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.
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
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
Choose the Edit Schedule Templates link.
Add a New Schedule Template
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
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
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
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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