Schedules

My schedule file hasn't imported

There are various reasons a schedule file might fail to upload

Empty rows

You might have rows at the end of your file that you think are empty but are not. This can also result in a file that is larger than expected.

To fix this problem you should cut and paste only the rows with data into a new spreadsheet and save it again as a CSV file.

I dont require an actual location with an address for my shifts

Sometimes it might be that your schedule does not require a physical location with an address, eg

• Staff are working from home
• Staff are working from the main office
• The shift location is not known
• They will be moving around as part of their shift

You do not have to add an actual address into this field in the schedule

You can add such things as the following to better represent the shift location:

• Working from home
• No location required
• Annual leave
• Etc

Staff added to my import schedule file have not been imported and booked onto the shifts

The most common cause for this is that the Staff column name in the schedule import file is incorrect and therefore the system cannot auto-match the column header.

The Staff column is not mandatory for importing schedules and therefore if it has not auto-matched you will not be warned as such when you click to import. Therefore a manual mapping would be required here.

To ensure an auto-match on the Staff column header it should be set to Staff for the import schedule page to auto-match the staff column for you.

See importing schedules for more details on importing schedules.

Staff cannot see the Open Shifts that have added to the schedule

These are the most common reasons staff might not be able to see their Open Shifts

• The last day of the days to complete added to the schedule has passed
• An incorrect start date has been added to the schedule and therefore the last day to the days to complete may have passed
• Occasionally we have seen it where the year added to the schedule was added in error as the previous year. This tends to happen around January when the current new year is required but the previous year is added in error.
• With the Staffarea > Open Shifts you can apply a search radius in the filters at the top of the page to show only shifts within this radius. Please ensure the radius is not restricting the viewing of the missing Open Shifts.

Changes to my schedule are not taking effect

What does this mean exactly?

For example, let's say you make changes such as these in the scheduler:

• Change shift times but staff cannot see any changes
• Add an expense allowance but staff still cannot claim expenses
• Change the rate but the new rate does not update

Why are my schedule updates not taking effect?

That would be if you have updated shift details via one of these methods on the shifts page:

• Changing shift details at the time of booking: Selecting the shifts and sending the booking confirmation email
• Changing booking details individually or in bulk: Change booking

Then any further changes to these shifts must also take place on the shifts page. Any changes via the shifts pages will leave the schedule intact and therefore when you unbook staff from a shift, with changes made via the shifts page, those changes will revert to the shift details in the original schedule.

How do I know if changes have been made via the shifts page?

If you attempt to make changes to shifts in the schedule that have been changed on via the shifts page you will see this dialogue:

On the shifts page, you will see these timestamps informing you that the shift details have been changed on the shifts page:

Why does the system behave this way?

We considered changes to shift details at the time of booking staff to be minor changes mostly related to that individual and so are linked to that individual, so upon removing staff from the shift the shift details will revert back.

How can I create a reserve list of staff for my job

There are three ways you can create such lists:

1. Create a Shortlist of reserve staff

• You can Shortlist staff to the relevant shifts they will be in reserve for on a job (see: Shortlisting staff),
• When shortlisting staff you will have the option to send an email to inform them they are being shortlisted.
  • This is where you can specify and inform them that they are being added to a reserve list for this job.
• When added to the shortlist you can add shift and shortlist notes to let you and everyone else know that this person is on reserve for this job
  
• When a reserve is required (ie, a shift is unbooked) the shifts the reserves are shortlisted for will appear in their list of shifts within the shortlist tab (as above)
• You can then click on the Book button to book them onto the available shift(s)

2. Add Reserve roles to your schedule

If your reserves have been budgeted for in order to be on standby:

• Create a role within the schedule called Reserve or Backup
  
  • Allocate these roles to the correct location and dates for the reserve list of staff
• Book the reserve staff onto those roles
• If the reserve is called upon to work then the shift rate can be changed in Awaiting Signoff before sending to Awaiting Payment to be paid
• To note
  • You can add reserves as 0 rate to the schedule if if they are not budgeted for, but you need them to be part of the schedule
  • Staff will see these reserve shifts in their list of jobs in the staffarea, so it is imperative that their booking confirmation email clearly explains that they are being added only as standby staff and will be called upon if required

3. Use the Overbook feature in the schedule

The Overbook feature follows the same pattern as item 2 above in that you are adding roles to the schedule, but the difference is that Overbook roles are partly invisible to the system in that they will not skew the actual live shift totals. To add shifts as Overbook:

• Go to the job schedule
• Tick the checkbox in the column labelled O/B that allows you to set these roles as overbook (This feature is not enabled by default so if you wish to try it please get in touch with support.)
  
• These Overbook roles will then be listed on the shifts page as follows
  
  • Note that the total shifts to be filled above is 4, whilst there are 6 shifts in the list for the date being viewed. 2 shifts are selected as Overbook and therefore are excluded from any totals
• When staff are booked in reserve roles they will see this booking in their Staffarea > My Jobs
  
• You can book the staff into live roles from the Overbook roles should they need to be called upon for an actual shift