Schedule Preferences

The Schedule Preferences button opens a screen to add, edit or view the activities, profiles, time frames, and/or days of the week the employee prefers to work.

The information on this screen is used when the system is validating employee preferences during automatic scheduling, when edit validation of manually entered schedules, and/or with the Scheduling Assistant Call In wizard. However, these preferences are only validated if the Preferences rule is activated in the selection style.

An employee can have multiple preference records. To view and/or edit the details of an existing record, click on the card arrow to the right of the record.

Note:  

If fields are left blank when setting up the preferences; that blank field works like a "wildcard" so any value will match. For example, if the employee sets up a preference with the RN position but leaves the activity code field blank; that means the preference is to work the RN position but any activity code is acceptable.

The following topics are available in this chapter

Set up Employee Schedule Preferences

Set up Employee Schedule Preferences

To set up employee schedule preferences, complete the following steps.

  1. Search for and open the employee record of the employee to set up.

  2. From the Employee Sections in the left pane, select the Schedule Preferences option.

  3. Click the Add button to open the setup screen.

  4. Enter the Effective Date of when these preferences are effective.

  5. Enter an Expiration Date if these preferences will expire on a certain date. To leave these effective indefinitely, do not enter a value in this field.

  6. If using Priority values, enter a number in this field.

    Note:  

    The system will only populate preferences in this record if this Priority value matches the Priority set up on the selection style.

  7. Enter a Start Time for the preferred working time frame. This setting is used with the Hour Value to indicate the preferred working time frame. For example, if the Start time is set to 700 and the Hour Value is set to 12.5, the system can populate any activity code that starts on or after 0700 and ends on or before 19:30 (which is 12.5 hours after the start time).

  8. In the Shift Length (Hours) field, enter the length of schedule the employee would like to work, for example, 8-hour or 12-hour. This can be used in conjunction with the Start Time and Hour Value information.

  9. In the Position Code field, enter the position code linked to profiles that the employee prefers to be assigned.

  10. In the Activity Code field, enter the activity code the employee would like to be scheduled.

  11. In the Sunday through Saturday fields, set each day of the week to Yes to indicate the types of schedules the employee prefers to work on the selected days of the week. Different scheduling criteria can be set up for different days of the week. For example, the employee may want to work only 8-hour schedules on Saturday and Sunday but is willing to work any length shift the other days of the week.

  12. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save the record.

  13. To create additional preferences, click on the Add button in the left pane and complete steps 5-13 for each preference record.

Activity Code

The activity code the employee would like to work with this preference record.

Note:  

The Position field must be filled in first, so that the system can display activity codes associated with the same labor distribution as the position.

Effective Date

The date this schedule preference record becomes effective.

Expiration Date

The date this schedule preference record is no longer effective, if applicable.

Hour Value

The number of hours in the range of time the employee prefers to work, beginning with the entered Start Time. For example, a Start Time of 07:00 with Hour Value of 12.5 indicates that the employee is willing to work any shift that starts on or after 07:00, as long as it ends on or before 19:30.

Note:  

Be sure to include the lunch length when calculating the Hours Value. If the user wants to work up to a 12-hour shift with a 1/2 hour lunch, the ending time is 12.5 hours after the start time, and so 12.5 should be entered in the Hour Value field.

Position Code

The position code the employee wants to work in this preference record. The options available in the Look Up Values are previously set up in the employee's Labor Distribution section.

Priority

Numeric value that can be matched when using a selection style that specifies this same value. For example, if the selection style requires a schedule preference with a priority of 1, only employee preferences that have a value of 1 in this field are considered a match.

Shift Length (Hours)

The length of the work shift (in whole and decimal hours) the employee prefers to work. This value can be combined with the Start Time and Hour Value. For example, a Start Time of 07:00 with Hour Value of 12.5 and a Length of 8 indicates that the employee is willing to work any 8-hour shift that starts on or after 07:00, as long as it ends on or before 19:30.

Note:  

The length value does not include lunch length.

Start Time

The starting time of the range of time in which the employee prefers to work. This is used in conjunction with the Hour Value. For example, a Start Time of 07:00 with Hour Value of 12.5 indicates that the employee is willing to work any shift that starts on or after 07:00, as long as it ends on or before 19:30.

Sunday - Saturday

Indicates which days of the week the employee prefers to work (Yes/No). Set the value to Yes for each day of the week to include in this preference record.

Action Buttons

The following Action buttons may be available in the left pane for adding or deleting related records:

Add

The Add button opens a screen where authorized users can create a new record.

Delete Selected

The Delete button is used to remove one or more records from a screen.