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Scheduler User Guide

William Allgood
Updated

Applies to: Hotel Managers

 

Table of Contents

  • Overview of Scheduler
  • Entering a Forecast
  • Scheduling Employees
  • Reviewing & Publishing a Schedule
  • Time Off Requests
  • Scheduler Reports
  • Printing Schedules
  • Showing Preferred First Names on Printed Schedules
  • Custom Position Groups
  • Shift Templates Setup
  • Employee Setup
  • Schedule Settings

Overview of Scheduler

Scheduler includes the following:

  • Forecasting & Labor standards
  • Assigning shifts to employees
  • Automated analysis of labor issues
  • Printing of schedules
  • Communicating published schedules directly to employees online using myHotelTeam.com

Three Main Scheduler Benefits

  1. Reduces the administrative time required for managers to create a team schedule
  2. Helps managers schedule positions in line with their hotel's labor standards to ensure the hotel is not over or under staffed
  3. Ensures employees always have their most up-to-date schedule available online so they know when to report to work

How to Access Scheduler

  1. From the navigation menu on the left-side of the screen, select Scheduler. 
  2. Select Schedule Employees
  3. The additional options below are available in the blue sub-navigation menu
    • Time Off Request
    • Reports
    • Employee Setup
    • Shift Setup
    • Import Forecast

Scheduler Key Terms

  • Assigned Positions - Positions that an employee is eligible and trained to perform inside their hotel. Employees can be scheduled into any positions they have been assigned in Employee Setup
  • Labor Standards - Staffing guidelines that let managers know how many hours they should schedule for a given level of occupancy or other business driver. They ensure that no position is either over or under-staffed based on the numbers of customers that position will be servicing.
  • Forecast - an estimate of future volume for any business driver (e.g. rooms occupied, arrivals, departures, F&B revenue or covers) that is used in a hotel’s labor standards.
  • MyHotelTeam.com - MyHotelTeam.com is an employee portal where hotel employees can access their schedules and timecards. Schedules only post here once published by a manager from Scheduler.
  • Time Off Request - A request for an employee to be off from work for a given time period. This can be optionally set-up to track different categories of time-off requests (e.g. vacation, personal etc.)
  • Revenue Sync - Some customers use Revenue Sync, which can import night audit entry and forecast data automatically from outside applications like Hilton OnQ and ProfitSword.

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Entering a Forecast

The business volume forecast determines how many "Plan" hours can be scheduled inside of the tool.  The closer the schedule is to Plan, the more "Wins" the hotel will likely have in actual performance.  

If the hotel uses Revenue Sync, the forecast will come from an outside application like OnQ or ProfitSword.  Otherwise, the Hotel Effectiveness application will create a forecast for occupancy and Average Daily Rate (ADR).  Anyone who has been given access to edit the forecast can make changes to it.

Getting Started:

  1. Select the desired hotel from the drop down.  
  2. Ensure the correct week is selected.  Use the "Previous Week" or "Next Week" links to view a different week

Section 1:  Rooms Occupied:

  • The forecast is based on same day last year and the most recent 8 week trend for the hotel's occupancy and ADR.  This feature can be deactivated in Scheduler Settings.
  • The application requires at least 8 weeks of historical data to be loaded for rooms occupied this year and last year to properly forecast.  This information can be imported if necessary.  
  • If the generated forecast is not approved, the final amount can be overridden based on a 3rd party application, PMS, or other data source (i.e. spreadsheets)

Section 2:  Food & Beverage (F&B) and other Data Forecast

  • A forecast will not be automatically generated for F&B because operational data can vary drastically from week to week.  We recommend manually entering a specific forecast for these areas.

Section 3:  Override Housekeeping Cleans (Optional)

  • Total rooms cleaned will equal prior day rooms occupied forecast by default
  • The mix of cleans is determined by the historical information entered in Night Audit Entry

     Please Note: If you have not entered an active clean type into the system, your clean type will be defaulted to Rooms Cleaned and will remain as such until a new clean type is entered.

 

Section 4:  Forecast Notes (Optional)

  • Forecast notes can be entered by clicking on "Add a Note."  
  • Notes can be helpful to add context to specific forecast changes

Saving / Approving the Forecast

  • Saving the Forecast
    • Saving the forecast as a draft allows managers to preview their standard hours for every position based on their forecast and labor standards
    • Saved forecasts are displayed at the bottom of the Enter Forecast page
  • Approving the Forecast
    • The forecast should be entered prior to managers scheduling employees.  This will ensure the manager knows how many hours they should be scheduling for every position
    • The application allows managers by default to schedule shifts before the forecast is approved. To prevent this, go to settings > Scheduler/MyHotelTeam > Schedule Settings and check the "Require the forecast to be approved before any edits are allowed."
    • Approving the forecast locks it.  Any Revenue Sync integration will stop for that week.  Not approving the forecast will prevent this from happening.
    • A forecast must be approved before managers can assign schedules.  Leaving the status as "In Progress" or changing it back to "In Progress" will prevent managers from entering schedules.

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Scheduling Employees

Steps to Schedule Employees

  1. Select the appropriate department for the employees to be scheduled.  "All Departments" can also be selected.
  2. Select how to view the data.
  3. Select how to sort the data
  4. Employee Shift Options
    • Add Shifts for the employee for each day
      • Select + Add Shift to open the Schedule Editor pop-up.
      • Select the appropriate Schedule Category from the drop down.
      • Select a shift template listed or select "Add a New Shift..." if the time desired is not listed
    • Copy Last Weeks Shifts
      • Copying shifts from the previous week can be done for an individual or entire department
      • Select "Copy Last Week's shifts" located below the employee's name
      • Click "OK" in the pop-up window that appears
      • The option to copy shifts from the previous week only applies to the department currently being viewed
      • The application will allow copying of shifts multiple times, so be careful.  If "copy shifts from last week" is accidently used more than once, delete all shifts then copy the shifts just one time
    • Add Multiple Shifts
      • This provides the ability to add the same shift time on multiple days for one employee.  It is ideal for scheduling positions with set shift times throughout the week
      • Select + Add Multiple Shifts under the employee's name
      • Select the appropriate Schedule Category
      • Select a shift time or click "Add a New Shift..." if the time desired is not listed
      • Click the days of the week desired to add the shift
      • Click Save
         
    • Delete Shifts
      • Deleting all shifts allows for a blank slate of shifts at any time
      • Check shift to delete.  "Check All" or "Uncheck All" shifts is also an option.
      • Click "Yes, Delete All Selected Shifts"
  5. To schedule another department, select the department in the dropdown at the bottom of the page
  6. If finished, click "Review Schedule"

Notes:

  • Managers have the discretion to schedule more or less hours than the standards call for a position
     
  • Employee shifts can be planned for their assigned departments for up to 13 weeks in advance
  • Click the blue 'Show Rooms, F&B Forecast' link towards the top of the page to view the forecast for this week
  • Click the employee's name to see information about them
  • Click the Shift Setup drop down menu in the blue sub navigation to access the full list of shift templates.  Shifts in the list can also deleted when they are no longer used
  • Persons who have had a position added to their profile in the Employee Setup inside of Scheduler or Employee Manager will show up in the Position View
  • Positions get added to employees that have been stored in the hotel's Time & Attendance application
  • Employees positions may be added or edited inside of Scheduler under Employee setup (appropriate permissions required)
  • Scheduler includes all hourly and salaried employees.  Salaried employees are included to ensure all of the hours for these positions are being "spent" or "assigned"

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Reviewing & Publishing a Schedule

  • The Review & Publish page provides a quick look at how the hotel team is scheduled for the week selected
    • The overall number of planned and scheduled hours are at the top followed by exceptions
  • Options in this step include the following:
    • Add manager notes
    • Edit the schedule (if needed)
    • Publish certain departments
    • Publish all departments

Once published, shifts will post to MyHotelTeam for the employees to view their schedules. If employee email alerts are configured in the Scheduler Settings, employees will also receive emails notifying them when their schedules are published . Only employees invited by their manager via Employee Manager will be able to access MyHotelTeam 

Notes

The option to go back and edit specific shifts or unpublish all shifts for the week is still available after publishing the schedule.  Edits made after the first publishing should be communicated directly to employees

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Time Off Requests

The Time Off Requests feature enables managers to see when an employee has requested a day off. These requests can be entered by a manager or submitted by the employee from MyHotelTeam.com.

Pending or approved time off requests will show up in the schedule for that week, so managers will know who has requested time off when they are entering schedules.

New Scheduler

 

Time Off Requests can be Pending, Approved, or Denied. Only managers with permission to access an employee's home department may approve or deny requests.

Time Off Request Manager

Users can access the Time Off Request Manager inside of Scheduler to view a master list of all time off requests. This is also where managers can create new time off requests for employees.

Managers can view notes on a request by navigating to View/Edit or Approval Assistant links on the Time Off Request Manager page.

The Approval Assistant is makes granting requests easy by giving managers all of the details they need to make an informed decision when considering a request for time off.

Clicking "Approval Assistant" generates a pop-up containing other current time off requests for that employee, requests by other employees with the same home department and all other requests for the same day. This helps managers avoid granting too many requests for time-off for a given day.

 

When requests are approved or denied, the applicable employee will receive an email alerting them that their request status has changed if they're set up and active on MyHotelTeam, and if employee email alerts are on for the hotel.

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Scheduler Reports

Scheduler creates a lot of data that can be viewed and used in several different ways. This information can be viewed in Scheduler under the "Reports" tab in the blue menu and also in the left navigation menu in "Reports" and under the "Scheduling" tab in the blue menu.  The types of scheduler data and the reports listed under each section are described below.  
 

Types of Scheduler Data

There are three types of data that are created and managed inside of Scheduler

  1. Forecast Business Drivers - When a schedule is created, the first step is to create a forecast. This is a daily detailed forecast of all of the business drivers that are used in the hotels labor standards. This data can be compared to the actual data as reported by Night Audit Entry to create forecast variance reporting.
  2. Forecast Labor Standards - The business driver forecast data is combined with the hotel labor standards to calculate the Forecast Labor Standard Hours (Plan Hours) used in Scheduler. This is basically how many hours in each position the application is allowing to schedule based on the forecast and labor standards.
  3. Scheduled Shifts - These are the scheduled employee shifts (start time, end time for a given date and position). Adding up the shifts provides the total scheduled hours which can be compared to the Forecast Labor Standards to determine if the hotel is overstaffed or understaffed before the schedule is approved.

Reports in Scheduler (Top Navigation bar within Scheduler)

  • Today's Shifts - Provides view of a single day's scheduled shifts. These include on call, regular, and time off shifts. This defaults to today, but the date can be edited. Also provides view of employees which are not scheduled to work for the given day.
  • Schedule Status Summary Report - Provides a high level summary of the schedule hours and shifts per day for a 4 week period.
  • Schedule Change Audit Report - Provides an exportable CSV/Excel report which lists all scheduled shifts for a selected hotel and date range.
  • Standard Hours by Position - Shows the standard hours by department and position based on the forecast data entered. This defaults to today's standard hours, but the date can be edited.
  • Schedule Over/Under by Department - Provides a daily view of how the hotel departments' scheduled hours or wages compare against the plan hours/wages based on the forecast.
  • Schedule Over/Under by Position - Provides a daily view of how different positions' scheduled hours or wages stack up against the anticipated plan hours or wages forecasted.
  • Future Labor Win Loss (Group) - Provides a quick view of whether or not the hotels are Scheduling to Win based on their scheduled shifts and forecasted plan hours. Periods of time in green are anticipated wins, while red indicated an expected loss or no schedule at all. It lists all hotels in a selected hotel group by week for the upcoming four week periods for easy comparison.
  • Weekly Forecast Summary - Provides a view of the forecast for a selected hotel. Contains all forecast sections and forecast notes for easy viewing or printing.
  • Forecast Variance Week - Provides the actual data, forecasted values, and the variance % for all rooms data, housekeeping details, F&B details, and any other data forecasted and used to calculate labor plans and schedules. The page defaults to the current week.
  • Forecast Variance MTD - Shows the same information as above but totals all daily details into one period summary. The report defaults to the current Month to Date but can be edited.
  • Forecast Variance Rooms Occupied - Shows the actual historical Rooms Occupied data recorded in Night Audit Entry compared to previously forecasted numbers, as well as the resulting variance % for each hotel. Defaults to a trailing 28 day report, but can be edited.
  • Forecast Viewer - Rooms - Shows the forecasted rooms data anticipated based on the application or input forecast for each hotel. This includes rooms occupied, rooms available, rooms revenue, occupancy %, ADR, and revenue per available room. This shows the forecast and year over year variance percentage by week for the upcoming four week period.
  • Forecast Viewer - Rooms (Group) - Shows the forecasted revenue anticipated based on the application or input forecast for all hotels or by custom hotel groups. Provides room revenue, rooms occupied, occupancy %, ADR, and revenue per available room.

Additional Scheduler Reports (Left Navigation bar under "Reports" menu)

  • Weekly Halftime Report: This Week - Provides a list of the variance hours by department and position for the current week. It includes all actual and scheduled hours for the week. Click the + next to any position to view both the actual and the plan hours. Scheduled hours are included if employee schedules have been entered into Scheduler.
  • Weekly Halftime Report: This Week (Group) - Provides a list of the variance hours by hotel for the current week. It includes all actual and scheduled hours for the week. Click on any hotel for more details by position. Scheduled hours are included if employee schedules have been entered into Scheduler.
  • Overtime Risk (Hotel View) - Shows employees at risk of overtime for the given week and selected hotel. The standard calculation includes employees who are recording an average of more than 8 hours per day worked during the week. An optional setting can be enabled by Hotel administrators in Rules Manager under the Hotel Tab to have the overtime risk take an employees actual schedule into account for the rest of the week.
  • Schedule Variance Details: MTD - Shows the variance hours by hotel for Month to Date. For each department and position, the forecast standard hours, scheduled hours, actual standard hours, and actual hours will be viewable. There are four variances which show details as to why standards are not being met. Scheduled hours are included if employee schedules have been entered into Scheduler.
  • Actual vs Scheduled: MTD - Shows the scheduled and actual hours, wages and average wages for the total hotel and the department and position details. The default view is Month to Date.  This can be edited to the desired date range.
  • Schedule Compliance: Daily - Shows the variance hours by hotel for the current week. It includes all actual and scheduled hours for the week. Scheduled hours are included if employee schedules have been entered into Scheduler.

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Printing Schedules

Printing Overview

  • Schedules can be viewed or printed as a PDF or Excel/CSV file.  
  • The Additional Print Settings section provides options to customize how the schedule will print
  • Notes can be added to each schedule printed
  • Every department can choose which notes should print on their specific schedules

Steps to Print a Schedule

  1. Select the appropriate hotel
  2. Select the week.  Use the "Prev Week" or "Next Week" to select a different week
  3. Select the appropriate department
  4. Select the desired view (Employee or Position view)
  5. Select the appropriate filter...All Employees or an individual employee (optional)
  6. Select any additional print settings
  7. Add a note (optional)
  8. Select the format for the report (PDF or Excel). The option is located under the orange "View/Print Schedule" box.
  9. Click "View/Print Schedule" in the orange box

Notes

  • Anytime a schedule is printed, the application will remember the print settings that chosen.  These same print settings will be pre-checked the next time a schedule is printed
  • The same process can be used to print a Forecast Summary

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Showing Preferred First Names on Printed Schedules

Some associates (or contractors) may be known by a name that is different from their legal first name. You can show their preferred first name or nickname on the printed schedules. Once your administrator adds the field to the employee profile, you will see the option in the print schedule page.

New Scheduler

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How to Add Preferred First Name to Employee Setup 

It's easy for your administrator to add the new field First Name Preferred (Scheduler) to your hotel settings.

  1. At the the top-right of the screen, mouse over your username.
  2. Select Settings from the drop-down menu, which will take you to the Settings Home page.
  3. Select Employee Additional Information Setup on the Employees card.
  4. Select the hotel from the dropdown menu.
  5. Select Add New Field >>.
  6. Select First Name Preferred (Scheduler) (Text) in the additional employee field dropdown menu.
  7. Required Field is set at No by default. You can override it if your hotel wants to make the First Name Preferred (Scheduler) a required field in employee setup.  
  8. Select Save and Exit.
  9. The newly added field First Name Preferred (Scheduler) will be the last item in your employee setup (under Additional Employee Information). Click Change Sort Order >> to move the new field as needed.
  10. Drag the First Name Preferred (Scheduler) box to reorder the field. Select Save when you are done.

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How to Enter Preferred First Name to an Existing Employee Profile

  1. Select Employees on the left main menu in Hotel Effectiveness.
  2. Click View/Edit to open the individual profile.
  3. Click Edit to open Additional Information.
  4. Enter the associate's preferred first name. Your page may look different from the sample screenshot. Each hotel has unique additional information setup.

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Custom Position Groups

Position groups are simply a way to view groups of positions that are unique to each user. They can be departments, individual positions, or multiple departments combined. These allow the user to filter down the page to just a subset of positions, i.e. just room attendants and laundry attendants instead all of the housekeeping department. The user can set up unlimited amounts of position groups, and they can be quite useful to filter for printing schedules.

New groups of hotels can be created by clicking on Settings and choosing "Custom Position Groups" under Positions/Departments. After that, the custom positions created will appear in all of the department drop down menus beneath the standard departments.

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Shift Templates Setup

Shift templates are shift times paired to specific positions that have often been created and saved inside of the pop-up editor inside Scheduler. All of these shift settings are specific to an individual hotel, and the master list is found under the Shift Setup tab. New shifts can be added, current shifts can be edited, or shifts can be deleted which were mistakenly entered or are no longer pertinent to the position at the hotel.

Positions with Hidden End Times

Sometimes, it's useful to not show the shift end time for some positions that may not always work their full shift. Managers can customize which positions show only the shift start time when printing schedules or sharing them through MyHotelTeam.

The Room Attendant position will appear on this list by default, but any scheduling manager can customize the positions that publish to MyHotelTeam and print with no shift end time on the Positions with Hidden End Times page.

Both of the above pages, Shift Templates Setup and Positions with Hidden End Times, are under the Shift Setup tab in Scheduler.

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Employee Setup

The Assign Positions to Employees page is where positions can be added for an employee to work that may not appear with their Time & Attendance information. The number of positions which can be added is unlimited and individual positions can be removed at any time.

Notes

  • Employees can be scheduled across multiple hotels / locations.  
  • Contract Employees can be scheduled in Hotel Effectiveness.  This can be done through Employee Manager (Permission required.  Contact your administrator for access.)

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Schedule Settings

The Schedule Settings page contains the option to turn off the automated Schedule forecast, the ability to lock forecast edits prior to today, the ability to lock users out of the Schedule until the forecast is approved by a manager, and the Time Off Advance Notice Setting in addition to Schedule Timelines. Schedule Timelines allow administrators to set expectations for when the forecast and schedule should be finished each week by displaying a deadline for both items on the Scheduler home page.

The Schedule Settings page is found under the Scheduler/MyHotelTeam section of Settings.

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