Click on the staff button to go the Staff Card and enter basic information about staff.
This includes names, home phone numbers, pager numbers, weighting factors, whether they take second call, and which days of the week they are in the office.
The very first time you use Who’s on First, you will have to enter this information for everyone. Delete the therapists that came with the program and use Add to add yours.
See Staff Card in the Card-by-Card Tour for more information.
--2--
Select Reset from the Staff menu and Reset the off fields, enter staff preferences, and then click on the done button to return to the main card.
This includes day-of-the-week and specific-date preferences.
You may obtain staff preferences however you choose, of course. What we do each quarter is Print the staff information and distribute it with a Memo like that in the sample files.
Again, see Staff Card in the Card-by-Card Tour for more information.
--3--
Click on the parameters button to go to the Parameter Card, enter information about the time period, and then click on the done button to return to the main card.
See Parameter Card in the Card-by-Card Tour for more information.
If you have the demo version, you will not be able to change any of the parameters.
--4--
Click on the format button to go to the Format Card, indicate how you want the call schedule to look, and then click on the done button to return to the main card.
See Format Card in the Card-by-Card Tour for more information.
--5--
Click on the do it button to generate the call schedule.
Who’s on First then:
• offers to save the staff information in a file (if you run into problems, this will
enable you to redo the call schedule, step 12; remember, however, to throw
away this file if you don’t need it)
• asks you if you want to replace any previous output or just to append to it
• reads the staff information on the Staff Card
• constructs the calendar for the time period
• displays the key parameters and counts total days, holidays, days to be assigned,
and weekdays and weekends
• displays the number of weekdays and weekends it will assign to staff (and how it
arrived at that)
• offers to save the revised staff information in a file (this is necessary if you will
be using Who’s on First to schedule call at more than one site, step 13;
remember, however, to throw away this file if you don’t need it)
• determines the sequence in which to assign call to staff; if extra options is
checked on the Parameter Card, it asks you if you want to use a previously
saved sequence (a random one is standard)
• actually assigns call; if extra options is checked on the Parameter Card, it
asks you if you want to show “misses” (potential conflicts with staff time off)
and “individual assignments” (each target date and eventual assigned date) (not
showing these is standard)
• displays personalized lists for each staff member of their calls, the number in
each of four preference levels, and the intervals between them; and aggregate
preference level and interval information
• displays holidays (which need to be assigned by you) and assignments that could be
improved (step 6)
• displays the numeric call schedule (just in case there are problems later).
See Call Schedule Card in the Card-by-Card Tour for more information.
--6--
Click on the fine tune button to go to the Fine-Tuning Card, assign holidays and, if you want, optimize how well the call schedule fits with the preferences of staff, and then click on the done button to return to the main card.
The assignments that still need to be done or could be improved are listed in the small box at the bottom of the card. Scroll to and click on the ones that you want to take care of. After you assign holidays, you can optimize as much or as little as you want. With each assignment, you usually will have three choices:
decree
...who will take call that day; type in his or her (first) name
trash
...that day by just removing it from the list
search
...for a trade that will improve the current assignments. Potential trades are
displayed, and the process continues until a trade (or sequence of trades) is
found that yields an optimal compatibility (cmp = 3) and an acceptable
separation (sep > minimum separation, step 3) for all staff involved.
See Fine-Tuning Card in the Card-by-Card Tour for more information.
--7--
Click on the fill in button to go to the Filling-In Card. Before you leave the main card, Who’s on First updates the calendar and the personalized lists, incorporating any fine-tuning you did. Click on the pagers, second call, and save buttons to fill in pager and second call information and save the call schedule in a file, and then on the done button to return to the main card.
See Filling-In Card in the Card-by-Card Tour for more information.
--8--
Choose Quit HyperCard from the File menu to exit Who’s on First.
You will be asked whether you want to save:
assignments
Necessary if you have not finished and want to resume at a later time.
parameters and format
Necessary if you will be using Who’s on First to schedule call for more than one
site.
display
Recommended, to give you additional information to distribute with the call
schedule.
--9--
In a word-processing program of your choice, put the finishing touches on the call schedule that was saved in a file (step 7).
What we do is:
• convert it to a monospaced font like Monaco or Courier
• change the orientation to “landscape” (horizontal) from “portrait” (vertical)
• decrease the font size (to 8) and the top and bottom margins (to .25"), so a whole
month fits on a page
• make the title into a header, center it, and make it bold
• insert a page break before each month.
Sample files include a Plain Schedule and a Touched-up Schedule, the latter in Word 5.1 format.
--10--
If you want to distribute additional information with the call schedule, edit the output file that was saved (step 8).
What we do is:
• save the calculations and the personalized lists
• convert it to a monospaced font
• decrease the font size (to 7) and the margins (to .75" each) and change sections to
a two-column format, so it all fits on one page.
Sample files include a plain Output file and a touched-up Additional Information file, the latter in Word 5.1 format.
--11--
You can stop in the middle and resume at a later time. If you have already generated a call schedule (step 5), however, you need to save the assignments when you stop (step 8) and, when you resume, choose Open Assignments in the Data menu on the main card.
--12--
If you need to redo the call schedule for a time period:
• revert to old staff information:
Choose Open Staff in the Data menu on the main card and select the file in
which you saved the staff information before it was revised with a call schedule
for this time period (step 5).
• proceed with the usual procedure.
--13--
If you use Who’s on First to schedule call for more than one site, just make sure you save the staff information (step 5) and the parameters and format (step 8) in files each time you finish with a site, then go back to that site by choosing Open Staff and Open Parameters in the Data menu on the main card and selecting those files.
