Weekly Labor Schedule Agent

Labor is one of the biggest costs in a franchise, and scheduling by habit leaves too many people on slow afternoons and too few at lunch. On weekly planning day, this agent reads the sales forecast by hour, the franchisor's labor standards, staff availability and skills, such as who can open, close or run the grill. It loads labor law rules for minors and breaks, then drafts shifts to cover forecast peaks. It checks the draft for labor cost percent, peak-hour coverage, break rules and minor work-hour limits. If a check fails, it moves or trims shifts and checks again. Next it compares each person's hours with their availability and overtime limits and fixes conflicts. The owner approves the schedule before it is posted to the crew. Edge case: a local event such as a game day raises the forecast for those hours and adds a shift.