Quintiq challenge of January 2016
The bus-driver-planning challenge You work in the planning department at Big Blue Buses. Every day, for not much money and no glory at all, you take on the challenge of creating an optimum working schedule for Big Blue Buses’ drivers to cover the next 14 days.
The closer your schedule is to optimum, the happier your boss and the drivers will be. A low score means an angry boss and angry drivers.
If you’re interested to be a part of Quintiq, then take up this challenge and show us your skills. Score 85% or above and we guarantee you an interview with our exciting organization.
It’s a real puzzle, and it looks something like this:
- There are three bus lines: Line 1, Line 2, Line 3
- You must allocate two drivers per line per day. One for the morning shift and one for the late shift.
- A driver can only do one shift per day; early or late.
- There are eleven bus drivers: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, and K. Some are only qualified to drive on Line 1, 2 or 3, while some are qualified to drive on a combination of two of those lines. Find the qualifications under each driver name in the Shift Planning form.
- Every driver is entitled to days off. Days off are indicated with dark gray nodes in the Shift Planning form. You can’t assign shifts on days off.
- Some drivers prefer to take particular days of the week off. This is indicated by light gray nodes in the Shift Planning form. These are preferences, rather than rules.
- Drivers may prefer to work an early or late shift on particular days. The yellow nodes in Shift Planning form indicate shift preferences.
- Most drivers dislike working too many late shifts. Therefore, the late shifts should be distributed as fairly as possible among the drivers. You should aim to assign exactly 4 late shifts to each driver over the two-week planning period.
- According to an agreement with the Transport Workers Union, a driver must not be assigned a late shift followed by an early shift the next day.
- According to a second agreement with the Transport Workers Union, a driver can only work no more than three consecutive late shifts.