Difference between revisions of "Scheduling"

Latest revision as of 09:28, 5 April 2012

Overview

General there are two ways to go about setting up a schedule. The first would be for schedules that are fairly static. Or in other words, schedules that don't change much. The other would be for schedules that change dramatically from week to week or pay period to pay period.

Managing Shifts From Preferences

For either type of schedule, either those that change fairly regularly to those that don't, you must set-up Shifts. In this section, we'll explore how to manage shifts from the Preferences Area.

Creating a Shift

To create a shift, you must be signed into your TimeMD.com account as a manager. See "Logging In" for more information. Once logged in, proceed to "Preferences -> Shifts". NOTE: You must have the Scheduler module activated in order to see this area.

How To

1. Click the "Create New Shift" button found in the center of the page. Or you can click the "Create New Shift" button found in the sub-nav at the top of the page.
2. Fill out the input form based on the parameters you need. An explanation of each field can be found below:
   1. Shift Name: A descriptive name of your shift.
   2. Start Date: The calendar date you wish your shift to start appearing on your work calendar. As early a date as possible is recommended.
   3. Start Time: The start time of your shift in 12-hour format. Ex: 8:00 am.
   4. End Time: The end time of your shift in 12-hour format. Ex: 5:00 pm.
   5. Est. Total Unpaid Breaks: Whether or not a break should occur during the shift. This helps in estimating the amount of actual work time that will occur during the shift. The first field asks for the number of breaks that should occur. The second field asks how long each of those breaks should be. NOTE: This has no effect to actual break times. It is only used to estimate the total work time of the shift.
   6. Subject: You may leave a message to the employee working the shift. Use this field to leave a subject.
   7. Message: You may leave a message to the employee working the shift. Use this field to leave the actual message.
   8. Delivery Area: Specify when you want your message delivered.
   9. Would you like your shift to repeat?: You can specify your shift to repeat through various types of repeating patterns.
   10. End Repeating: If you wish your shift to stop repeating at some point, you may specify the date using these fields. If you wish your shift to repeat indefinitely then leave these fields blank.
   11. Repeat Pattern: Here you may specify the repeating pattern for your shift. You have the following three choices to select from:
       1. Daily: Repeat on a daily based pattern. Ex: 3 days on 2 days off.
       2. Weekly: Repeat on a weekly based pattern. Ex: Repeat every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
       3. Monthly: Repeat on a monthly based pattern. Ex: Repeat on the 10th of each month or you can repeat on the first Monday every other month.
3. Save the form by clicking the "Submit Form" button.

Editing a Shift

To edit a shift, you must first be signed in as a manager with the appropriate permissions to do so. Note that any changes made to shifts already being used on a schedule will cause immediate effects to that schedule. For example, changing the start and/or end times will also change the start and/or end times of that shift on the schedule.

1. Proceed to "Preferences -> Shifts"
2. Identify the shift in question from the list of shifts found on this page.
3. Click the "edit" button found on the far right side of the data grid. It is located directly to the left of the "associated" button.
4. Fil out the necessary changes and save the form.

Deleting a Shift

To delete a shift, you must be signed in as a Manager.

1. Proceed to "Preferences -> Shifts"
2. Identify the shift in question from the list of shifts in the data grid.
3. Click the red "X" located at the far right of the shift listing.

• Note that if employees are assigned to the shift, they will no longer appear on the schedules using the shift in question.

Associating Shifts to Employees

Now that you have a few shifts entered into the system, it's time to tell the system who should be working those shifts.

Associating From Shifts Page

To associate a shift to employees from the shift listing page:

1. Proceed to "Preferences -> Shifts".
2. Identify the shift in question from the list of shifts in the data grid.
3. Click the "associated" button found on the right side of the page.
4. Click the "Create New Association" button found towards the top of the listings.
5. Select the Personnel and Department association from the list of options and save the form.
6. Once you've saved the form, you'll be taken back to the list of current associations for that shift. Delete any incorrect associations by clicking on the red "X" found on the far right side of each association.

Associating From Employees Page

To associate a shift to an employee from the employee management area:

1. Proceed to "Preferences -> Personnel/Employees"
2. Identify the employee in question from your list of employees.
3. Click the "associations" button located on the same line as the employee in question.
4. Identify which department association you wish to assign a shift too.
5. Click the "edit association" button found on the right hand side. Alternately you can click the "click to add" link found next to the warning message, "no shifts have been schedule".
6. Beneath the department associations form you'll find the shift associations form. Check the shifts you wish to associate to the employee.
7. Click the "Update Shift Associations" button.

Managing Shifts From the Scheduler

Some users find managing shifts and shift associations is much easier from the Scheduler itself. This typically occurs when your schedule varies from week to week or pay period to pay period. This section will explore how to make shift edits from the Scheduler.

Viewing Shifts in a Schedule

There are two ways to view how shifts are displayed in a schedule. You can either view by accessing the "Scheduler" link in the main navigation or by running a "Scheduler Report". The later is found by going to "Reports -> Scheduler Report" from the main navigation. For demo purposes, we'll be focusing on accessing a schedule from the "Scheduler" link found in the main navigation.

By default, the schedule will show the current pay period however no departments will be selected. To change the date range or determine which departments to load into the schedule, use the fields located at the top of the schedule view. After making your selection, click the "Go" button. Your schedule view will then load based on the parameters selected.