Time Systems Support

Summary

Schedules Page

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XactTime allows you create schedules for your employees. In addition to providing useful
information, XactTime uses schedules to track attendance, enable rounding to schedules,
calculate overtime for unscheduled days, and restrict employees to schedules. XactTime
compares actual time clocked in and out to the scheduled time to clock in and out to run
reports on tardiness and scheduled versus actual work.
Note: In order to use schedules you must create schedule templates, assign templates
to employees, and generate schedules.



Terminology
The following terms are used in schedules:

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Schedule Template A schedule template consists of one week’s worth of
daily shift information. Templates indicate a general work
pattern (e.g., M-F, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.), rather than
specific dates and times.
You can have an unlimited number of schedule
templates, which allows for an unlimited number of work
schedule scenarios.
Note: An employee may only be assigned to one
template.
Assign Employees Click the Assign Multiple Employees link to assign
employees to the selected schedule template.
Generate This option writes daily schedules for all employees for a
specific time. XactTime performs this process only when
you tell it to.

Understanding the Process

Before beginning, you should understand how XactTime approaches scheduling. Creating
schedules is a three-step process:

1. Create schedule templates for your company: Create one week’s worth of daily shift
information. As described above, a schedule template is a generic pattern indicating the
hours that a person works in a one-week period and rather than specific dates and
times. Normally, you create schedule templates once, then create or edit templates as
you add or change shifts.
2. Assign employees to appropriate templates: This option assigns employees to the
schedule template appropriate for them and tells XactTime the pattern to use when
generating the employee’s schedule. You can also do this from the Admin Home page in
the Schedules Templates section.
3. Generate the schedules: This option writes the daily work shifts for all employees
during a specified timeframe. Generating schedules is a critical part of the overall
process, as it actually writes the schedules for a timeframe.
Once you generate schedules, you can review and edit them from the Employee and
Admin Home pages. Each employee may view his or her own schedule from the
Employee Home page.

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Selected Template Section

The Selected Template section displays the currently selected template. The settings for this
template display in the Schedule Template and Work Times sections on the right side of the page.
The Selected Template section contains the following items:



Setting Description

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Add Link: Click Add to add a new schedule template.
Delete Link: Click Delete to delete the selected template.
Express Scheduler: Directs the user to the Express Scheduler page
where they can edit multiple individual users
schedules.
Members Link: Displays the number of employees assigned to the
currently selected template.
Clicking the link shows a list of the members.

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Add a Schedule Template

1. Click Add in the Selected Template section. The Schedule Template Properties section
expands to display the settings for the new template. Fill in the settings as appropriate.
a. Template Name: Enter the name you wish to use to refer to the schedule template.
b. Access Type: Select Private to permit only to the owner to view, edit, or delete.
Select Public – View Only to allow anyone to use (assign) the template. Only the
owner may edit and delete the template. Select Public – Allow Edits to allow
anyone to use (assign) and edit the templates. Only the owner or an administrator
may delete the template.
c. Owner: Select the owner of this template. Note: Once created, only an administrator
can change the owner.
2. Click Update Properties to complete the change.
Note: The changes will not be saved if you do not click Update Properties.
3. For each shift for each day, enter the following information:
a. Start time: Enter the starting time for the shift.
b. End Time: Enter the starting time for the shift.
4. Click Update Work Times when all settings are complete. The page refreshes to display
your new settings.
Note: The settings will not be saved if you do not click Update Work Times.

Delete a Schedule Template

XactTime does not permit you to delete a schedule template if clocked time is already
associated with it.
1. Verify that the schedule template you wish to delete is displayed in the Selected
Schedule Template section.
2. Click Delete. The Confirmation page loads.
3. Click Delete Schedule Template (where schedule template is the name of the type you selected)
to confirm the deletion, or click Cancel to cancel and return to the Schedule Templates page.
Generate Schedules Link
Generating schedules is a critical part of the process, because it actually writes the
schedules. Schedules generate into the future, for a specified timeframe. At the end of that
timeframe, you must generate schedules again.
XactTime allows you to specify when and how far into the future you want schedules generated. You
may choose to generate just once or to set up generation on a recurring basis. The benefit of
recurring generation is that XactTime automatically generates schedules each time they need to be
done.
1. Click Generate Schedules. The following dialog box appears:
Figure II-30: Generate Schedules page



2. Fill in the settings as appropriate:
a. Scheduled through date: This field shows the date to which schedules were last
generated. When new schedules generate past this date, the system generates
schedules for all the employees assigned to schedule templates. When schedules
generate for dates prior to the date shown above the system generates schedules
only for the selected employees.
b. Generate Schedules One Time: Make sure you have selected the desired template
from the main schedules page before proceeding with this step. This step must be
done to generate the initial schedule for each employee assigned to that particular
template. Note: Schedules can only be generated up to four (4) weeks into the
future.
c. From: Select the date schedule generation begins.
d. To: Select the date schedule generation ends.
e. Overwrite Existing Schedules: Click this box if you are updating an employee with
an existing schedule. The option will copy the new schedule over the old one.
f. Generate schedules for: Select for whom you would like to generate schedules.
You can choose from “All Employees in this Template that I have access to” or the
“current employee” as chosen on the admin home page. You will see their name in
(parentheses).
g. Generate a Schedule Automatically: Select this option to have XactTime
automatically generate schedules on a specified day and for a set period. For
example: If you generate every Sunday for four weeks, then every Sunday the
system generates schedules far enough out to be sure four weeks' worth of
schedules generate beyond the current week.
Note: This option can only be done one time and affects every employee assigned
to a schedule template. The section is grayed out after it has been enabled.
3. Click Schedule it. The Schedules page opens.

Search Section

Back on the main schedules page the Search section allows the user to search for a specific
template name. Companies with many templates use this section.
To find a name:
1. Type the exact name in the Search box.



2. For additional help click Search Tips.



List of Templates Section

The List of Templates section displays all the schedule templates available in your
company’s account. The currently selected template displays in the list in black text and also
appears in the template section at the top of the page.



Select a Schedule Template

1. Select the name of the template to edit in the List of Templates section. The selected
schedule template appears in the Current Schedule Template section.

Show / Hide Public Templates

1. Click the link to toggle from including public templates to hiding public templates.

Schedule Template Assignment Section

The Schedule Template Assignment section is where you assign one or more employees to
the currently selected schedule. You may assign by employee groups to make scheduling
easier when you administer large numbers of employees.



1. Click Assign Multiple Employees to open the Assign Employees page. Notice that you
may assign by employee group or by employees individually. To select multiple
employees from the Employees Not Assigned box, click to select the employee and drag
the cursor to select all the employees you want to move. Then to move the employees,
click the blue arrow pointing to the Employees Assigned to box.



Schedule Shifts Section

The Scheduled Shifts section is where you specify the number of shifts per day the currently
selected schedule template contains. Remember, a shift is an uninterrupted block of time.
The number directly corresponds to the number of shift lines per day shown in the Schedule
Template settings on the right of the page.
When determining how many shifts per day you need, consider all days in the week. Choose
the highest number, even if it applies only to one day; (you are able to leave shift entries
blank, if necessary). The following examples illustrate how to determine the number of shifts
per day you need.



Example 1: An employee works Monday through Friday from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. without
clocking to a lunch break. For this scenario, use one shift per day, because the time block
does not need to break in the middle.
Example 2: An employee works Monday through Friday from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. with an
hour lunch at 1:00 P.M. For this scenario, you would use two shifts to account for the lunch
break. The first shift would be 8:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.; the second would be 2:00 P.M. to 5:00
P.M.
Example 3: An employee works Monday through Wednesday 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. with
an hour lunch taken at noon. Thursday and Friday the employee works a half day, from 8:00
A.M. to 12:00 noon. For this scenario, you would also use two shifts, to account for the lunch
breaks on Monday through Wednesday.
1. Fill in the settings as appropriate:
a. Shifts per day: Enter the maximum number of shifts per day needed for the
selected schedule template. Note: This applies only to the currently selected
schedule template.
2. Click Refresh to complete the change. The change will not be made if you do not click
Refresh.

Schedule Template Section

The Schedule Template section displays the settings for the currently selected schedule
template.



1. Fill in the settings as appropriate:
a. Template Name: Enter a name to use for the schedule template.
b. Access Type: Select Private to permit only the owner to view, edit, and delete.
Select Public – View Only to allow anyone to use (assign) the template. Only the
owner may edit or delete the template. Select Public – Allow Edits to allow anyone
to use (assign) and edit the templates. Only the owner or an administrator may
delete the template.
c. Owner: Select the owner of this template. Note: Once created, only an administrator
can change the owner.
2. Click Update Properties

Work Times Section

The Work Times section displays the daily work times for the schedule. The number of shifts
per day specified in the Schedule Shifts section determines how many line items display for each day’s entry



1. For each shift for each day, enter the following information:
a. Start time: Enter the starting time for the shift. Enter times in 12-hour format (e.g.,
8:00 A.M., 12:00 P.M., 7:30 P.M.).
b. End Time: Enter the starting time for the shift. Enter times in 12-hour format (e.g.,
8:00 A.M., 12:00 P.M., 7:30 P.M.).
2. Click Update Work Times when all settings are complete. The page refreshes to display
the new settings.
Note: The settings will not be saved if you do not click Update Work Times.