The Scheduled Events feature allows for the automatic posting of Suspend events to employee timecards. You can use this feature to post events such as fire drills or team meetings. A service instance will start and/or end the event so employees do not have to post the event themselves. The labor, break, or meal event that was in progress when the Suspend event started will still be in progress when the Suspend event ends.
The SCHEDULED_EVENT service will post the Suspend event automatically based on a schedule defined on the Scheduled Events form. The schedule determines whether the service will post the event as a punch event or an elapsed event. For a punch event, the SCHEDULED_EVENT service can post both the start and end of the event, or the service can start the event and the employee can end it. Note that the event’s timestamp or post date must be prior to the date and time when the service is running. The service will not future post an event.
The service will select schedules based on the Employee Group of the supervisor or administrator who created the schedule; you will need to configure the service’s Employee Group Values accordingly.
See Also:
Configure the SCHEDULED _EVENT Service
Click Main Menu > Configuration > Event > Events.
In the Event Type ID field, select ATTENDANCE:SUSPEND.
Select one of the predefined events and click Copy.
Change the Event name and Default Label.
To allow employees to stop the Suspend event when the terminal is offline, check the Available in Offline box.
Click Save.
If you plan to have employees stop the Suspend event from the shop floor terminal or web timecard, you need to include this event in the terminal Menu Tree.
You may also want to prevent employees from manually starting the event to suspend their active job, meal, or break. See “Hide Suspend Start” below for more information.
A Suspend event is designed to be posted by the SCHEDULED _EVENT service and not by employees on the shop floor terminal or web timecard. In some cases, employees will stop the Suspend event when the fire drill, meeting, etc. has ended. However, the start of the event is normally posted only by the service.
To make sure employees will not be able to start a Suspend event, you must add the Pre-Validation called Suspend Event Filtration PreValidation to the event.
Click Main Menu > Configuration > Event > Events, and select the Suspend event you want to modify.
Go to the Validation tab and click Add.
Make sure the Validation Type is set to Event Validation and the Validation Stage is Pre Validation.
From the Std Validation ID field, select Suspend Event Filtration PreValidation.
Click Save.
Note: The Suspend Event Filtration PreValidation does not affect the availability of the event in offline mode. If Available in Offline is checked, employees will be able to start and stop the Suspend event from the terminal or web timecard when the terminal is offline.
Use the Scheduled Events form (Main Menu > Manage > Scheduled Events) to create the event schedules that will be used by the SCHEDULED_EVENT service to post Suspend events for employees.
The event schedule indicates whether the Suspend event should be posted as a Punch Start event (which the employee will end), a Punch Pair (the service will start and end the event), or an Elapsed event.
You will need to select the Employee Groups that will have the event posted on their timecards. Check All Supervised if the event schedule should apply to all the persons over which the schedule creator has authority. If you do not check this box, you will need to use the Scheduled Group tab to select the Employee Groups for which this schedule applies.
Note that the SCHEDULED_EVENT service will process event schedules created by members of specific Employee Groups. Make sure that the person who creates the event schedule is also a member of an Employee Group configured for the service. See “Configuring the SCHEDULED _EVENT Service” below for more information.
SCHEDULED_EVENT Service Starts and Ends the Suspend Event
A company has monthly fire drills. When the fire alarm rings, all employees must leave the facility immediately without stopping open labors, meal, or breaks. The SCHEDULED _EVENT service will post the start and end times for the fire drill event. When the fire drill is over, employees return to their workstations and resume whatever activity they were working on before the fire drill.
The event schedule for this event has Punch Type set to Punch Pair. The Start and End Timestamp reflect the start and end times for the fire drill (8 a.m. and 8:15 a.m.). At 8 a.m. the fire bell rings and all employees exit the building. At 8:01 a.m., the SCHEDULED _EVENT service runs and processes this schedule. It posts the fire drill event with the start time of 8 a.m. on the applicable employee timecards. At 8:16, the service runs again and ends the fire drill event (posting an end timestamp of 8:15 a.m.). A short time later, the fire bell rings again and all employees return to their previous activities. The fire drill event is not available in their terminal menus.
SCHEDULED_EVENT Service Starts the Suspend Event and the Employee Ends It
When the fire alarm rings, all employees must leave the facility immediately without stopping open labors, meal, or breaks. The SCHEDULED _EVENT service will post the start time for the fire drill event. When the fire drill is over, employees must end the fire drill event on the shop floor terminal.
The event schedule for this event has Punch Type set to Punch Start Only. The Start Timestamp is the start time for the fire drill (8 a.m.). At 8 a.m. the fire bell rings and all employees exit the building. At 8:01 a.m., the SCHEDULED _EVENT service runs and processes this schedule. It posts the fire drill event with the start time of 8 a.m. on the applicable employee timecards. A short time later, the fire bell rings again and all employees return to their work stations. On the shop floor terminal, the employees select the fire drill event to end it and then resume whatever activities they were working on before the fire drill.
SCHEDULED_EVENT Service Posts an Elapsed Suspend Event
A supervisor holds weekly team meetings on Monday mornings. Each Monday, the supervisor gathers his employees for this brief, informal meeting near their work stations. The employees do not have to post an event for this meeting. When the meeting is over, the employees return to work.
The event schedule for this team meeting event has Punch Type set to Elapsed. The Post Date and Duration reflect the date and length of time for the meeting (Monday 3-3-2014 for 00:15 minutes). On the scheduled Monday, the service processes this schedule and posts the team meeting event on all applicable employee timecards.
SCHEDULED_EVENT Service Posts the Suspend Event After It Occurs
A company has monthly fire drills and normally the SCHEDULED _EVENT service posts the start and end times for this event. Unfortunately, the administrator forgets to schedule the service to post the fire drill event. The next day, supervisors notice that the fire drill is not posted on their employee timecards.
The administrator will have to manually run the SCHEDULED _EVENT service to post the fire drill event on the previous day.
The event schedule for this event has Punch Type set to Punch Pair. The Start and End Timestamp reflect the start and end times for the fire drill (Tuesday 8 a.m. to Tuesday 8:15 a.m.). On Wednesday, the administrator runs the SCHEDULED _EVENT service. It processes the fire drill event schedule. When the supervisors view their employee timecards from Tuesday, they will see the fire drill event posted from 8:00 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
The SCHEDULED_EVENT service is used to post Suspend events to employee timecards based on schedules defined on the Scheduled Events form.
The SCHEDULED_EVENT service uses its Employee Group Values to determine which event schedules to process. It will only process the schedules created by members of these groups.
The service will only process schedules that are enabled, have a Ready status, and have a timestamp prior to the date and time the service is running.
To determine which employees will have the scheduled event posted to their timecard, the SCHEDULED_EVENT service looks at the Employee Groups configured for the event schedule. If the schedule has All Supervised checked, then the event schedule will apply to all persons for whom the schedule creator has authority. Otherwise, the Scheduled Group tab on the Scheduled Event form will show the Employee Groups for which this schedule applies.
For more complete information, refer to the SCHEDULED_EVENT Service section.