The DigiQuatics Scheduling module is a convenient way to schedule your staff, quickly see how many hours they are scheduled each week, and track schedule changes in real time.
Before you can begin building your schedule, you must create each location for which you’ll be scheduling, and add necessary positions.
Learn how to add locations here.
Learn how to create positions here.
Next, update your schedule settings. Click the gear icon to get to your Settings page, and select Scheduling and Time Off Requests.
Start Day of the Week determines how the system will calculate total hours. If you set your start day as Sunday, total hours scheduled will be calculated Sunday - Saturday.
Time Off Requests can be enabled or disabled.
Favorite Shifts are a useful way to make scheduling even easier. They can be created for a specific location, or leave the location blank to use them across locations.
Shift Statuses are a useful tool for designating certain shifts (ex. Overtime, Sick, No Show) so that you can select these when creating and updating shifts. You also have the option to print these on schedules in the print options.
The Shifts Importer allows you to import multiple shifts in an Excel file format. PRO TIP: Make sure that you use the exact position name when inputting shifts; if you add a shift with a position not on your list (or even misspelled!) the system will generate a brand new position.
Now that you have your basic settings updated, you can begin scheduling on the Scheduling tab, found in the upper left drop-down menu entitled "Scheduling".
When you visit the Schedule page, you’ll always land on the current week by default. Easily toggle into a day or month view with a click of either button (7).
On the scheduling grid itself, today’s date will be in pink text.
The arrows by the date will allow you to scroll forward / backward. These will follow you down the page as you scroll depending on the number of locations and employees you have added to your account.
You can sort by location (or view all locations) and position (or view all positions).
The Notes row allows you to add notes to the calendar for each individual day. These notes will be visible to your staff when they view the shift.
Open Shifts can be picked up by any qualified employee and must be approved by an Admin before formally assigned. Employees will see these shifts both on the Schedule page and on their My Schedule page.
You can also view schedules by Day, Week or Month.
The Shift View displays all scheduled employees at the location, while Employee View shows each individual employee’s schedule and availability.
EXAMPLE OF SHIFT VIEW
EXAMPLE OF EMPLOYEE VIEW
9. The second row of tool buttons (below the view buttons) in the upper right include a variety of options and features, some of appear only if you filter your schedule to ONE specific location (i.e. the Auto-Schedule and Template features).
When getting acquainted with DigiQuatics' Scheduling Module, instead of focusing on the schedule grid itself at first, we recommend studying the top tool and views menu. A great first step is choosing your favorite view (see upper right "employee" vs. "shift" view); this can be adjusted at the bottom of every user's profile. The decision to default to either view has to do with what you like to see, and if you are an admin (or have been granted the privilege of modifying/scheduling shifts by an admin), how you like to schedule.
Again, employee view gives a dedicated row to each employee down the left hand side, with summaries as you hover over the numbers (scheduled hours, desired weekly hours, and max weekly hours). These numbers dynamically change depending shift hours scheduled, and whether a user's scheduling box on their profile is edited:
UNLOCKING ADDITIONAL FEATURES: AUTO-SCHEDULE & TEMPLATES
As you toggle between day view, week view, and month view as well as shift view vs. employee view, note how the tool buttons change. For example, if you filter your schedule to ONE location and select shift view, you will unlock our auto-schedule button as well as the templates button. More on auto-scheduling below.
Schedule Templates are a feature by which you can save an entire schedule week that you create. To try it out, simply add a couple shifts that are reoccurring in nature - then you can save and name the template, and easily load a mix of shifts. This is a cut above our "favorite shifts" tool because with templates, you can add multiple favorite shifts to a schedule, then save all of them and load those multiple shifts for a future week.
PUBLISH
As you build the schedule, all shifts will remain unpublished until you are ready with your scheduled employees. Instead of publishing each individual shift, using the Publish button will publish (or unpublish) the schedule for the date range you select. You can also choose to notify scheduled employees via email.
AUTO-SCHEDULE
You can also utilize the Auto Schedule option to fill the schedule for you automatically. When you click this button, you’ll open a new window that will allow you to set parameters for filling the schedule. The schedule will remain unpublished so that you can review and edit as needed until you choose to publish it. Learn more about the Auto-Schedule feature here.
SCHEDULE TEMPLATES
This button allows you to create or utilize a Schedule Template. When you select this button, you’ll see any templates you’ve already created; selecting one of these templates will fill the schedule with the template’s shift. You can also click Create New Template to copy the shifts on the current view. NOTE: The Schedule Template is only available in the Week view.
Alternatively, in the Day and Week view, you can also use the Copy Shifts feature. Use this feature to mass-copy shifts from a previous day or week. This works in either Shift or Employee view:
Available only in employee view, there is also an individual option that will copy all of the previous day’s or week’s shifts for a specific employee to the current day or week:
SHIFTS IMPORTER
This button will take you to the Shifts Importer spreadsheet to quickly import multiple shifts.
PRINT OPTIONS
The Print button gives you a variety of options to create a PDF file of the schedule.
DELETE SHIFTS
You also have the option to Delete published, unpublished, and open shifts. NOTE: If you delete shifts, they are gone forever!
ADDITIONAL TIPS
The gear icon will take you to your Schedule Settings (Start day of the week and Time Off Requests).
Finally, the pencil icon allows you to mark all unassigned shifts as published shifts.
To add shifts, simply hover over the column / row where you would like to add the shift and click Add Shift, and a new window will open.
You must choose a Start and End Time for the shift, assign it to a location, and assign a specific position to the shift. You can choose to assign an employee from the drop down list at this time, or you can leave the shift unassigned when you save it.
PRO TIP: Build your entire schedule for the week by creating / saving all of your shifts with no staff assigned. Then, click the Template button to create a template of your schedule that you can import to other weeks!
You can also create a shift that is duplicated multiple times on a single day, within a week, or for multiple weeks using the Repeat / Duplicate option.
To assign staff to shifts, you can either assign shifts individually or using the Auto Schedule feature.
To assign shifts individually, open the shift by clicking on it. Click the drop down under Employee. You’ll see a variety of information available to assist you in choosing the right person for the shift.
Each employee’s positions will be listed.
Employee availability and time off requests for the day will also be included.
Next to the clock icon you’ll see the hours scheduled for the week / the employee’s desired hours per week / the maximum hours that the employee can work for the week.
Any 15-year-old employees will be noted as well.
Once the shift is assigned, click Update Shift.
Alternatively, use the Auto Schedule feature to auto fill your schedule based on your chosen parameters.
When you have all of the shifts assigned and are ready, you can publish the schedule for the selected range. You can also choose to email all staff with assigned shifts when you publish.