"Robot Scheduler" from "Digital Design" selects the optimal time for meetings at SIBUR

2024: Development of a robot planner

Digital Design has developed a Robot Scheduler solution for SIBUR, which is a virtual assistant for selecting the optimal time for meetings in Microsoft Outlook calendars. It has become easier for the employees of the leading polymer and rubber company to schedule meetings with a large number of participants. The search time for a suitable interval was reduced from tens to several minutes. Digital Design announced this on April 11, 2024.

The implementation of the solution in SIBUR illustrates the general course of the company on digitalization and implementation of improvements in all processes, including small and routine ones. Previously, meeting organizers often faced a problem when there is no single free slot in the calendars of colleagues and partners for the appointment, and because of this, they searched for intervals suitable for most mandatory participants, offered options to users with closed calendars, clarified the possibility of freeing up the occupied range from colleagues and partners with other meetings at the required time. It was necessary to analyze the information received and choose the optimal slot in the calendars of those invited, taking into account their positions and the importance of competing meetings.

Now the organizers just need to indicate the names of the participants, the approximate date and duration of the planned meeting, and the virtual assistant takes over the laborious process of choosing the best time. The "robot scheduler" analyzes the calendars of participants, including closed ones, and gives a list of options, ranked by priority, with detailed information about the type of conflict, if any. The solution automatically evaluates the timeslots for meetings according to the criteria established in the company in terms of the availability of key employees and partners, the obligatory presence of participants at other external and internal meetings, the duration of breaks at the end of the event. The organizer just needs to choose the best offer and send an invitation to the meeting.

The "robot planner" allowed our employees to focus more on meaningful preparation for the meeting and spend less time on routine activities. 1,000 employees of the company already use a virtual assistant to select the optimal meeting time, and we plan to increase this number in the near future, said Elena Kuzmina, Director, Administrative Support of Managers, SIBUR LLC.