International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology Vol. 14, January, 2010 1 A genetic algorithm approach for a constrained employee scheduling problem as applied to employees at mall type shops 1 Adrian Brezulianu, 2 Monica Fira, and 3 Lucian Fira 1 Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Technical University of Iasi 2 Institute of Computer Science, Romanian Academy, Iasi Branch 3 Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Technical University of Iasi 1 abrezu@etc.tuiasi.ro, 2 mfira@etc.tuiasi.ro, 3 lfira@etc.tuiasi.ro Abstract In this application of artificial intelligence to a real-world problem, the constrained scheduling of employee resourcing for a mall type shop is solved by means of a genetic algorithm. Chromosomes encode a one-week schedule and a constraint matrix handles all requirements for the population. The genetic operators are purposely designed to preserve all constraints and the objective function assures an imposed coverage, this is for people on both sections of the mall. The results demonstrate that the genetic algorithm approach can provide acceptable solutions to this type of employee scheduling problem with constrains. Keywords: Genetic Algorithms, Scheduling Problem. 1. Introduction The employee or team schedule problem has wide application. It is often encountered by industrial organizations, shopping centers, call centers, hospitals etc [1-4]. The employee scheduling, or more specific, the shift scheduling is defined as a problem of placing resources (employees) into slots in a pattern, in such way to accomplish given constraints. The patterns are denoting a set of legal shifts defined in the terms of work to be done ([5] citing [6]). Various approaches are popular to solve this problem including linear programming [7], branch-and-bound [8], genetic algorithms [9], evolutionary techniques [10] etc. We have chosen to provide solution with a genetic algorithm and to report our experiences here. 2. Problem formulation The schedule generation problem for mall type markets consists in creating appropriate timetables in order to meet the following requirements: - an imposed hourly coverage with employees during different working days; - an imposed daily coverage with employees during different working days; - a minimum of one employee scheduled every time;