Shift states

Shift states determine which actions can be performed on an MVS shift by users and the relationships that a shift has to other shifts in the schedule. Shift state is determined by how a shift is created and actions performed on the shift after creation. Sometimes, the state of a shift is indicated to the user by information displayed on the scheduling screens. Other times, the state of a shift can only be determined by analyzing the shift history.

It is useful to understand shift states when troubleshooting user issues in MVS. This topic describes the major types of shift states for MVS shifts. It also provides a summary of the actions that users can perform on shifts in each state.

Ad-hoc and planned shifts

These shifts are created by users on a one-off basis, typically to account for unexpected demand or schedule adjustments. Ad-hoc shifts are shifts created on a one-off basis during a published schedule period. Ad-hoc shifts are immediately added to employee timesheets upon creation.

Planned shifts are shifts created on a one-off basis during unpublished schedule periods. Planned shifts are added to employee timesheets when the schedule period that includes the shifts is published.

Users can perform any actions on ad-hoc or planned shifts, including deleting shifts from the schedule.

Rotation shifts

Rotation shifts are created from a Master Rotation (MR) or One-time Schedule (OTS). Rotation shifts are created when the MR or OTS is processed. Depending on the configuration, rotation shifts may be immediately added to employee timesheets upon creation or created as unpublished shifts.

The actions that users can perform on rotation shifts are restricted. Rotation shifts cannot be deleted. Shifts that are assigned to an employee in the MR or OTS cannot be unassigned. These shifts can be booked off, swapped, or floated away from the assigned employee. This creates a relief shift that can be assigned to a different employee.

Rotation shifts that are unassigned in the MR or OTS can be assigned to an employee. This converts the rotation shift into a filled rotation relief shift. A filled rotation relief shift can be unassigned, but cannot be deleted.

Template shifts

Template shifts can be generated from shift templates as unpublished shifts, which are typically assigned using Auto-Assignment or Self-Scheduling. Template shifts are added to employee timesheets when the schedule period that includes the shifts is published. Shift templates can also be generated and sent directly to the relief queue. When this option is used, the shifts are created as published relief shifts.

Users can perform any actions on template shifts, including deleting shifts from the schedule. This applies whether a template shift is unassigned or assigned and whether it is published or unpublished.

Relief shifts

Relief shifts are created to cover shifts that can no longer be worked by the assigned employee. This includes when the shift is booked off or when the assigned employee is floated into a different shift. Relief shifts can also be created by sending unassigned shifts to the relief queue or to resolve conflicts when processing an MR or OTS.

Relief shifts that are created to cover an assigned shift are linked to that original shift. MVS refers to these links to update relief shifts due to changes to the original shift, such as canceling book offs. MVS also uses these links to enforce restrictions that require users to revert book off and float transactions in order from the most recent to least recent transaction.

Relief shifts include a relief status that determines where the shifts are displayed in scheduling screens. Users can assign relief shifts or change the relief status of relief shifts in the Relief Queue or Relief Calling Area.

See "Relief status" in the Infor Workforce Management Multiview Scheduler User Guide for a list of relief statuses.

Action Required shifts

Relief shifts become Action Required (AR) shifts when a user cancels the book off for the linked original shift and selects the AR Relief option. AR shifts are displayed in orange in the scheduling screens.

Users cannot unassign or delete an AR shift or the linked original shift in the scheduling screens. Users can edit, float, swap, or book off an AR shift or the linked original shift, which retains the AR shift and coverts it into an ad-hoc shift. Users can also use the AR Remove option in the Relief Queue to delete the AR shift.

Booked off shifts

Booked off shifts are created when an assigned shift is booked off for employee time off or for schedule adjustments. A shift may be booked off for the entire shift. A shift can also be booked off for only portion of the shift, in which case the remainder of the shift remains assigned.

Links are created between a booked off shift and the relief shifts created to cover the shift during the book off transaction. The links are referred to when canceling book offs to determine which relief shifts are affected by the transaction.

Users cannot perform any actions on fully booked off shifts, except for canceling the book off. The assigned portions of partially booked off shifts can be floated, swapped, or booked off.

Float shifts

Float shifts are created when an employee is floated from their original shift to an unassigned shift or shift portion. A float link is created between the shift that the employee is floated into and the employee's original shift, which is booked off when the float transaction occurs.

Users can perform actions on a float shift based on the state of the shift before the float. Users can revert a float transaction by unassigning the shift that the employee was floated into and then canceling the book off for the employee's original shift.

Swapped shifts

Swapped shifts are created when shifts are swapped in the schedule between two assigned shifts or between an assigned shift and an unassigned shift. A swap link is created between the swapped shifts.

In a swap transaction involving an unasssigned shift, the employee is assigned to the unassigned shift, and the employee's original shift is booked off, using the book off code specified in the SWAP_BOOKOFF_CODE registry parameter. The original shift is linked to an unassigned relief shift with an unassigned swapped link.

Swapped shifts can be further swapped, floated, or booked off, but cannot be unassigned or deleted. Users can revert a swap transaction to return the shifts to their original state.

Deleted shifts

MVS shifts are never fully deleted. When a shift is deleted, the shift's details are deleted. Deleted shifts retain their shift summary, which is updated to the deleted status, and their shift history records.