Create A Multi-Week Pattern

Within Working Patterns you can create a pattern over one week or one that rotates over a number of weeks. An example of when you may wish to create a multi-week pattern is when a member of staff works different hours each week which average to the hours stated in their contract. The instructions below describe how to enter a multi-week pattern, for instructions on how to enter a single week pattern please see the link on the right hand side of this page.

Accessing Working Patterns displays a list of staff members in the Organisational Units you are responsible for. To create, view or change a Working Pattern you must first select the member of staff by clicking on the blue cube to the left of the "Personnel No." column. You can use the filter row to help you find the required member of staff, just enter the individuals surname or personnel number in the relevant column and hit enter on your keyboard you can use * as a wild card. The "Locked" column indicates whether a record can be viewed or edited. Records are locked when they are being maintained by Human Resources.

Once you have selected the individual you wish to create a pattern for, the screen will appears as below. Select the “New” button to begin creating the pattern.

Clicking "New" will display the screen shown left. This allows you to select the number of weeks in the pattern. A pattern can be created to last until 31.12.9999, meaning once the pattern has been initially set up it will only need to be changed if the individuals working pattern changes. For a multi-week pattern select the number of weeks a pattern contains  from the drop down list and click "OK". A Working Pattern can contain up to 12 weeks of rotation. Clicking OK will display the screen shown below. For instructions on how to set up a single week pattern please see the link on the right hand side of this site.

To enter a pattern type into the white fields, in this view you should type the start time in 24 hour format and the number of hours before unpaid breaks an individual works on each particular day, this can include weekends. This is the view you should use if entering a shift which crosses midnight. The alternative "Time Entry" view allows you to enter the start and end times of a pattern. You can change the view by clicking on the drop down menu to the right of "Hours" in the screen shot below. 

When you have entered the first week of the pattern you can click "Apply to All" this will update all weeks in the pattern with the same data in the week you have entered. You can also copy and paste weeks using the relevant buttons to aid inputting. If you need to add additional weeks then clicking "Add Week" will allow you to do this. Likewise if you need to delete a week, highlight the row and click "Remove Week". Once you are satisfied with the pattern you have entered, click "Next" to advance.

Entering Unpaid Breaks

Once the hours before unpaid breaks have been entered the next step is to enter the times of these breaks. This is done in 24 hour format.

You can record a maximum of 2 unpaid breaks per shift. An additional break can be added using the drop down menu to the right of "1 Break".

Once the breaks have been recorded click "Next", and provided the "Contractual Hours" is equal to "Average Hours" you can advance to the next stage. This will then display the "Confirmation Screen" shown below.

This allows you to check the proposed pattern and breaks before hitting the "Confirm" button to save the pattern.

Once the pattern is saved a batch programme will run overnight to apply this pattern to a calendar allowing absences to be recorded correctly, therefore members of staff should not book annual leave against this pattern until the following day.