Staffing requirements and scheduling rules
Staffing requirements say how many people, in which position, each shift needs at each branch. Scheduling rules are the limits a schedule must keep to, such as minimum rest between shifts. Set them up before you use auto-schedule, and use them on their own to see where a schedule is short.
Where:
- Attendance › Settings › Auto-schedule › Staffing requirements
- Attendance › Settings › Auto-schedule › Scheduling rules
You need:
- Staffing Requirements to see (read) or change (write) requirements
- Scheduling Rules to see or change the rules and overtime budgets
Both rights are in the Auto-schedule group of Attendance user rights. The Settings tab itself needs Attendance Settings.
How to add a staffing requirement
- Go to Staffing requirements and select Add requirement.
- Choose the Branch, the Position and the Shift.
- Set People needed per shift, from 1 to 99.
- Choose On these days, or use a preset: Weekdays, Mon – Sat or Every day.
- Turn on Also needed on public holidays only where the branch really works holidays. Off, the requirement is skipped on a public holiday at that branch.
- Set Effective from, and an Until date for a seasonal peak so the extra headcount ends by itself.
- Read the This requirement sentence, such as "2 × Machine Operator on Morning 06:00 – 14:00, Monday to Saturday, at Calamba Plant", then save.
How to start from your recent schedules
With no requirements yet, select Start from the last 4 weeks of schedules. KAMI looks at the last four full weeks and suggests a requirement for each shift that was staffed on at least three of them, using the lower middle headcount of the four weeks.
Suggestions start next Monday, never include public holidays, have no end date, and skip anything an existing requirement covers. Review each one before you rely on it.
The Staffing requirements page
- Active requirements, Shifts to fill each week, Covered this week and Short this week, with See where to jump to the gaps.
- Requirements lists each requirement. This week's coverage shows the week against them.
- Search by position, shift or branch, or filter by All branches and All positions.
- Each requirement has an Active/Paused toggle and a delete. A paused requirement is not counted or filled.
Deleting a requirement stops its coverage being tracked and stops auto-schedule filling it. Published schedules do not change.
How coverage is counted
A person counts towards a requirement only when they are at its branch, in its position, on a working activity, and on an event that starts and ends at exactly the shift's hours. Someone on 07:00 to 15:00 does not count towards a 06:00 to 14:00 requirement, so the shift shows as short.
On the calendar's Week view, turn on Staffing coverage to see this under the grid. Edit requirements opens this page.
How to set the scheduling rules
- Go to Scheduling rules.
- Set Minimum rest between shifts, from 0 to 24 hours. The default is 11.
- Set Most days in a row, from 1 to 13. The default is 6.
- Set Most night shifts in a row, from 1 to 13. The default is 4.
- Save.
Weekly hours is shown but not set here. It comes from regular hours and maximum weekly overtime in Attendance Rules.
| Rule | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Minimum rest between shifts | The gap from the end of one timed working shift to the start of the next. Full-day events do not count |
| Most days in a row | Consecutive days with a working shift |
| Most night shifts in a row | Consecutive night shifts. A shift is a night shift when at least half of it falls inside the activity's night differential window, by default 22:00 to 06:00 |
These rules are company-wide. They apply to every branch and department.
How to set an overtime budget
- On Scheduling rules, select Add budget under Overtime budget.
- Choose the Department and enter Overtime hours a week, from 0 to 168.
- Save.
When auto-schedule builds a draft, the budgets of the departments of everyone in it are added into one budget for the draft. With no budget set, the draft shows "no budget set" and any overtime in it needs HR sign-off.
What Happens Next
- The calendar can now show where a schedule is short.
- Auto-schedule fills shifts against active requirements and never breaks a scheduling rule. See Auto-schedule.
- Published schedules that break a rule are flagged above the Week view.
Tips
- Build requirements with the hours your rotas use. Coverage counts exact shift hours only.
- Check positions on profiles. A wrong position means a person never counts and is never scheduled.
- Use Until for peaks rather than remembering to delete them.
- Pause rather than delete a requirement you will need again.
- Set rest rules to your law and agreements, not to what last month's rota happened to do.
Troubleshooting / FAQ
Q: Coverage says short, but someone is working that shift. Their hours differ from the requirement's shift, or they are at another branch or in another position.
Q: Start from the last 4 weeks suggested nothing. No shift was staffed on three of the last four full weeks, or your requirements already cover them.
Q: Can I set different rest rules per branch? No. Scheduling rules apply to the whole company.