Auto-scheduling helps you automatically build schedules based on customizable rules such as:

Without having to manually schedule, autoscheduling helps you save time, minimize errors, while still scheduling the best person for the job!

Please see this video for an overview:

1) Ensure that the week is not published. If the schedule is published or when there are no empty shifts available, the Auto-scheduling button will be disabled. A prompt will appear to inform you of the action to be taken. Here are the prompts:

2) To start using Auto Scheduling, you will need to first create empty shift templates for the week. Refer to Scheduling on Web App article if you need help on this.

3) Next, click on the “Auto” button to access Auto Scheduling.

You can choose Auto-Scheduling to be done on all staff in this section or only selected staff. If “Selected Staff only” is selected, a staff list will appear. Sort based on Staff Name, Contract Type, or Access Level. Filter out staff to fine-tune your search.

You can use this function to assign shifts to different groups of staff in a priority sequence. For example, Filter and select only full timers to schedule full-timers in the first auto-scheduling run, before scheduling part-timers in the next run.

Rules govern how the shifts are going to be assigned.

4) After pressing the “Auto” button, a popup will appear where you can choose the rules to apply. Select the rules based on your scheduling preferences.

Unsure about the rules? Learn more about them here!

5) Once you are done, click on “Run Auto-Scheduling” located at the bottom of the modal.

Note: Current limit for the number of users you can auto-schedule at a time is 200. The current limit for the number of shifts is 50. If the number of shifts exceeded the daily maximum of empty shifts, a pop-up will appear.

6) A loader screen will appear. Wait for the auto-scheduling process to be completed.

Note: To ensure an accurate scheduling result, while the Auto Scheduling is running, All staff, managers, and owners will not be able to perform any scheduling actions for the current section.

Here is the list of restricted scheduling actions:

7) When Auto Scheduling is completed, a pop-up window will appear at the bottom-left corner of the screen, indicating whether the process is completed or failed.

If shifts are successfully scheduled, you may undo the results by selecting the “Undo” button in the pop-up window. On the contrary, if shift scheduling is unsuccessful, the pop-up will provide a link to troubleshooting solutions.

Here are possible reasons why the auto-scheduling process was unsuccessful and solutions you can follow:

1) Shift time allocated is more than the daily OT limit of all staff.

Eg. You allocated 12 hours of shift but the OT limit for all staff was set to 8 hours.

Solution: Ensure that empty shift timing is within staff daily OT limit for feasible results.

2) The number of consecutive days for the “Allow a Maximum of X consecutive days in a row” rule is too small to be considered.

Eg. 2 consecutive days is harder to allocate compared to 4 consecutive days

Solution: Increase the range of consecutive days and try again.

3) The hour gap for the “Staff Fatigue Management” rule is too big.

Eg. The hour gap set was 24 hrs, which can be considered as a full non-working day.

Solution: Reduce the hour gap that was set and try again.

4) The number of staff that indicated their availability is too few to fill up the empty shifts.

Eg. Staff did not indicate their availability as they cannot make it for the shifts.

Solution: Remind staff to indicate their availability before running Auto-Scheduling.

Here is the list of the 7 rules that Auto-Scheduling is governed by:

Staff will be assigned to either shift that they have indicated for (Shift Availabilities) or shifts that fall within the timings they have indicated availability for (Day Availabilities). Find out more on Shift Availabilities and Day Availabilities.

Shifts will not be assigned to staff on the days where they have approved or assigned leaves. Find out more here.

Only staff with relevant roles will be allocated shifts. Find out more about roles set up here.

Staff will not be assigned shifts more than their OT limits for the day and week. This ensures that staff per day or per week are managed according to their contract hours and prevent OT. Find out more here.

Staff will only be allocated shifts for ‘a customizable number of days’ consecutively to ensure that your staff would be well-rested and avoid fatigue.

Example:

Setting the rule as: Allow a Maximum of 4 Consecutive days in a row. StaffAny will not allocate the staff a shift on Friday.

Staff will not be assigned a shift X hours after Y time to help you manage their fatigue levels.

Example:

Setting the rule as “Minimum Hours Between Shifts to 10 hours after 22:00” means that there are 10 hours between the end of the first shift, 22:00, and the start of the next shift to ensure your staff is getting sufficient rest between shifts.

Staff with better overall performance will be given shift priority for you to schedule staff who are performing well. You can rank the priority of staff performance metrics based on your preferences. You can add additional rules or delete them according to your preference.

Example:

You set the Staff Priority rule based on the table below.

Based on the table above, “Lower Absenteeism Rate” is Priority 1 (60% weightage), and “Lower Lateness Rate” is Priority 2 (40% weightage). This means that 60% of a particular staff’s score will be contributed by its absenteeism rate and 40% by its lateness rate.

Let’s say Staff A and Staff B are in queue to be assigned to an empty shift which they are both qualified for.

Calculations:

From the calculations above, since Staff A has a higher overall performance score, Staff A will be prioritized during the assignment of the shift.

Here is the list of performance metrics and what it means:

Lower Absenteeism Rate

A staff with a lower absenteeism rate means that he/she has a very good attendance record. Absenteeism = The Rate of staff being absent from all the shifts that were allocated to them.

Formula Used:

Data Range: We are taking staff's all-time data to compute their absenteeism rate.

Lateness Rate

The rate of staff being late from all the shifts that were allocated to them.

Formula Used:

If you would like to add more metrics that are not listed in the Staff Performance Metrics, you may hover over the “Add Rules” button for a popup that allows you to chat with our friendly staff to add your bespoke metrics.

Back to Adding Rules

1) What happens if the Staff Priority Rules (Lower Absenteeism Rate & Lateness Rate) are equal?

Priority will be given to users with better overall performance scores.

2) What happens if there is no possible schedule?

An error message will be displayed. We suggest you revise the rules set. Read more

about what adjustments you could do to increase chances of success here.

3) If a shift ends on the next day, is that considered as a single shift or 2 shifts? Eg. A shift starts on Monday, 8 pm, and ends on Tuesday, 6 am.

The shift will be counted as a single shift.

4) Can I run 2 Auto-Scheduling simultaneously on different weeks?

Auto-Scheduling can be run at the same time only on different weeks.

5) What happens if I refresh the page while the Auto-Scheduling is running?

The Auto-scheduling will not be affected and the process will still continue to run until completion.

6) Why are some staff not assigned after auto-scheduling?

A possible reason could be that the staff has pre-assigned shifts that have violated the auto-scheduling rule set. Any staff’s pre-assigned shifts that have violated OT limits, consecutive days, and back-to-back shifts are excluded from auto-scheduling. For example, a staff member was pre-assigned 4 consecutive shifts while the consecutive days rule in auto-scheduling was set to a maximum of 3 days.