Why planning is a bizarrely complex problem (and how smart software solves it)

Whether you run a sports club, carry out a construction project or manage a housing association: everyone has to deal with planning. Rotas, stock, logistics or financial calculations; behind the scenes it all comes down to distributing people, resources and time cleverly. And yet planning is often underestimated. What looks simple at first glance turns out, mathematically speaking, to be one of the most complex questions in running a business.

The challenge: why planning is so complex

That is also why planning is a pattern you see in virtually every industry: from scheduling maintenance work at housing associations to optimising order picking in a warehouse. Everyone runs into it, but solving it properly by hand often turns out to be an enormous challenge.

The solution: smart software and algorithms

Fortunately there are tools and algorithms that can handle this complexity. One example we are very enthusiastic about is TimeFold, an open-source library developed in Java. The Belgian company behind TimeFold has chosen an approach that is both powerful and simple:

• You build a model in which you include all the variables (shifts, employees, vehicles, availability, rules).
• The algorithm works through thousands of scenarios at lightning speed and comes up with an optimal schedule, complete with scores and insight into any rules that are broken.
• New rules or changes? You enter them, and within seconds there is an updated schedule.

The nice thing is that this technology does not only work for rotas, but can be applied to virtually any planning problem. Think of: which order should leave the warehouse first? What is the optimal route for deliveries? How do you plan maintenance work spread across the city?

What is more, getting started with it is surprisingly easy. The solution can be deployed as a separate module or as part of a broader application that we develop for an organisation. That way you can start automating your planning step by step, without immediately being tied to a large or expensive package.

The impact for organisations

With this solution it becomes possible to solve planning problems that used to take days within minutes or even seconds. The result:

• more efficiency in running the business,
• fewer errors and less miscommunication,
• better use of people and resources.

Whether it concerns financial calculations, managing property at housing associations, or streamlining logistics; planning problems are everywhere. And whoever manages to tackle them properly gains time, clarity and impact.

Conclusion

Planning is not a luxury problem, but a core challenge that affects virtually every organisation. What makes it so hard is the enormous number of possibilities and variables involved. Smart software such as TimeFold shows that there are solutions that make this complexity manageable.

At JAM-IT we believe that complex puzzles like these offer the biggest opportunities. By bringing technology and practical knowledge together, we help organisations not only improve their planning, but make their whole process future-proof.