Company Blog - ShiftPlanning.com

3 months ago Allena Rouse 0 Comments

Updated Employee Payroll Update: Payroll Provider Exports

Shiftplanning now makes it even easier to export scheduling and timeclock data to 3rd-party payroll systems. Last week, we introduced "rate cards" and multi-wage settings that allow managers to get more accurate payroll-oriented reporting. You can find more information about those features here. Building on the input of our clients and information about our users' most popular providers, we've introduced the ability to export direct formats of payroll-related reports. The current represented providers are:

ADP
Ceridian
Paychex Preview
Paychex Online
QuickBooks
Millenium
SurePayroll
Wells Fargo
Compupay

*New*

PayMaster
Allied

To get started with online payroll exports, access 'admin' settings. There you will see a section for "payroll settings". The payroll settings give options for overtime and currency as well the ability to set a default payroll provider and enter options such as 'company code' and 'batch ID.' (Additionally, at the staff level, managers have the ability to input employee IDs).

With the settings in place, managers can access "payroll reports" in the 'reports' tab of the application.

After selecting the necessary report, an 'export' section will be available to the right of each report. In the export section, managers will be able to select which provider (if a default hasn't been set) and click "export" to download. The exported report will be formatted for direct transfer to 3rd party systems.

In the future, we aim to make this process even easier by directly integrating with providers for "one-click" data transfer. Are there any providers that you would like to see added for exports? Please let us know at info@shiftplanning.com.

Happy scheduling!

3 months ago Allena Rouse 2 Comments

Use Shift Trades or Open Shifts? Check Out the New Shift Exchanges Report

ShiftPlanning has a built-in Trade Management/trade request program that allows employees to handle their shift swaps electronically. With flexible settings, staff members can request and accept shift trades quickly, easily and efficiently without disrupting management in the process. Likewise, our 'open shift' system allows managers to publish available openings to their staff which employees are then allowed to pickup.

Clients who use either or both of these functions have requested a report to track activity around these functions. They can now find this information in the "Shift Exchanges" section of the reports tab.

For 'Shift Trades', the report will show the number of given, requested, or granted swaps for each employee. Moreover, the amount of requested and granted shifts will be displayed for 'open shifts'. This report is a great reference to make sure 'open shifts' are being filled equitably.

Are there any other reports that you'd like to see?

Happy Scheduling!

3 months ago Allena Rouse 0 Comments

Update On Employee Scheduling HotKeys

Hotkeys are keyboard shortcuts that allow application users to increase work speed. ShiftPlanning's hotkeys help users save time in navigating the employee scheduler and switching between the various date ranges and views. We have also introduced a new hotkey to copy shifts.

Please see the list below for an overview of ShiftPlanning shortcuts:

Copy Shifts

Click & Drag Shift to Desired Date
c: to copy

Quickly Explore Date Ranges

Ctrl+Up: go to previous date range
Ctrl+Left: go to previous date range
Ctrl+Right: go to next date range
Ctrl+Down: go to next date range

Easily Change Date View

t: view today
w: view week
m: view month
y: view year
d: view day

Control Scheduler Views

e: employee view
p: position view
v: visual view
l: list view

Are there any shortcuts you would like to see? Let us know at info@shiftplanning.com.

Happy Scheduling!

3 months ago Allena Rouse 0 Comments

Updates to Conflict Handling and Employee Scheduler Requests

In addition to the payroll related features, the ShiftPlanning team has also made changes to the scheduler based on common requests. The updates are described in the video below:

In the employee view of the ‘schedule’ tab, staff can now be dragged and dropped to shifts to assign them to those hours. This is complementary to our current check box system and should save schedulers using the employee view time.
Also, when clicking on a name in the employee view, managers will be taken to the staff profile allowing for easier navigation.
Using the drag feature with the hotkey ‘c’ will allow users to copy and paste shifts
We have introduced an ‘undo’ option for deleted shifts and/or cleared schedules
We've also made several updates to our clict handling system to include: red shift borders for visualization, inline red text in the 'shift edit' window to indicated conflicted staff, and a 'conflicts' filter.

Do you find the new changes helpful? Is there anything else you would like to see? Please let us know at info@shiftplanning.com.

Happy Scheduling!

3 months ago Allena Rouse 0 Comments

ShiftPlanning Adds New Flexible Payroll Features

The ShiftPlanning team looks to provide value to our client across the workforce management spectrum. While a lot of our recent development has focused on the scheduler, clients have been making requests specific to our payroll-related functionality. This has led us to our most recent developments of 'rate cards' and multi-wage settings. Over the next few weeks, we'll continue expanding this payroll roll-out with a particular focus on reporting.

Previously, wages were assigned to each employee in the 'staff' tab of the software under "edit details". Because wages were a staff attribute, different wages for overtime or different positions could not be entered into the systems.

Rates cards and the staff level 'payroll' setting have changed this. Rate cards allow for managers to assign different levels of pay based on day and time. For example, if weekend hours are time and a half, the manager simply has to change the rate card to "150%" for these hours (the default is 100%). Additionally, in the system, managers can create multiple paycards.

There is a new 'payroll' section in the 'staff' tab. The payroll options allow for managers to change the wage and assign paycards for each position offering great flexibility.

In the 'reports' tab, the 'payroll' reports now feature the multi-wage/rate card data. The new columns of regular, special & overtime have been added to the reports for more accurate exports and bookkeeping.

We will be working in the coming weeks to introduce this functionality across the system, beginning with reports. Does the Rate Card fit your costing needs?

4 months ago Allena Rouse 0 Comments

Upcoming Improvements to the Employee Scheduler

Shiftplanning gives schedulers the option to color-code their positions, so that it is easy to visualize where different shifts are organized. While ShiftPlanning by default assigns different colors to each position, we also give managers the flexibility to choose their own color assignments. This is done by accessing "manage locations & positions" in the 'schedule' tab.

The Current Color Palette

In our next update, the color palette for positions in the scheduler will be updated so that the text on each shift is easier to read. The color of each of your existing positions will be updated to use the closest possible color from the new palette so that they will remain familiar to managers and staff.

Along with the color changes, we will also be introducing new icons on the shifts to indicate certain shift properties like recurring, published, open etc. Moreover, we'll be 'locking' past approved shifts. This means that those shifts will not be able to be moved on the schedule and will be faded as a visual cue on the calendar. Shifts with conflicts will also be more easily identifiable by a red border on the shift.

In addition to the shift updates, we will also be adding inline information about costing to the schedule. This infomation will be seen alongside the current icons for total hours and total staff.

Existing Inline Totals

We hope that the updates to the scheduler will make ShiftPlanning even easier to use and save managers and staff more time on scheduling related tasks. Please feel free to let us know your thoughts on this. Are their any visual updates that you would like to see?

Happy Scheduling!

4 months ago Allena Rouse 0 Comments

Check Out the New ShiftPlanning Introduction Video!

The ShiftPlanning team is proud to announce the arrival of our new introductory animation which is found on our homepage. The video gives on overview of the benefits of the ShiftPlanning workforce management system in a fun visual way. We've made a lot of changes to the platform over the last few months and wanted to illustrate the newer employee scheduling features in the video.

We hope that everyone enjoys the addition. What are your comments on the new video?

Happy Scheduling!

4 months ago Allena Rouse 0 Comments

Add Employees to ShiftPlanning from 100+ Sources

ShiftPlanning aims to make account setup as simple and flexible as possible for our users to schedule employees. An easy way to get staff members into your ShiftPlanning account is to import them from your e-mail address book. When you click on the 'Staff' tab, 'Add Employees' will be visible in the left navigation. After clicking on 'Add Employees', you'll see the import options:

Click on "Address Book" to be presented with the log-in form. We've recently expanded our system to accept address books from over 100 online e-mail providers, including:

Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, ICQ Mail, Lycos, Indiatimes, m@il.com, LinkedIn plus tons more

We will never:

Store your e-mail address/password
Contact your contacts without your permission.

Once you have entered in your login information, we will search for your contacts and provide you with a list where you can select the names of the contacts that you want to add to your ShiftPlanning account. Once you have selected the contact names, click on 'Add' at the bottom to create the staff member in your account.

Note - Invitations aren't sent to the contact automatically; this can be done easily from their profile page

For more information on setting up your ShiftPlanning account, reference the guides below:

Happy Scheduling!

4 months ago Allena Rouse 0 Comments

ShiftPlanning's Employee Scheduler Gets Key Updates

The ShiftPlanning team has a strong focus on our philosophy that workforce management software should be easy to use. With that in mind, our engineering team has been hard at work making changes to the platform and offering a major release as a result in July. Since then, the team has worked with our clients to make sure that the newest version met their needs. Now all key functionality from the 'old scheduler' can be found in the ShiftPlanning application:

Schedule Import:
Importing an offline schedule into ShiftPlanning is the easiest/fastest way to bring in employees, schedules, and shift times all at once. The schedule importer is now a part of the new version and can still be found under the gear-shaped action icon.
In-Line Shift Requests:
We’ve recently made requests more easy to find and manage with the addition of the ‘requests’ tab. Now, users can also approve or reject requests from within the ‘shift edit’ window directly in the ‘schedule’ tab. Shift requests can be found in the "who's working" area.
Filters:
Schedule filters are an easy way to quickly zone in on specific shifts within the timeline. Schedule filters are found by clicking "add filter" in the schedule tab. This will bring up a new side bar which will allow for filters to be selected.
Schedules can now be filtered based on shift completion, locations, and employees. Shift Notes and Titles are also searchable allowing for managers to hone in on the view that they need.
Additional filters have been added to the menu including the ability to channel unpublished shifts and those with open shift and trade requests.
Schedule Overview:
In addition to the filters described above, users can also find a new sidebar for the "schedule overview" section of the schedule tab. In the "schedule overview" bar, users can easily change the timeline via the calendar along with select positions for the view along with find the vacation calendar.

If you were still primarily using the ‘old scheduler’ and need training or support on the newer aspects of the application, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

4 months ago Allena Rouse 0 Comments

Maintenance Update - Sunday, October 2nd 2011

The latest version of ShiftPlanning (released July 25th), which has been our most easy-to-use and powerful, will become the standard application. The retirement of the ‘old scheduler’ will require a short maintenance window for corresponding internal updates. Unfortunately, this process may require the site to be taken offline momentarily. Any outage will last approximately less than an hour and will take place during the time that affects the fewest users. We aim to be a reliable and secure service as well as offer transparency to our users who can check on uptime anytime at status.shiftplanning.com. Here are a few of the most frequently asked questions:

How Long will you be down for?
We'll be offline between 1am-2am EST on Sunday, Oct 2.
Will any of my data be affected?
Rest assured that all of your data is safe, and will be just the way you left it when we go back online.
Who can I contact for more information?
Feel free to contact our team at info@shiftplanning.com at anytime if you have any questions.

We apologize for any inconvenience the temporary outage may cause but are confident that the switch to the standard platform is of the best benefit to our users. Your patience and understanding is greatly appreciated during this process!