1. Employee Management
  2. Employees
  3. SuitePeople Workforce Management
  4. Configuring Workforce Management
  5. Locations
  6. Shift Templates in WFM

Shift Templates in WFM

If shift templates are enabled, you will need to be utilizing jobs within WFM.

For information about how to set up jobs and assign them to employees, see Jobs

Users which can access Shift Templates will be Managers and above. Users will only be able to access templates for locations they have visibility over.

This guide is split into two sections:

Creating Shift Templates

The purpose of having shift templates is to setup a permanent, recurring set of shifts with no employees attached.

You will be able to set:

  • Location of shifts

  • Starts time of shifts

  • Finish time of shifts

  • Number of employees to fill each shift

  • The job which is worked that shift

If you are looking to copy a permanent set of employees week-on-week, you can utilise the copy and paste function in Workforce Management.

  1. To create the initial template, go to Shift Template setup, available by Setup > Locations and selecting a location. When selected, click on Scheduling and Template shifts.

  2. Click on a day to expand and view all template shifts on that particular day. If there are no template shifts, you will see a button 'add new shift set'

  3. You will see a set of headers. These headers are:

    • Start – start time of template shift

    • Break start – start time of the break of the template shift (Only used with the Shift Template Model option)

    • Break finish — end time of the break of the template shift (Only used with the Shift Template Model option)

    • Finish — finish time of template shift

    • Job — the job assigned to this template shift

    • Count — number of shifts with this day (explained below)

The following are sample settings for a template shift:

  • start time of 7:00am

  • finish time of 4:00pm

  • Break start time of 12:30pm

  • Break end time of 01:00pm

  • Job of Manager

  • Count of 2 employees working this shift

The count of 2 above means two template shifts will appear, both starting at 7am and finished at 1:30pm of the job Manager

your shift sets are created, you can back here to edit the regular shift-set here.

You can adjust template shifts when creating a schedule below.

A completed shift set may look like below:

Sample of a shift schedule

Shift Templates in Action

Shift templates are available on the Daily view and the Multi-unit view. There are also two different layout types: Legacy and Model.

This section describes the legacy static shift templates type. This is the default shift template type.

We will start with the Daily view.

Click Options at the top of a new, blank week.

The view options pane will appear from the side. Click the Shift Templates option to view shift templates you previously created. You can turn these on or off at any time.

Select the Shift templates type to assigned to create a static template to work from.

Switch Shift labels to on, to view the details on each template.

The shifts I created above appear below. You will notice differences to normal scheduled shifts:

  • No names attached to the left of shifts

  • Dotted shift outline

  • No cost associated to shifts

  • No wages or scheduled hours added to KPI's

Shift templates in action

To assign an employee to a shift template, click on the shift you would like to assign an employee to.

The shift automatically appears at the bottom with the applicable job, and available employees to be assigned. This shift appears in the same selection dialog as creating a brand new shift. Any unpaid break rules will continue to apply.

Changes can be made to shift length and break times, by dragging the template shift at the bottom bar before selecting employees to assign against that shift.

Selected, the new added shift will be displayed with the template.

If you delete a templated shift, it will reappear as a blank unassigned shift.

Note:

You are able to adjust the length of a shift it has been assigned to an employee. If you edit template shifts, the changes will not apply if an employee has already been assigned one of these shifts.

Creating Shift Templates using Hours Met Shift Template Types

The purpose of shift templates is set up a permanent, recurring set of shifts with no employees attached.

The Hours Met shift template allows you to work dynamically on templated shifts.

You will be able to set:

  • Locations of shifts

  • Start time of shifts

  • Finish time of shifts

  • Number of employees to fill each shift

  • The job which is worked that shift

Shift templates are available on the Daily view and the Multi-unit view. There are also two different layout types: Legacy and Model.

This section describes the dynamic model shift templates type.

We will start with the Daily view.

Click Options at the top of a new, blank week.

The view options pane will appear from the side. Click the Shift Templates option to view shift templates you previously created. You can turn these on or off at any time.

Select the Shift templates type to Hours met to create a dynamic template to work from.

Switch Shift labels to on, to view the details on each template.

To create the initial template, go to Shift template setup, available by Setup > Locations and selecting a location. When selected, click on Scheduling and Template shifts.

The Dynamic Model view will treat shifts with breaks as two separate shifts. Creating the template without breaks may be a layout consideration.

A completed shift set may look like below:

Dynamic model view

When creating the template, a count of 2 above means two template shifts will appear, both starting at 8:30am and finish at 4:30pm of the job Manager.

The shifts I created above appear below. You will notice differences to normal scheduled shifts:

  • No names attached to the left of shifts

  • Dotted shift outline

  • No cost associated to shifts

  • No wages or scheduled hours added to KPI's

Two template shifts

To assign an employee to a shift template, click on the shift you would like to assign an employee to.

The shift automatically appears at the bottom with the applicable job, and available employees to be assigned. This shift appears in the same selection dialog as creating a new shift.

Changes can be made to shift length and break times, by dragging the template shift at the bottom bar before selecting employees to assign against that shift.

The Model Shift template type is a dynamic template. When you fill the template, it will identify and suggest remaining coverage as a template.

For example, if you assign an employee for part of the template. It will dynamically display the remaining template to fill.

Model shift template type

If you delete a templated shift, it will reappear as a blank unassigned shift.

Note:

You are able to adjust the length of a shift it has been assigned to an employee. If you edit template shifts, the changes will not apply if an employee has been assigned one of these shifts.

General Notices