How do I enter sales thresholds?

You may want to enter sales thresholds so that you can better analyze the profitability of your business. Sales Categories offer the ability to monitor your business operations in a quantifiable way. By paying attention to the measurable aspects of your business, you can streamline your operations and prevent budgetary surprises from sneaking up on you, especially with labor costs and accurate scheduling practices. The way you decide to use Sales Categories is up to you, as there are many options to experiment with.

For example, Joe, a grocery store manager, might want to monitor the number of items processed per hour at his store’s registers. Like all managers, Joe does not want to have more employees on hand than are required for the amount of work to be done, so he wants to compare the number of items processed per hour to the number of cashiers working. Each cashier can process 100 items per hour. If the store is processing 1,000 items per hour, Joe needs 10 cashiers on hand to keep up with the amount of work to be done. But Joe only has 8 cashiers on hand! Should he call someone to come in to work? Well, if Joe has set his hourly Sales Threshold appropriately to require that his Number of Shifts be ten percent of his Item Count (1 employee is 10% of 1,000 items per hour), TimeForge will notify him that he is short-handed.

For example, by comparing Gross Sales to Labor Costs, you can have a benchmark to understand how well your business ran during a certain period of time. An optimal ratio of Gross Sales to Labor costs for your business might be 10, like Joe’s, or it might be 3, or 30, depending on the industry.

Go to the Sales list

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Navigate to the Sales tab and click on Sales Categories.

Select a Sales Type

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Click on the blue Edit button.

Enter Sales Ratio

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On the Sales Category Information page type in the sales ratio into the Desired Threshold box.
Remember to save.

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How do I filter the positions in a schedule?

To more easily view only specific parts of the schedule, you may want to filter the positions. Filtering the positions also helps you to organize the schedule view in a way that might make more sense to your business than viewing the schedule .

Go to Schedules

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Navigate to the Schedules tab, and then click on Schedules.

Select a Schedule

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Click on the schedule that you would like to view.

Go to Filter Shifts

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On the top of the Schedules page, go to the orange Filter Shifts tab and click on it.

Select a Position

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On the Filter Shifts pop up page, select a position then click on the Continue button.

View Shifts of a Certain Position

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The filter shifts will only show the shifts of the certain position you selected.

Go to Daily View

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You can also view the filter shifts by going to the Daily View page.

Go to Filter Shifts

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On the top of the Daily View page, go to the orange Filter Shifts tab and click on it.

Select a Position

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On the Filter Shifts pop up page, select a position then click on the Continue button.

View Shifts of Certain Positions

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The filter shifts will only show the shifts of the certain position you selected.

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How do I AutoSchedule a shift?

The AutoScheduler is an industry leading tool that TimeForge offers to its users at no additional cost. AutoScheduler lets you input the basic outline of a schedule, then you click “AutoSchedule” and presto! The perfect schedule is born. An AutoScheduled schedule is optimized to make both employees and managers happy by considering employee requests, skill levels, busy times, costs of different employees, and other criteria. The AutoScheduler creates the most profit-friendly and most employee friendly schedule possible. Below are instructions for AutoScheduling a shift.

Go to Schedules

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Navigate to the Schedules tab and click on Schedules.

Select a Schedule

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Click on the title of the schedule that you would like to view.

Go to Daily View

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At the top of the Schedules page, click on the Daily View link.

Click on the Lock Icon to AutoSchedule a Shift

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Click on the green “Lock” icon. The icon will unlock and become red. This means the shift is no longer locked. A locked shift can’t be AutoScheduled. Once you unlock that shift, you can now click on the AutoSchedule button. The AutoSchedule will automatically assign the best person for the job to that shift.

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Can employees share an email address?

No. Each employee email address can only be assigned to one account, and each account can only be assigned to one email address.

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How Do I Set the Sales Category While Building a Schedule?

TimeForge enables you to track and forecast sales. When scheduling, you are offered the option of viewing different sales categories, like gross sales or customer counts. Sales Categories enable you to track the financial impact of a schedule, which is beneficial to your business for many reasons. By tracking the financial impact of a schedule, future schedules can be more budget-optimized, you can avoid monetary surprises, and you can further analyze the operations of your business. You should have previously designated sales categories through the Sales tab before attempting to add a Sales Category to a schedule. If you need to do so, navigate to the Sales tab and add Categories before following the instructions below.

Go to Schedules list

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Navigate to the Schedules tab and click on Schedules.

Select a Schedule

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Click on the Add a New Schedule button.

Select a Sales Type

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On the Add or Edit A Schedule page, click on the drop box in the Sales Category section to set a sales category to be applied to this schedule.

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How do I add notes for a shift?

You may want to add a note to a particular shift if there are special circumstances or responsibilities associated with that shift. For example, you may want to add a note to a shift that says: “The supplier should arrive during your shift. Please be sure to give him the piece of paper on the desk” or “Gross sales need to be at 20,000 by the end of your shift. Push!”

Go to Schedules

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Navigate to the Schedules tab and click on Schedules.

Select a Schedule

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Click on the title of the schedule you would like to view.

Go to Daily View

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At the top of the schedules page, click on the Daily View link.

Go To Pencil Icon

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Click on the pencil icon next to the shift you want to add a note to.

Add Notes

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Type your note into the Notes field, and select whether this shift is an “Extra” shift (or not) using the Yes/No drop down menu. Click Close when you are finished.

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How do I delete a shift?

You may want to delete a shift if you’ve accidentally created one that you don’t need, or if you overstaffed a schedule. Below are instructions for deleting a shift.

Go to Schedules

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Navigate to the Schedules tab and click on Schedules.

Select a Schedule

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Click on the title of the schedule you would like to view.

Go to Daily View

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At the top of the Schedules page, click on the Daily View link.

Delete Shift

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Click on the red, circle-shaped “Delete” icon next to the shift you want to delete.

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How can I view shift confirmations?

Shift confirmations enable you to ensure that the employee who is scheduled for a particular shift has received notification and confirmed that they will work the scheduled shift. Confirmed shifts also let you better predict the cost of each shift. You may want to view shift confirmations to see which employees have confirmed their schedules shifts and which employees have not.

Go to the Schedules List

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Navigate to to the Schedules tab and click on Shift Confirmations.

Select the Dates

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You can view shifts from last year, last week, last month, or any applicable time period. Either manually enter the dates by typing them into the date fields, or click on the calendar icon next to the date fields and simply click on the preferred dates. You can also choose to view the Shift Confirmation Status: Both, Yes, or No.

View shift confirmations

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This shows the confirmed and the unconfirmed shifts, as well as the percentage of shifts both confirmed and unconfirmed.

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How do I view the daily labor cost?

Your daily labor cost is how much your employee wages cost for the day. Analyzing your daily labor costs is important for understanding your business operations, noticing any room for improvement, and preventing over- or under- staffing in the future.

There are two ways to view the daily labor cost, and both involve the Schedules page. Below are instructions for both methods of accessing your daily labor costs.

Go to the Schedules list

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Navigate to the Schedules tab and click on Schedules.

Select a Schedule

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Click on the title of the schedule you would like to view.

Method One: Cost Bubble

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At the top of the schedules page, click on the “Cost” bubble.

Method One: Cost Bubble View

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View the daily labor cost at the bottom of the schedule.

Method Two: Daily View

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At the top of the Schedules page, click on the Daily View link.

Method Two: Click on Daily Labor Cost

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Click on the blue Daily Labor Cost button to view the chart.

View Chart

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This chart shows the daily labor cost by positions.

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How do I sort shifts on the Daily View?

Shifts are sortable by Start Time, End Time, Employee, or Position. You can sort shifts by whichever method you choose. For example, you might choose to sort shifts by End Time if you want to see who gets off work at the same time, or you might sort by Position if you want to see which employees are working the same position.

Go to Schedules

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Navigate to the Schedules tab and click on Schedules.

Select a Schedule

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Select the schedule you would like to view by clicking on its title.

Go to Daily View

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At the top of the schedules page, click on the Daily View link.

Sort Shifts by Using the Tabs Above the Shifts

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To sort shifts, click on the title link (Start Time, End Time, Employee, and Position) above the schedule. To change the order (ascending/descending), click the grey arrows next to the selected title.

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heartWhat some of our clients have to say ...

We are one year into it now, well past being enamored with the newness. We are married to TimeForge. It's as essential to us now as any of our management tools today, and we very happy about that.- Steve @ Hermosa Cyclery
We really like the program so far. I know that it is geared towards restaurants, but we are a real estate company and we love it because it is inexpensive and it is so easy to use.- Nicole @ Exit Premier Realty
The Timeforge scheduling system has not only increased our efficiency tremendously; decreased the errors in what is normally an error prone environment; it has also saved us ten times what it costs us each month.- Michael @ Tiara Cafe
I would highly recommend TimeForge to anyone making work schedules. ... What used to take 1-2 hours, now takes 15 minutes. The reports section is comprehensive and useful.- Lawrence Payne @ Mid Pacific Country Club
I've been really pleased with this latest version of TimeForge. I'm really getting familiar with this program and its become a great time saver! Keep up the good work!- Loren @ Fresh Produce
Before using TimeForge, creating a schedule took 2 hours. With TimeForge, it takes less than 10 minutes.- Gail @ Kerr Drug

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