WFM UK: Scheduling 2023: Agency Management

Scheduling contains functionality that allows the creation and maintenance of external employment agencies, contracts, and agency staff, should they be used within a customer's employment structure. Contractor hourly rates can be used to forecast labour costs for external agency staff.

Please note - this functionality applies to the following versions:

Labour-Based Scheduling - 2023 version
Revenue-Based Scheduling (Demand Scheduling) - 2023 version
Activity-Based Scheduling (Enterprise) - 2023 version
Activity-Based Scheduling (Performance) - 2023 version

Organisation Setting

An organisation setting needs to be applied by a system administrator.

• The setting can be found under Settings > Manage Organisation
• Tick the box under Use Contractor Companies?

Fig.1 - Contractor Organisation Setting

A user-level permission can then be applied to allow users to manage the Agency Management section of the solution.

• Go to Settings > User Levels
• Select Edit against the required User Level
• Tick the box against Create and Edit Contractors, scroll down and then Save

Creating an Agency

A user with the above permission can then:

• Select Agency Management Settings > Agencies

Fig.2 - Agency Management Settings

• Select Create New
• Enter the required Agency information
  
  • Name - Agency name
  • Foreign ID - Agency ID
  • Address 1-4 & Postcode - Agency company address
  • Inactive - Status of Agency- Active/Inactive
  • Billing Cycle - Billing cycle Weekly/Bi-Weekly/Monthly
  • Billing Contact Details - Agency contact information, email/phone
• Once populated select Save

The Agency will then be listed. The 'Inactive' field determines if the Agency is active or not.

• If no longer working with an Agency, this can be set to Yes (by using the Edit button)

Fig.3 - Agency list - 'Inactive' set to 'No'

Creating Contracts

Once an Agency has been configured, a contract can be assigned to it. A contract can be assigned to one or more locations and can only be created if an Agency exists.

• Select Agency Management > Contracts > Create New
• Enter the required contract information
  • Contract ID - The ID of the contract
  • Agency ID - Drop-down list of Agencies that are configured for the portal that will link the contract back to the correct Agency
  • Contract External Reference ID - External ID (can be blank)
  • Start Date - Start date of the contract
  • End Date  - The date the contract ends
    • Shifts can only be scheduled for Agency staff within the start/end dates
  • Status - Review/Approved/Expired
  • Location Selector - The contract can be assigned to one or more locations within the portal
• Once populated select Save

Fig.5 - Creating Contracts

Once saved, the contract will be displayed within the contract table.

Creating Contract Rates

Once a contract has been configured, contract rates can be set up for certain job roles. Different job role hourly rates can also be assigned to different locations.

• Select Agency Management > Contract Rates > Create New
• Enter the required contract rate information
  • Contract ID - Drop-down list of contracts that are configured for the portal
  • Role - The Job Role the contract is for, choose from drop down list
  • Hourly Rate - Hourly pay rate to for agency staff from this Agency company contract
  • Description - Description for reference (can be blank)
  • Location Selector - The contract can be assigned to one or more locations within the portal
• Select Save once complete

Fig.6 - Create Contract Rates

Creating Contractor Shifts

Once contract rates have been assigned, the hourly rate will be used to calculate the contractor shift costs. When users are scheduling contractor shifts they will be able to view the hourly rates assigned to each agency.

• To schedule a contractor shift, use the + symbol on the Job Role line to enter the shift as usual

Fig.7 - Create Contractor Shift - Activity Based Scheduling 

Fig.8 - Create Contractor Shift - Revenue Based Scheduling / Labour Based Scheduling 

All approved contracts will appear in the Select contractor drop-down (see Fig.8) within the start and end date of the contract. 

Fig.9 - Creating contractor shifts