PowerSolver in plain words
Everything a planner needs to get started. No planning or technical background needed.
What it does
PowerSolver makes your plan for you. You say what has to be planned and which rules to respect; it tries a huge number of combinations and gives back the best plan it finds in the time you allow, usually within a minute.
For example: a staff roster where nobody works two shifts at once, every shift gets someone with the right skills, everyone gets 11 hours of rest, and the work is shared fairly.
The six building blocks
| Block | In plain words | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Items to plan | what needs a decision | shifts, lessons, operations, deliveries |
| Decisions | what PowerSolver chooses for each item (1 to 4 things) | who? when? where? |
| Lists of options | what it can choose from | staff, time slots, rooms, machines |
| Rules | what the plan must or should respect | at most 48 h a week |
| Score | how good the plan is | 0hard / -12soft |
| Result | the finished plan | Monday early shift → Alice |
Some lists are only information, not choices: the teacher already decided for a lesson, the patient of an operation. PowerSolver reads them to check the rules but never changes them.
Rules: Must or Should
| Strength | Meaning | If broken |
|---|---|---|
| Must | never broken: law, safety, what is physically possible | the plan cannot be used |
| Should | a wish: preferences, cost, fairness | the plan is still valid, but scores less well |
Each rule has an importance (a number): between two wishes, the more important one wins.
A quick way to choose: if breaking it would be illegal, unsafe or impossible, it is a Must. Otherwise it is a Should.
Reading the score
The score has two parts, and closer to 0 is better:
0hard / -12soft
│ └── wishes not met (the smaller the number, the better)
└────────── Must rules broken: must be 0, or the plan cannot be used| Score | What it means |
|---|---|
0hard / 0soft | perfect: every rule and every wish respected |
0hard / -12soft | usable: a few wishes not met |
-2hard / -5soft | not usable: a Must rule is broken twice |
You don't have to read the score yourself: the Results page says it in words ("Ready to use", or what to fix).
The 7 steps
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1. Type of plan | pick the card closest to your problem (rostering, timetable, maintenance…) |
| 2. Items to plan | the list of what to plan, with its details (duration, skills, deadline…) |
| 3. Resources | the lists of options and information (people, rooms, time slots…) |
| 4. Rules | choose the rules, Must or Should, and their importance |
| 5. Fixed in advance | optional: lock what is already decided |
| 6. Time limit | how long PowerSolver searches (30 s to a few minutes is usual) |
| 7. Review & plan | Can this work? checks your data, then Plan it |
The fastest way: keep your whole plan in one Excel workbook. In step 1, click Load a plan from Excel, then Fill all steps now: steps 2 to 6 are filled in one go and you land on step 7. Don't have a workbook yet? Click Download workbook template: it says what to write in each sheet.
Good to know: a detail (a column) is only used if a rule needs it. Add only what you will use.
Before planning: "Can this work?"
Step 7 checks your data in seconds and says, in plain words, what can never work, for example "42 exams need the large halls, there are only 36 places" or "teacher MA-5 has 2 hours more than her service". Fix the data, check again, then plan.
Reading the result
| Where | What you see |
|---|---|
| Verdict | "Ready to use", or what makes the plan unusable |
| Overview | key figures, Check before you use it (red = blocking, amber = worth a look, grey = information), the plan by person, day or room |
| Rules & score | every rule, how many times it is broken, and what it costs |
| All items | the full list of assignments, searchable |
| Changes | what moved compared with the previous plan |
Export to Excel to share the plan, Download JSON to keep it or send it to another system. Compare Solutions shows what changed between several plans (for example Friday's plan and Monday's replan).
When something changes: replanning
Someone is sick, a machine breaks down, a new order arrives. Update the data, fix in advance (step 5) what is already done or must not move, and plan again. Add a wish "keep the published plan" and PowerSolver changes only what it must; the Changes tab shows exactly what moved.
Quick fixes
| Problem | Try this |
|---|---|
The plan is not usable (hard below 0) | read Can this work? and Check before you use it: they name the cause. Then add options (people, rooms, slots), relax a Must into a Should, or check the fixed items |
| Valid, but many wishes not met | give more time, change the importance of the wishes, decide which ones really matter |
| Too slow | fewer items per plan, fewer rules, or split the plan (per week, per site) |
| A strange assignment | a rule is missing, or a Should needs to be a Must; check that column names match exactly |
Limits
- PowerSolver chooses from lists you give it: it does not invent new people, rooms or time slots.
- On very large plans it finds a very good plan in the time allowed, not always the perfect one.
- It does not decide your priorities: you choose the rules, Must or Should, and their importance.
- It does not forecast demand: you enter how many people each hour or day needs.
Help
- AI assist in the steps drafts items and rules from a sentence; Check with AI in step 7 reviews your plan.
- The ⓘ buttons explain each part of the screen.
- Planning concepts in plain language explains the ideas with an example.
- Email: support@planningpowertools.com