What are Schedule templates?
Schedule templates are a way that you can save an 'ideal' schedule that you have already set up to load into another time period.
Therefore, you will need to have a populated Schedule page set up before you can create a Schedule template.
Schedule templates are location specific and are only used for:
- daily schedules
- weekly schedules
- 2-weekly schedules
Scenarios NOT suitable for Schedule templates
Monthly templates
There is no option for a monthly Schedule template. As there are a fixed number of hours in a day and days in a week and fortnight, shifts in these time periods can be successfully applied to another timeframe of the same length. However, since each month has a variable number of days in it, monthly templates would not operate effectively in this way.
Templates created using multiple locations
Schedule templates will only be successfully loaded into single locations. Therefore, when creating schedule templates please ensure you have only selected one location at a time to create the schedule template.
If you accidentally select more than one location to create a schedule template then when you later load the template, shifts will only be loaded into one location.
If you are creating separate schedule templates for many different locations it may be useful to ensure the location name is included in the schedule template name or description to make it easier to find the correct one to load.
Who can create Schedule templates?
Supervisors and Managers who have permission to create schedules in certain locations can create and load templates for those locations.
How to use Schedule templates
Create Schedule templates on the Deputy website
1. On the Schedule page, select the location, date range and View you wish to create a template for.
Note that there is no option to create a schedule template for the monthly view so please only select: Day, Week or 2-week views. You can select either
In this example, the Week View by Area has been selected:
2. Populate the schedule by creating shifts and adding team members into the shifts you require or by using any of our Smart Scheduling tools to create your 'ideal' schedule.
Once you are happy with the schedule you have created, click Copy Shifts and select Save Template from the dropdown menu.
3. Name your template and add a description then click Save when done.
Load Schedule templates on the Deputy website
1. To load a previously saved template go to the Schedule page and select the location, date range and View you wish to load the template into. Click Copy Shifts and select Save Template from the dropdown menu.
2. Choose the template you wish to load by clicking on it and then click Load Template.
Note that only the templates that will fit into the time period of the view you have currently selected on the Schedule page will be shown to load.
eg. Only a week schedule template can be loaded into a week schedule view.
If you can not see your previously saved template please change the view to daily or weekly or 2-weekly and try to load a template instead.
When the template has loaded, you will receive the following confirmation message.
3. Click OK, Done! and you will see that all the template has populated the schedule page with the selected template. Don't forget to Publish your shifts when you are ready.
Load Schedule templates on the Deputy iOS mobile app
You can also load existing Schedule Templates into your schedule from your Deputy mobile apps as long as you have already saved the template on the Deputy website.
Note that you can only Load Daily or Weekly Schedule Templates on iOS mobile. If you need to load a 2-weekly template please use the Deputy website.
1. Tap on the Schedule tab in the Deputy iOS mobile app.
2. Select the Location and date you wish to load the template into then tap the + icon in the top right-hand corner.
3. Tap Load Template.
4. On the iOS mobile app you can select whether you want to load a daily or weekly schedule template. In the example below you can see that by tapping on the Daily or Weekly toggle at the top of the screen you can see the list of available templates to load.
5. Select the desired template (a tick will appear to show it is selected) and tap Load.
6. After the template has loaded, tap OK and Publish the shifts to confirm the changes and notify your team members.
Load Schedule templates on the Deputy Android app
You can also load existing Schedule Templates into your schedule from your Deputy mobile apps as long as you have already saved the template on the Deputy website.
Note that you can only load Daily or Weekly Schedule Templates on Android mobile. If you need to load a 2-weekly template please use the Deputy website.
1. Tap on the Schedule tab in the Deputy Android mobile app.
2. You will need to select one single Location and single day view for date you wish to load the template into. You can do this by tapping on the view icon and location icon as shown in the example below.
3. Once you have a single location and date showing, you can tap the + icon in the lower right-hand corner.
3. Tap Load Template from the menu on the lower right.
4. Select the daily or weekly template from the list of saved templates and tap on LOAD.
A message will pop up which will confirm that you have selected a template and that it is currently populating the shifts based on the template.
When this is finished, it will redirect you to the schedule page, where you can check your schedule. If everything is correct, you can confirm and publish your schedule.
Tips and tricks
Why can't I see my saved schedule template on the Deputy website or mobile app?
Deputy will only display schedule templates that are able to be loaded into the view you have selected on the Schedule page. Try changing your view to Daily, Weekly or 2-weekly on the Schedule page and clicking on Load Template to see if it appears on the list of templates available to be loaded.
Can I save a monthly Schedule Template?
No, there is no option for a monthly schedule template.
As there are a fixed number of hours in a day and days in a week and fortnight, shifts in these time periods can be successfully applied to another timeframe of the same length.
However, since each month has a variable number of days in it, monthly templates would not operate effectively in this way.
How do I delete a Schedule template?
On the Deputy website, when you click on Load Templates to display the list of available templates you can see there is a small trash can icon to delete any schedule templates you no longer need.
You will be required to confirm you want to delete the template before it deletes permanently.