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Self-scheduling solution: ORTEC and AGAPLESION confirm collaboration

ORTEC’s self-scheduling software enables autonomous workforce scheduling at system level

Bremen/Frankfurt am Main, April 2024 – ORTEC impressed Germany’s largest Christian healthcare group AGAPLESION with its ORTEC Workforce Scheduling solution: Following an initial, multi-year test run in three locations, AGAPLESION is now implementing the self-scheduling software in 18 clinic locations. As a result, employees will become optimally involved in setting their schedules.

DateApr 15, 2024
ORTEC and AGAPLESION

“The shortage of skilled workers has sparked competition for quality personnel. As employers, we have to respond accordingly to needs and enable new ways of working. ORTEC’s digital self-scheduling software helps us to give our personnel the chance to become really involved in their own scheduling”, underlines Constance von Struensee, Chief Human Resources Officer at AGAPLESION. “It really is a key factor in employee satisfaction”, von Struensee added.

Personnel choose their shifts themselves

Between now and the end of 2028, ORTEC will introduce ORTEC Self-Scheduling at all clinic locations in a carefully planned software project. This project also involves the rollout of ORTEC Employee Self Service as an app and web portal for use by personnel. By using these tools, personnel can design their own schedules. This is how it works in more detail: “Employees choose the shifts they prefer using the app on their smartphone or on a PC via the web portal”, explains Dr. Hendrik Weyer, Director of Operations at ORTEC. “Any over- and understaffing in the respective departments is then optimized by the software, as well as by the employees themselves”.

Hendrik Weyer - ORTEC

Dr. Hendrik Weyer, Director Operations at ORTEC

"Employees choose the shifts they prefer using the app on their smartphone or on a PC via the web portal"

All relevant guidelines are automatically taken into consideration

At the end of this process, the schedulers, team managers or ward managers at AGAPLESION then finalize the schedule­–“on average, it is already 80% or more complete”, stresses Dr. Weyer, pointing out an additional special feature of the project: AGAPLESION uses the ORTEC solution as “Software as a Service”, or SaaS for short. This means that the application runs in the secure cloud provided by ORTEC. As a result, the healthcare group can avoid the need for an elaborate, in-house IT infrastructure, whilst also reducing additional costs.

Constance von Struensee - AGAPLESION

Constance von Struensee, Chief Human Resources Officer at AGAPLESION

"Within the optimization, all legal, contractual, internal and previously submitted personal requirements are taken into consideration."

Obtaining a more transparent overview of the scheduling situation

“Within the optimization, all legal, contractual, internal and previously submitted personal requirements are taken into consideration”, AGAPLESION’s Director of Human Resources von Struensee explains. All the necessary parameters are already entered into the system in advance so that all of the scheduling will, among other things, be in accordance with PpUGV (Pflegepersonaluntergrenzen-Verordnung) mandatory minimum staffing levels. At the same time, all those with access rights are provided with a comprehensive, transparent overview of the current schedule situation at all times.

About ORTEC

The ORTEC journey started in the early 1980s, when a few young Dutch students wanted to show the world the value of mathematics in achieving long-term sustainable growth for organizations and society as a whole. Now, more than 40 years later, with over 1,000 employees and offices across 13 countries, ORTEC is the leading global provider of mathematical optimization software and advanced analytics. Over the years, ORTEC has optimized business processes at more than 1,200 renowned companies, making a significant contribution to a better world.