HS: Automated AI Forecast with Labor Generation – Fourth & HotSchedules Customer Success Portal

Overview

This guide contains standard operating procedures and best practices for scheduling managers.

This article includes:

Weekly Labor Tasks
Weekly Schedule Creation
Weekly Labor Reports
Daily Labor Tasks
HotSchedules Daily Scheduling SOP
Daily Labor Reports
Ad-Hoc Labor Tasks

Weekly Labor Tasks

Weekly Schedule Creation

Step 1

Select the HotSchedules 9 dot navigation and select Forecasting > Forecasting & Labor

Step 2

Review your automatically generated intelligent forecast by selecting Generated On XXX Date for the week you wish to review.

Note: Use the Daily view to see your intraday sales volume or Weekly view to see total daily sales by Revenue Center

Note: Ability to select weeks is no longer available

Step 3

If needed, create any required Forecast Adjustments and Apply Adjustments as outlined here: HS: How to Adjust Your Forecast

Note: Your configuration or business rules may not allow for $$$ adjustments. These are recommended for known catering orders that may not be part of the forecast.

For ALL regular business adjustments, use the Percent adjustment.

Pro Tip: Any adjustment added to a sales forecast will lock that auto generated forecast for that week. Deleting the adjustment will unlock the forecast for updating the next day.

Step 4

From the Forecasting & Labor page select Generate Labor (under Generated on XX Date) for the designated schedule creation week.

Step 5
Select the checkbox above the individual job codes and select Generate Labor

Note: If you make forecast adjustments after generating labor, you must regenerate labor to update the graphs in the labor volume chart in the scheduler

Pro Tip: Once Labor has been generated for a given week, the sales forecast will no longer update. Only generate labor when you are ready to work on the schedule. If permitted, deleting labor will unlock the forecast allowing it to update the next day.

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Please note: If your site is not enabled with Labor Optimization, please skip forward to Step 6. If you would like more information on how to enable Labor Optimization, please reach out to your Fourth Customer Contact.

Step 6

Select the HotSchedules navigation and select Scheduling

Step 7

Navigate to desired week from the date picker at the top of the page

Note: You can make adjustments to what you see in the scheduler, and how it is represented, in the in-scheduler Menu > Settings

Step 8

Add shifts to your schedule by applying a template, copying from a previous week, or using preexisting House Shifts from your House Shift Manager in the menu bar at the bottom for your Scheduler.

Note: You can edit existing shifts or add new shifts by double clicking the shift or shift cell you’d like to edit.

To reassign shifts if needed use the following methods:

Smart select (highlight any existing or House shift and select S on your keyboard)
Drag and drop

Tip: While in the scheduling page, select the ? key at any time for a menu of keyboard shortcuts

Step 9

Select Labor Volume and Schedule Summary

Use your filter to view specific schedules, jobs, and/or day parts in all in-scheduler reporting.

Review your schedule for service positions to ensure the red line (Schedule) matches up with the blue bars as closely as possible!

Step 10

If any tweaks are required, select the Smart View toggle at the top of the

schedule to review schedules in more detail

Step 11

Review the following and ensure employee requests and considerations have been granted where possible and no violations have occurred.

Notes
Minors
Overtime
Availability
Requests to work, time off
Meals and breaks
Additional compliance violations as configured

If modifications have been made review steps 10-13 and repeat process as necessary

Step 12

Post Schedule

Weekly Labor Reports

The HotSchedules Labor Reports to run on a weekly basis to review performance are as follows:

Labor Card: May be printed daily to help manage your shift
Overtime Warning Report: Can be included in your Labor Card daily, or viewed as its own report
Daily Details Report with Optimal: Review forecast to schedule and actual to optimal for the week
Dynamic Proforma
Release / Approval History Report: Review for the last four weeks to determine any patterns of Team Members releasing shifts regularly
Availability Report

Daily Labor Tasks

HotSchedules Daily Scheduling SOP

Review prior day’s scheduling adherence for optimal efficiencies:
1. Toggle to the Scheduler and click on the Labor Volume Tab. 2. Review Forecast, Schedule, Actual and Optimal. Where numbers are misaligned, review causes and set course correction.
3. Click on the Schedule Summary tab. 4. Review Scheduled hours vs Forecasted hours and any variances. If misaligned, set a course correction as needed.
5. Click on the Forecast Data tab. 6. Review Forecast to Actual and compare. If misaligned, set a course correction as needed.

Daily Labor Reports

The HotSchedules Labor Reports to run on a weekly basis to review performance are as follows:

Labor Card: Review and print for the current day’s business and keep on person
Staff Schedule Chart: Review prior day’s schedule to actual to understand schedule adherence to actual
Overtime Warning Report
Proforma Report

Ad-Hoc Labor Tasks

Approvals:

Approve/deny time off (mobile or web)
Approve/deny requested availability changes (mobile or web)
Approve/deny picture uploads (mobile or web)

Messaging:

Create relevant broadcast messages for important restaurant happenings. For example:
- Standard operating procedure changes
- Parties or special events
- New menu items
- Praise and recognition

Review HotSchedules messages, reply as needed

New Hires:

Print Welcome Sheets
Insert new employee availability

Employee Notes:

Document any employee notes for scheduling preferences

Create Thresholds (Fair Work Week Only)

Insert thresholds for employees upon hiring and/or any requested adjustments