Most scheduling software out there try to do too much. With DigiQuatics, we have aimed to do everything "just right". This holds true for our Scheduling Module.
Whether you have mastered the scheduling module or are still in the process of discovering how much time you can save when using its tools in full-force, taking 10 minutes or less to learn how to auto-assign your staff to open or unassigned shifts will feel like icing on the cake.
How does the Auto-Schedule tool work?
Auto-Scheduling is very complex in terms of the algorithm behind it. Here's a little summary! When you run the auto-schedule job on unpublished unassigned shifts, it evaluates the following logic to assign shifts:
Availability: Filters for employees with marked availability for that week.
Daily Iteration: It processes each day for the selected week.
Location Filtering: Finds employees with primary location access (unless non-primary/secondary options are selected).
Conflict Resolution: Identifies shifts that do not conflict with already assigned shifts.
Target Hours Preference: Assigns staff up to target hours (desired or max), prioritizing employees furthest from their target. For example, an employee with 0 scheduled hours will be prioritized over one with 10 if the target is 30.
Position Preference: Finds shifts with the most hours starting from the highest preferred position.
To use the Auto-Schedule feature for your schedule, follow these steps:
First, in order to access the Auto-Schedule feature, you must use the "Shift View" (as opposed to the "Employee View") which can be accessed in the upper right of the Scheduling Module. Then, narrow (filter) the location view from "All locations" to one specific location. (This can be done in the upper left).
Second, the Auto-Schedule is designed to take any published/unpublished open shifts and any unassigned shifts at one location and assign them to your staff (based on the data points listed in the section above).
So, you must first enter a repeating or duplicated batch unpublished shifts (unpublished or published shifts in the "Open Shifts" row), or utilize a Favorite Shift series or load a saved Template to populate shifts at the location you are planning to auto-schedule. (We strongly encourage the use of templates! To learn more, watch the tutorial accessible at the bottom of this article).
Finally, you'll note that you can only perform an auto-schedule one week at a time. This is by design, so that the scheduler can easily focus on the auto-schedule results week to week and make edits accordingly. Once everything looks good, simply look for the Publish button to publish all the shifts for that week (and choose at that time whether or not to notify your staff).
This is where sub-requests come in handy, as all staff at that particular location can review the results of the auto-schedule to determine whether or not they will need to request a sub. If your organization actively requires your staff to enter their availabilities, the sub-requests should be few.
Before shot of our schedule and after shot of our schedule showing the results of the Auto-Scheduler:
In this above example, note: the open shifts posted (all published and unpublished open shifts) were included in the auto-scheduling job. This means that you can post open shifts and leave them posted up until a week or even closer to the start time of a shift, then use the auto-schedule tool to have DigiQuatics assign the remaining open shifts automatically.
In the above example, observe that the software matched as many shifts as possible with our employees that work at this particular location, according to the positions they hold and their availability to work. And that's how auto-scheduling can save you TONS of time!
See auto-scheduling in action here!