Employee work schedules define workdays, non-workdays, off days, holidays, and vacations. Use the Work Schedule screen to do the following:
View current, past, or future employee work schedules
Update employee work schedules
Request or schedule leave
Approve or reject leave requests
You define standard work schedules as part of the system setup process (Settings » Company Work Schedules), and then assign each employee a work schedule on the History tab of the Employee Information screen. You can then modify the default schedule for individual employees.
To open the Work Schedule screen to review or update employee work schedule information, click Work Schedule on the Time & Expense with ESS main menu. If you are a supervisor and the task of approving a leave request appears on your Desktop, you can also open the Work Schedule screen by launching that task.
Your access to the Work Schedules screen and what you can do to employee work schedules in that screen is controlled by the rights set up for your security role and functional role, and by the schedule rights set up for your timesheet class.
Note that if you have "browse only" access to the Work Schedules screen but are assigned to a timesheet class that requires entry of leave requests, you can request leave using the screen, but except for that, you can only view information.
The Work Schedule screen is available in two "views."
Non-supervisor employees use only the single-employee view. That view displays one employee's work schedule at a time, using a monthly calendar.
Supervisors may use either the single-employee view or the multiple-employee view. The multiple-employee view shows the work schedules of all of the selected employees, using a weekly calendar.
If a supervisor opens the Work Schedule screen from the Time & Expense with ESS main menu or launches the screen after selecting a single leave request approval task from MyTask on the Desktop, the single-employee view appears. If he or she selects more than one leave request approval task from the Desktop or selects multiple employees in the Employee Work Schedule Search dialog box, the multiple-employee view appears. If necessary, a supervisor can switch to the single-employee view by selecting one employee in the multiple-employee view and can return to the multiple-employee view by clicking the Multiple Employee View button.
Time & Expense with ESS provides two work schedule levels: company and employee. The company-level schedules typically consist of standard work and non-work days and company holidays. Each employee work schedule starts from one of the company-level schedules but often includes modifications, such as vacation days, that are specific to that employee.
Because of these two schedule levels, when you view or edit the properties for a date in an employee work schedule, the properties you see may be from the company-level schedule, if no employee-specific settings have been made, or from the employee-level schedule. In addition, they may be date-specific properties, or they may be properties that apply generally to that day of the week. The Type field in the Date Properties dialog box and the Day of Week Properties dialog box indicates the source of the current properties. In any case, assuming you have the necessary access rights, you can change any of the properties.
A change you make to the properties of a date apply only to that specific date. In contrast, a change you make to the properties for a day of the week applies to all of those days in the currently displayed calendar and to all prior or future instances of that day of the week in the employee's work schedule.
For example, if you select a single Saturday and make it a work day in the Date Properties dialog box, that affects only that one Saturday. However, if you click the column heading for Saturday and make Saturday a work day for the employee in the Day of Week Properties dialog box, every Saturday in the work schedule is changed to a work day.
Employees can use the Work Schedule screen to request or schedule one or multiple days off, or even partial days off. Supervisors can use it to approve or reject leave requests for one or more of their employees. Both employees and supervisors can also review leave balances.
Employees are required to request leave and have it approved if the Must Request Leave check box in the Basic Information tab of the Timesheet Classes screen is selected for their timesheet class. Until the approval occurs, the leave request is considered "pending." Pending leave is color-coded differently from scheduled leave in the work schedule calendar and also appears in the list under Pending Leave Requests.
When the employee's supervisor approves a pending leave request, the leave becomes "scheduled," and the status change is reflected in the work schedule calendar.
If the Must Request Leave check box is not checked for an employee's timesheet class, they can schedule leave without being approved in Time and Expense with ESS.
You have the option to define events for the following actions so that alerts or email notifications are sent to the appropriate recipients:
Employee requests leave.
Employee cancels a pending leave request.
Supervisor (or other person with a supervisory function) approves a pending leave request.
Supervisor (or other person with a supervisory function) rejects a pending leave request.
If you set up an "Employee requests leave" event, you can specify for that event that the supervisor be assigned the "Approve Leave Request" task, so that task will appear under MyTasks on the supervisor's Desktop.
If you are using the option to generate timesheets for some groups of employees, the Generate Timesheet utility uses employee work schedules to determine an employee's work days and total work hours, vacation days, and holidays for the timesheet period.
To edit the properties (type of day, lunch hour, work hours,...) of a date or day of the week for an employee schedule, do the following:
On the Time Entry menu, click Schedule » Employee Work Schedule to open the Work Schedule screen with your own work schedule displayed.
If you want to edit properties for another employee's schedule, click 
and use the Employee Work Schedule Search dialog box to select the employee.
If the calendar is not for the correct month, click the arrows above the calendar to move to the month in which leave has been requested. (You can also click the month and year at the top of the calendar to open the Select a Date dialog box.)
If you want to edit the properties for a particular date, click that date in the calendar.
If you want to edit the properties for a day of the week, click on the column heading for that day.
Click Edit Date/Day of Week Properties to open the Date Properties dialog box or Day of Week Properties dialog box.
Make the necessary changes, and click Update. (For details, see Date/Day of Week Properties Dialog Box.)
To request or schedule leave, do the following:
On the Time Entry menu, click Schedule » Employee Work Schedule to open the Work Schedule screen with your own work schedule displayed.
If you are requesting or scheduling leave for someone other than yourself, click and use the Employee Work Schedule Search dialog box to select the employee.
If the calendar is not for the correct month, click the arrows above the calendar to move to the month. (You can also click the month and year at the top of the calendar to open the Select a Date dialog box.)
Click each date for which you want to request or schedule leave. (If you select an incorrect date, just click it again to remove the selection.)
When you have selected all of the days, click the Request Leave button or Schedule Leave button, whichever is available. (If you are required to request leave, the button label is Request Leave. If you aren't required to request leave, it is Schedule Leave.)
In the Request/Schedule Leave dialog box, review and, if necessary, change the default time period and the number of hours the employee will be on leave.
Use the Notes column to enter any explanatory notes related to the leave.
When you have entered the times and hours for each day of leave, click OK to return to the Work Schedule screen. The calendar will now indicate the days for which you have pending or scheduled leave.
To approve or reject leave an employee has requested, do the following:
On the Time Entry menu, click Schedule » Employee Work Schedule to open the Work Schedule screen with your own work schedule displayed. (If the approval task appears on your Desktop, you can also open the Work Schedule screen by launching that task.)
If the correct employee's schedule isn't displayed, click and use the Employee Work Schedule Search dialog box to select the employee.
If the calendar is not for the correct month, click on the arrows above the calendar to move to the month in which leave has been requested. (You can also click the month and year at the top of the calendar to open the Select a Date dialog box.)
To approve leave requests, check the box for each approved day under Pending Leave Requests and then click Approve.
To reject leave requests, check the box for each day you are rejecting and click Reject. When you do this, the Reject Leave Request dialog box opens so you can enter an explanation for the rejection.
If you requested leave that has not yet been approved and you now want to cancel that request, do the following:
On the Time Entry menu, click Schedule » Employee Work Schedule to open the Work Schedule screen with your own work schedule displayed.
If the calendar is not for the correct month, click on the arrows above the calendar to move to the month for which you requested leave. (You can also click the month and year at the top of the calendar to open the Select a Date dialog box.)
Under Pending Leave Requests, check the box for each day of leave you want to cancel, and then click Cancel.
Use these application options and screen components to review and update employee work schedules.
This Search icon is only available to supervisors.
Unless you open the Work Schedule screen from MyTasks on your Desktop, your own employee work schedule displays when you first enter this screen.
To display work schedules for employees other than yourself, click to select those employees. (You are limited to those employees for whom you are supervisor.) If you select one employee, his or her schedule is presented in a monthly calendar in the single-employee view. If you select more than one, their schedules appear in a weekly calendar in the multiple-employee view.
To request or schedule leave for one or more dates, first click each of the dates to select them all and then click Request Leave or Schedule Leave, whichever is available. (If you are required to request leave, the button label is Request Leave. If you aren't required to request leave, it is Schedule Leave.)
When the Request/Schedule Leave dialog box opens, you enter the start and end times for the leave, the number of hours, and, if necessary, a note or comment about the leave.
To make changes to the properties for a specific date in the work schedule, click that date in the calendar to select it, and then click the Edit Date/Day of Week Properties button to open the Date Properties dialog box. (In the multiple-employee view, the button label is Edit Date Properties.)
To make changes to the properties for a day of the week (to change all Saturdays from a non-work day to a work day, for example), click the column heading for that day in the calendar to select it, and then click the Edit Date/Day of Week Properties button to open the Day of Week Properties dialog box. (You can only change properties for a day of the week from the single-employee view.)
If you are in the single-employee view...
If you are in the single-employee view, the work schedule for yourself or a selected employee for the current month is shown.
You can move between months using the arrow buttons. As you do, each month is displayed with all previously defined properties, including any chosen during this session. You can also click the month and year at the top of the calendar to open the Select a Date dialog box. In that dialog box, you can select the specific month and year you want to see.
To request or schedule leave for one or more dates, first click each of the dates to select them all and then click Request Leave or Schedule Leave, whichever is available.
To view or edit properties for a date, click that date and click Edit Date/Day of Week Properties.
To view or edit properties for a day of the week, click the column heading for that day and click Edit Date/Day of Week Properties.
If you select a date by mistake, click it again to reverse the selection.
If you are in the multiple-employee view...
If you are in the multiple-employee view, the work schedule for each of the employees for the current week is shown.
You can move between weeks using the arrow buttons. As you do, each week is displayed with all previously defined properties, including any chosen during this session. You can also click the date at the top of the calendar to open the Select a Date dialog box. In that dialog box, you can select the specific month, year, and week you want to see.
To schedule leave for an employee, click the employee to go to the single-employee view. In that view, click each of the dates to select them all and then click Schedule Leave.
To view or edit properties for a date, click that date and click Edit Date Properties.
To view or edit properties for a day of the week, click the employee to go to the single-employee view. In that view, click the column heading for that day of the week and click Edit Date/Day of Week Properties.
To view leave balance information, click the employee to go to the single-employee view.
Use the Multiple Employee View button to switch from the single-employee view to the multiple-employee view.
The button is only visible if you came to the single-employee view from the multiple-employee view.
The legends for the work schedule calendars provide keys to the color-coding used for each type of day.
Be aware that if the schedule includes any holiday, pending leave, leave, or off-site hours for a date, that date's color will be the color for the non-standard day, even though it may include some standard work hours as well.
In the multiple-employee view, the hours are shown for each date. If the employee has both standard hours and hours for leave or off-site work scheduled for a date, both the standard work hours and the leave or off-site hours are shown. For example, if the standard hours are 8 and the employee is taking a half day of leave, 8/4 appears for the date.
The Leave Balances grid shows the number of hours of leave available to the employee, as of the current system date, for each leave type.
The balances are calculated as leave accrued less leave actually taken. Any leave requested or scheduled but not yet taken is still included in the balance amounts.
Use the options and screen components under Pending Leave Requests in either the single- or multiple-employee view to review, approve, reject, or cancel leave requests that are awaiting approval. (Exception: You can only cancel leave requests in the single-employee view.)
To approve, reject, or cancel a leave request, check the check box next to it and then click the appropriate option (Approve, Reject, or Cancel) above the grid.
To check the boxes for all requests in the list at once, check the check box in the grid header.
If you reject a leave request, the Reject Leave Request dialog box opens so you can enter an explanation.
Use these dialog box components to request or schedule leave.
The Date column displays the dates selected in the calendar when you clicked Request Leave or Schedule Leave.
In Start Time and End Time for each date, enter the starting and ending times of the leave for that date.
In the Hours column for each date, enter the number of leave hours you want to schedule.
Use the Notes column to enter any explanations or comments related to the requested or scheduled leave.
Use these dialog box components to specify the properties of the selected date or day of the week.
This non-editable field displays what type of properties you are viewing for the date:
Employee Date - Date properties set up for this employee.
Company Date - Date properties set up at the company level.
Employee Day of Week - Day of the week properties set up for this employee.
Company Day of Week - Day of the week properties set up at the company level.
Check this check box to designate the date or days that you selected in the calendar as non-working days.
Use this property for weekends or other days, other than holidays and leave days, on which the employee does not work.
Use this property for company holidays.
This check box is available if you checked the Non-Work Day, Holiday, or Vacation check boxes.
If you checked the Non-Work Day check box, check Flexible to allow the employee to charge hours to the date or day of the week. If a date is a non-workday and is not flexible, employees cannot enter hours for that date.
If you checked the Holiday check box, check Flexible to allow employees to work that date and take the holiday on another date. If a date is a holiday and is not flexible, the employee must use the holiday charge for that date.
If you checked the Leave check box, check Flexible to allow employees to work that date and take the leave on another date. If a date is set up as leave and is not flexible, the employee must use the leave charge for that date.
Use this property to indicate that the employee is taking leave on the selected date. Also, under Leave, enter the time period the employee will be on leave and the number of hours of leave he or she will take.
If the employee's timesheet class is set up to require leave to be requested, the leave appears in the work schedule calendar as pending until it has been approved.
If the timesheet class does not require leave requests, the leave appears as scheduled leave in the calendar.
For each day on the schedule, you can set a standard number of hours. The system uses this to determine how many hours the employee should have worked and for which days. By adding up the standard hours for a timesheet period, the system can determine the standard hours for the period. Even if a day is defined as a workday, the system will not expect any hours unless the value in Standard Hours for that day is greater than zero.
Enter the expected number of hours for lunch.
If the employee enters time in/time out information when completing a timesheet, this value becomes the default number of non-work hours for the date.
If your system is set up to track start and end times for lunch, you can enter default start and end times for specific dates or days of the week for the employee.
When the employee enters time, these times appear by default when he or she opens the Time In/Out dialog box to record in/out times for the day.
If Track Lunch Start/End is not checked on the Miscellaneous tab of the Time configuration screen, these fields do not appear in the Date Properties dialog box or Day of Week Properties dialog box.
If the employee is taking leave on the selected date, you can enter the number of hours to be taken in Hours under Leave.
If the employee's timesheet class is set up to require leave to be requested, the leave appears in the work schedule calendar as pending until it has been approved.
Use Start Time and End Time under Leave to enter the start and end time of the leave period for the selected date.
The number of on-site work hours is calculated based on the standard hours, leave hours, and off-site work hours specified for the date:
On-site work hours = Standard hours - leave hours - off-site work hours
Use Start Time and End Time under Work: On-Site to enter the start and end time of the employee's on-site work hours.
If the employee enters time in/out when completing timesheets, these times become the default time in and time out for the date.
If the employee enters start/end times, the start time for the date in the schedule becomes the default start time for the first start/stop time record for that date in the timesheet.
If the employee will perform off-site work on the selected date, you can enter the expected off-site hours in Hours under Work: Off-Site.
If the employee is required to enter in and out times when entering timesheets, these hours become the default off-site work hours for the date when he or she opens the Time In/Out dialog box to enter those times.
If the employee will perform off-site work on the selected date, use Start Time and End Time under Work: Off-Site to enter the start and end time of the employee's off-site work hours.
Click the Update button to close the dialog box and save the changes you made to the employee work schedule properties for the selected date or day of the week.
If you entered leave hours for yourself and your timesheet class requires you to request leave and get supervisor approval, the leave appears in the work schedule calendar as pending until it has been approved. If you are not required to have leave approved, the leave appears in the calendar as scheduled leave.
If you are a supervisor and you enter leave hours for an employee you supervise, the leave appears in the employee's work schedule calendar as scheduled leave whether or not that employee is required to request leave. Your entry of the leave constitutes approval.
Click the Reset button to remove the employee-specific properties currently displayed. When you do that, properties from the next available level of properties take effect and are displayed in the dialog box. Those property levels, in the order in which they take effect, are employee date, company date, employee day of week, and company day of week.
If the Reset button is disabled, one of the following is the reason:
You have read-only rights to the screen.
The properties are company date properties or company day of week properties. You cannot reset company level properties.
Your functional role as supervisor does not give you schedule modification rights for the employee's schedule.
Click the Cancel button to close the Date Properties dialog box or Day of Week Properties dialog box.
If you made any changes in the dialog box since you last opened it, those changes are discarded.