How do I schedule by position?

TimeForge provides you with the ability to build and view schedules using whichever method best suits the operations of your business – by positions, employees, times, hours, or costs. Below are instructions for building or viewing an existing schedule by position.

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.

View Schedule by Position

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At the top of the Schedules page, click on the Position bubble. You will now be able to view the schedules by positions.

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How do I send a Time Forge message?

TimeForge Messaging offers your business the ability to send and receive messages from staff and managers. You might want to send a message if you want to share something important that happened during your shift, if you have a question about something, if you need to record notification about something, to double check someone’s availability for a schedule, or for any other communication you might need to share.

Go to Messages

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Navigate to the Schedules tab and click on Messages.

Send a Message

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Click on Send a Message.

Select Staff Members then Send a Message

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Managers can send messages to all staff members, to the scheduled staff, and non-scheduled staff. You can also post a message in the Staff Log.

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How do I send a message and post it in the Staff Log?

The Staff Log enables your business to record important information or to send a message to the whole staff at once. You might send a message to the staff describing the feedback you just received from a customer about the exemplary quality of service they received at your location, or a message detailing the need to sell more of a particular product this week. You might also find that the Staff Log’s message capability helps your business notify employees of policy changes.

Go To Messages

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Navigate to the Schedules tab and click on Messages.

Send a Message

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Click on Send a Message.

Post Message to Staff Log

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Click on the Post this Message in the Staff Log check box.
Edit the staff log settings, and then click the Send a Message button.

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How do I Post a Schedule?

TimeForge schedules are private, and kept hidden from staff members, until a manager or qualified supervisor, chooses to post the schedule.

Once posted, the schedule is visible to all staff members through the TimeForge employee portal, and TimeForge will begin sending text messages and email alerts to staff members who want to receive schedule notifications. Also, once a schedule is posted, to minimize staff confusion, the schedule cannot be “un-posted”.

Additionally, if you are using TimeForge Attendance, the posted schedules can be enforced to ensure that staff are not riding the clock, buddy punching, or sweet-hearting.

Navigate to the Schedules Tab

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To post a schedule, you need to navigate to the Schedules tab. Then click on the Schedules sub-tab to see the list of schedules.

Build a Schedule, if Necessary

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If needed, create a new schedule and choose the start and the end date of the schedule. Click the Add This Schedule button.

Alternatively, you can edit an existing schedule.

Post the Schedule

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After editing the schedule, click on Post Schedule Changes.

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How Do I Prevent Overstaffing?

Scheduling staff is a complicated process, and cross-training staff members while scheduling multiple departments, can make scheduling a nightmare. When working with multiple departments, it is sometimes possible to short staff a single department by over staffing another department. Over staffing one department will create a cascade of problems, from upset staff members to increased overtime.

TimeForge’s short staffing rules allow administrators and management to create daily templates and Normal Week templates, which will be used as a base-level schedule for other schedules and departments. TimeForge will warn management if they exceed the departments, or schedule staff who are listed to work on another schedule or template in an overlapping time period.

Create or Edit a Staffing Template

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Start setting up short staffing alerts by creating a new template, or editing an existing staffing template.

Edit the Template Properties

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Edit the Properties for the staff template.

Set the Day of Week for the Template

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Specify the day of the week for the schedule template, so TimeForge knows which day of the week you normally use the template.

Create a Weekly Staffing Template

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Specify the Normal Weekly Template

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After setting up 1 or more templates, create a Weekly Template which includes all of your necessary templates.

In the graphic above, the Weekly Template uses a template on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Other days of the week did not have a template.

To ensure that TimeForge uses the Weekly Template for short staffing alerts, choose the Normal Week check box.

If you are not using departments, you are done at this point.

Build Another Template, for a Different Department

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Short staffing alerts are triggered when Normal Week templates indicate that there may be a shortage in staff members for a particular department or location, by comparing the departments to the schedules and Normal Week templates of the other departments.

To see the template warnings for short staffing, build templates for the other departments, and make sure to set the day of week.

Create Another Weekly Template for the Second Department

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Make sure to set up another weekly template for this department, and set it to be a Normal Week.

Set Up the Shifts in each Template

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Add shifts to your templates. If the shifts that are added will cause your business to be short staffed, TimeForge will warn you. Additionally, if staff members are placed in conflicting templates or departments, TimeForge will warn you.

Detected Shortages will Trigger Warnings

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A shortage warning will appear if short staffing is likely to occur based on what is normally worked in a work week.

Schedule Staff Shortages Show Alerts Too…

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In addition to Template warnings, TimeForge’s short staffing alerts will notify management when the schedule exceeds or overlaps with Normal Week templates for other departments.

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How do I Schedule Breaks for Staff?

The TimeForge Breaks module inside of TimeForge Scheduling is a powerful and flexible management system for scheduling breaks and meal periods for staff members. TimeForge Breaks are controlled using the Break Rules, and translate into scheduled breaks that can be controlled and monitored using TimeForge Attendance, or with a worksheet and signatures by staff members.

Navigate to the Schedules Tab

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If you are using TimeForge Scheduling, you can add new schedules and breaks for staff members. To start, navigate to the Schedules tab.

Edit Your Schedule

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Pick a schedule that you would like to edit. Or you can add a new schedule to begin adding shifts and breaks for your staff.

Choose a Shift

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Then pick an employee, and then a shift. if there is not a shift available already, you may add a new shift.

Navigate to the Breaks Tab

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At the top of the add-edit shift screen, there is a Shift tab and a Breaks tab. Choose the Breaks tab to display scheduled breaks, or schedule new breaks.

Please Note: If you do not see the Breaks tab, there are no configured Break Rules. TimeForge requires that Break Rules be configured before individual breaks can be laid out for shifts. Setting up Break Rules will allow the TimeForge software to automatically schedule and stagger breaks for staff members.

Add Breaks for the Shift

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To schedule breaks for the shift, click on Add More Breaks.

Set Break Parameters

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Configure the time, the duration, and the type of break that you want for this shift. When you are finished adding breaks for this shift, click on the Shift tab and click on Save to save the shift.

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How Do I Create Daily Labor Templates By Employee?

Schedule Templates are 24-hour periods of time that reflect a single day of a schedule. In some industries, these are called “Master Schedules“, or “Master Work Schedules“.

You can use templates to organize your staffing requirements in advance of making the actual schedule, allowing you to easily and quickly build a staff schedule. Templates can be created for any number of scenarios, and there are no limits on the number of templates in your account.

Templates allow you to rapidly build a schedule by spending some time in advance, thinking about your labor requirements.

In this lesson, we will build schedule templates for two staff members, and then use these templates to build a schedule.

Navigate to the Schedules Tab

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To manage templates, navigate to the Schedules tab, and then the Templates sub-tab, where you will see a list of templates for your location and/or departments.

Edit Schedule Templates

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Choose the Edit Schedule Templates link.

Add a New Schedule Template

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You can add a new template by clicking on the “Add a New Schedule Template” button, and then enter a name or description, and click “Save” to continue.

Add Shifts to the Daily Template

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Editing a template is similar to working with a staff schedule in the TimeForge Daily View.

Select the start time, end time, and position for each shift, and then choose the employee you would like to have work the shift. Just like the schedule Daily View, templates can be built by position or by employee, based on your business needs.

You can also build Templates using Work Periods (commonly called Day Parts), if you would like, by clicking on the Work Period icon, next to the start time.

Employee Staffing with Schedule Templates

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Shifts on a template can be assigned to an employee, to the TimeForge AutoScheduler, or as a Bid or Open shift.

- AutoSchedule shifts allow the TimeForge AutoScheduler to choose the best fitting staff member, and will replace the AutoSchedule employee with the best fitting staff member when building the schedule.
- Open shifts will allow a manager to specify the assigned employee when building the schedule.
- Bid shifts can be requested by multiple employees, and the manager can choose the best staff member for the job.

There are several options that can be chosen for each shift by clicking on the Properties link, the small pencil, next to the shift. Options include whether the staff member is an Extra or is On Call, the Skill Level necessary to work the shift, and the number of staff members required for the shift.

In this case, we have built a very simple template with a single shift.

We will Save this template, and create a new template for another staff member.

Build a Schedule Template for Another Staff Member

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Just like the previous template, we are creating a template with a single shift for another staff member.

Save this template, and then go build an actual schedule.

Navigate to the Schedules Page

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Go to the Schedules page and build a schedule.

Create a New Schedule

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Click on “Add A New Schedule“.

Choose Dates for the Schedule

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Choose the date range for the Schedule, and name the schedule to continue.

Choose One or More Schedule Templates

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When building your schedule, you can choose one or more schedule templates for each day.

In this case, we have chosen to schedule Anthony and Daniel on Sunday, using the templates we built previously.

When we are ready to have TimeForge build the schedule for us, simply click on Assign Employees. TimeForge will then copy the shifts inside of your templates to the schedule, and will assign staff members to work if necessary.

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How do I use Schedule Templates to Create a Work Schedule?

After creating several daily templates, or weekly templates, you can begin making a schedule using the templates.

Templates allow you to rapidly build a schedule, if you will simply spend some time in advance thinking about your labor needs.

Use Schedule Templates to quickly and easily manage your workforce, and reduce the amount of time that you must spend changing the schedule on a weekly basis.

Add a Labor Schedule

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Navigate to the Schedule tab, then the Schedule sub-tab, and create a new schedule. Choose an applicable start and end date, name your schedule, and if necessary, choose other options such as the department or sales type.

Choose Weekly Templates and Daily Templates

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If you have templates set up at your location or store, you will see a screen prompting for you to use templates to quickly build your schedule. Choose an appropriate Weekly Template, or alternatively, identify specific templates for each day of your schedule.

When you are ready to build the schedule, choose “Assign Employees”.

Review the Created Schedule

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TimeForge will then create your schedule, based on the templates you have chosen. TimeForge will assign employees where they are available, create Open and Bid shifts, and may attempt to run the AutoScheduler if any AutoSchedule shifts are available.

If staff members are unavailable to work, but have been indicated to work in the template, TimeForge will normally run the AutoScheduler to find you a better fit for the schedule. The software will then notify you of any changes it needed to make, based on staff availability or staffing shortages.

Create a Template based on the Work Schedule – Daily View

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Additionally, while editing the schedule, you can create a template, or use an existing template, for a single day. This gives you greater flexibility while managing your work force.

In the TimeForge Daily View, click on the Use Templates link to add shifts from a template to the day, or click on the Make Templates link to create a template based on the shifts you have already created.

Create a Template based on the Work Schedule – Detail View

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In the TimeForge Schedule Detail, click on the header for the day, and you will also be able to Use a Template, or Make a Template.

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How Do I use Weekly Templates?

After creating several templates, you can choose to group templates into weekly templates to mirror your labor needs for any given week.

Use Schedule Templates to quickly and easily manage your workforce, and reduce the amount of time that you must spend changing the schedule on a weekly basis.

Navigate to the Schedules Tab

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To manage weekly templates, navigate to the Schedules tab, and then the Weekly Templates sub-tab, where you will see a list of applicable Weekly Templates.

Choose Edit Weekly Templates

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Choose Edit weekly templates to access the weekly templates.

Add or Modify a Weekly Schedule Template

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You can add a new Weekly template by clicking on “Add New Weekly Template“.

Changing the Weekly Template Information

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Enter an applicable Description, and then choose the appropriate template for each day of the week.

When you are done, click on Save.

Using Weekly Schedule Templates with Departments

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If you are using TimeForge Departments, you will notice that weekly templates are separated into departments.

This allows you to create weekly templates for each department, without worrying about positions and staff members that are not in your department.

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How Do I Create Daily Labor Templates?

Schedule Templates are 24-hour periods of time that reflect a single day of a schedule. You can use a template to organize your labor requirements in advance of the actual schedule, allowing you to easily anticipate upcoming staffing needs. Building a daily work schedule template will make scheduling fast and simple!

Templates allow you to rapidly build a schedule, if you will simply spend some time in advance thinking about your labor needs.

For example, you might create a template for Monday through Thursday, and then separate templates for Friday and Saturday. Or, you might create templates for each day of the week, with templates for Monday night football, holidays, or other special occasions. There are no limits on the number of templates that you can have.

Navigate to the Schedules Tab

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To manage templates, navigate to the Schedules tab, and then the Templates sub-tab, where you will see a list of applicable templates.

Choose to Edit Schedule Templates

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Choose the Edit Schedule Templates link.

Add a New Schedule Template

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You can add a new template by clicking on “Add a New Schedule Template”, then enter an applicable name or description, and click “Save” to continue.

Add Shifts to the Daily Template

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Editing a template is similar to working with a work schedule in the Daily View.

You select a start time and end time for the shift, an applicable position, and then choose an employee. Just like in the scheduling Daily View, you can build the template by position or employee, based on your business needs.

You can build Templates using Day Parts, or Work Periods, if you would like, by clicking on the Work Period icon.

Labor Staffing Options with Schedule Templates

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Also, just like the TimeForge schedules, each shift can be assigned directly to an employee, or to the TimeForge AutoScheduler. When building the actual schedule using this template, the AutoScheduler will find the best fit for your schedule, and will replace the “AutoSchedule” employee with the best fitting staff member for that time period.

Alternatively, you can choose to leave the shift Open, meaning that a manager will later choose the appropriate employee, or you can set the shift to be a Bid shift. Bid shifts allow multiple staff members to try to pick up a single shift, allowing management to choose the best fitting staff member.

There are several options that can be chosen for each shift by clicking on the Properties link, the small pencil, next to the shift. Options include whether the staff member is an Extra or is On Call, the Skill Level necessary to work the shift, and if the shift requires more than one employee to come in, then you can change how many staff members are needed to work.

Labor Scheduling Templates with Departments

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If you are using TimeForge Departments, you will notice that templates are separated into departments. This allows you to create specific templates for each department, without worrying about positions and staff members that are not in your department.

You can also make a copy of the template by choosing “Make Copy“.

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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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