One of the basic tasks in scheduling is assigning shifts. Typically you will assign an employee to a “line” which represents a repeating work pattern, or you will assign them a schedule that will not necessarily repeat and then repeat this process for each period (week/two weeks/month/etc.). Still another method is to allocate the shifts one-at-a-time by assigning them directly to employees or letting the employees choose which shifts they want to work. ARCOS RosterApps covers all these methods. If you have another method or a hybrid of one of the standard methods we’d love to hear from you.
All the features you need
Assigning Schedules & Shifts
Fixed Schedules/Bid Lines
If your employees are generally assigned to steady schedules which repeat on some fixed cycle, you will want to use the RosterApps “Bid Package” feature where you can create or import the schedule line, manually assign the schedules to employee or have them bid for their desired schedule based on seniority, and then publish the results onto the employees’ calendars. You can them repeat the process every time you have a major schedule change due to operational needs.
Bid Packages are a very powerful feature of RosterApps and offers functionality not found in most other workforce management systems.
Schedule Builder
If your employees’ schedules change every week or two, you may wish to create the periodic schedules using our Schedule Builder feature. With Schedule Builder, you can add shift in an Excel like environment and then assign employees to shifts. Once you have completed the schedule you can publish it which will notify the employees of their assignments and apply the shifts to their calendars. You also have the ability to copy past schedules to future date with the option of retaining the assignments as well.
Individual Shift Assignments
Individual shift assignments usually occur due to the need to fill open/overtime shifts caused by an un-planned increase in operational needs or the result of absences. You can also allow for employee self-scheduling by placing all the available shifts on a claim or bid board and allow employees to fill in their own schedules. Generally, individual shift assignments are made by direct assignment, placing the shifts on the trade board for claiming in first-come-first-serve manner, or placing the shifts on a bid board where employees can indicate their desire to work the shift and then the supervisor determines which employee will be assigned.
