Hi Rodney,
Who, or how, is the scheduling system being replaced? (Assuming it is
changing.)
Do *you* need to replace the scheduling system (and that's would you
would potentially have to write from scratch)?
OR
Is a scheduling system being procured that will obsolete the current
system and you all have customized the current scheduling system to
output this special information for you, as needed?
I ask because if you get to replace the scheduling software (and
assuming it uses a relational db), you might be able to add a column to
the user table or otherwise hack the system to add support for recording
and determining seniority. Then just build yourself a qiuck and dirty
restful endpoint for the info you need that queries the db directly.
The SQL should be pretty simple.
But, if there is a general transition to a different scheduling platform
outside of your control, might you engage whomever is responsible for
that system and see if you could, at the minimum, learn who is currently
on duty. Perhaps they give you an endpoint for that query. Then, all
you need is something on your end to record seniority.
Just a couple of hopefully helpful thoughts.
Yours,
Kevin
On 3/26/15 11:56 AM, Rodney Griffith wrote:
I'm sharing a dilemma to the list in hopes of getting in touch with anyone has
been in a similar situation (although I have looked high and low without
finding one similar case for over two months). Our library requires that the
Senior employee In Charge be updated on our Intranet based on an old relational
database which contains staff schedules. So when John Smith is in the library,
if he outranks Kate Stewart, his name is posted at the top of the page.
However, when John Smith's shift is over and Jo Grant appears, she's outranked
by Kate Stewart, whose name then replaces John's.
That system has to be replaced, however. A few weeks back, I began likening the
situation to the old, deprecated Foursquare: whoever is highest ranking when
present is Mayor. Unfortunately, that was the old Foursquare, and no one left a
recipe, how-to or breadcrumb trail behind.
There are lots of in/out boards (like Tabzon) online, and a few js calendars,
but I have found absolutely nothing that ranks seniority and automagically
pushes the name of the senior officer somewhere.
Worst-case scenario is that I'd have to write one from scratch, and I'm really
more of a front-end person. But I'm posting here to see if anyone, anywhere has
the same scenario and how they've dealt with it. I would honestly be surprised
if there isn't an existing open-source solution for such a need--after all, all
kinds of commercial enterprises, military situations etc. depend on seniority
rankings.
I should mention that the quickest, most logical and least labor-intensive method,
"just post it manually as a status update", is out. Don't ask why.
--
Rodney Griffith
Developer/Network Systems Administrator
Euclid Public Library
631 East 222nd Street
Euclid, Ohio 44123
216-261-5300 x602
t: @rodneyegriffith<https://twitter.com/rodneyegriffith>
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