Empeon's Advanced Scheduling feature utilizes Shift Schedule Patterns as a way to assign recurring work schedules to individual employees. Similar to in concept to Custom Schedule Patterns within the Time & Attendance system, Shift Schedule Patterns use the Shifts created within the Advanced Scheduling feature to define the schedule.
Shift Schedule Patterns are ideal for employees with consistent shift schedules because they designed to automatically assign the Schedule Pattern to the employee on a recurring basis. Once set up, the assigned Shifts appear in the Master Schedule and are visible in both the Employee and Daily View, built out days in advance.
Shift Schedule Patterns can be created for individual employees and configured to span a single week or multiple weeks. Before setting up a Shift Schedule Pattern for an employee, confirm the following:
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- Are the appropriate Shifts set up for the employee?
- Are the Shifts configured with the correct Position Groups and Filters for the employee?
- If there are Filters configured within the Shift, how are they being enforced within the Scheduling Rules? Are they being enforced or ignored?
Ensure that Shifts are set up and configured correctly for the employee being assigned the Shift Schedule Pattern, as failing to do so may result in missing or incorrect Shifts when assigning them to the Schedule Pattern.
Setting Up A Shift Pattern
To set up a Shift Schedule Pattern for an employee, navigate to the Attendance section of their Employee Profile.
Click the grey bar labeled "+ Add Schedule Pattern" or the blue plus icon in the top right of the Schedule Pattern section to create a new Schedule Pattern. Then, select Add Shift Pattern.
A new screen will appear with available Shifts listed along the top, and directly below, is a 7-day chart where the available Shifts are assigned.
For Schedule Patterns that span across multiple weeks, click the "+ Add Week" button to add another row of days to the chart. When adding a second week, the system will prompt for a First Week Start Date. This date indicates when the first week begins, enabling the system to recognize which week in the cycle it is at any given time. To assign Shifts, simply drop and drag the Shift to the correct day.
As a Shift Pattern is being built out, each Shift that has been assigned will have a three-dot menu where the following options can be found in order to further manage the Shift:
- Remove - This will remove the Shift if it happened to have been assigned accidentally.
- Partial Shift/Lunch - This overrides any assigned lunch duration within the Shift and applies a customized lunch duration for the employee.
- Add Margin - Adds a "margin" before and after the scheduled start and stop times, ensuring early or late punches are still associated with the Shift if they fall within the margin.
- Add Grace Period - Adds a "grace period" before and after the scheduled start and stop times, treating punches within this window as "on-time" without penalty for being early or late. Typically, Grace Periods match the Margin.
Click "Save" once the Shift Pattern has been built out appropriately. This will save the Shift Schedule Pattern on the Employee Profile and will automatically populate within the Master Schedule as well as within both the Employee and Daily View.
Maintaining Assigned Shift Patterns
After a Shift Schedule Pattern is set up, it will display on the Employee Profile accordingly. However, there may be instances where adjustments are needed. When maintaining Shift Schedule Patterns, there are options to Change or Edit.
- Change - Updates the Schedule Pattern with a new effective date, ending the previous record while keeping an historical record of it.
- Edit - Updates the record with the original effective date, making it appear as if the Shift Schedule has always been this way.
For more insight on what the difference is between changing and editing a record within the Employee Profile, please refer to Empeon's article Employee Profile: Change vs. Edit.
There are also options within the three-dot menu to change the Shift Pattern to a Company or Custom Schedule Pattern, as well as Delete it altogether.