Examples of Managing Shifts

A shift is a period of time, typically expressed in hours, that's used to build workday patterns. Workday patterns are used to build schedules.

You should model only the dates you need because you can always extend the end date. This allows for smaller volumes of initial data and Improved performance. There are multiple types of shifts you can create. The following scenarios illustrate each type.

Managing Time Shifts

Next month you're adding a second shift for your manufacturing operations. This new shift will start just after your regular first shift. You can create a time shift that starts at 4:00 p.m. and ends at 12:00 a.m. There are restrictions in updating existing shifts and patterns. Shifts and patterns can't be updated if the change affects a schedule, that's they're associated to a schedule. If a shift is created but not assigned to a pattern (or assigned to a pattern but the pattern isn't assigned to a schedule) it can be updated. If a pattern is created and not assigned to a schedule it can be updated.

Managing Time Shifts with Punch Details

Your division has decided that the employees in the office must clock in and out for lunch starting next week. All employees will take the same lunch hour. Add punch shift details to the existing shift so that employees punch in at 8:00 a.m.; they punch out for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; they punch back in at 12:30 p.m.; and they punch out for the day at 5:00 p.m.

Managing Time Shifts with Flexible Details

Jorge Sanchez is a contractor who's starting work in your department next week. His hours will be flexible, so you need to create a new time shift with flexible details that he can use to record his time. He will have a flexible start time from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and a flexible end time from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. His core work hours will be from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Managing Duration Shifts

One of the divisions in your organization doesn't use fixed start and end times for its daily shifts; the division only records the total duration of the shift and indicates if resources are available or not during that time. All of the employees in the division are available for 24 hours straight, and then they're not available for the next 24 hours. You should create a duration shift that indicates that resources are available for 24 hours, and create a second duration shift that indicates that resources aren't available for 24 hours.

Managing Elapsed Shifts

The employees in the Human Resources department all work 8 hours a day, but the start and end times vary by employee. Some employees start at early as 6:00 a.m., while others don't start until 9:00 a.m. Create an elapsed shift with a duration of 8 hours, where all employees are assumed to be available for the number of hours in the shift at any time during the day.