Shift Management SaaS 'R-Shift' Revamps Daily Allocation Algorithm, Cutting Calculation Time by Up to 90%

OM Network Co., Ltd., the provider of the retail-focused shift management SaaS "R-Shift," has announced a fundamental overhaul of its daily shift auto-allocation algorithm. Internal testing confirms that the update reduces calculation time by an average of 30%, with a maximum reduction of over 90%, while maintaining the same high quality of results.

In the retail and service industries, optimizing labor allocation has become a critical management challenge due to labor shortages and diversifying work styles. While monthly shifts determine work dates and hours, "Daily Shifts" allocate specific tasks (e.g., register duty, restocking, or breaks) to individual time slots throughout the day.

At the core of this system is "mathematical optimization," a technology that finds the best possible combination of tasks based on objectives—such as meeting staffing requirements—and constraints, including employee skills and labor regulations. As store scale and the number of constraints increase, the complexity grows exponentially, a phenomenon known as "combinatorial explosion." This traditionally led to long wait times for results in large-scale operations.

The revamped algorithm directly addresses this bottleneck. By significantly reducing the time between clicking "calculate" and receiving a result, managers can now perform real-time adjustments and trial-and-error scheduling. This agility allows stores to respond immediately to sudden absences or shifts in customer traffic, providing a more flexible and efficient operational infrastructure for large-scale retail environments.