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How to use Auto-Scheduling

Available for the following plan: Employment Unlimited
Available for the following HR classic plan: Platinum 
Available for the following user access level: Admins, Managers

Streamline your shift planning with Auto-Scheduling, a powerful tool that automatically creates shifts based on your employees' predefined custom work hours. This feature eliminates the time-intensive task of manually assigning regular shifts, reducing administrative overhead whilst ensuring consistent coverage aligned with employee availability.

Auto-Scheduling automatically assigns shifts that match employees' standard work hours, helping you cover core staffing needs efficiently. The system creates unpublished shifts that you can review and publish when ready, giving you full control over the final schedule.

Prerequisites

Before using Auto-Scheduling, ensure your employees are properly set up:

  • Custom work hours required: Employees must have custom work hours configured in their employee profile with both start and end times specified.
  • Work site and position assignment: Custom work hours must include assigned work sites and positions.
  • Active employment: Employees must have employment end dates that fall after the scheduling period you're planning.

Note: Only employees with complete custom work hour configurations (including start time, end time, work site, and position) will be eligible for Auto-Scheduling.

Running Auto-scheduling

Step 1: Configure Auto-Scheduling settings
  1. Go to the Time>Scheduling Management.
  2. Locate the Auto button in the top-right corner of the scheduling view.
  3. Click the dropdown arrow next to "Auto" and select Auto-create shifts from employee custom work hours.
  4. The Auto-Scheduling configuration modal will open.

The Auto-Scheduling modal will auto-populate based on your current scheduling management view, but you can modify these settings:

Date Range

  • Maximum range of 1 week
  • Auto-populated from your current scheduling management view
  • Cannot be edited

Work Sites Filter

  • Auto-populated from your current view

Positions Filter

  • Automatically shows positions available in selected work sites
  • Select or deselect positions as needed
  • Position selection updates dynamically based on work site selection

Employees Filter

  • Shows only eligible employees with complete custom work hours
  • Displays employees matching selected work sites and positions
  • Select specific employees or use "Unselect all" to modify the selection

Create Empty Shifts Toggle

  • Enabled: Creates empty shifts for scheduling conflicts, allowing you to address them later
  • Disabled: Skips shift creation when conflicts are detected
Step 2: Run Auto-Scheduling
  1. After configuring your filters, click Build.
  2. A loading screen will appear showing progress.
  3. The system will process all eligible shifts based on the employee's custom work hours.
  4. Once complete, you'll see a results summary showing:
    • Number of shifts successfully created
    • Number of shifts with conflicts or errors
    • Detailed breakdown of any issues
  5. Review the results and click Done to apply the changes to your schedule.

After Auto-Scheduling completes, you'll see a detailed breakdown of results:

Successful Auto-Scheduling

  • Green banner showing the number of shifts successfully created
  • These shifts are added as unpublished shifts to your schedule

Shifts Requiring Attention

Orange banner with detailed table showing conflicts:

  • Shift clashes: Employee already has a shift at that time
  • Leave: Employee is on approved leave
  • Unavailability: Employee has marked themselves as unavailable
  • schedule rule violations: Conflicts with established scheduling rules

Each conflict shows the employee's name, date, work site, position, and specific reason for the conflict.

Step 3: Review and manage created shifts
  1. After clicking Done, return to your Scheduling Management view.
  2. Auto-created shifts will appear as unpublished shifts in your schedule.
  3. These shifts will include:
    • Employee assignments based on custom work hours
    • Correct work sites and positions
    • Specified start and end times
    • Break times as configured
  4. Review shifts before publishing to ensure they meet your requirements.
  5. If you enabled "Create empty shifts for overlaps," you'll also see empty shifts that need to be manually assigned.

Managing Auto-Scheduling outcomes

Undo Auto-Scheduling changes

If you're not satisfied with the Auto-Scheduling results, you can undo the changes:

  1. In the results modal, click Undo instead of "Done".
  2. This will revert all changes and return you to the configuration modal.
  3. You can then adjust your filters and try again.
  4. No shifts will be created or modified when using the Undo option.
Handle scheduling conflicts

When conflicts prevent shift creation, you have several options:

  • Enable "Create empty shifts": Run Auto-Scheduling again with this option enabled to create placeholder shifts you can assign manually.
  • Resolve conflicts first: Address leave requests, unavailability, or existing shift clashes before re-running Auto-Scheduling.
  • Adjust employee work hours: Modify custom work hours to avoid recurring conflicts.
  • Manual assignment: Create shifts manually for affected employees and time periods.
Optimize Auto-Scheduling performance

For best results with Auto-Scheduling:

  • Ensure employee custom work hours are current and accurate
  • Process leave requests and unavailability before running Auto-Scheduling
  • Use the 1-month date range limit to maintain system performance
  • Filter by specific work sites or positions for targeted scheduling
  • Run Auto-Scheduling during off-peak hours for large employee groups

Further information

Why can't I see an employee in the Auto-Scheduling list?

Employees must meet specific eligibility criteria to appear in Auto-Scheduling:

  • Must have custom work hours configured (not standard daily hours)
  • Custom work hours must include both start and end times
  • Must have work sites and positions assigned in their custom work hours
  • Employment end date must be after the selected scheduling period
  • Must be assigned to the work sites and positions selected in your filters
What happens to existing shifts when I run Auto-Scheduling?

Auto-Scheduling will not overwrite existing shifts. If an employee already has a shift scheduled during their custom work hours time slot, the system will:

  • Flag this as a "shift clash" in the results
  • Skip creating the conflicting shift (if "Create empty shifts" is disabled)
  • Create an empty shift for manual assignment (if "Create empty shifts" is enabled)
Can I run Auto-Scheduling multiple times for the same period?

Yes, you can run Auto-Scheduling multiple times for the same date range. However, the system will identify existing shifts as conflicts on subsequent runs. For best results:

  • Use the Undo feature if you want to make changes immediately after running Auto-Scheduling
  • Delete unwanted auto-created shifts before running Auto-Scheduling again
  • Filter by specific employees, work sites, or positions to target only the shifts you want to modify
What's the difference between warnings and blocks?

Auto-Scheduling distinguishes between two types of issues:

  • Blocks: Prevent shift creation entirely (shift clashes, approved leave, unavailability, employment end dates)
  • Warnings: Allow shift creation but indicate potential issues (certification mismatches, scheduling rule violations that don't block)

Blocked shifts require the "Create empty shifts" option to generate placeholder shifts, whilst warnings create shifts but highlight areas needing attention.

Explore related content

  • Managing schedule rules: Understand how schedule rules interact with Auto-Scheduling and affect shift creation.
  • Manage schedules: The Schedule Management feature lets you add, allocate, delete, publish, and unpublish shifts with the option to use templates, filter by cost centre or employee, and view the schedule by day, week, or Bi-weekly.
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