Support for defining consecutive weekends off in ESS, maximum time burdens per job in PDR and other improvements

Today, we’re announcing version v0.58 of the Timefold Platform and updates to the Timefold models.

This new version of the Timefold Platform comes with these platform improvements:

Model version information for each dataset
: Model version data is now stored directly on each dataset at the time it is submitted or solved. This includes the model version, SDK version, build time, build commit, and branch. These fields can be shown as columns or used as filters in the datasets overview, making it easier to trace which model version produced which results.

Total move evaluation count
: We now display the total move evaluation count across the dataset sidebar, the datasets overview, and the comparison UI, providing a clearer view of solver activity and performance.
Platform version information
: To help verify which platform version is currently running (especially in rollback scenarios), the platform version is now shown on the Tenant Settings > Details page.
Smaller improvements
include showing if you’ve been invited to an existing tenant (this pending invite is now visible directly in the UI, no longer requiring users to rely solely on the link in the email) and a few smaller UI bugfixes.

Next to that, this new version of the Timefold Platform comes with updates to these Timefold Models:

Field Service Routing (v1 | Stable)

Additional output metrics
: We have added the following output metrics in order to provide better insight into what visits the model was unable to assign: “Unassigned mandatory visits”, “Unassigned optional visits”, “Average travel time per assigned visit”, “Average travel distance per assigned visit.”

Employee Shift Scheduling (v1 | Stable)

Consecutive weekends off
: We have added 2 new constraints to manage the number of consecutive weekends employees do not work. “Consecutive weekends off not in required range for employee” and “Consecutive weekends off not in preferred range for employee”. These constraints help enforce restrictions on weekend work, which is important for maintaining employee work-life balance. With these constraints you can set a minimum of consecutive weekends an employee doesn’t work.
New employee output metrics
: We have added employee output metrics to provide more insights into solutions. The schedule output now contains a new employees section with several metrics for each employee (like overtime worked, number of disrupted shifts, etc.) to better assess employee utilization. See here for details. (Note: This is an experimental API that may change in future releases.)
Shift priority validation
: We have fixed a bug where shift priorities with different assignment types couldn’t define the same weight. Now 2 shift priorities can have an identical weight as long as 1 is
MANDATORY
and the other is
OPTIONAL
. For more information, please see Mandatory and optional shifts.
Minimize travel time constraint activation
: We have removed the need to specify a
maxEmployeeToShiftTravelDistanceInMeters
or
minMinutesBetweenShiftsInDifferentLocations
in the travel configurations to activate the Minimize Travel Time constraint. For more information, please see Shift travel and locations.
Shift count limit
: We have added a limit on the maximum number of shifts that can be defined in the input. The limit is set to 400,000 shifts. This limit helps ensure optimal performance and stability of the model.

Pick-up & Delivery Routing (v1 | Preview)

Maximum time burden on the job level
: It is now possible to define maximum time burdens on the job level. Before, it was only possible to define maximum time burdens in the configuration for the entire set of jobs. With this change, there is more flexibility to define different maximum time burdens for different jobs and still use the global definition as a default value. More details can be found in the Maximum time burden guide.
Handling input itineraries in the Pick-up and Delivery Routing model
: The Pick-up and Delivery Routing model now supports input itineraries, allowing users to define pre-planned routes for drivers. The pre-planned routes will be used as a starting point for optimization. There is a new Real-time planning guide that explains how to use input itineraries for real-time planning scenarios.
Extending the options for defining shift hours, including overtime hours
: The options for defining shift hours have been extended to include overtime hours and other options. These added options are: A soft end time of a shift, which now allows defining a preferred end time for a shift and a maximum end time. A hard maximum departure time from the last stop of a shift. A preferred maximum departure time from the last stop of a shift. More details on how these definitions can be used, can be found in the Shift hours and overtime guide.

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