IMO, real-time fully-automated scheduler-free trip trading is the only way to solve this. I know that most airlines have been doing this for years now, some with much more sophisticated platforms than others. Most of these software products allow pilots to swap/drop/add with only a mouse on a single window display, compared to the multiple windows and manual keyboard entries we now need to navigate through for every single request. I have had the pleasure of using the more sophisticated systems. You find out, within 5 seconds, whether your swap/drop/add was approved or denied. And then, you can move along with your day, instead of inputing another 30 requests and waiting for hours to find out the result (as TonyC noted, this will obviously overwhelm the server). Those other systems I was able to use also had the negotiated transparency for Rday drop/move "algorithms". With that one is able to go in, look at the calendar, and figure out BEFORE making an input, whether dropping/moving an Rday is even a possibility. All of this was done completely automated. Zero scheduler input.

We could have a dedicated server, from a company whose sole focus is pilot bidding software development, take care of all our swap/drop/add requests. Then our incessant pinging of the server, which is independent from the server used for business, would have no negative effect on company resources. The negative side to this solution would be the outsourcing of FedEx jobs, never a good path to follow for the long-term. I just don't see our IT department being able to "patch-up" VIPS to make it user friendly and fully-automated. We have to start from scratch, or better yet, hire a company which is already doing this very well (FLiCA). Or, appDude and FlyByKnight and BidX-man, can revamp the system to something that works well for everyone .

In any event, let's beware of the real possibility of "here is the fully-automated trip-trading software, however it only works with PBS" (sorry I brought that up).