Templates, Preferences, Availability and Leave all share the underlying concept of Recurring Schedules.
A Recurring Schedule is period of time that occurs on a regular basis. For example John has a shift every Monday.
Recurring schedules are designed to make it less tedious to setup Templates, Preferences etc. Instead of defining a shift for every Monday of the year you just set up a single schedule.
So lets look at the elements of a schedule.
Period
The Period of a schedule describes the interval over which the schedule recurs. The following Periods are available:
- Weekly - the staff has the same roster (preference or availability) each week.
- Odd Weeks -the staff member has the same roster on odd weeks.
- Even Weeks - the staff member has the same roster every even week
- Single Day - the staff member has the same roster every day (this isn't used very often).
Odd and Even weeks can be used when you have two staff members that work alternating weeks. Set on to Odd Weeks and the other to Even Weeks.
Start Date
The first date from which the roster (preference or availability) should start.
End Date
The last date (inclusive) which the roster (preference or availability) should be active.
Type
- On Call - used for staff that are on call. Normal breaks and maximum shift periods don't apply.
- Roster - a normal Roster.
Time Period
The Time Period allows you to set one or more periods within the above 'Period' that the Agents is to be rostered, available, etc.
You MUST have at least one Time period set for each Template, Preference etc.
Click the '+' button to add a new Time period.