Time-off requests form

This form can be opened from the Main task group the HOME form’s To-do list, or by selecting FORM | TIME-OFF REQUESTS from the menu. Whichever method you choose, the form will open displaying any entries that were previously entered.

Purpose of the Time-off requests form

The Time-off requests form allows you to view and enter all of your employees' time-off requests for the current and future schedules on this one form. This will save you from having to open each employee's form to make changes individually.

Time-off requests override all other availability entries. Time-off entries are for an entire day so ESP will not schedule a person to work that day regardless of any other availability or fixed shifts.

Toolbar options

Options on the Toolbar allow you to customize the way entries are displayed.

Group

There are two options for Grouping entries on this form:

1. By employee: groups each employee's entries together, which allows you to enter each employee’s changes at once.
2. By day: groups entries under each day. This option is a better choice if your employees enter their requests for time off on a calendar.

View

There are two options for Viewing entries on this form:

1. This week: displays entries for the current schedule only.
2. All entries: displays entries for the current schedule and future schedules.

View employee

The View employee option is only active when your cursor is on a field associated to an employee. Selecting this option will open the information screen for that employee, which will allow you to make other types of changes, such as adding stations that they have learned. This option saves you from having to leave this form, open the Employee forms, and then navigating to the correct person. After making your additional changes for that employee you can return to the Time-off requests form by selecting it from the Main task group or from FORM | TIME-OFF REQUESTS on the menu.

Expand/contract all

The Expand/Contract all option will open or hide all the entries on this form at once. Alternatively, if you only want to expand the entries for one group, day or one employee, you would click the plus (+) sign in the field beside the group's name. This opens the entries for the one group only and will change the plus sign to a minus (-) sign; selecting the minus sign will hide the group's entries.

Adding or modifying time-off request entries

To Add a new entry, click in the top row labeled Click here to add a new row and enter the information under each column:

• Employee: enter the person’s name or select the name from the drop down list. When you select the drop down list you can quickly move to the correct person by typing the first initial. For example, if you wanted to select Steve, typing S would bring you to the top of the list of names beginning with the letter S and then type T to move down this list to the first person whose name begins with St.
• Day: the Day field will default to the last day that you entered a time-off request for. To change the day, either type the day in the field or select it from the drop down list. To give an employee the whole week off select ALL instead of a specific day.
• Start date/Finish date: these fields will default to the current schedule week. To change the date, either type the dates in the fields or select them from the drop down calendar.

Save changes by moving off the row or by clicking the button at the bottom of the screen.

To Change an entry, click inside the field that you want to change, make your change, and then save it by moving off the row or by clicking the button at the bottom of the screen.

To Remove an entry, click inside the row that you want removed and then click the button at the bottom of the screen.

Use the button at the bottom of the form to cancel any change before it has been saved.

Fast auto-entry system

When you post an entry ESP retains the information and automatically inserts the same values for the next entry. So you can quickly apply the same time-off request to multiple employees. Here is a closer look at how that works:

Place your cursor in the Employee field of the top row labeled Click here to add a new row. Start typing the name of the employee: ESP automatically suggests the employee's name and fills it in for you as you type. Once the correct name appears, press the TAB key to move to the Day field. Type the letter of the appropriate day and press TAB. If you are making a time-off request for the current scheduling week, your entry is complete; press the TAB key until you reach the end of the row and then press TAB one more time. The entry is now posted and the cursor is positioned on the Name field ready to enter the next employee. Type the name of the next employee: all the other fields fill in for you including the day of the week with the same information used for the last posted entry. If this is correct, TAB through the remaining fields to post the entry. If it is not correct, change any information required as you tab through the fields before continuing to the next entry.

If you are entering time-off requests for a week other than the current scheduling week you will need to change the start and finish dates. ESP remembers the dates that you used last so it is best to enter time-off requests for future weeks after completing all your current week requests.

Both the Start and Finish date fields default to the current schedule week. To change the date, click inside the field and select the arrow beside it then choose the date you want from the drop-down calendar. When you change the Start date field the Finish date automatically changes to the end of the week selected. If the individual time-off request will last longer than one scheduling week, change the Finish date accordingly.