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workforce4_vb.vb
' Copyright 2023, Gurobi Optimization, LLC
'
' Assign workers to shifts; each worker may or may not be available on a
' particular day. We use Pareto optimization to solve the model:
' first, we minimize the linear sum of the slacks. Then, we constrain
' the sum of the slacks, and we minimize a quadratic objective that
' tries to balance the workload among the workers.
Imports System
Imports Gurobi
Class workforce4_vb
Shared Sub Main()
Try
' Sample data
' Sets of days and workers
Dim Shifts As String() = New String() {"Mon1", "Tue2", "Wed3", "Thu4", _
"Fri5", "Sat6", "Sun7", "Mon8", _
"Tue9", "Wed10", "Thu11", _
"Fri12", "Sat13", "Sun14"}
Dim Workers As String() = New String() {"Amy", "Bob", "Cathy", "Dan", _
"Ed", "Fred", "Gu"}
Dim nShifts As Integer = Shifts.Length
Dim nWorkers As Integer = Workers.Length
' Number of workers required for each shift
Dim shiftRequirements As Double() = New Double() {3, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, _
5, 2, 2, 3, 4, 6, _
7, 5}
' Worker availability: 0 if the worker is unavailable for a shift
Dim availability As Double(,) = New Double(,) { _
{0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}, _
{1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0}, _
{0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}, _
{0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}, _
{1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1}, _
{1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1}, _
{1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1}}
' Model
Dim env As New GRBEnv()
Dim model As New GRBModel(env)
model.ModelName = "assignment"
' Assignment variables: x(w)(s) == 1 if worker w is assigned
' to shift s. This is no longer a pure assignment model, so we
' must use binary variables.
Dim x As GRBVar(,) = New GRBVar(nWorkers - 1, nShifts - 1) {}
For w As Integer = 0 To nWorkers - 1
For s As Integer = 0 To nShifts - 1
x(w, s) = model.AddVar(0, availability(w, s), 0, _
GRB.BINARY, _
Workers(w) & "." & Shifts(s))
Next
Next
' Add a new slack variable to each shift constraint so that the
' shifts can be satisfied
Dim slacks As GRBVar() = New GRBVar(nShifts - 1) {}
For s As Integer = 0 To nShifts - 1
slacks(s) = _
model.AddVar(0, GRB.INFINITY, 0, GRB.CONTINUOUS, _
Shifts(s) & "Slack")
Next
' Variable to represent the total slack
Dim totSlack As GRBVar = model.AddVar(0, GRB.INFINITY, 0, _
GRB.CONTINUOUS, "totSlack")
' Variables to count the total shifts worked by each worker
Dim totShifts As GRBVar() = New GRBVar(nWorkers - 1) {}
For w As Integer = 0 To nWorkers - 1
totShifts(w) = _
model.AddVar(0, GRB.INFINITY, 0, GRB.CONTINUOUS, _
Workers(w) & "TotShifts")
Next
Dim lhs As GRBLinExpr
' Constraint: assign exactly shiftRequirements(s) workers
' to each shift s, plus the slack
For s As Integer = 0 To nShifts - 1
lhs = 0
lhs.AddTerm(1.0, slacks(s))
For w As Integer = 0 To nWorkers - 1
lhs.AddTerm(1.0, x(w, s))
Next
model.AddConstr(lhs = shiftRequirements(s), Shifts(s))
Next
' Constraint: set totSlack equal to the total slack
lhs = 0
For s As Integer = 0 To nShifts - 1
lhs.AddTerm(1.0, slacks(s))
Next
model.AddConstr(lhs = totSlack, "totSlack")
' Constraint: compute the total number of shifts for each worker
For w As Integer = 0 To nWorkers - 1
lhs = 0
For s As Integer = 0 To nShifts - 1
lhs.AddTerm(1.0, x(w, s))
Next
model.AddConstr(lhs = totShifts(w), "totShifts" & Workers(w))
Next
' Objective: minimize the total slack
model.SetObjective(1.0*totSlack)
' Optimize
Dim status As Integer = _
solveAndPrint(model, totSlack, nWorkers, Workers, totShifts)
If status <> GRB.Status.OPTIMAL Then
Exit Sub
End If
' Constrain the slack by setting its upper and lower bounds
totSlack.UB = totSlack.X
totSlack.LB = totSlack.X
' Variable to count the average number of shifts worked
Dim avgShifts As GRBVar = model.AddVar(0, GRB.INFINITY, 0, _
GRB.CONTINUOUS, "avgShifts")
' Variables to count the difference from average for each worker;
' note that these variables can take negative values.
Dim diffShifts As GRBVar() = New GRBVar(nWorkers - 1) {}
For w As Integer = 0 To nWorkers - 1
diffShifts(w) = _
model.AddVar(-GRB.INFINITY, GRB.INFINITY, 0, _
GRB.CONTINUOUS, Workers(w) & "Diff")
Next
' Constraint: compute the average number of shifts worked
lhs = 0
For w As Integer = 0 To nWorkers - 1
lhs.AddTerm(1.0, totShifts(w))
Next
model.AddConstr(lhs = nWorkers * avgShifts, "avgShifts")
' Constraint: compute the difference from the average number of shifts
For w As Integer = 0 To nWorkers - 1
model.AddConstr(totShifts(w) - avgShifts = diffShifts(w), _
Workers(w) & "Diff")
Next
' Objective: minimize the sum of the square of the difference
' from the average number of shifts worked
Dim qobj As GRBQuadExpr = New GRBQuadExpr
For w As Integer = 0 To nWorkers - 1
qobj.AddTerm(1.0, diffShifts(w), diffShifts(w))
Next
model.SetObjective(qobj)
' Optimize
status = solveAndPrint(model, totSlack, nWorkers, Workers, totShifts)
If status <> GRB.Status.OPTIMAL Then
Exit Sub
End If
' Dispose of model and env
model.Dispose()
env.Dispose()
Catch e As GRBException
Console.WriteLine("Error code: " & e.ErrorCode & ". " & e.Message)
End Try
End Sub
Private Shared Function solveAndPrint(ByVal model As GRBModel, _
ByVal totSlack As GRBVar, _
ByVal nWorkers As Integer, _
ByVal Workers As String(), _
ByVal totShifts As GRBVar()) As Integer
model.Optimize()
Dim status As Integer = model.Status
solveAndPrint = status
If (status = GRB.Status.INF_OR_UNBD) OrElse _
(status = GRB.Status.INFEASIBLE) OrElse _
(status = GRB.Status.UNBOUNDED) Then
Console.WriteLine("The model cannot be solved because " & _
"it is infeasible or unbounded")
Exit Function
End If
If status <> GRB.Status.OPTIMAL Then
Console.WriteLine("Optimization was stopped with status " _
& status)
Exit Function
End If
' Print total slack and the number of shifts worked for each worker
Console.WriteLine(vbLf & "Total slack required: " & totSlack.X)
For w As Integer = 0 To nWorkers - 1
Console.WriteLine(Workers(w) & " worked " & _
totShifts(w).X & " shifts")
Next
Console.WriteLine(vbLf)
End Function
End Class
