Over 20 years ago, logistics software systems started to replace the old paper and pen ways of arranging crew schedules to satisfy operational requirements. Crew availability, leave patterns, tighter turn arounds, staffing costs, as well as regulatory and collective agreement requirements concerning duty and rest became so complex that it was almost impossible to manage all of these components by hand using paper and pen. Crew scheduling software was a welcomed solution. About the same time these solutions were flooding the market, bio-mathematical fatigue modeling software was becoming available to fatigue managers. For example, the first version of FAID was released in September 1999.
Attempting to combine crew scheduling software and fatigue modeling software was a logical next step. Who would not want to design a schedule that satisfied all logistical and operational needs and kept fatigue well-managed all at once? Ultimately this logical step did not work out. I think there are two reasons why the combination did not work, complexity and marketing.
The logistics around crew scheduling continued to increase in complexity after the first crew scheduling software systems were developed. With every new set of duty and rest regulations or collective agreements, multiple new variables had to be incorporated into the software. Likewise, the science of sleep and fatigue progressed and became more complex as did the ways of analyzing data. For example, we used to think that shift-workers could rapidly adjust their circadian rhythms to new shift patterns to reduce the risk of fatigue. We now know that circadian rhythm adjustment is quite difficult without perfect control of all biological time cues and that rates of adjustment vary according to the direction of sleep pattern change as well as the magnitude of change required. Many bio-mathematical fatigue modeling systems now incorporate this new science along with new ways of analyzing the data. Some systems not only give you an overall estimate of fatigue risk for a specific schedule as part of the analysis, but they can also estimate fatigue risk at exact moments in time during each shift. The fatigue modeling systems became more complex just like the crew scheduling software and it became very difficult to build systems that were excellent at doing both. The developers could not keep up with the complexity in both areas and they had to decide in which area they wanted to excel. Some chose to become experts in the logistics of crew scheduling and some chose to become experts in fatigue modeling and the companies split into the two specialities.
The decision to split, I think, was also influenced by marketing needs. Although fatigue managers liked the idea of an all-in-one crew scheduling and fatigue modeling software package, not all consumers were fatigue managers and some fatigue managers had no ability to influence crew scheduling. This meant there was a market for crew schedulers and a market for fatigue managers. Plus, there was a huge cost to developing all-in-one solutions that had to be passed on to the consumer. It was much easier to market and sell one smaller solution, crew scheduling or fatigue modeling, that was more affordable than a combined solution of which perhaps only one side of the solution would be used. Nowadays, if you want to be able to design crew schedules that meet all logistical and operational needs and model fatigue associated with the schedules, a second sale/purchase is required.
The Scheduling and Fatigue Modeling Software Compatibility Matrix linked to the image below summarizes my search for these two sales/purchases. I have listed which crew scheduling systems and fatigue modeling systems work well together. Some will work well with a simple mouse click to export the schedule from the crew scheduling system and a second click to import it into the fatigue modeling system and some will move the schedule to the fatigue modeling system automatically with a custom integration. I found that many of the fatigue modeling companies, especially InterDynamics (FAID & FAID Quantum) were ready to help integrate any crew scheduling system with their fatigue modeling system, sometimes for a small custom coding fee and sometimes for free by simply providing you with Do-It-Yourself (DIY) instructions.
If you are looking for an excellent contact with whom to discuss integrating FAID or FAID Quantum with crew scheduling software, connect with the team at InterDynamics by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at +61 7 3229 8300.
View the full matrix here