Schedule Cycle

The Schedule Cycle form is used for the following:

Create schedule cycles.
Define the schedules in each cycle.

A schedule cycle is a multiple day pattern of schedules that can repeat numerous times. You first define a Cycle Name with a start date and cycle length. Next, you create the schedules for each day within the schedule cycle.

In order for the schedule cycle to take effect, you must do the following:

Define the Cycle Name for the schedule cycle.
Define the days in the schedule cycle.
Assign the schedule cycle to one or more persons.
Generate the schedule cycle.

Once the schedule cycle has been assigned and generated, you can view it on the Person Schedule form. You can also view the schedule cycle on the Assignment tab of the Employee form.

If you have been assigned a Supervisor Role, the actions that you can carry out on the Schedule Cycle form will depend on the Functional Areas that have been assigned to your role.

Note: If you change a person's schedule for a day or period that is already signed, the signatures may be removed. Make sure you check the days and sign them again if necessary.

Detail Forms:

Cycle

Event

Schedule Cycle Field Descriptions

Day

This field indicates the record's order number in the cycle. For example, Day 1 would be the first day in the cycle.

Week Day

This field identifies the week day that the day number falls on.

Schedule Start Time

The Schedule Start Day and Time indicate the actual physical day when the schedule starts. For example, a schedule designed to post for Wednesday could actually start on Tuesday or Thursday. The options for the Schedule Start Day depend on whether or not the schedule crosses midnight.

If the schedule crosses midnight, the valid options are YESTERDAY and TODAY. If you select YESTERDAY, the employee comes in the night before and works until the current morning. If you select TODAY, the employee comes in on the current day and works until tomorrow morning.
If the schedule does not cross midnight, the valid options are YESTERDAY, TODAY, and TOMORROW. For example, you can set the employee’s Monday schedule to actually begin on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday.

Schedule End Time

This field indicates the official end day and time of the employee's schedule. When calculating whether an employee is inside or outside of schedule, the schedule’s applicable start and end times apply.

Note: The difference between the Start Time and End Time of a schedule record cannot be more than 24 hours.

Net Time

This field shows the net time for the day. It is calculated by the application based on the Schedule Start Time and Schedule End Time.

Schedule Type

This category describes the schedule. Select Normal, Exclusion, or Optional. See Schedule Types for more information.

The color of the Schedule Type is based on your assigned Color Policy. See Color Policy - Other Context for more information.

Ad Hoc Type

This field only applies if the Schedule Type is Ad Hoc Placeholder.

If the Ad Hoc Type is Virtual, then whatever schedule was set on the most previous post date for the person, and was not identified as a Gap Day, is copied into the placeholder time span.

If the Ad Hoc Type is By Clock, the system will pick an Ad Hoc Template that corresponds to the period containing the time stamp of the clock in. To create an Ad Hoc Template, use the Ad Hoc Templates form. You must assign the Ad Hoc Template to a Schedule Group using the Assign Ad Hoc Template form.

Availability Type

This field indicates whether the person is Working, Not Working, Available, or Unavailable. The available options depend on the Schedule Type you selected.

For a Normal schedule, the Availability Type is always Working.

For an Exclusion schedule, the Availability Type is always Not Working.

For an Optional schedule, you can set the Availability Type to Not Working or Working to indicate whether the person will be working or not during the schedule times. However, the availability type will not affect the person's ability to clock-in during the scheduled start and end times.

For an Availability schedule, you can set the Availability Type to Available or Unavailable. However, the availability type will not affect the person's ability to receive additional schedules or clock-in during the scheduled start and end times.

Gap Day Number

A gap day is a day when the employee is not scheduled to work. However, the employee may be allowed to come in and work on certain gap days and you can distinguish each gap day with its own Gap Day Number. The Gap Day Number can then be used by Pay Rules to identify the day in the schedule.

For example, a Monday – Friday schedule includes Optional schedules on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is defined as Gap Day Num 1 and Sunday is defined as Gap Day Num 2. To apply a particular hours classification to Sunday, a Pay Rule is defined using the Is a Gap Day Number operand set to 2.

Gap Day Number may also be used for Availability Schedules and Ad-Hoc Schedules.

Applicable Start

This is the effective start date and time of the schedule record. Calendar date and time defaults to current date and time. When calculating whether an employee is inside or outside of schedule, the schedule’s applicable start and end times apply.

Applicable End

This is the effective end date and time of the schedule record. Calendar date and time defaults to current date and time. When calculating whether an employee is inside or outside of schedule, the schedule’s applicable start and end times apply.

Required

This option inicates whether the person is required to adhere to the schedule (Mandatory), or if the schedule is Optional. If a schedule is Mandatory, the person must follow the schedule or an exception will occur.

Normal and Exclusion schedules are always Mandatory. Optional and Availability schedules are always Optional. An Ad Hoc Placeholder schedule can be Mandatory or Optional.

Shift

This field identifies the shift that is being used for this schedule. Shifts are created on the Shift Definition form.

Note: This shift will be used only if the employee has a Shift Policy with Shift From Schedule selected.

Description

This field contains a description of the schedule.

Start Early Margin

This whole number represents the number of time units the employee can start the schedule before a schedule start without receiving a violation notice. The Unit field determines if the value is hours, minutes, or seconds. The default value is minutes.

Start Late Margin

This whole number represents the number of time units the employee can start the schedule after a schedule start without receiving a violation notice. The Unit field determines if the value is hours, minutes, or seconds. The default value is minutes.

End Early Margin

This whole number represents the number of time units the employee can end the schedule before the schedule end without receiving a violation notice. The Unit field determines if the value is hours, minutes, or seconds. The default value is minutes.

End Late Margin

This whole number represents the number of time units the employee can end the schedule after the schedule end without receiving a violation notice. The Unit field determines if the value is hours, minutes, or seconds. The default value is minutes.

Protected

The Protected check box is configured on the Other Properties tab when you are adding or modifying a schedule.

If this box is checked, the schedule will be generated as a Protected schedule. When a person has a Protected schedule, the person's schedule cannot be modified or deleted by the SCHEDULE_GENERATION service or the Generate button on the Schedule Cycle form. However, you can modify a Protected schedule on the Person Schedule form if you un-protect the schedule first.

Is Elapsed

If this box is selected, the employee is expected to post time using the elapsed entry method. The time is entered after the time has been worked. Employees can enter one or more days' worth of time entries at a time. This is a method typically used by salaried employees.

Holiday Overtime

If this box is selected, the schedule applies to holiday overtime.

Overtime Type.

This indicates the type of overtime done:

PRE SHIFT: The overtime applies before the normal schedule.
POST SHIFT: The overtime applies after the normal schedule.

Note: Overtime type applies only to Optional Schedules.

Split Day

Indicates whether this day is a split day in a 9-80 schedule.

A 9-80 schedule is a two-week schedule in which 80 hours are worked in nine days instead of ten. Typically, one week consists of four nine-hour days and a single eight-hour day, while the other week consists of four nine-hour days. The time worked on the eight-hour day is split between two pay weeks (therefore this day is called the split day).

A split day will have two adjacent schedules – one for the First Half of the day and one for the Second Half of the day.

Select NO SPLIT if the schedule is not a split day.

Select FIRST HALF if the schedule is for the first half of a split day in a 9-80 schedule.

Select SECOND HALF if the schedule is for the second half of a split day in a 9-80 schedule.

When you select FIRST HALF or SECOND HALF, you must also specify the Pay Week and Pay Period.

Pay Week

This field is available when you select FIRST HALF or SECOND HALF in the Split Day field. This setting indicates whether the schedule will apply to a different pay week while still having the same Post Date. This setting will affect how the schedule displays on the timecard as well as weekly overtime thresholds. Select from the following options:

CURRENT: This half of the split day applies to the current pay week.
NEXT: This half of the split day applies to the next pay week.

For example, a 9-80 biweekly schedule has a split day in the middle of the pay period. The First Half has Pay Week set to CURRENT and the Second Half has Pay Week set to NEXT. When you view the first week of the pay period in the timecard, the First Half of the split day is included. When you view the second week of the pay period in the timecard, the Second Half of the split day is included.

Pay Period

This field is available when you select FIRST HALF or SECOND HALF in the Split Day field. This setting indicates whether the schedule will apply to a different pay period while still having the same Post Date. This setting affects how the schedule displays on the timecard as well as weekly overtime thresholds. Select from the following options:

CURRENT: This half of the split day applies to the current pay period.
NEXT: This half of the split day applies to the next pay period.

For example, in a 9-80 biweekly schedule, the last day in the period is a split Friday with an Optional schedule. For the First Half of this day, Pay Week and Pay Period are set to CURRENT. For the Second Half of this day, Pay Week and Pay Period are set to NEXT. If the employee works on this optional split day, the First Half will apply to the current pay period and pay week. The Second Half will apply to the next pay period and pay week.

Total Paid

Represents the amount of hours in the schedule record that are paid. Paid time is made up by time that is not an event.

Total Unpaid

Represents the amount of hours in the schedule record that are unpaid. Unpaid time is made up by events, such as MEAL and/or BREAK.

Update Date, Updated By

These fields display when the record was created or updated, and the person who created or updated the record.

Define Days in a Schedule Cycle

Important: You must have a Cycle record before you can define the schedules for each day within the cycle. Cycles are created on the Cycle form.

Click Main Menu > Administration > Schedules > Schedule Cycle.
Select a Cycle Name from the drop-down list or click the button next to the Cycle Name field and select Lookup from the pop-up menu. If you do not have a Cycle in place, you must create one. See Cycle.
Click Find on the Schedule Cycle form.

The existing records will appear. Each record represents one day in the cycle. For example, if the schedule cycle has ten days in the period, ten records will appear.

Each day is defined as a GAP day until you add a schedule to it.
Click Add Day to define a day in the cycle. The Add Schedule Cycle pop-up form appears. The Cycle Name field displays the cycle you selected in step 1.
In the Day of Cycle field, enter or select the day in the schedule cycle for which you want to define the schedule. You can only select between the number of days that are included in the schedule cycle. For example, if your schedule cycle is 10 days, you can only select between 1 and 10. Note that if you repeat the schedule cycle, day number one will fall on different weekdays as the cycle repeats.
Select a Schedule Type.
If you selected Ad Hoc Placeholder as your Schedule Type, you will also have to select an Ad Hoc Type.
Select an Availability Type.
Enter a Gap Day Number.

A Gap Day is a day when the employee is not scheduled to work as part of his normal work. If this schedule applies to one of those gap days (for possible use in pay rules), enter that number here (for example, Sunday = 1). The most likely schedules to use Gap Days are Availability Schedules and Ad-Hoc Schedules
Select an Applicable Start Day (TODAY, TOMORROW, or YESTERDAY) and an Applicable Start Time. This is the effective start date and time of the schedule and is used to calculate whether an employee is inside or outside of the schedule.
Select a Start Day and a Start Time.
Select an Applicable End Day (TODAY, TOMORROW, or YESTERDAY) and an Applicable End Time. This is the effective end date and time of the schedule and is used to calculate whether an employee is inside or outside of the schedule.
Select an End Day and an End Time.
Set Required field as desired. This indicates whether the schedule is mandatory or optional. It is based on the selected Schedule Type.
Select a Shift. Shifts are created on the Shift Definition form.
Click the Margins tab. Enter the applicable values on the Margins form.
Click the Properties tab. Enter the applicable values on the Properties form.
Enter a Description for the day.
If you want to add more than one day to the Schedule Cycle, click Save and Add to save your settings and keep the Add Schedule Cycle window open. Click Save to save the cycle day record and return to the main form.

Modify a Day in a Schedule Cycle

Click Main Menu > Administration > Schedules > Schedule Cycle.
Select a Cycle Name from the drop-down list.
You can also click the button next to the Cycle Name field and select Lookup from the pop-up menu. On the Cycle form, select the Cycle for which you want to modify days. Click OK to return to the Schedule Cycle form.
Select the day you want to modify.
Click Modify. The Modify Schedule Cycle pop-up form appears.
Modify the necessary fields.
Click Save when you are finished.
Assign and generate the schedule.

Copy a Day or Day Range in a Schedule Cycle

You can copy values from and to days within a Schedule Cycle. Note that if you already have a schedule in place for the day you are copying values to, the existing schedule will be replaced with the copied value.

Click Main Menu > Administration > Schedules > Schedule Cycle.
Select a Cycle Name from the drop-down list.
You can also click the button next to the Cycle Name field and select Lookup from the pop-up menu. On the Cycle form, select the Cycle for which you want to copy days. Click OK to return to the Schedule Cycle form.
Click Copy Days.

The Schedule Copy form appears. The Cycle Name field displays the Cycle Name you selected in step 2. The Cycle Length field displays how many days are in this schedule cycle.
In the Source Start Day field, enter the first day number of the range of days you want to copy values FROM. For example, if the schedule cycle has 7 days, and you want to copy schedule values from days 3 and 4, enter 3.
In the Source End Day field, enter the last day number of the range of days you want to copy values FROM. If you only want to copy values from one day, then enter the same number in both Source Start Day and Source Start End fields.
In the Copy To Start Day field, enter the first day number in the range of days you want to copy values TO.
In the Copy To End Day field, enter the last day number in the range of days you want to copy values TO.
Click Save.
Click Find on the Schedule Cycle form to refresh the page.

Delete Days in a Schedule Cycle

Click Main Menu > Administration > Schedules > Schedule Cycle.
Select a Cycle Name from the drop-down list.
You can also click the button next to the Cycle Name field and select Lookup from the pop-up menu. On the Cycle form, select the Cycle for which you want to delete days. Click OK to return to the Schedule Cycle form.
Select the day you want to delete and click Delete. To select more than one day, press the CTRL key while you select the records.
Click OK to confirm the action.

Assign Schedule Cycle to One or More Persons

Once you have defined your Schedule Cycle, you need to assign it to the appropriate person. To do so, use the Assign button on the Schedule Cycle form.

You can also assign a Schedule Cycle to a person using the Assignment tab of the Employee form.

Note: A Schedule Cycle will not take effect until you have generated it via the SCHEDULE_GENERATION service. You can run the Schedule Generation service via the Generate button on the Schedule Cycle form, or you can run the service on the Service Monitor form.

Click Main Menu > Administration > Schedules > Schedule Cycle.
Select the Schedule Cycle you want to assign.

To do so, select a Cycle Name from the drop-down list. You can also click the button next to the Cycle Name field and select Lookup from the pop-up menu. On the Cycle form, select the Cycle you want to assign. Click OK to return to the Schedule Cycle form.
Click Find on the Schedule Cycle form. The existing records will appear. Each record represents one day in the cycle. For example, if the schedule cycle has ten days in the period, ten records will appear.
Click Assign to display the Assign People form. The form will display active person records.
If the filter area is not visible, click the Filter button to display the filter fields.
In the Start Date field, enter the date when the Schedule Cycle assignment starts.

Note that the Cycle Name’s Reference Date also determines which dates will have the assigned schedule. If the Cycle Name’s Reference Date is before the Start Date, then the first date that will have the assigned schedule is the Start Date. If the Cycle Name’s Reference Date is after the Start Date, then the first date that will have the assigned schedule is the Reference Date. The Start Date will be assigned the Day number in the schedule that corresponds with the days in the cycle.

Example:

A Cycle Name’s Reference Date is May 26, 2010. This cycle is 5 days long. A person is assigned this cycle with a Start Date of June 1, 2010. The person’s schedules from May 26 to June 1 are shown below.
In the End Date field, enter the last date of the Schedule Cycle assignment.
Check the Override box if you want to assign the schedule for a short period of time to override an existing schedule assignment of the same type. The new Override schedule will automatically be assigned a Level Number that is one number higher than the original schedule. The Level Number indicates which schedule should be used when the two schedules have overlapping dates. The Override check box on the Schedule Cycle/Assign People form works the same as the Override check box on the Assignment tab of the Employee form.
To filter the persons you want to assign schedules to, use the Facility, Employee, and Supervision Type fields.
Select the Include Direct box if you want to view persons that report directly to the logged in Supervisor via Employee Group type DIRECT_MANAGER. This check box applies to the Supervision Type filter.
Once you have made your selection, click Find to display the persons that match your criteria.
You can assign the Schedule Cycle to one, several, or all the persons shown.
To assign to ALL persons shown, click Assign All.
To assign to one or more but not all persons shown, select the persons and click Assign Selected. You can perform a multi-select by pressing the CTRL key on the keyboard while selecting the persons.

The selected persons will be assigned the Schedule Cycle you selected for the dates that fall on and in between the indicated Start and End dates. You can view this SCHEDULE_CYCLE assignment on the Assignment tab of the Employee form.

The schedule will not take effect until you generate it (see below).

Generate Schedules

Once a schedule has been assigned to a person, you can use the Generate button on the Schedule Cycle form to generate the schedule. A schedule must be generated in order to take effect. Once a Schedule Cycle has been assigned and generated, it can be viewed on the Person Schedule form.

You can also run the SCHEDULE_GENERATION service via a Service Schedule or using the Service Monitor form. A Service Schedule is useful if you want to generate schedules on a regular basis.

When you click the Generate button, you select the date range and persons for which you want to generate the selected schedule. The SCHEDULE_GENERATION service will then check the Person Assignment of each of these persons to see if a new SCHEDULE_CYCLE assignment for the selected schedule has been added and if so, the service will generate this schedule assignment.

Note: You cannot generate a schedule on a day that is payroll locked. The SCHEDULE_GENERATION service will skip payroll locked days and record an error on the Error Log form.

To generate schedules via the Generate button on the Schedule Cycle form:

Click Main Menu > Administration > Schedules > Schedule Cycle.
Select the Schedule Cycle you want to generate.

To do so, select a Cycle Name from the drop-down list. You can also click the button next to the Cycle Name field and select Lookup from the pop-up menu. On the Cycle form, select the Cycle you want to generate. Click OK to return to the Schedule Cycle form.
Click Find on the Schedule Cycle form. The existing records will appear. Each record represents one day in the cycle. For example, if the schedule cycle has ten days in the period, ten records will appear.
Click Generate to display the Schedule Generation form.
If the filter area is not visible, click the Filter button to display the filter fields.
Enter or select the Start Date and End Date for which you want to generate the cycles. The End Date can be a maximum of 30 days after the Start Date (schedules can be generated for up to 30 days).
To filter the persons for whom you want to generate the Schedule Cycle, use the Facility, Employee ID, and Supervision Type fields.
Check the Include Direct box if you want to view persons that report directly to the logged in Supervisor via Employee Group type DIRECT_MANAGER. This check box applies to the Supervision Type filter.
Once you have made your selection, click Find to display the persons that match your criteria.
Select the persons for whom you want to generate schedules. Press the CTRL key and click to select multiple employees.
Click Generate Selected.

The service will generate the selected Schedule Cycle for the selected persons for the dates that fall on and in between the indicated Start and End dates.

You can now view each person’s schedule on the Person Schedule form.

Generating Overlapping Schedules

During Schedule Generation, if there is an overlap between day X (the day being generated) and day X+1 or X-1, the new schedule and the overlapping (old) schedule are examined before generating the schedule. The New Overlap Algorithm is as follows:

New schedule gets generated unless the old schedule is Protected.
The above is true regardless of the schedule types (Normal, Optional, Exclusion, Ad Hoc Placeholder or Availability), whether there are punches on the post date, or anything else.
Old schedule gets updated (if partial overlap) or deleted (if complete overlap – the Real range is completely consumed) so that the overlap condition is avoided.
Scheduled events in the old schedule either do not get updated at all (not affected by new schedule) or else they get deleted (because there's either partial or total overlap).

A schedule that is “Protected” cannot be touched. Any schedule attempting to generate that overlaps a protected schedule will fail.

Schedule Overlap

Complete Schedule Overlap

A complete overlap is where the “real” part of the old schedule (start time stamp to end time stamp) is entirely consumed by the applicable range of the new schedule.

For example, say the schedule on Tuesday is 0000 to 0700, with applicable range 2000 Monday to 1100 Tuesday. A new schedule for Monday is generated and is 2000 Monday to 0400 Tuesday, with applicable range 1600 Monday to 0800 Tuesday.

In this scenario, the “real” parts of the two schedules partially overlap, as do the applicable range. However, the applicable range of the new schedule (1600-0800) extends beyond the real part of the old schedule (0000-0700). This scenario counts as a complete overlap, and in this scenario, the old schedule is deleted, including any events in it.

Partial Schedule Overlap

A partial overlap is any overlap that isn’t a complete overlap in that at least some real part of the schedule isn’t overlapped. In this case, the applicable and, if necessary, real ranges of the old schedule are adjusted so that the schedule shrinks and there is no overlap.

For example, say the schedule on Tuesday is 0000 to 0700, with applicable range 2000 Monday to 1100 Tuesday. A new schedule for Monday is generated and is 1600 Monday to 0000 Tuesday, with applicable range 1200 Monday to 0400 Tuesday.

In this scenario, in order to make the schedules no longer overlap, the old schedule is modified so that both the applicable start and real start times are both 0400 so at no moment do both schedules apply. The real and applicable end times are not adjusted as they are both outside the new schedule.

Scheduled Event Overlap

If a scheduled event is completely or partially overlapped, then the scheduled event is deleted. This applies regardless if an event is AUTO or PUNCH or OVERRIDE.

If the Scheduled event is defined as OFFSET instead of STRICT (with time stamps), the start and end of the event from the unmodified old schedule are calculated and if there’s any overlap, the Scheduled event is deleted.

In the case where the event is not overlapped, and the real start time of the schedule is being moved later (partial overlap), the offsets are changed such that the event does not move within the schedule. For example, if an event in a schedule that starts at 8 AM has offsets of 4 and 4.5 (12-12:30 PM), and that start time changes to 9:30 AM, then the event’s offsets must become 2.5 and 3 to remain 12-12:30 PM.

Schedule Generation and Daylight Saving Time

If a schedule is being generated on the Spring Daylight Saving Time day, and the schedule has a timestamp (Start Timestamp, End Timestamp, Applicable Start, or Applicable End) between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., an hour offset will be added to the timestamp.

This offset is to account for Daylight Saving Time beginning at 2:00 a.m. local time on the Spring Daylight Saving Time day (the second Sunday in March). The time between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on this day technically does not exist, as the time has sprung forward starting at 2 a.m. (1:59 a.m. jumps to 3:00 a.m.).

For example, a Schedule Cycle’s Applicable End is March 8, 2015 at 2:30 a.m. When the SCHEDULE_GENERATION service generates this service, the Applicable End will be March 8 at 3:30 a.m.

Note: If this offset creates an overlap with the next day’s schedule, the next day’s schedule will be adjusted accordingly.

Recalc Time Card

The Recalc Time Card button is used to bring a timecard into compliance after you add or modify an employee's schedule on a day that already has time posted. For example, an employee starts working a new schedule before his schedule is updated in the system, causing him to receive a Late Arrival event. When the employee's schedule is updated, the day will be marked as needing recalculation. The Recalc Time Card button will process the event postings according to the updated schedule and remove the Late Arrival event.

Note: You cannot recalculate a period while the employee is clocked in.

Click Main Menu > Administration > Schedules > Schedule Cycle.
Find the Cycle Name you want to recalculate.
Select the record for the scheduled day you want to recalculate. Update the schedule as necessary.
Assign and Generate the updated schedule to the appropriate person.
Click the Recalc Time Card button.

The Recalculate pop-up form appears.
Click the Filter button to display the Start Date, End Date, and Force Recalculation fields.
Enter the dates of the schedules you updated in the Start Date and End Date fields. Note that the End Date cannot be later than the current post date. When the system finds a record that needs recalculation, it will recalculate the entire period, even if that period occurs outside of the Start and End Dates.

Note that the Max Periods Back setting in the employee's Recalculation Policy applies here. If your Start Date and End Date range spans beyond the Max Periods Back setting, the system will only search for records that need recalculation up to the Max Periods Back setting. Max Periods Back is the maximum number of periods/weeks prior to the current period/week for which the system will search for days that need corrections.
Check Force Recalculation if you want to run recalculation even if none of the days in the week/period are marked as needing recalculation.
Select one or more Employee records for the employees whose timecards you want to recalculate.
Click Save to perform the recalculation.
To close the Recalculate pop-up form, click the in the upper right corner.