Use this activity to enter the shift names that will be available when defining the working hours (cycle) schedules.
The shift identifies the sequence numbers in the cycle schedule that will be used later when you assign a cycle schedule to an employee. Only the sequence numbers that hold a shift value will be available for assignment.
The Cycle Start Date (entered in the Cycle Schedule tab) combined with the Shift assigned to the employee, determines the employees actual working schedule. In a simple one-week cycle, the shift is always linked to the first sequence number in the cycle. Then when you are assigning the schedule to employees, there is only one shift to choose from. However, in a multi-week cycle schedule, there is usually more than one shift defined. Which shift is used in the schedule assignment is crucial to how the employees working hours will be extracted. The following example shows how this works.
A 2-week shift cycle schedule contains the following information:
Day Types : M = Morning 6-14; E = Evening 14-22; O = Day off
Schedule Name : 2W-SHIFT
Cycle Start Date: 3-May-2004
Cycle Length : 14
Cycle Sequence: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Day Types : M M M M M O O E E E E E O O
Shifts : A B
Employee schedule assignment:
Mary, 2W-SHIFT, B, 10-May-2004
David, 2W-SHIFT, A, 10-May-2004
I.e., Mary and David start on the shift schedule on the 10th of May. Mary belongs to the B shift and David to the A shift. Who is working the evening shift Monday the 10th of May?
To answer the question, we must roll out the cycle from the cycle start date. The shift information in the assignment data tells us which sequence number is the starting point at the cycle start date.
Mary:
Cycle start date is Monday May 3, Mary belongs to shift B, i.e., sequence #8 is related to May 3. When the cycle is rolled out, May 10 is hit by the sequence #1, i.e., May 10 Mary is working the morning day type.
David:
Cycle start date is Monday May 3, David belongs to shift A, i.e., sequence #1 is related to May 3. When the cycle is rolled out, May 10 is hit by the sequence #8, i.e., May 10 David is working the evening day type.
Note: The Valid From date in the Employee Schedule and Rules window has nothing to do with rolling out the cycle. The cycle start date and the shift value assigned to the employee are the determining factors.
N/A.
The shift information is required when defining the cycle schedule details. After entering the shifts you can begin entering the cycle schedules.