The Meaning of Time in Work Flow Analysis

Ken N. McKay, Professor
Department of Management Sciences
University of Waterloo

September 14, 2005
12:00 Noon - 1:00 PM
Davis Centre 1304, University of Waterloo

There is no video recording of this presentation.

Abstract

Health institutions operate day in, day out and superficially it can be assumed that one day is like any other. However, a surgery performed late at night or on the weekend might not be done exactly the same as if the surgery was done during the day on a Tuesday. Or, the mix of radiology requests might be skewed several days after a physician conducts a fracture clinic. These are two examples of how time alters operational work flows - what is to be done, how it might be done, how the process will actually work, and what the results might be. In these examples, time affects the operational feasibility of capacity planning, wait times, and work assignments. In this talk, a taxonomy for viewing the temporal dimension will be presented along with concepts for how to capture time in work flow documentation, and for how to include temporal sensitivity in decision support tools for planning and scheduling time sensitive work flow.

Biosketch
Professor Ken McKay has researched the dynamic and challenging characteristics of work flow planning and scheduling for the past twenty years. He is considered an expert in understanding the problems found in ‘messy’ planning situations which require human judgment, the study of human schedulers, the creation of adaptive heuristics to assist the human in these situations, and the design of context sensitive decision support tools for planning and scheduling. In his research, Dr. McKay uses an interdisciplinary approach to the problem incorporating cognitive science, operations management, and information systems. The majority of his research has been in extreme production situations in manufacturing where hybrid solutions are required, but he has also applied his research to other situations which are information rich and context sensitive. He has recently co-authored a survival guide for planners and schedulers, co-published with APICS.