January 18th 2023, Release Note: WFM UK | Scheduling: Automatic Breaks by Department, Dynamic Breaks Calculations – Fourth & HotSchedules Customer Success Portal

Summary

Feature 1

Feature 2

Automatic Breaks by Department

A new setting that allows automatic break rules to be configured at Department level

Dynamic Breaks Calculations

A new setting that allows dynamic break rules to be applied for any shift updated at Organisation or Department level

Release date: January 18th 2023

Automatic Breaks by Department

Enabled by Default? - No
Set up by customer Admin? - Yes
Enable via Support ticket? - No
Affects configuration or data? - Yes

What’s Changing?

Introduction of a new setting that, when enabled, will allow the creation of break rules at Department level.

Reason for the Change

Departments within a Location may not always follow the same break rules/patterns as each other.

Customers Affected

All Scheduling customers.

Release Notes

Organisation Setting

The organisation setting Enable Breaks by Department will need to be applied by a system administrator.

From the Scheduling homepage, go to Settings > Organisations
Select Edit against the required Organisation
Tick the box against Enable Breaks by Department and then Save

Fig.1 - Enable Breaks by Department Organisation Setting

Once enabled, each Department will need to have its own break rules configured.

To configure break rules:

From the Scheduling homepage, go to Settings > Admin Configuration > Automatic Breaks
Select Create New

The 'Create Automatic Break' page will then display.

Select a Rule Type
- Minimum Break - the minimum number of break minutes that are applied if the shift exceeds the shift length in hours (not applicable if using dynamic breaks functionality)
- Maximum Break - the maximum number of break minutes that can be applied when a shift exceeds the shift length in hours (not applicable if using dynamic breaks functionality)
Shift Length (hours) - if the total shift length is exceeded then the break minutes are applied to the shift
Automatic Break (minutes) - The break minutes which will be applied to the shift
Allow Edit Below Minimum - If the Rule Type is Minimum Break and this field is enabled then the break minutes can be reduced below the automatic break minutes. If it is not enabled then the minimum break minutes can not be reduced (not applicable if using dynamic breaks functionality)
Then Save

Fig.2 - Automatic Break Settings

A break will be created automatically once the shift reaches its length.

In the example below (Fig.3) the rule is that for a 4-hour shift, a 20 min break will be added.

Fig.3 - Automatic break rules

The break will appear in the Break 1 field (see Fig.4) automatically once it's created.

Fig.4 - Shift creation

Copy Break Rules from one Department to Others

A new admin page has also been created to allow the admins to copy existing break rules from one department to another/others - see Fig.5.

Go to Settings > Admin Configuration > Copy Break Rules
Make a selection from the Copy from department drop-down
Select the department(s) from the left side and use the arrow button to confirm (they will appear on the right side)
Select Clone

All existing break rules at the selected department(s) will then be deleted and replaced with those from the source department, with immediate effect. If an employee is on a break at the time of the copy being done, that break will be unaffected but any future ones will use the new logic.

Fig.5 - Copy break rules