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Service Planners give you a unique view of the scheduling activity of Client and the Caregivers. Using colors and patterns that impart meaning without clutter, Planners give you the whole picture at a glance. When you need more detail, you can dive down by double-clicking on any Shift. As you adjust the schedule, Assigned and Total columns keep you aware of the hours worked and needed.
Figure 70: Service Planner, ready to schedule
Let’s look at how each part of the Planner functions, starting at the top.
| Date Range | This shows the week that the Planner represents. The default is to open on the current week. To move to other weeks, you can click on the center button (that shows the dates) to open a calendar tool, for selecting any given week you want. To move one week at a time in either direction, you can just use the forward and back arrows on either side of the date. |
| Shift Legend | Shifts on the Planner are represented with bars of different colors and patterns, which extend from the beginning time to the ending time of the Shift. For example, the solid red bars in the Service summary line represent Shifts that are open (have not been scheduled). The Shift legend shows the meaning of each of the colors and patterns that represent different kinds of Shifts. This is helpful for getting to know the Scheduling System. As you become familiar with them, you will understand at a glance exactly what’s happening in the schedule. |
Figure 71: Shift Legend
| New Window | This button will open an additional window on this same Service Planner. Normally, only one Service Planner per Service is open on your screen at a time. As you move from week to week on a Planner, it simply re-uses the one Planner window. With this button, you could have two (or more) Planners open on the same Service, and look at different weeks at the same time. |
| Service | Takes you back to the Service form. |
| Shift List | Takes you to a list of the Shifts for this Service, for the week represented by the Planner. We’ll look more at Shift forms and lists later, in the Shift Lists section. |
| Times | The Times button shows you the Shift pattern for the week represented by the Planner. Clicking on this button takes you back to the Times form, where you can modify or add new Shift patterns. |
| Days of the Week | The days of the week, Monday through Sunday, are shown, along with the dates (month/day). This serves as a column label, so you know exactly what Shifts you’re working with. |
| Service Summary Line | The service summary line shows you what’s happening for the Client’s Service for the week represented on the Planner. This is really the center of attention on the Planner; this one line fully reveals the state of scheduling for this Service. In the example shown in the figure above, you can see that all of the Shifts are Open, and need to be scheduled. |
| Include Inquiry | This gives you the option of allowing Caregivers who have a status of to be included in searches and in the list of Caregivers who can be added to the form. This is useful if you have a pool of Caregivers who have not been hired but may be waiting in the wings for their opportunity to start. Other search options will apply to them, just like the Active Caregivers. If you go to assign one of these Inquiry Caregivers, Rosemark will let you change their status to Active and assign them all at once. |
| Possibly Available | This lets you toggle whether Caregivers can be scheduled when they would not normally be available, of if they would not normally work on this Service Type. This is helpful in an emergency when you need to get someone to work at a time other than when they normally accept shifts. The effect of this can be seen by comparing the next two figures. In the first, only 3 of the Caregivers are available to be assigned to any shifts. The next figure is the very same Planner, with the Possibly Available toggle checked, expanding the possibilities for assignment.
This also affects whether you can schedule over RA, EC and OC shifts. Note that Quit and Discharged statuses do not get overridden. Also, you can never assign over an or Shift. |
| Repeat Previous Week, Tentative and Confirmed | These buttons give you a quick way to repeat the previous week’s schedule. The Scheduling System will do its best to schedule this week the same as the previous week was scheduled, either as Tentatively Assigned or Assigned, respectively. See the section entitled Repeating the Previous Week’s Schedule for more details about these tools. |
| Caregiver Summary Line | As Caregivers are entered into the Planner, they each have their own summary line, which shows the state of their individual schedule for the week. This includes the Caregiver button, which displays the Caregiver’s name and leads to that Caregiver form, and a schedule summary line similar to that shown for the Service, above. The Caregiver summary line will include any Shifts that Caregiver has for the week, including Shifts on other Services. Notice that the Open Shifts here are represented by half-height bars; this shows that the Caregiver can potentially be assigned to those Shifts. You can also quickly see the Caregiver's phone numbers by right-clicking on the Caregiver button. |
| Assigned and Total Hours Columns | The Assigned and Total columns summarize the assignment status of the Service and each of the Caregivers listed. Note that the numbers have slightly different meanings depending on whether you’re looking at the Service line or a Caregiver line. On the Service line, Assigned indicates the number of hours that have been assigned to Caregivers on this Service for this week; Total means the total hours needed on this Service for this week. On the Caregiver line, Assigned means the number of hours this Caregiver has been assigned on this Service for this week; Total shows the number of hours this Caregiver has been assigned on all Services for this week. |
| Add Caregivers | To select Caregivers for the Planner, click on the Add Caregivers button. The list of all Caregivers who have a Status of Active at some time during the Planner’s week comes up. The Service Types that they work will appear next to each Caregiver's name, to aid in selecting an appropriate one.
You can select one or more, using standard Windows selecting techniques (click to select one, ctrl-click to select additional, shift-click to select a range, and ctrl-shift-click to select disparate ranges; ctrl-A to select all). When you have made your selection, click OK and these Caregivers will appear on the Planner. |
Note that you can add Caregivers to a Planner even if they would not be available to take an Open Shift (for example, if they didn't work the Service Type of this Service). This allows you to see the schedule of any Active Caregiver just by putting them on any handy Planner.
Figure 72: Service Planner with several Caregivers listed.
| Add Available | Another way to select Caregivers for the Planner is to click on the Add Available button. The Scheduling System will find all the Caregivers that would be available for at least one of the Open Shifts on the Planner. It will not include anyone who does not work this Service Type, is not normally available at the necessary times (Caregiver Availability), does not have matching Skills, or is otherwise not actually available for the Shifts in question.
If the Possibly Available field is checked above, this button changes to Add Possibly Available. As the name implies, the Scheduling System would look for all Caregivers who could possibly take at least one of the Open Shifts on the Planner, regardless of stated Availability, Service Types or Skills. Note that it will NOT override already Assigned Shifts. Only Caregivers who have a status of Active during that week will be included (unless you've also checked Include Inquiry). |
Figure 73: Same Service Planner, now with Possibly Available selected.
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