One-time Schedule templates
One-time Schedule (OTS) templates store a schedule rotation that can be used to create new OTS schedules for a team. In new OTS schedules created from the OTS template, the schedule rotation in the OTS template is used to automatically plot repeating shift patterns and populate required labor metric values. This reduces the amount of information that must be manually re-entered for each schedule period and saves time when planning the long-term schedule of a team.
OTS templates can be created from any OTS schedule that was not created from an OTS template. An OTS template contains all of the shifts and labor metrics contained in the OTS schedule used to create it. The OTS template can then be used to create future OTS schedules for its team.
OTS templates can also be created by copying an existing OTS template. This creates a new OTS template in DRAFT status, with the shifts and labor metrics from the original OTS schedule. The new OTS template does not include any employee assignments and is not associated with any existing OTS schedules. The new OTS template can then edited as needed, and then it can be activated and used as the basis to create new OTS schedules.
Relationship between One-time Schedule templates and schedules
When created using an OTS template, an OTS schedule receives a schedule of shifts and labor metrics from the OTS template. This schedule can be edited in the OTS edit screen to satisfy the staffing requirements for the specific schedule period.
Similar to Master Rotation (MR), an OTS template defines a schedule rotation that is repeated over the duration of the OTS schedule. For example, using a 14-day OTS template to create a 28-day OTS schedule creates a schedule that includes two repetitions of the schedule included in the OTS template. An OTS schedule can also be shorter than the template. Using the same 14-day OTS template to create a seven-day OTS schedule creates a schedule that includes only the first seven days of the OTS template.
OTS templates are designed to avoid accidentally causing schedule conflicts due to overlapping dates in OTS schedules for the same team. When creating an OTS schedule based on an OTS template, the dates for the new schedule are automatically populated to encompass the next available schedule period. Changes to the OTS template cannot be made effective before the end date of the last OTS schedule that is based on the template.