules_shifts</code> as appropriate, or flag different rows "confirmed".</p> <p>Translating it into a generic class shouldn't be too difficult - just a matter of using generic terminology. It's late and I can't think of any though :)</p> <p>It's possible to do all the data sifting in PHP arrays rather than the database dance I've created above, but I think SQL is more appropriate for sorting through the data and making amendments.</p> <p>Genetic algorithms sound interesting though, and if you've got the time investigate them ^_^</p> <p>Hope that helps?</p>

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