• What are micro-schedules?
  • When to use micro-schedules
  • When not to use micro-schedules
  • Enabling micro-scheduling
• Create a shift with a micro-schedule
  • Using the Deputy website
  • Create an open shift with a micro-schedule
  • Using the Deputy mobile app
• Edit a shift with a micro-schedule
• Link/Split shift with micro-schedule
  • Select multiple rosters
  • Link shifts
  • Split a shift
• Delete a shift with a micro-schedule
• Publish a shift with a micro-schedule
• Find Replacement for micro-scheduled shifts
• Allowing employees to swap or offer shifts
  • Approving or declining a swap as a manager
• Viewing micro-schedules in the schedule
  • View by Team member
  • View by Area
• Printing or exporting a schedule with a micro-schedule
• Copying shifts with a micro-schedule
• Copy multiple shifts
• Save and load a schedule template with micro-schedules
• Clocking employees in for micro-scheduled shifts
• Approving a timesheet for a shift with a micro-schedule
• Exporting approved micro-scheduling timesheet
• Team member experience with micro-scheduling
• Limitations when using micro-scheduling 

What is micro-scheduling?

Micro-scheduling helps managers provide more direction to team members who work across different areas of the organization in a single shift.

Managers can schedule a shift with multiple areas for the team member to work in without the team member needing to clock in and out of each area.

When to use micro-scheduling

The micro-scheduling feature suite will be useful for businesses:

• Where team members work across different areas of the business in a single shift
• Where team members clock in and out once per day using the Deputy mobile apps
• Who pay team members a single pay rate

When not to use micro-scheduling

The micro-scheduling feature suite is not suitable for businesses:

• That aren't currently on a plan that supports micro-scheduling. You can head to the Pricing plans page to learn more about these plans.
• With team members who work in only one area per shift
• Who pay team members multiple pay rates for working in different areas each day

Enabling micro-scheduling

If your account does not currently have micro-scheduling enabled, you can do so by following these instructions.

Create a shift with a micro-schedule

Using the Deputy website

Area view in the schedule

To create a shift with micro-scheduling for your team member in Area view, you can click on the plus sign in the area of the schedule where you want to add the shift and select your team member's name from the drop-down menu. This is the first area where the team member will start their shift. Note that the shift will have the default start time and shift length but you can edit this if you need.

Team member view in the schedule

To create a shift with micro-scheduling for your team member in Team member view, you can click on the plus sign in the team member's row in the schedule where you want to add the shift. The time and first area to work in will be suggested based on the past history of this team member.

In either scenario, once you have created a shift, if you wish to add another area where the team member will work click on the + icon to Add area.

You can select the next area where the team member will work from the drop-down menu.

You can continue to add new areas in the same way. If you add an area you wish to remove you can just click on the trash can icon on the right-hand side.

By default when first added, the length of time worked in each area is divided within the total shift length but you can adjust the start and finish time for each area using the drop-down menu or type the hours and minutes in the time field.

You can not leave any gaps of time between areas.

You can add up to 30 areas per shift.

To change the order of a sub-shift, hover over it to reveal the six dots. Click the six dots to drag and drop the sub-shift. The sub-shift duration will be kept the same, but the shift start and end times will be automatically updated.

You can add the rest of the shift information such as breaks and shift notes then click Save to save the shift to the schedule. 

Create an open shift with micro-scheduling

Managers can create an open shift or open shift with approval with micro-scheduling included so that the team member claiming the shift or requesting the shift has a clear understanding of the areas they will be expected to work.

Using the Deputy mobile app

As a manager, you can also create a shift with micro-scheduling in the Deputy mobile app.

1. On the Schedule tab, tap on the + icon on the top right of the screen to add a new shift, or the Add Shift Button if you're on the daily view.

2. Select the team member for whom you are creating the shift (or select Open to create an open shift) and select the first area in which the team member will start the shift, in this example, the manager area has been selected, and the total shift will go from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., then tap on Add area.

3. Select the next area your Team member will work in. In the below example, FOH has been selected. You can use the time selectors to nominate how long the team member will work in this area. Note that depending on the times you select, Deputy may adjust other time selections in the shift to ensure no gaps are left in the middle of the shift. Once you are happy with your selection for this area tap Done.

4. To add more sub-shifts, click Add area again, and repeat step 3. You can add up to 30 areas per shift.

5. You can edit the shift details by tapping on the area, adjusting the selected area or the start and end times, and clicking Delete area to remove it completely. If you change the time, Deputy may automatically adjust the start or end time of adjacent sub-shifts to ensure that no gaps are left in the middle of the shift.

Tap Done when you are happy with your changes. 

6. You can edit your break details to change the duration or set a specific start and end time you wish the Team member to take the break. You can also tap on Delete break if you wish to remove the break completely.

Tap Done when you are happy with your changes.

7. Once you are happy with how the shift is configured, tap on Add shift to add the shift to the schedule.

8.  You will then see all individual subshifts displayed with the shift time an employee will be in each area. Note the link icon on each shift to indicate it is a Subshifts, and the employee will be rostered in more than one area. Once ready, remember to hit publish to let your team members know about their new shifts!

Read more about using the Deputy mobile app to manage shifts at Manager guide to the Deputy mobile app

Edit a shift with micro-scheduling

Micro-scheduled shifts can be dragged and dropped in the schedule to change the date, time, team member or area details of the shift. 

To edit the details of a shift with more than one area, hover over the shift and click Edit to open the shift details pop-up. You can now amend these shift details:

• team member
• area
• start and finish times
• meal breaks
• shift notes

Note: you are unable to amend the date of a shift with shift plans within shift details. If you need to change the date of a micro-scheduled shift you will need to delete it and create a new shift on the new date.

Link/Split shift with micro-scheduling

Managers can edit/manage shifts more easily by utilizing Link or Split shift features.

Select multiple shifts

From your keyboard, you can hold the CTRL key (Windows OS) or COMMAND key (Mac OS) and select multiple shifts from the area views on the schedule.

Once multiple shifts are selected, click the Edit drop-down. You can now either Delete the selected shifts, or click Link shifts to link them as one shift to be assigned with a single employee from the dropdown list.

Link shifts

Click the Link shifts option in the drop-down list to open the Add Shift Popover. You will see all the original details of each shift, which means you may need to update the sub-shift start and end times to ensure there are no time gaps or overlaps. Assign the shift to an employee from the drop-down, and click Save. 

These shifts will now show as linked on the schedule, and will act like one combined shift.

Split a shift

If you need to change details or find a replacement for part of a shift, you can manage this easier by splitting the shift. From either the Area view or Team member view, select the shift you want to split and click Edit. Click the three horizontal dots and then select Split shift. 

If you are splitting a single area shift (a shift without sub-shifts), you can split it only at a set time by:

• Dragging the split indicator along the bar to the desired time, or
• Selecting or typing a time from the Split time drop-down selector

If you are splitting a micro-scheduled shift (a shift with multiple sub-shifts), you can:

• Split it at a set time by dragging the split indicator or setting a time from the Split time drop-down, or
• Split it by sub-shift to automatically create separate shifts out of each sub-shift. 

You can what the outcome of your changes will be in the Resulting shifts section. 

Click Split to finalize your changes. You can now assign team members to the new shifts, or offer them as Open shifts.

Delete a shift with micro-scheduling

You can delete a micro-scheduled shift within the shift details by clicking on the three dots and selecting Delete shift.

You can also delete a shift by selecting it on the schedule and pressing Delete on your keyboard.

Note: If you are viewing the schedule via Area view then selecting and deleting the shift in one area will delete the shift for all areas.

Publish a shift with micro-scheduling

Shifts with micro-scheduling can be published in the same way as regular shifts. Scheduling managers can choose how to notify the team members the shift has been published or request shift confirmation.

One exception, however, is that when you publish a shift with multiple areas, it will be published for all work areas even if you choose to deselect the area during the publishing process.

Find Replacement for micro-scheduled shifts

Managers can use the find replacement for a micro-scheduled shifts by logging into the Deputy website.

Read How do I find a replacement for someone who can't work? for more information.
 

Allowing employees to swap or offer shifts

To enable the swap or offer shift functionality, please read Allow team members to swap or offer shifts.

Once enabled, your employees can swap shifts under Upcoming Shifts by selecting the shift, clicking can't work, and then Swap Shift or Offer Shift. 

Note: Employees can only swap or offer an entire shift, not individual sub-shifts. They can also only offer or swap with people who have been trained to work all aspects of the shift.

Read How to swap or offer your shift to a co-worker to learn more about how employees can swap and offer shifts.

Approving or declining a swap as a manager 

If you have turned on Manager approval for shift swaps, their manager will need to approve this after the co-worker has accepted a shift swap. With micro-scheduling enabled, the shifts and sub shits will look like this:

Web

Mobile

To learn more about approving shift swapping, please read, Approve or decline a swap as a manager.

Viewing micro-scheduled shifts in the schedule

Managers can view micro-schedules in the schedule in two different views on the Deputy website.

View by Team member

When viewing the schedule in a Team member view, shifts with micro-scheduling will show the number of areas planned for that Team member's shift instead of showing the name of the Area. The shift will be colored with the color of the first area of work (if you have used colors to differentiate your areas).

View by Area

When viewing a shift with micro-scheduling in an Area view, each area of work will be displayed individually. However, each of these shifts will display the link icon indicating it is a sub-shift.

Printing or exporting a schedule for micro-schedule

When printing or exporting the schedule to a spreadsheet, micro-scheduled shifts will be represented in a similar way to the schedule Team member view or Area view.

The below examples show:

• a shift with micro-scheduling in Area view exported to Excel

• the same shift in Team member view printed to PDF

Read more about printing and exporting your schedule.

Copying shifts with micro-scheduling

Single shifts with micro-scheduling can be copied within the schedule using the C and V keyboard shortcuts or by clicking the copy-and-paste icons on the shift. Note that the entire shift will be copied to the new date.

Web App

Mobile App

Copy multiple shifts

Micro-scheduled shifts will be copied over the same as regular shifts when copying day, week, 2 week or 4 week schedules to other periods in the schedule.

Save and load a schedule template with micro-scheduling

Micro-scheduled shifts will be copied over the same as regular shifts when saving and loading schedule templates in the schedule.

 

Clocking employees in for micro-scheduled shifts

Managers can clock an employee in/out and add breaks for a micro-scheduled shift in the People tab.

Simply head to the people tab and select the relevant employee. Then, in the left-hand menu bar, you can manually manage that employee's shift.

Note: You will not be able to adjust an employee's shift here; you will need to do that on the employee's timesheet.

Approving a timesheet for a shift with micro-scheduling

The approval of a timesheet with micro-scheduling is only available within the new Timesheet experience.

Managers will be able to perform the following functions on Timesheets with micro-scheduling on the Deputy website:

View and approve a timesheet with multiple areas worked as scheduled

Managers can view timesheets where a team member has worked in multiple areas:

• The Areas worked will be displayed on the timesheet summary page when you hover over the Areas.
• When you click on the timesheet summary a more detailed timesheet will be displayed with the areas and times worked as well as breaks and clock in out events, comments and pay rates applied.

Managers can approve the timesheet from either the detail or summary view by clicking on Approve, Approve and next or clicking the Approval tick icon on the timesheet summary view.

Add or delete an Area within a worked timesheet

Managers may add or delete areas to a timesheet during the approval process. 

Click to open the timesheet you wish to edit.

Click on Add area to add a new area to the timesheet or click on the trash can icon to delete an area.

In this example, the team member was scheduled to work in areas 'Manager' then 'Main Room' until 1pm, but during timesheet approval, the manager knows that the team member stayed back to complete some Admin and so adds the 'Admin' area to Ben's timesheet. 

When adding or deleting areas to timesheets as a manager, the recorded start and finish shift times are maintained however managers can also adjust times if needed.

Note:

• all areas added to a single timesheet must be located within the same time zone
• a maximum of 30 areas can be added to a single timesheet

Edit the start and end times for multiple areas in worked timesheets

During the timesheet approval process, managers can edit the start and end time of each area.

Click to open the timesheet you wish to edit.

Click on the start or finish time of the area you wish to edit and select the new time from the menu or type a specific time using your keyboard.

Note:

• when adjusting times, you cannot leave any time gaps between any worked areas.
• If you need to adjust the start time of the shift, please adjust the start time of the first worked area
• If you need to adjust the finish time for shift, please adjust the finish time of the last worked area.

View timesheet history events 

Click the three dots on the far right of the timesheet summary and select View history to see the history of the timesheet.

In this example, you can see the details of the shift scheduled by Ed Kingsley and the clock in and out events of Frank Wren's shift

Approving micro-scheduling timesheets on the Deputy mobile app

The approval of timesheets with micro-scheduling shifts is currently only supported on the Deputy website.

If managers attempt to approve pending timesheets on the Deputy mobile app they will receive this message and the timesheet will not be approved.

Please log in to the Deputy website to approve these timesheets.

Exporting approved micro-scheduling timesheet

You can only export the approved micro-scheduling timesheet with all its sub shifts via Deputy Custom Payroll Exporter.

Simply go to the Timesheets tab and select Export Timesheets.

Select the employees listed on the left, and Export Selected Items to export

In the pop-up, click "Create a custom payroll export".

In the next step, give the custom export a name, extend the timesheet section on the right side, and click the "+" button to include Parent timesheet ID into the export format.  Then click Create in the top right.

Select the custom export you just created, and then click Export.

In the next pop-up, click Download file.

You can now open the CSV file to review these timesheets with their micro-scheduled sub-shifts.

Team member experience with micro-scheduling

Read more about how team members will view and manage shifts with micro-scheduling.

Important information on Micro-scheduling 

Before setting up Micro-scheduling, it is important to know that: 

• Micro-scheduling is a one-way rollout; once you enable it, you won't be able to revert it.
• Micro-scheduling can currently only support a single pay rate applied to all parts of the micro-scheduled shift assigned to a single employee. This means you cannot pay an employee via multiple pay rates within the same shift.

For more information on the limitations of micro-scheduling, you can check out the Micro-Scheduling FAQs page.