Configuring One-time Schedules

One-time Schedules (OTS) are effective for a specified schedule period. Each OTS schedule contains the shifts, labor metrics, and employee assignments that make up the schedule during its schedule period. OTS schedules are typically 4 to 6 weeks in duration, but some organizations might use a shorter or longer scheduling period. Shifts and labor metrics in OTS schedules are published only for the specified schedule period. This is one of the key differences between OTSs and MRs, as MR schedules are published for a long-time range and self-generate as time progresses.

OTS templates can be created to reduce the amount of information that must be manually re-entered for each schedule period and save 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. OTS templates store a schedule rotation that can be used to create new OTS schedules for a team. Some units in the organization may have multiple OTS templates, each established for different job or employee groups. Each of these templates can then be used to generate a series of OTSs for each of these job or employee groups.

Another key difference between OTS and MR is that users have the flexibility of modifying the shifts or labor metrics on each OTS schedule. These changes can be made even after the OTS schedule has been published. Changes to shifts or labor metrics do not affect the originating OTS template or other OTSs generated from this template. In contrast, you can change employee assignments or long-term absences (LTA) in an OTS schedule, and these changes are extended to existing OTS schedules that share the same template. This flexibility makes OTS suited for units where employee schedules are more fluid. Units with staff schedules that are comparatively static may benefit from using MR in their long-term schedule planning. This distinction should be kept in mind when selecting a long-term planning mechanism.

It is common for some units in an organization to use OTS and other units to use MRs. It is also possible that a single unit can use both MR and OTS for their long-term schedule planning. There is no systematic restriction, so the decision to use MR or OTS is purely based on scheduling practice of the employee groups or units.

This section describes the configurable details for the OTS functionality.