Shift lengths form

This form can be opened from the Settings task group or by selecting FORM | OTHER FORMS | SHIFT LENGTHS from the menu.

Purpose of the Shift lengths forms

ESP uses the Shift lengths forms when generating the schedule to determine the length of shifts to assign and when to assign them. Most locations will only need to define two or three Shift lengths forms to produce a good schedule.

Each form is divided into three sections:

1. Name and description
2. Times
3. Shift lengths permitted

Name and description

Enter a name for the form in the top box and a longer, more descriptive statement about the form in the larger box at the bottom of this section. The name you enter will also appear on the form's tab at the top to help you identify and move between forms.

Times and shift lengths permitted

ESP allows you to use different lengths of shifts throughout the day and week. Many operations prefer to schedule longer shifts for their day staff and shorter shifts for their part-time staff.

For each form, enter the days and times that it will be used in the Times section and the shift lengths that you want scheduled during that time in the Shift lengths permitted section. Shift lengths can range from 1 hour to 24 hours and can be entered in quarter hour increments. Give each shift length a priority from 1 to 10: give the shift you want used most often a priority of 1, the next most preferred shift length a priority of 2, and so on. If two shift lengths are equally desirable you can assign them both the same priority.

Refer to the sample form below. This form is in effect from 5:00 AM until 7:00 PM every day of the week. The highest priority has been placed on an 8-hour shift length; the 7.5-hour shift length has been given a priority of 2. You will notice that no lengths are rated 3 or 4, but the 7-hour shift length has been rated 5. No other shift lengths will be produced during this time.

You can have multiple Shift length forms active at the same time; in fact this may be necessary to allow ESP to cover your peak hours without wasting labor. Using the Openers example above, this form is in effect until 7:00pm each day and allows long 7- to 8-hour shift lengths. But, if you have a short lunch rush around noon, and if the above form was the only active form, ESP would have to schedule additional 7- and 8-hour shift lengths to cover the 1 or 2 rush hours. This could cause you to waste labor. To accommodate this situation, design a separate form that is active between 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM, which requests shorter 3- to 4-hour shift lengths. This allows ESP to schedule shorter shifts to cover the lunch rush. Allowing short shifts only during specific times of the day gives ESP the ability to cover peak hours without wasting labor while ensuring that you are not under-scheduled when you need people most.

Advanced shift design

This form features an Advanced form, which can be opened from the Advanced button at the bottom of the form. Use this advanced form to tell ESP if there are times when you don't want any shifts starting, stopping, or both. This feature prevents ESP from beginning and/or ending shifts during times when doing so would be disruptive.

Consider this situation. On weekdays a restaurant has mostly full-time adults working during the day, with a changeover crew of students arriving at 4:00 PM Since most students are not able to arrive before 4:00 PM because it takes time to get from school to work, the challenge is to ensure that ESP does not assign mid afternoon shifts that will prevent students from being scheduled. The solution is to use the Advanced form to specify that you will not allow any shift to start between 2:00 PM and 3:45 PM on weekdays. This still allows shifts to end during those times, which is important since many of your lunch shifts need to finish earlier than 4:00 PM But no new shifts could start during those hours, forcing ESP to start dinner shifts at 4:00 PM or later when the students are available. To achieve this, you would enter the following on the Advanced shift definitions form:

We have specified that shifts may not start in the time range from 2:00 PM to 3:45 PM Start and end times are considered inclusive, which means that they are included in the restricted time. So, in the example above, shifts would be allowed to start at 4:00 PM

Since only the Do not start column is checked, ESP is allowed to end shifts between those hours but no new shifts may begin. You may check either or both columns to control exactly when your shifts are allowed to begin and end.

Be careful not to setup too many restrictions on the Advanced form or you could create other problems. Also remember that Fixed shifts will be scheduled regardless of the entries on the Advanced shift definitions form.

Add/Remove forms

When you select the Add Chart option on the toolbar a new blank form will open, ready for you to fill in.

To remove a form, simply open the form that you want removed, making it the active form, and then choose the Delete Chart option on the toolbar. A confirmation box will open asking you to confirm that you want to delete the form. Choose Yes to delete the form, or, choose No and the box will close and the form will remain as an active file.