12.11.20 – Reserve PBS Bidding

Friday, December 11, 2020

Reserve PBS Bidding

For bidding Reserve off days, you start by clicking on the Reserve Tab on the navigation bar. The large calendar on the left side will show the number of Reserves which are needed each day according to planning’s calculation.

If you accidentally bid for Reserve days off while under any other tab, your Reserve days off bid will not be processed.

How does PBS process your bid?

When PBS reaches your seniority, before even processing your bid, it creates all legal, possible solutions (Reserve patterns) that you could be awarded. The system considers all planned absences, carry-over days, the last 6 days from the previous month, and all coverage needed days (CN) at your seniority.

Prioritize which days off are most important to you and bid those days off in the first few layers. All days off in a single layer are considered equal so it is best to start small and with the most important first. If you bid all 12 days off in the first layer, they will all be considered of equal value. It is not recommended to bid all 12 days off in a layer.

During the award process, PBS will continue awarding the days off you can hold layer by layer, as long as the combination makes a legal pattern. At each layer, the system eliminates the possible solutions that don’t meet the criteria of the award that is being built until finally arriving at a legal solution.

Note: All days off requested and awarded are cumulative. If you bid for days off in a layer there is no need to continue to bid for the same days off in subsequent layers.

PBS continues this process layer by layer until a complete reserve pattern can be awarded.

The important thing to remember is to start out with those days that are the most important to you.

Make use of those 7 layers to stagger your requests in order of importance. Realize, that your requests can set a pattern.

Use the calendar in PBS and count out the days in-between and around your days off to not block your requests by asking for infeasible patterns. Also, it is important to remember the system is awarding based on legal flex day placement. And as always, bid to your seniority and make use of available resources.

When bidding for reserve, please remember that you must bid for a minimum of two (2) consecutive days off, up to a maximum of eight (8) consecutive days off. You must be available for a minimum of three (3) consecutive days, up to a maximum of six (6) consecutive days. Keep in mind that you are allowed to bid one or two days on duty at the end of the bid month, making an allowable reserve pattern across two bid months.

Additional Reserve Resources

• Reserve Manual
• Reserve Reminders
• Reserve PBS Bidding Logic Changes
• Reserve Bubble Bidders
• ROTA Troubleshooting Guide
• ROTD Troubleshooting Guide