A personnel shift plan is to be created for a shift planning group at a specified time and for a specified planning period. Alternative schedules are created and valuated on the basis of the information concerning the personnel requirements and the human resources. An alternative schedule is created when any changes are made to the previous personnel shift plan.

As a result of the valuated alternative schedule, the shift planning process is either continued, or as soon as a satisfactory status is attained in the shift plan, it is recorded as the result of the shift planning process. The criteria used to valuate the status of the shift plan are dependent on the current application area. For example, you can valuate any non-optimal assignments of employees to requirements, or the number of overtime hours that individual employees must work. During the planning process, you may also notice that an operative personnel requirement cannot be covered with available human resources, or that the available human resources are not available to cover the requirement, in which case, the relevant process would be started, as determined by the possible courses of action.

If, when creating an operative personnel shift plan, you realize that a personnel requirement cannot be entirely covered by the human resources available in the personnel shift planning group, you must retrieve information on the possible courses of action you can take. The courses of action are identified, and the most suitable is selected. The following situations may arise:

If you realize that the fact that the requirement could not be satisfactorily covered is not an individual, one-off occurrence, you may have to increase the number of employees for the long-term.

Depending on the circumstances, you may also be able to leave a personnel requirement temporarily uncovered.

In certain instances, you may be able to hire personnel on a short-term basis, allowing you to cover the requirement.

In addition, you may be able to transfer the task, and the related requirement, to another organizational plan unit.

The most common course of action taken to cover a requirement is to define employee working times in accordance with requirements. This includes defining working times, changing working times, and assigning them to employees.

Sometimes, you often have more room for maneuver in the personnel requirements than you initially thought. In such a case, you can reformulate the operative personnel requirement. For example, you may be able to change deadlines.

If there are not enough qualified employees to cover the personnel requirement, you may be able to perform operative personnel development actions, in order to provide these employees with the required qualifications.

If, when creating an operative personnel shift plan, you realize that the human resources available in the current personnel requirement cannot be used to their full capacity, you must retrieve information on the possible courses of action you can take. The courses of action are identified, and the most suitable is selected. The following situations may arise:

• The most common course of action taken to use the full capacity of human resources is to define employee working times in accordance with requirements. This includes changing working times, or assigning short time.
• Sometimes, you often have more room for maneuver in the personnel requirements than you initially thought. In such a case, you can reformulate the operative personnel requirement. For example, you may be able to change deadlines.
• If the available employees are not qualified to cover the personnel requirement, you may be able to perform operative personnel development actions, in order to provide these employees with the required qualifications.
• In certain instances, you may be able to transfer the employees to another organizational plan unit that may have greater need for the employees.
• Depending on the circumstances, you may be able to transfer a task, and the related personnel requirement, from another organizational plan unit, ensuring that the available human resources are used to their full capacity.
• Depending on the circumstances, you may also be able to accept that an employee is not required in the current scenario.
• On the other hand, if you realize that the human resource cannot be used in the current personnel requirement on a longer basis, it may be a sign that you need to reduce the number of available employees.

If an organizational plan unit decides to hire new human resources, an enquiry is submitted to all other units for suitable employees. If another organizational plan unit offers to temporarily assign an employee who is not required for that period, you can perform a temporary assignment of employees. Sometimes, a group of relief employees exists. You can use this group to "borrow" or "lend" employees who are not required in the short term.

If an organizational plan unit decides to transfer a task, along with the related personnel requirement, a release offer is created. If an organizational plan unit wants to accept additional tasks, a transfer offer is created. If a release offer and a transfer offer match, an operative transfer of employees from one organizational plan unit to another can be performed.