AI-Powered Roster Planning
PDC StaffPlan
PDC StaffPlan is a modern roster planning solution designed for organisations in complex environments.
In many cases, roster planning becomes complex due to long working hours, strict regulations, fluctuating staff demand, and the need to match specialized skills with specific tasks. Therefore, PDC StaffPlan addresses these challenges directly. It helps planners build efficient, compliant, and balanced schedules using AI and optimisation algorithms.
In addition, the solution supports the entire roster planning process—from long-term workforce planning to daily operations. It aligns demand, resources, and execution in one continuous flow. As a result, organisations can optimise resource use, streamline workflows, and improve operational performance.
Moreover, PDC StaffPlan focuses strongly on overview, transparency, and fairness. It brings rostering, employee involvement, daily dispatch, time tracking, communication, and reporting together in one integrated platform.
Finally, these capabilities improve decision-making, enhance working conditions, and support more sustainable and efficient use of workforce resources.
Why Select
PDC's
Roster Planning?
The real challenge isn’t just making the roster work—it usually does in the end. The difficulty lies in streamlining the process and improving the quality of the final shift plan.
With PDC StaffPlan, organisations can connect long-term rostering with daily operational planning in one continuous workflow. The solution supports assignment of work and activities, management of absences, and visibility into planned attendance, which helps improve transparency, coordination, and responsiveness in complex scheduling environments.
“The solution was chosen after a tender, where PDC StaffPlan won, among other things because the solution could support our requirements for compliance with our various collective agreements and contribute to creating a more uniform way of carrying out shift planning.”
Can PDC StaffPlan do Automatic Planning?
Yes – PDC StaffPlan supports automatic planning through the Produce Roster function. It automatically assigns unassigned shifts or tasks to available employees while taking norm hours, worktime rules, absences, employee requests, fairness, and cost into account. The planning can be configured through policy settings and quality parameters, allowing organisations to balance compliance, coverage, and efficiency in complex rostering environments
How to Obtain a Smooth Roster Planning Process with PDC StaffPlan?
PDC StaffPlan streamlines the planning process by automating many routine tasks.
In addition, users can manage duty changes online. The system calculates working hours, allowances, minimum staffing requirements, and holiday entitlements automatically and in real time.
Furthermore, planners can generate and optimise schedules based on demand, required qualifications, available staff, costs, fair distribution, employee preferences, and working time rules.
As a result, planners can work faster and make more informed decisions. Key metrics such as hours, costs, overtime, and workload stay continuously updated and visible.
At the same time, planners can still work manually when needed. The system supports them with built-in intelligence that checks compliance and flags potential issues.
Finally, these capabilities also support daily operations, where teams must handle ongoing adjustments and changes efficiently.
Will Automation in PDC StaffPlan Reduce Daily Roster Administration?
Yes. Automation significantly reduces the time and effort needed for workforce management administration.
In particular, the system streamlines activities such as schedule maintenance, employee data management, handling staff inquiries, and tracking absenteeism.
In addition, PDC StaffPlan provides a wide range of reports and statistics that support better insights and decision-making.
Furthermore, payroll data can be extracted easily and transferred to external payroll systems. This ensures accurate and efficient salary processing.
How is Roster Compliance Ensured with PDC StaffPlan?
A comprehensive working time rule engine forms the core of PDC StaffPlan.
In addition, the system includes all relevant rules and regulations. It evaluates each employee based on a rule set that reflects their specific employment conditions. As a result, all rosters comply with applicable agreements, legislation, and internal policies.
Furthermore, the rule engine actively prevents violations during schedule creation. When planners make changes, the system validates them in real time. It immediately highlights potential conflicts or breaches.
At the same time, planners and managers can override warnings when necessary. However, the system maintains full transparency to ensure control and accountability in all decisions.
Finally, the system continuously matches employee qualifications with shift and task requirements. This ensures that all activities use appropriately skilled personnel.
Do You Want Cost Transparency in Roster Planning?
PDC Plan provides all the necessary information to deliver a clear overview of total plan costs. It calculates costs per employee, per duty, and across the entire roster.
As a result, planners gain real-time cost insights before finalizing schedules. This helps them consider financial implications early and ensures staffing decisions align with both budget constraints and operational goals.
In addition, PDC Plan integrates cost data directly into the planning process. This enables more informed and cost-effective scheduling that balances workforce needs with financial responsibility.
Work-life Balance with PDC StaffPlan
PDC StaffPlan helps organisations strengthen work-life balance by combining efficient rostering with greater employee involvement. Staff can submit shift and absence wishes, monitor balances, exchange shifts, and stay informed through direct schedule communication, while planners ensure that staffing decisions remain transparent and aligned with working time rules. This creates a more flexible, fair, and responsive planning process for both employees and planners.
What is the Benefit of Involving Staff in Roster Planning?
A roster plan becomes more effective and sustainable when employees actively participate in the planning process.
In particular, allowing staff to express preferences for working hours and time off increases ownership and engagement. This leads to stronger commitment to the final schedule. As a result, employee satisfaction improves, and operations become more stable and predictable.
Furthermore, the MyPlan employee app lets staff submit availability and preferences, request time off, swap shifts, and communicate directly with colleagues and planners. This creates a more transparent and collaborative planning process.
Overall, both employees and the organisation benefit. Absenteeism decreases. Work–life balance improves. Schedule adherence strengthens. Administrative workload also drops significantly.
Which Insights Can Workforce Reports and Dashboards Provide?
Workforce reports and dashboards turn planning data into actionable insights. As a result, they support more informed and strategic decision-making.
In addition, they give managers and executives a clear, consolidated overview of workforce dynamics. This helps align staffing with operational needs and business objectives while maintaining fairness and compliance.
Furthermore, detailed reporting helps organisations identify patterns in overtime, absenteeism, and workload distribution. These insights allow continuous refinement and optimisation of rosters. This improves both efficiency and employee well-being.
At the same time, reports highlight imbalances. They help prevent understaffing, which can reduce service quality and productivity. They also reduce overstaffing, which drives unnecessary labor costs. In parallel, dashboards provide real-time visibility. This allows managers to monitor performance and respond quickly to changes.
In addition, organisations can define and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) for workforce planning. These include absence rates, overtime levels, staffing efficiency, and the distribution of night and weekend shifts. They also cover demand coverage. These KPIs measure performance over time. As a result, organisations can track progress, identify trends, and stay aligned with business goals.
Overall, reports and dashboards provide the transparency and control needed for efficient, data-driven workforce planning.
Which Systems can PDC StaffPlan Integrate to?
Yes – PDC StaffPlan can integrate with a wide range of external systems.
Supported integration areas include:
- Microsoft Exchange / Outlook and Microsoft 365 calendars for publishing employee plans to connected calendars.
- Payroll systems, including typical salary export and person-related data exchange
- HR systems for maintaining and importing employee data
- ERP systems and other customer-specific business systems
- Business Intelligence and data warehouse solutions
- Customer file exchange interfaces for imports and exports such as person import and salary export
- Clocking / time attendance systems and external punch clock devices
- Active Directory for user account-related integration/setup
- Production systems, aviation systems, and other customer-specific operational systems through SystemBridge
- Organisation data, absence services, person services, and time attendance services through dedicated service interfaces such as AbsenceService, OrgUnitService, PersonService, and TimeAttendance
AI in Roster Planning
Heuristic search algorithms and constraint logic are key technologies in PDC StaffPlan. In addition, AI assistants assist with workflows and recommendations in planning.
Read about PDC’s general use of AI.
Configurable Roster Planning Methods
PDC StaffPlan offers eight distinct planning models, each designed to address specific operational needs.
Read about planning methods in PDC StaffPlan
Cloud-based vs On Premises
PDC StaffPlan can be delivered as a fully managed hosted SaaS solution, Alternatively, it can be installed and operated on premises.
What is Delivered with PDC StaffPlan?
Get additional insights about features and functionalities in PDC StaffPlan.
One integrated platform for planning, coordination, and time registration
MyPlan, TeamPlan, FunctionPlan, and Time & Attendance are integrated modules within PDC StaffPlan and part of the broader PDC Plan platform, working together across planning, daily operations, and employee interaction.
MyPlan
MyPlan is an employee app for roster planning and serves as the employee’s gateway to the PDC StaffPlan shift planning system.
TeamPlan
TeamPlan is a day-to-day roster management app for planners, supervisors, and department managers. It supports especially sickness management and the process of finding replacements.
FunctionPlan
FunctionPlan is part of the platform’s integration services for reporting clockings and handling time-related data directly in connection with the plan
Time & Attendance
Employees can manage time and attendance in two ways. First, they can use MyPlan on their smartphones. Alternatively, they can use a dedicated clocking terminal.