What is Autofill empty shifts?
Auto-fill empty shifts is an automatic function that is useful for filling a schedule that has already been built with a scaffold of empty shifts. Deputy will fill the schedule with recommended Team members according to the criteria you configure related to cost, hours and other factors.
Note: the Autofill function will only fill Empty shifts. It will not automatically fill Open shifts.
How to use Autofill empty shifts
1. On the Schedule page, ensure your schedule has empty shifts already created at the times and areas you require then click on the drop-down arrow next to Auto and select Auto-fill empty shifts
2. A pop-up window will appear. From here, you can select your autofill preferences.
Cost
- Keep cost as low as possible - This option will ensure that the generated schedule will take into consideration employee cost.
Equal Hours
- Try to provide equal hours for everybody - Selecting this will take into account the hours each employee is scheduled for and will attempt to keep hours equal.
Learn From Me
- This option will look at timesheets and rosters that have been completed in the same time/area in past. Employees who have worked the same hour and area shifts in past will be given higher preference. If no matching timesheets are found, rosters will be used to give preference.
How long do you want to wait?
This drop-down will give you three options:
- A minute or less (for a good result)
- A few minutes (for a better result)
- As long as it takes (grab a coffee, we'll find the near-optimum result)
As explained, each option is more in-depth than the previous option.
Advanced Recipes **FOR ADVANCED USERS**
This box allows you to create more articulate parameters behind the autofill process. For example, the following 'recipe' ensures salaried employees work between 40 and 45 hours per week, and makes sure that employees aren't scheduled during early morning and late afternoon regardless of stress profile.
{"scorers":[{"type":"employee_totals","score":10,"params":{"employee_property_name":"Agreement.ContractObject.BasePayRuleObject.RemunerationType","employee_property_match":"2","employee_property_match_type":"eq","compare_value":40,"compare_type":"ge","compare_total":"TotalTime"}},{"type":"employee_totals","score":-20,"params":{"employee_property_name":"Agreement.ContractObject.BasePayRuleObject.RemunerationType","employee_property_match":"2","employee_property_match_type":"eq","compare_value":45,"compare_type":"ge","compare_total":"TotalTime"}},{"type":"field_matches","score":0,"name":"morning_shifts","params":[{"field":"Shift.StartTimeQ.Hour","data":12,"type":"lt"}]},{"type":"field_matches","score":0,"name":"late_shifts","params":[{"field":"Shift.StartTimeQ.Hour","data":18,"type":"ge"}]},{"type":"overlap","score":-10,"params":{"rules":["morning_shifts","late_shifts"],"column":"Shift.Employee"}}]}
For more assistance with advanced recipes, click here.
To begin the auto-fill process, select your preferences and click 'Auto Fill Shifts'.
Example result
In the scheduling screenshot at the top of the page, you will notice that the location has multiple areas to be filled over the 7 days, and the following preferences selected:
- Cost - Keep cost as low as possible
- Equal Hours - Try to provide equal hours for everybody
- Learn from me - Learn my preference from past schedules
- How long do you want to wait? - A minute or less
The feature ran through over 180,000 simulations and schedules and took about a minute to fill the empty shifts.
You can see that the empty shifts on the schedule have been filled with team members names.
Tips
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If you have a set schedule (e.g. 1 manager and a set number of floor staff), you can create a Schedule Template containing empty shifts to save you some time.
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The more you use the Auto Fill function with 'Learn from me - Learn my preference from past schedules', the more the tool will learn about your schedule preferences, which will make Auto Fill more effective and efficient.