Following are answers to some frequently asked questions about scheduling. These have been grouped by category for easier reference. If you don't find your question below or the answer does not solve your particular problem, contact us with your question. If sending us the question by e-mail or fax, please include your name and store number.
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Editing
Why is editing my schedule so slow?
Employees
Why am I missing the option to add employees?
Why don't my fixed shifts appear on the schedule?
Why have my temporary changes been ignored?
Generating a schedule
A "scheduling option cancelled" message appears when I generate, why?
How do I create and print two identical schedules?
My schedule won't generate, what should I do?
Printing
How do I setup TWPrint?
for Win9X
for WinXP
My printer is broken, how can I print on another printer?
Why won't my schedule print?
Why won't my NEW printer print the schedule?
Registering your ESP license
Register your ESP license with ThoughtWorks
Setup data and files
How do I backup my data files?
How do I add a satellite location?
My store will be open 24-hours, what changes do I need to make to my data files?
Software
My computer crashed and I've lost my schedule, how do I get it back?
Why won't my schedule program open?
Making weekly backups
Backing up your valuable scheduling data is the most important step in producing your schedule each week. Without a backup of your data, you are left with the tedious task of recreating every chart from memory if your computer crashes.
Many POS systems have a Backup option but it is important to realize the this does NOT backup your scheduling data files. The only way to ensure that your scheduling data is backed up properly is to run our SCBACKUP program. If you are running Windows 95/98 or higher you should have an icon for SCBACKUP on your desktop. If you are running DOS or Windows 3.x you must go to the DOS prompt, and type SCBACKUP. Follow the on-screen instructions.
Backing up your scheduling data is a preventative measure. The whole process takes less than two minutes but will save you hours of work re-entering your data and employees if your computer ever crashes. We also recommend that you use two or three disks, rotating them each week, for added protection.
For detailed instructions see the appendix Making weekly backups in the Reference manual. Don't have a copy of the Reference manual? Right click on this link, ESP Reference manual, and save a pdf copy of the manual to your desktop, when complete you may close this window and open the manual by selecting the V411manual icon on your desktop.
Editing my schedule is slow
ESP, Version 4.10 R3 had a problem with slow editing, which has been resolved in subsequent releases. If you are using Version 4.10 R3, updating to the last release of V4 will solve this issue. You should also be planning to upgrade to ESP 5.
If you are not sure which version of ESP you are using, open the schedule program and look at the bottom of ESP's main menu screen, the version number is displayed there.
- - - - - - - - - -
With the release of ESP 5 updates to Version 4 have discontinued.
Version 4 users should be upgrading to ESP 5. Use the links in the sidebar
to learn more about ESP 5, including
upgrade benefits.
Fixed shifts don't appear on the schedule
This is usually due to either:
- the date of the schedule or the temporary changes date is incorrect
- the shift violates a scheduling rule you have defined
First, check the date of the schedule and the date of the temporary changes, ensure both are correct. If one of these is incorrect, you will have to regenerate in order for the change to take effect.
If that was not the problem, then the problem is most likely due to the shift violating one of the scheduling rules that you have designated as Not permitted in the bottom section of the Schedule preferences chart. (Main menu choice D: Setup charts, sub-choice I: Schedule preferences).
To find out the rule that has been violated, manually assign the person to the shift. Go to the day that the shift should have appeared and insert the shift (press [Alt] + [F9]). Type the person's name and the shift information; the reason why the shift was not scheduled will appear in red in the bottom half of the screen. Use this information to update the employee's information if that person should have been allowed to work that shift.
Related topics:
Reducing edit violations
Ignores temporary changes
Temporary changes are being ignored
ESP will not schedule someone when they are not available. If someone has been scheduled against their ability, it usually is due to either:
- summer availability is in use,
- the person is part of a team,
- the wrong data is entered, or
- the employee's data is corrupt
To solve this the first thing to check is to see if Summer Days are in use. From ESP's main menu choose A: Schedule employees and then choose B: Edit current schedule. On the Edit options screen check option B: to see if any days have been designated as Summer Days. If yes, go to the employee's information screen and update their Summer availability. You will have to regenerate for the change to take effect.
If no Summer Days have been assigned then choose the day that the employee with the scheduling problem is scheduled. On the employee's name press the [Shift] + [F9] keys together to open a screen showing information about the employee. Review this information and you should be able to see the reason for the problem.
If the employee has been assigned to a Team, the team's availability may be the cause the problem. Check the team's availability by choosing option H.Team definitions from the C: Employee information menu.
If everything else appears correct, check the information for the employee on the edit screen against the employee's information on their employee's information screen. If the information is different it means that their information has become corrupt and you need to run our repair utility to fix this.
The repair utility can be found in the schedule folder. Not familiar with this utility or if you prefer to walk through this together, contact us.
Related topics:
Fixed shifts don't appear on schedule
Can't generate a schedule; scheduling option cancelled
The most common reason you would be unable to generate a schedule and receive the Scheduling option cancelled message is because your license has expired or if it is a new license, the trial period has expired.
The program may not recognize your license if you reinstalled the program after a computer crash, or because the trial period has expired, or if your version has a time issue during which the license would expire. To solve this problem, you need to contact us to register your license. This can be done easily over the phone in a matter of minutes and you will not lose any information you have saved. Alternatively, choose this link, Registering your license, to open a pdf document explaining how to send us the information we need to register your license by e-mail or fax.
Registering your ESP license
If you are not able to generate a schedule and receive the Scheduling option cancelled message, it is because the program does not recognize your license. There are a variety of reasons why this may happen:
- if you reinstalled the program after a computer crash,
- because the trial period has expired, or
- if your version has a time issue during which the license would expire.
To solve this problem, you need to contact us to register your license. This can be done easily over the phone in a matter of minutes and you will not lose any information you have saved. Alternatively, choose this link, Registering your license, to open a pdf document explaining how to send the information we need to register your license by e-mail or fax.
The schedule program won't open
This may be due to:
- the desktop icon not pointing to the correct file,
- an update on your computer,
- or a computer crash.
This is the reason that we stress that you make weekly backups of your data after each scheduling week.
First, check the icon on your desktop to ensure it is pointing to the schedule.bat file in the C folder. If not, create a new shortcut to this file and delete the old one. Not familiar with creating shortcuts? Contact us for assistance.
If you are unable to open the schedule program after you have updated Your computer or after your computer crashed, the first thing to do is either from a DOS prompt or Windows Explorer, check to see if the schedule folder exists on the C drive.
If the schedule folder is NOT there then you need to reinstall the program. It is best to download and install the latest version of ESP. You will then need to contact us to register. Hopefully you have a backup of your data to restore, if not, you must reenter all of your data.
If the schedule folder is there, open the schedule folder to see if there are any folders (directories) under it. If there is a default and/or store number folder then next step is to contact us to register.
Printing two identical schedules
There may be times when you wish to re-print the schedule but with a different schedule date. This can be useful if you are going on vacation and wish to produce two weeks of identical schedules.
First, generate, edit and print your first week of schedules as you normally would. After the first schedule has been completed and printed, choose option C: Print current schedule from the Schedule employees menu. Change the date in the Date of schedule field and then print the schedule. This will give you two weeks of identical schedules with different dates.
Setup for 24 hour scheduling
This topic was covered in the Summer/Fall 2003 issue of ThoughtWorks Report. Don't have your copy handy? Select this link to open, or save to your desktop, a pdf document that explains all the changes you need to make Setup for 24-hour scheduling.
Schedule doesn't print
The reason your schedule doesn't print could be caused by:
- a broken printer,
- the hardware & printer chart not set up correctly, or
- you have a new printer that is considered a Windows only printer
If your printer is broken, you may print the schedule to a disk so that you can print your schedule on a different printer at another location.
If your printer is not broken, check the settings on the Hardware and printer chart. Open this chart and move to the select pre-defined printer field; type the letter Y for yes then press the [Enter] key. Choose the option that best describes your printer. Then press [F10] to save the change and try to print. Note, you may need to reboot your computer for the change to take effect.
Most printers today are unable to print DOS programs, such as the V4 of ESP. To solve this, ThoughtWorks created a print utility for V4 called TWPrint that allows ESP program to print to these types of printers. If you have a windows-only printer or if your printer is connected to your computer with a USB or network cable then you will need to setup TWPrint in order for the schedule program to print. Instructions to setup TWPrint can be found on the downloads page.
- - - - - - - - - -
ESP 5 is windows-based so there are no
issues printtng ESP 5 to
new printers. Use the links in the sidebar to learn more about ESP 5,
including the benefits of upgrading.
Printer broken, print to a different printer
If your printer is broken, you may want to print the schedule to a disk so that you cab take the disk to another location and print the schedule on their printer. A temporary solution until you replace your printer.
To do this, with a blank disk in the A drive, open the schedule program and choose D. Set up charts then choose J. Hardware and printer. Note, you will have to change this chart back to how it is now after printing the schedule to the disk. So, you will need to remember the settings on the screen and will probably want to write the information down.
Now, move to the option Printer device and change it to File, which will create an Output file option, type a name for the file that you will print to the disk: e.g., A:\SCHEDULE.TXT
Check the type of printer at this location against the type of printer at the other location. If they are the same there is no need to make any more changes, press the [F10] key to save the change. If the printer is different, you will need to change the option Select pre-defined printer and then save the changes by pressing the [F10] key.
Next, print the current schedule to create the file on the disk. From ESP’s main menu choose option A. Schedule employees then choose C. Print current schedule
Go back to the Printer and hardware setup chart and change it back to how it was before you changed it or, the next time you open the schedule program the computer will look to the A drive for information. Now Exit the schedule program and go to the other location.
When you get to the other location:
- from a DOS A:\prompt type: COPY *.* LPT1 or,
- open the file in NOTEPAD and choose FILE, then PRINT
Either option should print the schedule to the printer.
Adding a satellite location
To add a satellite location to your computer, contact ThoughtWorks. We will add the location, copy files from the main store, and register the location right over the phone in just a few minutes. It's best to contact us to set this up on the week that you want to begin scheduling for the satellite location or, you will have extra work to do each week, such as generating a sales projection even though the store is not yet open.
ESP's reference manual includes an Appendix that explains how to setup your data and schedule using our satellite feature. Don't have a manual? Don't worry, we have a pdf document that you can access from this link that discusses SPOD (Kiosk) scheduling.
Missing the option to add employees
When your data has been setup to poll your employee information automatically this option will not be available. If, however, you add employee's into the program manually and this option is missing it means that the program is configured wrong. In these cases you must contact ThoughtWorks technical support staff to setup your data accurately. This will only take a few moments to correct.
