Scheduler Configuration
| This topic is for under construction |
This is a step by step guide for configuring the Scheduler. Detailed instructions on setting up the items needed for scheduling will be on the page dedicated to the configuration of that item. This step by step guide provides the links between each step.
Contents
Labor Levels
You need to define labor levels that represent the divisions between the type of job titles / position that employees work, and the different places that an employee can work within your facility. A very simple example is:
| Nurse Type |
|---|
| RN |
| LPN |
| CNA |
| Floor |
|---|
| 1st Floor |
| 2nd Floor |
| 3rd Floor |
You are defining two things:
- The names of the labor levels (Nurse Type and Floor)
- The items with each labor level (RN, LPN, CNA and 1st, 2nd and 3rd Floor).
In the software we would designate the Nurse Type to be the Budget Group Labor Level, and the Floor to be the Floor / Unit Labor Level. This designation is done in the System configuration, Labor Level Designation tab. Two labor levels are the minimum required to use the scheduler. There is one more level that is required when you need more than one scheduler in your software. If for example you want to schedule your nursing, dietary and housekeeping staff in three distinct groups then you would need to add a labor level for this and define this as the Scheduler Labor Level in the System configuration, Labor Level Designations tab.
Department
You may think that your department labor level is already defined in the software and your budgeted staffing levels can be based on your department. In most facilities, there is often more than one department that would be considered to be RNs, LPNs, CNAs etc. If you have separate departments for agency employees, or separate departments for Day, Evening and Night employees, or a separate Per Diem department, then you cannot use the department labor level as one of the two levels required for the scheduler.
Multi Facility
If your software contains multiple facilities then you automatically get a scheduler per facility by designating the facility labor level as the Scheduler Labor Level in the System configuration, Labor Level Designations tab. If you want to have multiple schedulers per facility then you will need to add a labor level. The items within this labor level would be named in this manner:
| Facility ABC Nursing |
| Facility ABC Dietary |
| Facility ABC Housekeeping |
| Facility XYZ Nursing |
| Facility XYZ Dietary and Housekeeping |
This allows you to groups your scheduled staff differently in each facility.
Budget or Scheduling Labor Level
When labor levels are defined in System configuration, Labor Levels tab, you can designate the labor levels to be Budget based and/or Scheduling based. Budget based labor levels will show in the Budget Configuration screen. Scheduling based labor levels will show in the employee's Schedule Patterns tab, allowing you to schedule the employee.
Scheduler Labor Level
Despite it's name, because employees do not work outside of their scheduler labor level, this would be a Budget based labor level only.
Budget Group Labor Level
If employees will only work within their home Budget Group(e.g. an RN will not cover for a LPN position) then Budget Group labor level would be just a Scheduler based level. If you need to allow employees to work in one or more budget groups then you will need to make this labor level a Scheduling level, or make the Department level a Scheduling level. Whatever level you so use, you must also make this a Restricted scheduling labor level. Otherwise, all employees can accept any schedule, i.e. a CNA can accept a RN schedule. You will need to define the Allowable Budget Group Scheduling Labor Levels in System configuration / Labor Level Assignments tab.
Department Labor Level
If you want employees to be paid from a different department when they work in a different Budget Group then the Department labor level is defined as a Scheduling Labor Level. You must also make this a Restricted scheduling labor level otherwise all employees can accept any schedule. You will need to define the Allowable Department Scheduling Labor Levels in System configuration / Labor Level Assignments tab. There is one additional step required when you use departmental scheduling. Because the department labor level is not defined as a Budget labor level, but the Budget Group level is defined as a Budget labor level, you need to make the relationships between the departments and the budget group. This is done in System configuration / Labor Level Assignments tab, using the One to One Budget Group Labor Level Assingment table.
Floor / Unit Labor Level
This will always be a budget and scheduler based labor level.
Scheduler Periods
Your scheduler periods will typically be from 1 week to 8 weeks in length. They can also be calendar month based. If you defined Scheduler Labor Levels then you can use different scheduler periods with each Scheduler Labor Level, e.g. Nursing schedules 4 weeks at a time, while Dietary works one week at a time. You create the relationship between a scheduler labor level and a scheduler period group in the System configuration / Labor Level Assignments tab.
Base Schedules
You need to know the schedule choices required for each budget group. An identifier for each unique schedule choice is entered in Sub Shift Configuration, within the shift that each sub shift falls under. In the base schedules configuration, you define a base schedule group, and add the base schedules, assigning the shift / sub shift to each base schedule.
You now need to link the budgets groups to the base schedule groups. This is done in the System configuration / Labor Level Assignments tab. If using a Scheduler Labor Level then you need to link the Scheduler and Budget Group to the Base Schedule Group.
For example, Employee A is placed in the CNA budget group, the CNA budget group is linked to the Nursing base schedule group, the Nursing base schedule group has three schedules, each schedule is assigned to a different shift / sub shift. When you click on the Shift drop down in this employee's Schedule Patterns tab, the drop down will contain the same three choices that you see in the base schedules.
Budget
To Be DELETED The budget defines your desired staffing levels based on the day of week, the shift, and the labor levels that you defined to be the budgetary levels. Here is a sample budget:
| Days of Week | Shift | Budget Group | Floor | Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Days | Day | LPN | Floor 1 | 1 |
| All Days | Day | LPN | Floor 2 | 1 |
| All Days | Evening | LPN | Floor 1 | 1 |
| All Days | Evening | LPN | Floor 2 | 1 |
| All Days | Night | LPN | Floor 1 | 1 |
| All Days | Night | LPN | Floor 2 | 1 |
For all but the smallest budgets, you would use the Budget Import to enter your budget into the software. After the budget is entered you must see that the Base Schedule Group and Scheduler Period Group columns are not blank.
Schedule Patterns
Schedule patterns can be entered on an employee once the employee is assigned to a budget group. The base schedules that belong to the base schedule group thru the labor level assignment will appear as choices in the Shift column drop down.
Planned Absences
In the Schedule Status Types Configuration, you can add the choices that you want to see in the Planned Absences tab and in the Scheduler by selecting Display At Planned Absence Level and/or Display At Scheduler Level. Generally, you want to limit that the attendance issues that occur "day of" like Called Sick are not available to select in the planned absences, while the planned attendances like Vacation are not available to select in the Scheduler.
You should encourage the users to enter the planned days off are entered as soon as they are known. This will also eliminate the scheduler user from forgetting to remove the employee off the schedule.
