Preference rostering is now live!

We are delighted to announce that we now have a preference-based rostering tool that will suit the specific needs of physicians, surgeons and other craft groups.

'Selection rostering' vs 'Preference rostering'

Our selection-based rostering has been active for some years and is loved by the craft groups that use it to fill rosters extremely quickly and with a definitive outcome. You will see elsewhere on this blog that we have a record for filling a 365-day roster within 7 minutes of the selection window opening.

Our new preference rostering function

But allowing people to pick on a first-pick-first-served basis is not suitable for all hospitals and all craft groups. So we now have a preference-based rostering tool that automatically runs a process. The key steps HosPortal manages are:

1. Automatically advise people regarding when the selection period will be open, and send reminders before and during the selection period.
2. Make it easy for people to select preferences, including changing their mind or selecting patterns ('I can work every Wednesday and every second Saturday').
3. Collate users' preferences for the shifts they want into one place.
4. Set priorities for who's preferences are more likely to be selected when two or more people prefer the same shift.
5. Set roster-filling rules. For instance, a doctor cannot be staffed on consecutive shifts, or more than two shifts in the same week.
6. Generate a draft roster for the administrator to review based on the users' preferences, their allocated priorities and the rules relevant to that on-call roster. Alternative drafts can be generated with a single click.
7. Allow the administrator to edit and make amendments, such as filling days that no one has picked, or overriding HosPortal's selection. This can be done alongside a statistical report.
8. Publish the final roster, to let everyone know of their final allocations.

We have a video on our Youtube page of an earlier version...which we will update very soon.Please get in touch if you want to know more.