Template Manager for Rostering

What is Template Manager for Rostering?

Available in Humanforce Cloud v 6.0 from April 27th 2023, Template Manager enables you to plan your rostering requirements without creating a roster for a specific period, so you can forecast costs and plan for peak periods. Once created, templates can be imported into any roster period you need, so you can create your rosters much faster.

You can create any shifts your business needs, assign shifts to employees or not, and test different labour scenarios across multiple templates. 

Specifically, Template Manager gives you the flexibility to:

• choose any day as the starting date for templates
• choose any template length between 1 and 60 days
• include shifts for multiple Locations, Departments and Roles in a single template.

Further Template Manager features will be gradually released to Humanforce Cloud.

Note:

Templates created in the template manager will only be visible to load in the employee Rostering screen and not in the Department Rostering screen.  New templates created are also not compatible with Backoffice rostering and template screens.  If any templates created in Department roster are then edited within Template Manager they will no longer be visible to load in the Department roster screen.

How do I use Template Manager for Rostering?

In this article, we'll step you through how to:

• Enable Template Manager for Rostering
• Permissions for Template Manager
• Create a new template
• Duplicate or delete an existing template
• Update shifts in an existing template
• Update template details in an existing template
• Create and edit shifts on templates
• Add Multiple Shifts
• Assigning employees to shifts
• Identify and resolve Shift Errors and Warnings
• Group by shift details
• Filter by shift details or employee
• Set the details displayed for shifts

Enable Template Manager for Rostering

1. Go to Admin > Admin Config > Nav Manager
2. Scroll down to Template Manager and select the ESS checkbox
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save.

If you don't have access to the Admin menu, speak to your administrator about having Template Manager enabled in the Management navigation menu.

Permissions for Template Manager

Granting access to Template Manager is done through Access Levels.  There are several different permissions that can be applied to control what a user is able to access and manage.

Access levels for Template Manager are found under the Template section within the Rostering Screen parent Permissions. To find this permission:

1. Go to Admin > Security Config > Access Levels
2. For the relevant Access Level row, click Edit
3. Click on the Permissions tab
4. Search for 'Templates'

Permissions can be given for Master Templates only, Normal Templates only or both.  Expand the template type you would like provide permissions for and enable the Add, Edit & Delete options as required.

Create a new template

1. Go to Management > Rostering > Template Manager
2. Click Create Template
3. Enter your Template Name and description (optional), Effective date and set the Length.  If you would like to make this template available for Importing select Is Active, then click Save.  
4. Populate your new template with shifts (see Create and edit shifts on templates below for tips on working with shifts individually or in bulk). 

Note: Whilst creating your template you may not want to make it "Is Active" until you have added all of your shifts and are happy for it to be used in rosters.

Duplicate or Delete an existing template

1. Go to Management > Rostering > Template Manager
2. Find the template you wish to edit and click on the Duplicate or Delete icon

Update shifts in an existing template

1. Go to Management > Rostering > Template Manager
2. Find the template you wish to edit and click on the Edit icon

Update template details in an existing template

1. Go to Management > Rostering > Template Manager
2. Find the template you wish to edit and click on the Edit icon
3. Click on Edit Template Details

Updating Effective Date:  When changing the starting day of the template it's important to understand what will happen to the shifts within your template.  All shifts will move according to the new day/date.  As an example, if you have a 7 day template that begins on a Monday and there are shifts on Monday through to Friday (Day 1 to Day 5).  If the starting day of the template is changed to Wednesday,  all shifts would move to Wednesday to Sunday (maintaining their position of Day 1 to Day 5).

Create and edit shifts on templates

Working with shifts on templates is very similar to working with shifts on rosters.

Create and edit single shifts

To work with individual shifts: 

• Create a shift by clicking on the + icon within the template grid.  
• Copy a shift by clicking on an existing shift, then using your mouse, drag and drop the shift on the day you wish to copy to

You can also Edit, Assign, Confirm or Unconfirm and Delete a shift by clicking on the kebab menu, then choosing the desired action.

Add Multiple Shifts

To add multiple unassigned shifts within your template.  

1. Click on the Actions button,then select + Add shifts. 
2. Select a Week
3. Select a Day
4. Select a Location
5. Select a Department
6. Click on Apply
7. All roles applicable to the Location and Department are now displayed.  Add the number of shifts required per role within the Shift Count field.  If required, update any of the other shift details for each role
8. Click on Add Shifts

Assigning employees to shifts

When clicking on the Assign To option, you will see a list of all employees that can be selected from and assigned to the shift.  In addition there are also several filters that can be applied to help you narrow down your search for the most suitable employees available based on qualifications, location, department, role, type and award.

Create and edit multiple shifts

Bulk actions can be applied to All shifts or Selected shifts.

To Bulk update All shifts:

1. Click on Actions
2. Click on the desired action 

Bulk update Selected shifts:

1. Click on Actions
2. Hold down the CTRL (PC) or CMD (Mac), then click on each shift you would like to update
3.  Click on the desired action 

Note: If you have applied any filters to your template, bulk actions will only update shifts that match your filter criteria.  

Identify and resolve Shift Errors and Warnings

If a shift has an error or warning associated with it, the shift tile will have red or yellow background applied.

Resolve Shift Errors

A shift that has an error will have a red background and alert icon and needs to be fixed. If you don't fix it, the shift will not be imported into a roster.  To resolve the error, click the Edit icon to see details of what the error is and make changes accordingly.

Resolve Shift Warnings

A shift that has a warning is valid but there is information about the shift that should be reviewed.  Shifts with warnings will have a yellow background and a yellow alert icon showing in the shift tile.  When you go into Edit shift, you will see details of what the warning is. These shifts are valid and will be imported into a roster.  

Group by shift details

You can group shifts together in your template based on different information contained within the shifts.  We have several options for you to choose from to meet your needs.

1. Click on the Group By button
2. Then you can choose from the following options:
   • Location
   • Department
   • Area
   • Event
   • Shift Definition
   • Employment Type
   • Location and Department.

Filter by shift details or employee

Filtering allows you to only show the shifts that meet the criteria you select so that you can focus on the information or subset of shifts you need at a particular time.  You can also search for shifts for a particular Employee code or Name.

1. Click on the Filter button 
2. To Search for shifts assigned to an employee, click into the  Employee code or name field and begin typing. Select the employee code or name.
3. To Filter by shift details click on one of the following buttons:
   • Region
   • Location
   • Department
   • Role
   • Area
   • Assignment
   • Shift Definition
   • Employment Type
   • Event
   • Function
   • Shift Type
   • Event Type

Once you have selected the required information to filter, click on Apply.  To clear filters, use the X icon on individual buttons, or the Clear filters button to clear all filters.

Set the details displayed for shifts

You are able to set the fields that you would like displayed within the shift tiles and also sort them in any order that suit your needs.

1. Click on the Settings button
2. Using the toggle switch, you are able to turn on or off the visibility of that field.  
3. Order these fields by clicking on the icon and dragging up/down in the list.  Fields will be displayed in the shift tile based on the order you place them within this list