Specific Workplace Distributors

Topic: Distributors
Paths: configs/2021/distributors/specific_workplace_hospitals_distributor.yaml, specific_workplace_care_homes_distributor.yaml, specific_workplace_classrooms_distributor.yaml

Overview

These distributors route sector-coded workers directly to specific venue types rather than to generic companies. They run before company_distributor so that, for example, health-sector workers are assigned to a hospital or care home before the company distributor processes the remaining workforce.

All three share an identical schema. The only meaningful differences are the target venue_type, the work_sector filter value, and the capacity column (or fixed capacity). Within the health sector (Q), the execution order ensures hospitals are filled first; unassigned Q workers then fall through to care homes.

Keys

Key	Description
`distributor_name`	Arbitrary label used in logs
`venue_type`	Venue type to assign workers to
`activity_map_key`	Key written to `person.activity_map`; `"primary_activity"` for all three
`subset_key`	Subset within the venue; `"worker"` for all three
`eligibility`	Age, sector, and residence filters
`venue_selection`	Geo-unit matching using workplace location
`allocation`	Strategy and capacity column
`settings`	Execution priority and logging
`fallback`	Behaviour when no eligible venue found

`eligibility`

eligibility:
  require_unassigned: true
  global_filters:
    - attribute: "age"
      type: "numerical"
      min: 18
      max: 64
    - attribute: "properties.workplace_sgu"
      type: "categorical"
    - attribute: "properties.work_sector"
      type: "categorical"
      values: ["Q"]           # "Q" for health; "P" for education
    - attribute: "residence.type"
      type: "categorical"
      values: ["household"]
  attributes:
    - name: "properties.work_sector"
      type: "categorical"
      matching_rules:
        "Q": ["Q"]
      case_sensitive: false

require_unassigned: true ensures workers already placed (e.g. by the hospital distributor before the care home distributor) are skipped. The properties.workplace_sgu filter requires that a workplace geography unit has already been assigned to the agent — agents without this attribute are excluded. residence.type: ["household"] excludes agents living in communal residences from workplace allocation.

The attributes block re-checks work_sector against the venue's own data as a second-pass constraint; in practice the global_filters already enforce sector exclusivity.

`venue_selection`

venue_selection:
  consider_by: "geo_unit"
  venue_geo_level: "LGU"
  person_location_attribute: "properties.workplace_sgu"
  batch_geo_level: "SGU"
  filter_by_geography: true
  respect_capacity: true

consider_by: "geo_unit" restricts candidates to venues within the same geo unit as the worker's assigned workplace area. person_location_attribute: "properties.workplace_sgu" uses the workplace geography rather than the agent's home geography — workers are matched to venues near where they work, not where they live. The engine traverses the geography hierarchy from the SGU workplace code up to venue_geo_level when resolving venue candidates.

`allocation`

# Hospitals — capacity from CSV column
allocation:
  strategy: "random"
  capacity_column: "estimated_staff"
  capacity_handling:
    if_missing: "skip"
    if_zero: "skip"
  track_capacity: true
  when_full: "exclude"
  batch_by: "geo_unit"

# Classrooms — fixed capacity of 1 teacher per room
allocation:
  strategy: "random"
  fixed_capacity: 1
  track_capacity: true
  when_full: "exclude"
  batch_by: "geo_unit"

strategy: "random" picks uniformly from eligible venues in the worker's geo unit. capacity_column names the CSV column holding venue capacity; capacity_handling.if_missing: "skip" excludes venues that lack a capacity value. The classroom distributor uses fixed_capacity: 1 instead, enforcing exactly one teacher per classroom regardless of any CSV data.

Key differences by config

Config	`venue_type`	`work_sector`	Capacity source	`settings.priority`
`specific_workplace_hospitals_distributor`	`hospital`	`Q`	`estimated_staff` column	4
`specific_workplace_care_homes_distributor`	`care_home`	`Q`	`number_staff` column	3
`specific_workplace_classrooms_distributor`	`classroom`	`P`	`fixed_capacity: 1`	3

The hospital distributor runs at priority 4 (before care homes at 3), so Q-sector workers are offered hospital placements first; those not assigned then become eligible for care home allocation. Both run before company_distributor (priority 5), which handles all remaining unassigned workers.