Case study · Healthcare · Radiology
A radiology department does not simply run shifts. It runs tumour boards, clinical reports, CT and MRI pools, triage, daily responsibilities per body region, teaching and on-call cover. At Kantonsspital Winterthur that is 60 different duties, each one assigned to a named person on a named day, and each one depending on the others. That is where the rules start: rules, exceptions to the rules, and exceptions to the exceptions. Most software plans part of this, which is why the real plan still ends up in Excel, at best.
There is now a planning solution for exactly this: Planisy. At Kantonsspital Winterthur, the duties of the Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology physicians are all planned in it, with the department’s own rules and exceptions configured inside. They did not have to change the way they plan. The MTRA technicians and Nuclear Medicine follow next, on the strength of the experience gained so far.
This is not the problem your workforce system solves. That one records who is present and whether the working-time rules are respected. It does not build the plan, who covers which duty, on which machine, on which day.
In short
Every kind of duty in one plan: tumour boards, clinical reports, CT and MRI pools, triage, teaching and on-call cover
The department’s own rules, exceptions included, applied as the plan is built
Planisy adapted to the way they already plan, not the other way round
Each sub-team planner sees only their own resources
Live for the Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology physicians. MTRA and Nuclear Medicine follow next
One week, every doctor: day duties, background duties, absences and CT slots in a single view. Names blurred for publication.
Expected gains, currently being measured
Faster initial planning and replanning, faster access to information, better use of capacity and fewer scheduling conflicts. Early indications point to improvements of 80% or more in planning and replanning time. Measurement is under way, and confirmed figures will be published here once they are available.
The context
Everything in a radiology department has to be planned
Radiology at KSW is one team with three strong sub-specialities: Diagnostic Radiology, Interventional Radiology and Nuclear Medicine on the medical side, plus the MTRA technicians, each with their own shifts, reports and special duties.
And it is not one kind of work. Alongside the shifts sit tumour boards, clinical reports, CT and MRI pools, triage, daily responsibilities per body region, teaching, work locations and on-call cover. Most tools plan some of these. Almost none plan all of them.
That is where the rules come from. The duties depend on each other, and those dependencies produce a dense rulebook of rules, exceptions and exceptions to the exceptions, only partly written down. Add multiple work locations, several employer and contract types, and the constant churn of absences, emergencies and last-minute changes.
That density is exactly where standard scheduling tools stop. They can tell you who is available. They cannot tell you who does what.
60
different duties, each one assigned to a named person on a named day
12 tumour boards
11 clinical reports
3 CT pools, plus MRI, ultrasound, paediatric ultrasound, mammography and X-ray
6 daily responsibilities, plus triage
3 background on-call services, for Diagnostics, IR and Nuclear
Night, late, day and interventional shifts
Teaching, journal club and case presentations
Work locations, including an external clinic
Before
Four silos, a stack of Excel files, and a rulebook of exceptions, only partly written down
Before Planisy, planning at KSW Radiology looked like this.
The initial situation
Multiple Excel files and paper-based planning, side by side
Separate tools and processes for each doctor sub-department, IR, NUK and DR, and again for the MTRA technicians
A dense rulebook of rules, exceptions and exceptions to the exceptions, only partly documented
Machines frequently not planned at all
Weekly plans printed, shared, and out of date almost immediately
Every update communicated by e-mail
What that cost
Replanning consumed roughly one full-time person across the department
Changes handled manually, and late
Business rules so hard to adapt they were revisited about once a year
No real-time visibility on bottlenecks
Staff planning built against the roster, not against patient volume
Four planning silos: Interventional, Diagnostic, Nuclear Medicine and MTRA
What we heard in the department
“Three sub-specialities, three separate planning silos.”
“I learn about a change by e-mail, usually too late.”
“Replanning eats about 20% of my week.”
“When the person who knows a rule is away, the rule goes with them.”
“Printed weekly plans are outdated as soon as they are shared.”
“I want to improve our capacity management.”
The brief
What the department actually required
KSW Radiology did not go looking for a scheduling app. They set conditions. Any solution had to be able to:
Match the real process, exceptions included
Not a simplified version that fits the software. This is the condition everything else depends on.
Break the planning silos
People, machines and duties in one place.
Replan fast
When absences or emergencies hit, in minutes rather than hours.
Improve information sharing
Across doctors, technicians and administration.
Be adopted by everyone
Including the most reluctant users. This is what decides whether a rollout lands.
Be financially attractive
A department budget, not a hospital-wide programme.
Most tools stop at the first one.
The solution
One workspace, and the department’s own logic running inside it
Planisy now carries the planning of the Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology physicians in a single workspace: duties, shifts, reports, special assignments, absences, work locations and the machines they depend on. The MTRA technicians and Nuclear Medicine follow next, on the strength of the experience gained so far.
Their way of planning, built into the product
Radiology at KSW already had a way of planning that worked for them, shaped by their constraints and by how they think about the year. Rather than ask them to change it, we quickly adapted the Planisy workspace to match it. They call it the yearly plan, and it is where most of the planning now happens.
Three things make it work. The department’s rules are built into it, so the plan is checked as it is being made. Each sub-team planner sees only their own resources, so nobody filters past three other specialities to find their own. And the whole year is visible at once, which is how radiology capacity is actually decided.
Further dedicated views were built alongside it for specific needs of the department.
The yearly plan, where most of the planning happens. Names blurred for publication.
Business rules, implemented and automated
The department’s planning rules, including the exceptions and the exceptions to the exceptions, are captured in the system and applied automatically. Report duties, substitutions, fair weekly rotation, absence fallbacks, area filters: written once in the department’s own language, then executed. This is the part standard tools could not do.
The Automator, configured for KSW Radiology. The rules are written by the department, not by us.
Daily operations and mobility
Real-time views and team filters, mobile access, and an immediate answer to the everyday questions: who is on which duty, which report, which machine, and who is actually present. Each doctor carries their own schedule in their pocket, up to date the moment the plan changes.
This is also why the rollout landed. Planners kept the way of working they trusted, and gained the automation on top of it.
The impact
What changed
Where it stands today
Live: the physicians of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology
Their duties, shifts, reports, special assignments, absences and work locations, with the department’s rules applied as the plan is built
Next: the MTRA technicians
Next: Nuclear Medicine
Both follow on the strength of the experience gained so far. Measurement of actual improvements is under way
Observed in daily operation
Unified planning across the Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology physicians
Smoother duty allocation
Faster response to absences and emergencies
Doctors, technicians and machines aligned in one view
Capacity aligned with patient demand rather than the roster
“
When I first saw the Planisy demo, I knew we had found a potential answer to our most complex planning challenges. Radiology operations involve a density of business rules that standard tools simply cannot match, but Planisy adapted to our specific logic seamlessly.
It was essential to me that all sub-department heads and planners were fully satisfied before we committed; seeing them embrace the platform so quickly was the ultimate validation.
Prof. Roman Guggenberger
Head of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Clinic, Kantonsspital Winterthur
Why Planisy
Why the transition was possible
Every resource, in one view
People, machines, rooms, duties, tasks and materials, with their interdependencies visible, and selectable, assignable and adjustable interactively.
Conflicts surfaced in real time
Scheduling clashes are detected and resolved as they appear, with colour-based visual cues that keep everyone aligned.
Changed by the people who use it
Planners modify data, rules and settings themselves, in real time. No ticket, no release cycle. This is what turned “adapt the rules once a year” into “adapt the rules today”.
Wherever the work happens
Mobile-friendly and cross-device, so a re-plan triggered by an emergency does not have to wait for someone to reach a desk.
Boost your planning
Planisy starts from the way your department already plans, then takes it well beyond what a spreadsheet or a workforce system allows: every resource in one place, your rules and exceptions applied as the plan is built, conflicts visible the moment they appear, and a single current plan that everyone can see, wherever they are. In 30 minutes we can show you how this was built for KSW Radiology, and what the equivalent would look like for your department.
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