Introduction The Advanced Scheduling program is an optional standalone program that works as a web site and can reside on the same server as TimeForce. This is used for the purpose of creating schedules for your company. Once the schedules are created, each supervisor or administrator can sync the schedules into TimeForce. You can only use the built in scheduling functions or the Advanced Scheduling product to create your schedules. All of the built in schedule and shift swap functionality is disabled if you are using this. This training guide doesn t cover creating your company inside of the system; however, this guide does cover all steps necessary to use the two systems together and explains the features. Enable Advanced Scheduling Integration in TimeForce In TimeForce, click on the Admin tab and click on Settings. Look for the Advanced Scheduling section. This section is used to enable the integration between the TimeForce and Advanced Scheduling systems. 1. Enable the TimeForce Advanced Scheduling by checking the Enabled checkbox. 2. Input the URL to get to the installed location of the Advanced Scheduling product. The URL should be very similar to what you see in the picture above with the exceptions of the QSSTRN1, this should be the name for your server, and the user name and password are setup by you during the install of the product. 3. Input the company username from your Advanced Scheduling Company. This account is used when information is being passed between TimeForce and Advanced Scheduling. 4. Input the company admin password from your Advanced Scheduling Company. 5. Click on the Test Connection button. 6. You should get the following message. If you get any error message, please contact Technical Support. 7. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the Setting page. 1 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Syncing Employees/Departments All of the employee data and department data from TimeForce will populate into the Advanced Scheduling system based on one of two different scenarios: Scenario 1: You have not imported or input any data other than policies into your TimeForce Company yet. If this matches your situation, import or input all of the department and employee data that you want at this point. As you enter the data, the TimeForce system will push the employees and departments into the Advanced Scheduling system. Please see the chapters on inputting employee data or using the import utility to import the department and employee data. Scenario 2: You are adding the Advanced Scheduling system to TimeForce and have been using TimeForce for a while now. If this matches your situation, you will need to update all of your departments and employees to have the TimeForce system push them into the Advanced Scheduling program. This must be done by hand employee by employee, department by department, to ensure that it is done correctly. Updating Departments 1. From the Admin Tab, go to Department Structure and click on any department in your department list. 2. Click on the Update button and this will automatically create the department in the Advanced Scheduling system. 3. Repeat for all departments listed. Updating Employees On the Employee Main page, you will see a new section called Advanced Scheduling Employee. This section is how you know if the employee has been copied over to the Advanced Scheduling program or not. 1. Once you have selected an employee, click on the Update Employee button. Once the employee has been pushed into the Advanced Scheduling program, you will see their name show up in the Advanced Scheduling Employee drop down list. 2 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Advanced Scheduling- Login Page This is the login page for the Advanced Scheduling website. Depending on whether you are hosting the site for yourself or are a SaaS customer, the login URL will be one of the following: Self-Install http://servername/scheduleanywhere/brandedlogin.aspx SaaS http://www.myadvancedscheduling.com As you can see, there are only two pieces of information required to log; a user name and a password. All usernames and password are synced between Advanced Scheduling and TimeForce provided the systems are configured to work with each other correctly. If a user has been created in the TimeForce system, they can use the same user info to log into the Advanced Scheduling program. Create Schedule A schedule in the Advanced Scheduling program is the actual container where the employees and their shifts exist. Each schedule is separate from all other schedules. This means that as you add shifts for one particular schedule, if you need those same shifts on another schedule, you must go to that schedule and create the shifts there as well. By default, each schedule is only accessible by an admin or the supervisor that created it. 1. Go to the Set Up menu and Select the Schedules link 2. Click on the Add New Schedule button 3 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
3. Enter the name of schedule 4. Specify number of days to display on the schedule in the Default View 5. Specify the 1 st day of the week in the Beginning Day of Week 6. Specify if you want the schedule to show the: Department Column: Displays the employee s department. Position Column: Displays the employee s position (job title). Total Hours Column: Displays the total hours scheduled for the employee under the current view. 7. Enter a Description for this schedule. 8. Select the Name Format you want the employees to be displayed with on the schedule: First Name Last Name Last Name, First Name 9. You can share this schedule with other supervisors so that you can control who has access to view and update the data. Click on the Share check box and select the supervisors that you wish to allow access to this schedule. Click Save when finished. Create Shift Now that a schedule exists, the next step is to create the shifts that are to be programmed for the employees. On the main page, you can always tell what schedule you are working on as the name is displayed on the right hand side in the Schedule drop down list. This is also how you navigate to different schedules. The schedule currently being displayed is the active schedule which means when you leave this page to create a shift, that shift is being created as part of the Training Department schedule. 4 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
1. Go to the Set Up menu and select Shifts 2. Click on the Add New Shift button 3. Enter the name of shift (this must be unique). 4. Enter the abbreviation of the shift. (This must be unique). 5. If the shift is for an absence, enable the checkbox for the This is a Time Off shift. 6. Enter the Start Time for the shift. 7. Enter the End Time for the shift. 8. If you want to include Break time in the shift calculation, enter the number of minutes for all breaks on this shift. 9. Select the Color that the shift will display in on the schedule. 10. Enter a Description for the shift. 11. Click on the Save button Repeat the steps above to create as many shifts as you need for the schedule. 5 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Add Employees to Schedule 1. Go to the Edit menu and select Employee 2. If you want to sort the employees, you can click on the up and down buttons to sort the employees by that particular field or you can use the Select Employee section at the top right side of the page. 3. Check the boxes next to the employee names that you want to insert into the schedule. Advanced Scheduling Note: An employee will only show on this list if they are not already on the schedule. Each employee can only exist in one area on the schedule at a time, but can appear on multiple schedules if necessary. 4. Input the row number that you want to insert the employee after in the Insert After Row setting. 5. Click on the Add button when finished. 6 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Add Shifts to Employee Now that you have employees on the schedule, you can now add shifts to the schedule. 1. Click on the cell for the day that you want to schedule. The cell will appear in gray. 2. Click on the Select Shift drop down menu; select the shift that you want to assign to that day. You will see the shift abbreviation appear in the cell as shown below. Note: If you hold down the control key [CTRL] on your keyboard, you can select more than one cell at a time to schedule with the same shift across multiple days and employees. Shift Tools and Options Once you have programmed your shifts on the schedule, there are several tools and advanced options available to you. The table below outlines all of the tools and options: This symbol is used to execute the cut command. This allows you to cut a shift from one cell. This symbol is used to execute the paste command. This allows you to paste into a cell that was cut or copied from a different cell. This symbol is used to execute the copy command. This command is used to execute the erase command. Note: All of the commands above also can be executed by going to the edit menu and clicking on the command you wish to execute. The Move Row command is used to move a row. You must select a row by clicking on the row number with the mouse prior to using this command. The Delete Row command is used to delete a row from the schedule. You must select a row by clicking on the row number with the mouse prior to using this command. Note: This note option is used to attach a note to the shift for a particular day. 7 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Date Option: The schedule has the following links to navigate from the current schedule view and go back or forward as you choose. Advanced Scheduling Previous/Next: These options go back or forward by whatever current view option you have set. The date field: Allows you to input the date that you want to view. Once you have input the date, use the [GO] button to move the schedule to that date. The calendar symbol is used to bring up a calendar that you can view to select the date for viewing. Explanation: In addition to assigning shifts, you can also assign explanations. Explanations can be used to tell an employee what he/she will be going or where he/she will be working on that shift. To add/edit, or delete Explanations Setup Company Maintenance Explanations-Click on Add New Explanation Filters In the Setup menu, you have the option to configure a filter. The filters can be setup to filter out employees on the schedule that don t match one of the parameters that the filter is looking for. A filter can be configured to seek the following: Employee Position Department Location Explanations Shift When applying a filter, you can select just one category (employee, position, department, location) but can select multiple values from that category (departments 1 and 2 for example). The filters can be used on the schedule and reports to only view employees that match the parameters for the filter. One common use for the filter is to view the schedule for the current day and apply a filter that only shows employees that are scheduled. 1. Click on the Add New Filter button 8 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
2. Input the Name of the filter Advanced Scheduling 3. Select the property from the Name list that the filter is to use for filtering employees 4. Select any secondary filters options from the Explanations and Shifts tabs that you also want the filter to use 5. Click on the Save button when finished Highlighters Just like a filter, a highlighter is setup to look for specific properties. The main purpose of the highlighter is to color code anything that has a property that you wish to draw attention to. 1. Click on the Add New Highlighter button 2. Input the Name of the filter and ensure the Active box is enabled and choose a Color 3. Select the property from the Name list that the filter is to use for Highlighter Criteria 4. Select any secondary filters options from the Explanations and Shifts tabs that you also want the filter to use 5. Click on the Save button when finished 9 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Divider Rows To add a divider row, click on Edit, and select Add Divider Row. These are used to make header rows within the schedule for sorting purposes. As you can see, you can color code the divider rows to make the schedule a little easier to navigate. Name: Add the name of the Divider Insert After Row: Where you would like the divider row inserted Color Combos: What colors you would like the divider to appear. Click Save 10 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Requirement Rows To add a Requirement Row, click on the Edit link, and then the Requirement Row. These are used to make rows within the schedule for staff level monitoring. As you can see, you can color code the requirement rows to make the schedule a little easier to navigate. The primary use for the requirement rows is to specify the number of employees for that day that match your required description. These requirement rows are used in conjunction with the Coverage Watches that are covered in the next section to ensure you have adequate staffing at all time. Name: Add the name of the Requirement Insert After Row: Where you would like the divider row inserted Color Combos: What colors you would like the divider to appear. Click Save To specify the staffing requirement for the day, click on the day in the requirement row and input the number of employees. 11 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Coverage Watch In the Set Up menu you have the option to configure a Coverage Watch. A coverage watch uses a requirement row and monitors the scheduled employees to see how many employees scheduled with a shift have the property that the coverage watch is monitoring. This option is traditionally used to monitor the number of employees scheduled, and uses the same configuration as a filter or highlighter. The coverage watch also can be configured to monitor hours, employees not scheduled, or those scheduled for time off by modifying the Watch option. In the requirement row section, the calculation you select is used to output a value based on the number of employees scheduled that match the requirements (C) and the requirement set on the schedule that is selected in the Requirement Row drop down (R). The options include: 12 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Reports The Advanced Scheduling system has some reports built into it that are useful for monitoring employees and posting schedules. All reports can be saved to excel. Not all options are available on all reports. 1. Select the report you want to view on the reports menu 2. Select the schedule you wish to run on the report 3. Select the start date for the report 4. Select the sort by option for the report 5. Specify if you want the report to show shift notes and/or explanations on the report 6. Click on the Print Preview button to preview the output of the report 7. Click on the Print button to print the report. Here is a breakdown of how to run a report and what reporting options are available: Daily Roster: Shows all employees scheduled for a specific day sorted by employee name, position, start time, or shift name Staff Schedule: Shows a view like the main schedule page that can be printed and posted on a wall for all employees to view. This report can be run for a single day, 7 days, 14 days, 28 days, or a custom value up to 42 days Employee Schedule: Shows each employee on their own page so that you can print all employees and give a hard copy of the schedule to each employee Personal Schedule: Shows a grid view of the next six weeks and what start time and stop time are assigned Daily Stats: Shows the number of employees working by hour and easily shows any gaps in coverage Staff Reports: These reports are used to view the following data about the employees in the Schedule Anywhere system: Estimated Cost: Used to calculate cost of employees scheduled hours. Seniority: Displays the scheduled employees by seniority based on hire date. Shows how long they have been employed in years, months, and days. Skills: Displays report of all employees with selected skill. Staff Profiles: Shows information about each selected employee. Can include skills, certification, training, safety, personal info, and schedule history. Total Hours: Displays a summary for total scheduled hours for each employee by shift. 13 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Optional Employee Data If you click on an employee name or go to the Set Up > Company Maintenance > Employee. The menu option, you can view the employee profiles that exist in the system. Some of the optional pieces of data that you can build into an employee profile include: Skills Certifications Training Safety Other For now these pieces of data must be entered by hand, but are useful for filters, highlighters, and coverage watches. 14 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource
Sync Schedules into TimeForce Once the employees have been scheduled, a supervisor or administrator must sync the schedules into TimeForce. Go to the Schedule Tab in TimeForce and select the Advanced Scheduling button. The TimeForce system will ask you what date to start syncing schedules and for how many days. When done configuring the system, click on the Schedule Employees button. If successful, you should get a message indicating how many schedules were imported. 15 Copyright Feb-2014 Infinisource