Shift groups

Certain healthcare organizations have union agreements that require employee shifts to be offered to other staff when someone goes on leave. These shifts are typically grouped into one or more blocks of shifts, or shift groups.

A shift group is a collection of existing shifts that are linked together. Shift groups are automatically created when open shifts result from an employee's time-off request. Managers can also manually group shifts, either as the same type or as a combination of open and assigned shifts.

Shift groups allow you to manage and take actions on multiple shifts as a single unit withing the Schedule Planner. Each shift can belong to only one shift group at a time. You can create shift groups and take group actions on them directly within the Schedule Planner. From the shift glance, you can use the Shift group actions menu to create new shift groups and perform actions on existing ones.

Note: You must have the appropriate access rights to use the shift group functionality in the Schedule Planner.

Create a shift group

To create a shift group:

  1. In the Schedule Planner, right-click a shift that is not currently in a shift group.
  2. In the shift glance, select Shift group actions > Create shift group.
    The Create shift group panel displays. The Shifts in group list shows the shift you right-clicked in the Schedule Planner to begin creating a shift group.
  3. In New shift group name, enter a unique name.
  4. In Filters, select Edit.
    The Select filters panel displays where you can define the available shifts you want to add to the shift group.
  5. Specify one or more of the following filter criteria :
    1. Start date, End date: Modify the start date, end date, or both. The dates default to the currently selected timeframe in the Schedule Planner. You can use the calendar icon to select the dates.
    2. Shift type: Select whether you want to include open shifts, assigned shifts, or all shifts.
    3. Comment type : Select an existing comment type.
    4. Note: Select a note attached to a comment.
    5. Select Apply.
    The filtered shifts display in the Add shifts to the group section.
  6. Select the plus icon beside a shift to add it to the shift group.
  7. To remove shifts from the shift group, select the delete icon beside the shift in the Shifts in group section.
  8. Select Save.

Edit a shift group

To edit a shift group:

  1. In the Schedule Planner, right-click a shift that is included in a shift group.
  2. In the shift glance, select Shift group actions > Edit shift group.
    The Edit shift group panel displays. The Shifts in group list shows the existing shifts that are included in the shift group.
  3. To modify the name of the shift group, enter a new name in New shift group name.
  4. In Filters, select Edit.
    The Select filters panel displays where you can define the available shifts you want to add to the shift group.
  5. Specify one or more of the following filter criteria :
    1. Start date, End date: Modify the start date, end date, or both. The dates default to the currently selected timeframe in the Schedule Planner. You can use the calendar icon to select the dates.
    2. Shift type: Select whether you want to include open shifts, assigned shifts, or all shifts.
    3. Comment type : Select an existing comment type.
    4. Note: Select a note attached to a comment.
    5. Select Apply.
    The filtered shifts display in the Add shifts to the group section.
  6. Select the plus icon beside a shift to add it to the shift group.
  7. To remove shifts from the shift group, select the delete icon beside the shift in the Shifts in group section.
  8. Select Save.

Delete a shift group

When you delete a shift group, the shifts included in the shift group remain intact. Only the group association is removed.

To delete a shift group:

  1. In the Schedule Planner, right-click a shift that is included in a shift group.
  2. In the shift glance, select Shift group actions > Delete shift group.
    The Delete shift group panel displays. The Shifts in shift group section displays the shifts that the shift group contains.
  3. Select Delete.

Split a shift group

You can split a shift group by creating a second shift group and redistributing shifts between the current group and the new group.

  1. In the Schedule Planner, right-click a shift that is included in a shift group.
  2. In the shift glance, select Shift group actions > Split shift group.
    The Split shift group panel displays. The Current shift group name is shown, and the Shifts in shift group section displays the shifts that the shift group contains.
  3. In New shift group name, enter a unique name for the new group.
  4. Redistribute shifts between the current group and the new group, using the up arrow and down arrow
    Each shift group must include at least one shift.
  5. Select Save.

Assign a shift group

You can assign all open shifts in the shift group to a single employee at once.

  1. In the Schedule Planner, right-click a shift that is included in a shift group.
  2. In the shift glance, select Shift group actions > Assign shift group.
    The Assign open shifts in shift group panel displays. The Open shifts in selected group section displays the open shifts contained in the shift group.
  3. In Employee name, select the employee that you want to assign the open shifts to.
  4. Select Assign.