Usage of Constraint Programming for Nurse Rostering Problems : A literature study

Abstract: Constraint Programming can be used to solve many problems and this thesis is about getting an overview on the usage of Constraint Programming for Constraint Satisfaction Problems, both interactive and explorative. Many problems can be mathematically modeled as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem but this thesis will focus on the Nurse Rostering Problem since it is a well-studied area. The problem when creating a schedule for nurses is that it can easily be over-constrained and a solution could be hard to find. This thesis will investigate whether if Constraint Programming is a good technique for solving the Nurse Rostering Problem but also if user interaction is considered when solving the problem. The method for this is a literature study where a number of research articles has been reviewed and categorized, and resulted in 27 different kinds of sources that were used. The conclusion is that there exists better ways to solve these problems than the use of pure Constraint Programming. To answer the second part of the thesis, it seems like the solution for the problem is the main focus and therefore is user interaction something that is given less attention.