Schedule templates

If most weeks look about the same, you don't have to build each one from scratch. Save a good week as a schedule template, and lay it onto any future week in a couple of clicks. You then only adjust for that week's changes.

Templates belong to a location. The templates you see are the ones saved at the location picked at the top right. You need to be a Manager or Administrator there to use them.

All three template actions are in the Schedule templates section of the schedule's Options menu.

Create a template

1. Open the week you want to save on the Schedule page.
2. If you only want part of it, use the department and job role filters first. For example, filter to the Kitchen department to save a kitchen-only template. Everything the two filters leave on screen goes into the template.
3. Open Options and choose Create a template from this week.
4. Give it a name that says what it's for, such as Regular week or Holiday week.
5. Choose whether to include:
   • Employee notes: each shift's note is saved with it. Off by default.
   • Unpublished hours: off by default, so only published shifts are saved. Turn it on to save a week you're still working on.
6. Click Create template.

The template keeps each shift's employee, job role, day of the week, times and End Display. House shifts are saved too, still with nobody on them. Shadow shifts are left out, since they are just copies of shifts in another job role.

Apply a template to a week

1. Go to the week you want to fill. It doesn't have to be empty.
2. Open Options and choose Apply a template to this week.
3. Pick the Template.
4. Check the two options:
   • Skip approved time off (on by default): nobody gets a shift on a day they have approved time off.
   • Overwrite existing hours (off by default): if a template shift clashes with something already on the schedule, the template shift is skipped. Turn this on to remove what's already there instead, published or not.
5. Click Apply template.

A summary shows how many shifts were added to each day. If any were skipped, it lists them and says why: for example, the employee had approved time off, has left, no longer works at this location or in that job role, or was already working at that time.

Everything a template adds is unpublished, so check the week, make your changes, then publish it as usual. If you applied the wrong template, click Undo in the summary, or use the schedule's undo arrow.

Overwrite existing hours removes published shifts too, and removing a shift doesn't notify anyone. If you overwrite a week your team has already seen, send them their schedules again once it's published.

Remove a template

Open Options, choose Manage templates, pick the template and click Remove template. Weeks you already filled from it stay exactly as they are.

Templates can't be edited. To change one, build a week the way you want it, create a new template from it, and remove the old one.

Templates, or copying last week?

• Copy schedule from last week (in Options) copies last week's published shifts as they are. It's quickest when this week will look like last week, but it doesn't skip approved time off.
• A template is better for a week you come back to again and again, such as a regular week, a holiday week or a week with a big event. It can skip approved time off.
• Copy a day onto other days (in Options) copies one day's shifts onto other days of the same week, for example to make every weekday match Monday.