Nurse Rostering problems represent a subclass of scheduling problems that are hard to solve. Its
complexity is due to the many objectives and constraints that need to be fulfilled. In this study, we
utilize the hierarchical method for nurse rostering based on pre-processing of constraint. A set of
zero-cost patterns obtained by the simulation process were further granulated to make the search
space smaller. Feasible patterns were achieved and preceded for the scheduling process. Here again
the information were granulated to get a smaller search space. We believe that the approach has the
potential to be further extended to solve a wider range of nurse rostering problems.
