Automatic planning

There are a few different features which you can use, if you want to use Smartplan's automatic shiftplanning:

• Set up staffing-need
• Set up rules for the employees
• Receive requests from the employees
• Suggest staffing

It's only necessary to set up a staffing-need and suggest a staffing. But the two other features (rules and requests) can help you achieve a rota that is as close to reality as possible. This means, that you do not have to make a lot of changes to the rota after it has been published to the employees.

Set up your staffing-need

If you want Smartplan Assistant to staff your rota you have to start by adding available shifts. There are different ways in which you can quickly create your shifts. You can either choose to use our template which you can save and use again in the future. 

If you do not feel like using the template you can add the shifts one by one. Simply click on “Add Shifts”:

Now you can adjust the timespan and the positions of your shifts:

If your shifts are repeated through the rota it might be relevant for you to copy your shifts. This way, you can quickly fill out your staffing need and get rid of a lot of manual work.

Set up rules for your employees

You get to choose which rules the Assistant should follow when it staffs your rota. The different rules can by adjusted by clicking on “Setup rules for employees”:

Now you can setup general rules that apply to all of your employees. You can also set up specific rules for the individual employees in case you have employees where the rules deviate from the general ones.

You can for example set up rules regarding your employees' maximum or minimum number of hours per week. Minimum break length between two shifts. Maximum number of days working in a row. And much more. Furthermore, you can choose if you want the employees' approved absences and requests for the rota to be respected during planning:

In this article, you can find help regarding how you can set up rules for your employees.

Receive requests from your employees

If you want to be sure your employees can work in the time spans that the Assistant assigns them to, you can ask them to submit requests for the rota. You simply have to click on "Receive requests":

When you have opened the rota for requests, your employees can indicate when they are not able to work:

When your employees start submitting requests they will be registered in the planningtool. The Assistant will then be able to take the requests into consideration when it staffs your rota.

You can read more about how you can use the request feature in this article. If you want to learn more about how your employees submit requests, you can take a look in this article instead.

Let the Assistant staff your rota

When you have created all of your available shifts and perhaps adjusted your rules and received requests, you can ask Smartplan Assistant to suggest a staffing for your rota. The Assistant will suggest the best solution to your needs and it will take employee rules, approved absences and employee requests into consideration. Simply click on “Suggest staffing”:

This pop-up will now appear and you can start the staffing by clicking on “Suggest staff”:

If you have staffed some of your rota yourself you can choose if these changes should be kept or overwritten. In this case the pop-up will look like this:

When the staffing is ready simply click on “Close and view schedule”: 

If any rules should have been broken you will be able to see these to the right of the rota:

Furthermore, you can now choose if there are any shifts in the rota you would like to change or if you are satisfied with the assistants suggestion.