Staff Assignment Rotation and Project Sustainability in South Sudan

The primary objective of this study was to determine the existence of a causal relationship between Staff Assignment Rotation vis-à-vis Project Sustainability in South Sudan. The research followed the qualitative methodology predicated on the “philosophical dimensions” of constructivism and interpretivism. The participants for the research consisted of 50 individuals drawn from four population groups: Refugees as the primary beneficiaries, humanitarian workers and project staff. Qualitative data collection was chosen as the research methodology and in-depth interview and focus group discussion as the research techniques in the data collection. Narrative analysis was the method of data analysis. The study revealed that 81 percent of the respondents indicated security as the single most important factor that impacts project sustainability. Staff assignment rotation followed with 16 percent. Data analysis was compartmentalized and looked at the profile of the respondents to see any noticeable variance from the functional perspective. Contextualizing the data helped to balance any perceived unbiased in the responses based on their functional affinity. In addition to Security as the prominent factor that impacts project sustainability, staff rotation, government regulation, and funding could also impact significantly depending on the context. The study recommends a comprehensive review of the current mandatory policy to align the operation management cycle; encompassing the project initiation, planning, implementation, monitoring and closure to the standard assignment length of staff assigned to implement these projects.

A competency-driven staff assignment approach to improving employee scheduling robustness

Presented paper concerns the competency-driven staff assignment and scheduling approach to the management of project portfolios subject to perturbations caused by employee absences and/or unexpected arrival of high priority jobs. Proactive strategy is considered, which exploits the concept of employee substitutability to improve the robustness of personnel allocation in the case of occurrence of specific types of disruptions. Solutions obtained using the model of a constraint satisfaction problem developed in this study are validated in series quantitative and qualitative experiments. With a view to future implementation in a Decision Support Systems dedicated to prototyping of proactive personnel allocation, a methodology employing the concept of a competency framework-based robustness measure is proposed. Implemented in a declarative framework, the proposed approach allows one to find a redundant competency framework robust to a given set of disruptions.

The Curricular Practical Training Rotation Problem Formulation and the Assessment of Rotation Strategies

This study addresses the curricular practical training rotation problem, which is a type of staff assignment problem. Many educational institutions require theoretical knowledge to be complemented by practical training. Although the details of the implementation differ from institution to institution, it is necessary to prepare a rotation plan that determines how long the trainees will practice in which unit in which training period. Because of the complexity of the problem and humanistic reasons, the manual rotation plan can not reach the optimal level that satisfies all stakeholders and takes time. This study defines a general Curricular Practical Training Rotation Planning Problem specific to the curriculum-based trainee assignment process carried out in a university department and proposes an integer mathematical model for its solution. It is one of the important contributions of this study. It also provides a methodological approach to identify the most appropriate rotation strategy that will satisfy stakeholders. The methodological approach followed is a structure that can be adapted to different perspectives. The study has the potential to guide practitioners and researchers in the field and to lead a rich literature that will be formed with different side constraints and purposes to the problem.