Bulk pattern renewal- How to renew
Bulk pattern renewal – How to renew staff working patterns in bulk and how to generate rotas 1 year in advance
The most efficient way to generate rotas for staff working regular shift patterns is to apply their shifts to the rota using the pattern management functionality via the admin screen. Users can only apply patterns for up to 1 year at a time. This is to ensure rotas can load within the web browsers at an adequate speed. Therefore, when staff member patterns are due to expire, they need to be re-applied in order that their rota for the next year can be generated. The bulk pattern functionality renewal allows users to re-apply patterns to staff in bulk across multiple pattern groups so that this is a quick and easy process for users to complete once a year. To renew staff patterns and generate their rota for another year, follow these steps:
Step 1 – From the home screen select management then "Bulk pattern renewal".
HANDY HINT 1: You can set the number of days before patterns are expiring that you wish to be alerted of the expiration, in the admin screen. This will trigger the notification that staff have expiring patterns, i.e., when they appear in this smart tile, and the smart tile will display the number of patterns due to expire in accordance with this, as per the example above.
The smart tile will then load as per this example:
Step 2 – Select the patterns that you wish to renew or select the all tick box if you would like to extend all expiring patterns.
Step 3 – Select "Go" in the bottom right hand corner.
HANDY HINT 2: If you decide not to extend a staff member’s pattern, for example, because they have left or have changed working pattern, the notification to extend their pattern will automatically be removed once the expiry date has passed.
HANDY HINT 3: You can still extend staff member’s patterns via the pattern group functionality. If this action is performed a pattern will only be considered as extended if there is no gap between the start date of the extension and the end date of the previous pattern apply, and if the apply location, stagger and pattern are the same as the previous pattern applied. If any details of the pattern have changed since it was last applied, you will need to perform this action via the pattern groups. Therefore, the extension reminder will remain on the expiring patterns tab until the expiry date has passed, as amending details of the pattern, and re-applying will not alert the system that an extension has taken place. The reminder to extend the pattern will remain in this smart tile if details have changed.
The "Extend Patterns" pop up will then appear as per this example:
Step 4 – Enter the number of days you wish to extend the patterns for on the staff members selected.
Step 5 – Select if you wish for existing shifts to be deleted when the pattern is extended.
Step 6 – Select the absences option for the pattern extension.
Step 7 – Select ‘OK’.
HANDY HINT 4: Selecting the tick box against delete existing shifts will remove any shifts already assigned to the staff member on the rota during the extension period. Selecting re-apply absences from the absences drop-down, will ensure any absences already booked during the extension period will be re-booked on application of the extension. If you would like to cancel any existing absences in the extension period, you can select cancel to perform this action.
The system will then advise you that the pattern extension is in progress as follows:
Step 8 – Select ‘OK’.
Step 9 – Select the Scheduled Patterns tab to monitor the progress of your pattern extensions.
HANDY HINT 5: The scheduled patterns tab will display a record of any patterns extended within the last 7 days, after this the record will be removed from the tab.
HANDY HINT 6: You can use the scheduled patterns tab to monitor the progress of the extension of your patterns. This is particularly useful when bulk re-applying patterns for a large number of staff. A status of scheduled tells you the pattern is waiting in the queue to be applied, running means the pattern is being applied to the rota, and completed means the pattern has been extended successfully.
HANDY HINT 7: If a staff member has a record in the bulk pattern renewal smart tile, and the pattern attached to the pattern group is subsequently amended and a new pattern applied, the old entry will be removed from the smart tile as it is designed to display expiring patterns which are attached to the current pattern group the staff member is assigned to