Scheduling often involves managing multiple requirements, such as ensuring adequate coverage by schedules, positions, job sites, and, more importantly, employee workloads. This article explains the filters and views available in Zoho Shifts to filter out noisy elements and schedule based on your requirements.
Scheduling filters
Before you start scheduling, you can choose filters to focus on specific schedules, positions, and job sites. These filters can be applied to all the views and timeframes. The following are the available filters:
- Schedule Filter - Filters employees based on the schedules assigned to their profiles. When you select a schedule, employees assigned to it are filtered out and listed in the schedule editor. Their time off, availability, and scheduled shifts are shown, and shifts from other schedules appear in a grayed-out state to help prevent conflicts.
- Positions - Filters the list of employees assigned to the positions, so you can schedule only for the selected positions. You can choose multiple positions while scheduling to view all eligible employees at once and avoid assigning shifts to the wrong role.
- Job sites - Filters a particular job site, so that the job site field is selected and pre-filled for the shifts created.
- Employee filter - Filters the list to a specific employee so you can create and manage shifts only for that person. You can also sort the employee list by first name or last name, create a custom order, and maintain that order while scheduling.
Schedule views
While scheduling filters limit the noise, setting up the right view gives context for your requirement. There are views based on employees, positions, and different time frames:
- Employee view - Lists the schedule editor based on the employees assigned to a particular schedule. This view is best for viewing who’s working when, as well as each individual's schedule.
- Position view - Lists the schedule editor with the position assigned to the particular schedule. It is best to know the employee coverage for a particular position that meets your business requirements.
- Day view - This view displays the shift coverage for a single day. Schedulers can check coverage to see how the work is distributed throughout the day, ensuring no gaps where no one is covering a position.
- Week/biweekly views - Week and biweekly views are commonly used for scheduling. They allow you to plan and balance workloads across a workweek or a two-week cycle, making it easier to identify over- or underscheduling.
- Month view - This view provides a high-level overview of the schedule. It’s useful for spotting coverage gaps, trends, and upcoming staffing needs across a longer period, without focusing on individual shift details.
You can move between date ranges using the date navigator, the < and > controls, or by clicking the dates shown in the schedule editor and selecting the required range.
Zoho Shifts also displays an estimated labor cost while scheduling. This real-time estimate helps you stay within budget and make informed staffing decisions as you build schedules.