Visual Schedule Builder (VSB)


To access the VSB go to the current schedules listing page or from the your current schedules panel on your dashboard.  The visual schedule builder is where you create shifts, add work assignments to shifts and monitor the hours worked per employee.  You access each of these elements through the three tabs at the top of the VSB menu.  They are:


 

Shifts

The default setting is the Shift tab where you create your shifts on the calendar canvas.  Below is an example of a new schedule in the VSB.  

 

Location of Facilities menu option

 

The calendar canvas is  the backdrop of the visual schedule builder.  It is a grid with the hours running up the side and the days running across the top.  The calendar canvas is generated based on the time blocks that were defined for each schedule type.  The grey area on the calendar canvas shown below indicates there won't be any shifts happening on Mondays and Tuesdays from 12am - 8am.  

 

Facility Listing

 

The calendar canvas above was generated by the time blocks created for the schedule type Maintenance as shown below.  Note, how the Overnight time block has two dashes for Monday and Tuesday meaning there will be no shifts created during that time because staff don't work then.  

 

How to use the Visual Schedule Builder (VSB)

 RecStaff uses drag and drop technology to create shifts.  We've designed our scheduler to replicate a calendar, what we call the calendar canvas, which allows you to draw your shifts on the calendar.  Listed below are the ways you can navigate on the calendar canvas.

 

Create a shift

You simply place your cursor on the day and time you want a shift to begin, click and hold down your mouse, drag it down to where you want the shift to end and release the mouse.  The shift is created with the default location that was established when first setting up your RecStaff account.  

 

 

Move a shift

To move a shift click on the colour banner at the top of the shift and hold down the mouse then move your cursor to the shifts new location.

 

Resize a shift

To change the start time of a shift you must move the shift to the new time as mentioned above.  To change the end time of a shift click on the bottom of the shift, a grey chevron will appear, and either pull down or up on the shift to increase or decrease the shift length.

 

Delete a shift, location or staff assignment

To delete a shift click on the shift to highlight the outline of the shift in blue and then hit the delete key on your keypad or the delete button in the upper left side of the screen.

 

 

To delete a location click on the location and ensure the blue highlight is around the entire location as shown below.

 

 

To delete a staff assignment click on the staff member you want to be deleted and ensure the blue highlight is around the employees name as shown below.

 

 

Delete multiple shifts, locations or staff assignments

To delete more than one shift highlight the shift and hold down the control button if you use a pc or an android product or the command button if you use a mac or apple product and click on all the shifts you want to delete.  All these shifts will be highlighted in blue then hit either the delete key on your keyboard (backspace for apple users) or the garbage can on the left hand side of your screen as shown above.  You can do multiple deltes for locations and staff assignments in the same manner.

 

Copy and Paste a shift

If you have a recurring shift you can copy and paste that shift to different times or days on your schedule.  Highlight the shift by clicking on the colour band at the top of the shift and click ctrl + c to copy the shift if you're using a pc or android device.  Click where you want the new shift to appear and then press ctrl + v to paste it.  If you're using an apple product the control keys are command + c for copy and command + v for paste.

 

Viewing one day only

You can look at individual days of the schedule by clicking on the day of the week at the top of the schedule.  To return to the full schedule view click the date again as highlighted below.

 

 

VSB Menu

The menu options for the VSB are highlighted in yellow and listed below:

 

 

 

Staff (Staff Pick List)

 There are two locations you can add staff to a shift.  They are;

 

Staff pick list on the calendar canvas

To add from the calendar canvas you must first choose a shift and click on it.  You'll know the shift has been selected because it will be outlined in blue.  The system cannot generate the staff pick list until you select a shift because it uses the day and time of the shift to search for employee availability.  The staff pick list has a heading for each of the schedule types' roles.  Listed below is an example of an Aqua schedule types roles. 

 

Add a something dialogue

 

Clicking on one of the roles will provide you with a listing of all the staff who hold this role.  To collapse the listing back up click on the role again.  In the example below, you can see all the staff who hold the role of lifeguard.  Beside each staff members name can be one or two icons.  The first icon denotes their availability to work and the second icon indicates their credential standings.  The availability icons change depending on which shift you have chosen.  Every time you select a shift the system goes out and searches all employees availability and displays the associated availability icon.  

 

 


There are 14 icons in total.  The first 10 are availability icons which help you decide who can work during a shift.  

 

  The employees' availability shows they can work that time block and haven't any conflicts

   The employees' availability shows they cannot work that time block

  The employees' availability shows they can work but not the whole time block

  The employee is already working this shift or time block on this schedule

  The employee is already working another time block on this schedule today

  The employee is already working on another schedule in a different time block

  The employee is already working on another schedule in a corresponding time block

  The employee is on vacation

  The employee cannot work this shift because of timing issues

 

The 4 icons below reflect credential standings.

 

  The employee has a credential that will expire within 180 days

  The employee has a credential that will expire within 30 days

  The employee has a credential that will expire within 14 days, has expired or is missing

  The employees' credentials are current

 

To choose an employee for a shift you can either click on the employees name and they will appear on the shift you have highlighted or drag the employee over to the highlighted shift.  Let's walk through the steps for choosing an employee for a shift.   

  1. Choose the shift 9a - 2p by clicking on it.  You'll know a shift has been chosen because the border of the shift will be highlighted in blue to indicate it has focus. 
  2. Find Sara Boyd on the Staff pick list below.  The icon beside Sara's name is a check mark meaning she can work this shift.
  3. Double click on Sara's name to select her for the shift.  
  4. Her name will appear on the 9a - 2p shift and the role she will performing for this shift will be displayed as well.
  5. Now that she has been assigned the shift if you look at Sara's name on the staff pick list you'll see a new icon.  This is the clock icon and it indicates that she's working this time block.

   



 



If you choose another shift you'll note that the icon beside Sara's name will change from the clock. The example below shows the 3 -7pm shift highlighted and Sara Boyd has a calendar icon denoting that she is working another shift on this schedule today.  For every shift you click on the system does a search of the availability for each employee during that shifts day and time. 

 

   



When you don't have an employee to fill a shift you use a placeholder.    To create a placeholder double click on the word LIFEGUARD highlighted below at the top of the staff pick list.  Remember you must have a shift highlighted to add staff or placeholders to it.  


 

 

In the example above, the 11a - 5p shift has two lifeguard placeholders which means we need two lifeguards to work this shift.  If I find someone to take this shift I click on the shift and then choose that person.  The system will decrement the count by one leaving one placeholder and the person who is going to work the shift.  If I don't find anyone to work the shift I'll leave the placeholder in and publish the schedule.  On publish of the schedule an open shift will be created.  An open shift is a shift that doesn't have a staff assignment, in other words, no one has been assigned to work the shift. All staff that hold the role of lifeguard will be notified on publish of this schedule that there is an open shift available for pick up.  To pick up the shift they would go to their shift board.  

 

 

The shift edit page 

The second way to add staff to a shift is through the edit shift page.  If you have small shifts that are hard to view on the scheduler you can use the edit shift page.  Choose the shift you want to add a staff member to and double click the shift.  This will bring up the edit shift page as shown below.

 

 

  1. To add staff or placeholder double click or drag the employee or placeholder onto the shift.  
  2. To change the colour of the shift click the shift details and choose the colour
  3. To add new locations click on Facilities Locations and double click the location you want to add to this shift
  4. Once you're finished click the blue "Save changes" button to commit the changes.
  5. The calendar canvas will refresh and all your changes will be reflected on the refreshed calendar canvas.

 

Locations

This is the physical location or area in the facility you are scheduling for.  

 

 

Every time you create a shift the default location that was defined during your system setup will appear on the shift.  As you can see below, each shift has the default location of pool on it.  It tells the employees where their shift is going to be.  Each shift can have more than one staff assignment and you can add more than one location for those staff to be working.  For example, the 6a - 12p shift below has three different locations listed; kids pool, outdoor pool and the default location pool.    

 



I can add staff to each of these locations by clicking on the location which will show outlined in highlighted blue and then choosing the staff to work there as shown below.  Paul B. was added below because the outdoor pool has been chosen.  This shift now has 5 staff assignments with 3 different locations.

 

 

View options

You can change the way you view shifts on the calendar canvas by using the view options.  

 

 

Each view option allows you to change how your shifts will be displayed.

 

 

Shift width

There are three settings for shift width narrow, normal and wide.  The default view is the normal but you can change the view by clicking on the shift width drop down box.  Below is an example of each view.

 



 

Show locations

You can either show the locations on the shifts or not.  Simply click on the show locations menu option and choose the yes or no option.  Below is an example of each view.

 

 

 

Zoom level

You can zoom into the calendar canvas by using the zoom level option.  The zoom level correlates to the height of an hour, the lower the zoom level the shorter the height of the hour is.  See below for all four zoom levels; low, medium, high and max.

 



 

Group Shifts by

You can group or sort shifts by location or role.  The default is sorted by location.  When you sort by location an acronym for the role shows on the right hand side i.e., DS - Deck Supervisor.  When you sort by role an acronym for the location shows on the right hand side i.e., MP - Main Pool.  Below are examples of both sort options.

 

 

 

Shift Colours

Each shift will be displayed with a colour band at the top of the shift.  The default colour is the blue shown below.  However you can choose the colours of your shifts from the colour palette below.

 

 

You can change the colour of your shifts by clicking on the colour you want and then drawing your shift on the VSB.

 

 

 

Publish schedule

 There are two states a schedule can be in before they are published; unfinished and modified.

  1.  An unfinished schedule (see upper right of screen for schedule status) is a schedule that has never been published.  
  2.  A modified schedule has been published but has had changes made to it and needs to be republished so the changes can be sent to affected employees via text and/or email.

 

Below is an example of an unfinished schedule.  Once you've completed your schedule and you're ready for staff to receive their shift notifications you will publish the schedule.  To do this simply click on the publish schedule menu option within the VSB as shown below.

 

 

 

 

To publish a modified schedule, which is a schedule that has been published and has needed subsequent changes click on the "Send Changes to Staff" menu option below.  This means you're republishing the schedule but only those people who are affected by the changes will receive notification of these changes.

 

Remove a something


Work

The work tab allows you to assign work assignments to a shift or to an employee.  RecStaff allows you to add multiple employees to a shift as shown above.  Once you've added all the shifts and shift assignments whether it be placeholders or employees you can click on the work tab to add work assignments.  Please note, work assignments must first be added to the work assignment master list before they can be added to a shift.  Below is an example of the work assignment tab. Placeholder shifts, those shifts that do not have an employee assigned to them yet show up in green.  

 

 

  1.  Choose the shift you want to add the work assignment to by clicking on it.  The shift will be       outlined in blue highlighting as shown above.
  2.  Then choose the work assignment you want to add by double clicking or dragging the work     assignment to the shift.
  3.  You can move the work assignment into the time slot you want by hovering over the work   assignment until the cursor changes from an arrow to a large letter i and dragging it to the   desired time.
  4.  You can also resize your work assignments by hovering over the bottom of the work   assignment until the cursor changes to a 2 arrow (top and bottom icon) then click and drag to   make it bigger or smaller.
  5.  You can reorder your work assignments on a shift by clicking the reorder button then clicking   on the work assignment you want to leapfrog over another.
  6.  You can move a block of work assignments on a shift by clicking the move button then clicking on the first in the group of work assignments you want to move down or the bottom in the group of work assignments you want to move up.


Hours

The hours view lists all staff on the schedule and the hours they are working per role.  It also provides you with a total hours per day and a cumulative total for the week.  

 

 

The menu for the hours view gives you three different types of viewing options.

 

 

The show role option allows you to display all the roles as shown above or display individual roles.  Below only deck supervisors are showing because it was selected in the show role option.

 

 

The last two menu options show detail and show accum work together.  If you set show detail to yes then you have the option to show accum or not as show below.

 

 

 If you set show detail to no then show accum disappears from the menu as shown below.

 

 

You can also edit the shift details from the hours view.

 

  1. Click on the blue band of a shift to bring up the edit dialogue as shown below.

 

 

2. You can edit the start time, end time, employee role, location and owner of the shift or delete the shift completely.

3. After you've finished editing your shift click the blue "Save Changes" button to confirm.