TimeForge Knowledge Base

Create and use daily or weekly schedule templates

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In TimeForge, work schedule templates are 24-hour periods of time that reflect a single day of a schedule. In some industries, these are called "Master Schedules," or "Master Work Schedules." You can use a work schedule template to organize your labor requirements in advance of the actual schedule, allowing you to easily anticipate upcoming staffing needs. This is also helpful if you use TimeForge Sales to project your weekly sales because it can further help you control your labor costs. In other words, creating an employee schedule template will allow you to rapidly create a work schedule, as long as you spend a little time in advance thinking about your labor needs.

Templates can be created for any number of scenarios, and there are no limits on the number of templates that you can create in your account. For example, you might create a schedule template for staff members needed Monday through Thursday, and then separate templates for Friday and Saturday since they require more labor. Or, you might create schedule templates for each day of the week, with templates for Monday night football, holidays, or other special occasions.

Here is how you can easily build employee schedule templates for multiple staff members, and then use those templates to build a schedule.

Go to the Templates page under the Schedules tab

Open the Schedules tab and select Templates from the menu.

Add a New Schedule Template.

You can add a new template by clicking on the + Add Schedule Template button in the upper right.

Fill out the work schedule template information

  1. Enter a description of the template. This should be something that will remind you of what the schedule is for (e.g. Super Bowl Sunday).
  2. If you are using "Departments" in TimeForge, you will have the option to select which department this staff member template will be applied.
  3. Choose what day of the week your schedule template will start, then select the number of days this template will span.
  4. Click Save when you're finished.  

Add shifts to the work schedule template.

Editing a schedule template for employees is similar to working with a staff schedule in the TimeForge Daily View.

Select the start time, end time, and position for each shift, and then choose the employee you would like to have work the shift. Just like the schedule Daily View, templates can be built by position or by employee, based on your business's needs.

You can also build Templates using Work Periods (commonly called Day Parts), if you would like, by clicking on the Work Period icon, which is directly next to the start time.

Employee Staffing with Schedule Templates

Shifts on a template can be assigned to an employee, to the TimeForge AutoScheduler, or as a Open or Bid Shift.

  • AutoSchedule shifts allow the TimeForge AutoScheduler to choose the best fitting staff member, and will replace the AutoSchedule employee with the best fitting staff member when building the schedule.
  • Bid shifts can be requested by multiple employees, and the manager can choose the best staff member for the job.
  • Any qualifying employees will also be listed and can be chosen under the Employee column.
  • Open shifts will allow a manager to specify the assigned employee when building the schedule.

There are several options that can be chosen for each shift by selecting the shift properties icon, the small pencil, next to the shift.

Options include whether the staff member is an Extra or is On Call, the Skill level necessary to work the shift, and if the shift requires more than one employee to come in, then you can change how many staff members are needed to work.

Click the Finished! button when done.

Once you've created your schedule templates, it's time to use them to build a schedule!

With the Schedules tab still open, select Schedules from the menu.

Add a new schedule

Click the + Add Schedule button in the upper right.

Choose the dates for the work schedule

Choose the date range for the Schedule, and then name the schedule to continue. TimeForge will automatically assign a name, but you can change it to whatever makes sense for you.

Click Add This Schedule when you are finished.

Choose one or more schedule templates

When building your schedule, you can choose a weekly template, which will prefill all the days for you, or you can select schedule templates for each day individually.

When you are ready to have TimeForge build the schedule for you, simply click Assign Employees. TimeForge will then copy the shifts inside of your templates to the schedule and will assign staff members to work if necessary.

Click Finished! to see your schedule breakdown.

Remember, you'll need to post your schedule to put it into effect!

Return to the Schedules page to post your new schedule and make it available to employees.

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