This chapter covers the following topics:
In the schedule repository, a category assigns significance to a shift or exception. The significance is basically used to identify whether a resource is available, not available, or maybe. Colors are assigned to different categories so that a scheduler viewing the calendar can see at a glance what resource is available at what time.
In the sample case there are a few different periods of significance that we want to distinguish:
Call center employee is available for work
Call center employee is not available for work
Service employee is available for work
Service employee is not available for work
Service employee is available for emergencies
Service employee is not available for emergencies
| Category | Meaning | Display Color | Available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work Call Center | Available for call center department | green | Yes |
| Work Service | Available for service department | green | Yes |
| Not Available | Not Available | red | No |
Since the call center and service department follow different schedules there is no need to define different categories for work. So all we need are the following shift categories:
| Category | Meaning | Display Color | Available? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Available | Available for work | green | Yes |
| Not Available | Not Available | red | No |
Notes
Remove: When you click Remove, the application checks if the category is being used in a shift, and if so, displays an error message. If the category is not used anywhere, then it’s removed from the table here, but the action is not performed in the database until Apply is clicked.
Show Shift Details: This applies only to shifts created for day based schedule patterns. If set to yes, then when you create a shift you can add more detailed information about the shift. This is most applicable to flexible time shifts where you can define specific time ranges for flexible starts, flexible lunch times, and so on.
For the schedule repository, you can set up common exceptions such as company holidays which can then be included in schedules. Global exceptions are not automatically included in schedules.
Notes
Category: The shift category determines whether the exception will designate the resource as available or unavailable.
Whole Day: If selected, the full 24 hours of the date start and date end are included in the exception. If deselected, you can specify a time start and time end for the exception.
In the schedule repository, shift detail types are used only in day based schedule patterns. A shift can be very detailed. For example, for flexible time schedules, the details define what hours are flexible and what hours are not flexible, for example for lunch breaks or maintenance downtime.
When you create the shift detail types, you provide a name that can be selected when creating the shift detail. You also provide the color to use for each shift detail type when previewing schedules.
On the Schedules page and the Define Schedule page there is a Category field with a list of selections. The seeded selections are:
Pager Schedule
Work Schedule
You can add categories to this lookup code CAC_SR_SCHDL_CATEGORY.