A hybrid metaheuristic case-based reasoning system for nurse rostering

Citation

Beddoe G, Petrovic S & Li J (2009) A hybrid metaheuristic case-based reasoning system for nurse rostering. Journal of Scheduling, 12 (2), pp. 99-119. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10951-008-0082-8

Abstract
In this paper we present a novel Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) system called CABAROST (CAsed-BAsed ROSTering) which was developed for personnel scheduling problems. CBR is used to capture and store examples of personnel manager behaviour which are then used to solve future problems. Previous examples of constraint violations in schedules and the repairs that were used to solve the violations are stored as cases. The sequence in which violations are repaired can have a great impact on schedule quality. A novel memetic algorithm is proposed which evolves good quality sequences of repairs generated by CABAROST. The algorithm was tested on instances of the real-world nurse rostering problem at the Queens Medical Centre NHS Trust in Nottingham.

Keywords
Case-based reasoning; Personnel scheduling; Nurse rostering; Memetic algorithm; Learning from failure

Journal
Journal of Scheduling: Volume 12, Issue 2