The MedRez.net Scheduling Tool has been updated. The Annual Rotations Schedule part of the program has been rebuilt from the ground up. Here are the highlights of the new system:

Completely Flexible Block Dates

You can now create all the blocks you need in one Schedule. For example:

- Put your PGY-1s in the same schedule as everybody else, even if their block dates are different.

- Create schedules that mix 2-week blocks, 3-week blocks, 4-week blocks and 6-week blocks together.

New rules related to blocks let you specify what Residents and what Rotations can be on which blocks.

Enhanced Rotations

- Rotations now have a Staffing Requirements dialog identical to the Call and Shifts part of the program.

- You can now reuse Rotations from other schedules in your account, which should save you some time each year.

- You can also give Rotations a color.

Tallies that can Count Over Multiple Years

- Tallies count the number of times a Resident is on a Rotation, or on a set of Rotations.

- You can count blocks, half-blocks, or weeks.

- Track totals over the career of a Resident by linking Tallies from year to year.

- Set targets for what these totals should be to help you make your schedules.

- Set default targets for each PGY, and control each Resident's targets individually.

Enhanced Schedule Editor

The new Annual Rotations Schedule editor keeps the same layout as the previous version, but it provides more visual cues to make scheduling easier.

Vacation Requests are shown in each Resident's schedule timeline, allowing you to instantly spot conflicts.

Red problem flags identify Rotations that have a conflict and vacation Requests are shown in the Schedule.

Drag and Drop editing

Edit your Annual Rotations Schedules by dragging rotations in a Resident's schedule.

You can swap with other Rotations while you're dragging, or shift the other Rotations around so that your Schedule remains coherent as you drag.

Overall Usability Improvements

The new Annual Rotations Schedule editor was designed to give you a powerful tool while still remaining approachable and usable for first-time users.

To that end, all interactions were designed to reduce confusion, and every input of every dialog box has a thoughtful "tool-tip" to help point you in the right direction.

In addition, The "Schedule Maker's Guide" (the yellow tab at the very top of the page) will continue to be expanded in the next few weeks to give you a high-level view of the concepts you need to understand to make the most of the Scheduling Tool.

Current Users: What to Expect

Your schedules were migrated to the new system. While things look a bit different, everything is basically where it used to be and practically everything you used to be able to do in the old system you can still do in the new one.

If you need any guidance or have any questions about the new system please do not hesitate to ask.

Developer Notes

If you spot any problems at all please let me know as soon as possible. In a project this big it's possible there are a few bugs lurking. I'm standing by ready to deal with any problem. Please email or use these forums to report problems.

This project ran very long and I didn't want to wait any longer to release it. So there are a few things that may still be added in the near future, such as a Randomizer.

I hope you find the new Annual Rotations Schedules helpful as you get ready to make schedules for 2014-2015.

Olivier Forget
Owner and Developer
MedRez.net Scheduling Tool