The following files are included in the Who’s on First package:
Who’s on First
Read Me
Files
Introduction
How to Get More Help
Step-by-Step Instructions
Card-by-Card Tour
Sample files
Staff
Plain Schedule
Parameters
Output
Touched-up Schedule
Additional Info
Memo
Introduction
Who’s on First is a user-friendly stand-alone Macintosh computer program that
schedules call with a few clicks of the mouse. It was presented at the 1995 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting after years of thorough testing and use at the University of Chicago.
• Who’s on First saves you the headache of doing it by hand.
• The program can schedule any period of time for you, up to a year at once.
• You are free to make copies of the program for yourself if you schedule call at
more than one site.
• You can reclaim hours of lost leisure time.
• Who’s on First is fair.
• The program assigns staff the exact number of calls they should get. (Well, it
can’t assign them the exact number, because that usually would include a
fraction of a day, but it does the best it can and remembers the difference
for the next time period.)
• The program bases the number of calls on a weighting factor that you specify
(e.g., the number of hours/week a staff member works or a value based on
what year a resident is).
• The program assigns weekdays and weekends separately, in order not to have to
consider this many of one equivalent to that many of the other.
• Who’s on First accommodates personal preferences.
• Day-of-the-week preferences allow, for example, staff not to be on call on
Wednesdays if that’s their bridge night.
• Specific-date preferences take into account staff vacations.
• You set how close you will allow two calls for one staff member to be.
• Who’s on First handles related tasks for you.
• You format the schedule the way you want. You can include pager or phone
numbers, and it can be read by (and touched up with) the word processor of
your choice.
• If some staff work part-time and share pagers, the program can allocate the
pagers based on what days the staff work and can pick them up and drop them
off.
• The program can create a basic second or backup call schedule.
There are different “cards” (or screens) for different functions. You enter information about staff, the time period, and how you want the call schedule to look on the Staff, Parameter, and Format Cards. Then you generate the call schedule on the main Call Schedule Card. Next, you have the opportunity to fine tune the call schedule, optimizing how well it fits with the preferences of staff, on the Fine-Tuning Card. Finally, you fill in pager and second call information, if any, and save the call schedule in a file on the Filling-In Card.
How to Get More Help
Questions, comments, problems, suggestions, and orders may be directed to the developer, Robert Hsiung, at dr-bob@uchicago.edu or 5737 S. University Ave., Chicago, IL 60637-1507.
Every attempt will be made to work with you if a problem is caused by a bug in the program.
Who’s on First, like all software, does have limitations, but it can also be customized (at an hourly rate) for your particular situation.
Thank you for you interest in Who’s on First.
Who’s on First was developed with HyperCard, an Apple Computer application.
