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Holiday Staffing Assignments

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Every Other Holiday Assignment

The Every Other Holiday assignment is used when employees should be scheduled to work on alternate holidays.

The first holiday worked is determined by the date entered in Every Other Holiday Parameter Schedule Standard Date 1. This is found on the Configuration section>Assignment card>Assignment Source screen on the Parameters tab.

The holiday closest to this date is assigned to Schedule A and is eligible to be worked by Schedule A employees. The next holiday would be eligible for Schedule B employees, the following holiday would be eligible for Schedule A, etc.

Employees are assigned to either the Schedule A or the Schedule B assignment in the Employee record>General screen>Indicators tab>Schedule Process card.

Each assignment needs to track which holiday rotations are Schedule A and which are Schedule B based on the Holiday Parameter Schedule Standard Date 1, so they can assign their employees accordingly. If one assignment has more or fewer holidays than another department, their A and B holidays would be different. In other words, A and B rotations are not directly linked to any holiday itself, but whether the holiday is eligible or ineligible based on the alternating status starting with the holiday nearest to Every Other Holiday Parameter Schedule Standard Date 1. If a new holiday is added in between the existing ones, that one is incorporated into the alternate rotation.

For example: If Every Other Holiday Parameter Schedule Standard Date 1 is set to 12/30/08, the following holiday rotation occurs:

New Year's Day

Schedule A

Memorial Day

Schedule B

If a new holiday is added between the existing holidays, this is the new Schedule A/B rotation:

New Year's Day

Schedule A

President's Day

Schedule B

Memorial Day

Schedule A

Note: If an employee does not work an eligible holiday, they are still not eligible to work the next holiday. In other words, the system does not assign "every other holiday" by whether the employee worked the previous holiday. An employee is eligible to work/not work alternating holidays, starting from the Every Other Holiday Reference Date.

Holidays

Eligible to Work

New Year's 2018

Schedule A

President's Day 2018

Schedule B

Memorial Day 2018

Schedule A

July 4 2018

Schedule B

Labor Day 2018

Schedule A

Thanksgiving 2018

Schedule B

Christmas 2018

Schedule A

New Year's 2019

Schedule B

Note: If there is an even number of holidays in a year, employees will be eligible to work the same holidays each year. For strategies to modify the assignment, contact API Healthcare Workforce Management Client Support by creating a case on Client Connections.

Steps to Create the Every Other Holiday Assignment

The following summarizes the steps needed to configure the Every Other Holiday assignment rule. Click on the links below to view the details of each step.

Step 1: Create Holiday records, if they do not already exist in the system

Tip: To copy all general, indicator, and parameter attributes of an existing Holiday record, and save on setup time, use the Replicate feature. Open an existing record, and in the Actions section in the left pane, click the Replicate button.

  1. Set up the Holiday General tab
  2. Set up the Holiday Indicators tab
  3. Set up the Holiday Parameters tab

Step 2: Create a new Assignment Code record

  1. Set up the Assignment Code General tab
  2. Set up the Assignment Code Indicators tab
  3. Set up the Assignment Code Parameters tab
  4. Set up the Assignment Code Criteria screen
  5. Set up the Assignment Code Holiday screen

Step 3: Set up the Every Other Holiday reference date

Step 4: Assign employees to the A or B rotation

Step 5: Enter the employee Holiday Shift Eligibility Date, if applicable.

Step 6: Add the Holiday validation to the Selection Styles

Step 1A: Set up the Holiday General Tab

Note: If holidays that can be used by this assignment are already created in the Holiday table, this step can be skipped. Be sure that the date/time parameters for the start and end of the holiday time frame are the same as required for this assignment.

To enter a new holiday record, complete the following steps:

  1. From the Configuration section>Assignments screen, select the Holiday icon.
  2. Click on the Add button in the left pane to open a screen to add a new record.
  3. Enter a Code and Description to identify this holiday code.
  4. Enter the Actual Date of the holiday and the Observed Date when it is observed in the corporation.
  5. Enter the Holiday Category Code. This field is used with the Every Other Same Holiday assignment to match up the same holiday between years, since there may be more than one "Holiday" record for the same holiday and they may have different names.
  6. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save the record.
  7. The Indicator and Parameter tabs are now available.

Step 1B: Set up the Holiday Indicator Tab

  1. Select the Indicators tab and open the Schedule Process card by clicking on the card arrow.
  2. Select the indicator option values from the drop-down listing to set the rules for this assignment.
  3. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save this record.

Step 1C: Set up the Holiday Parameter Tab

  1. Select the Parameters tab and open the Schedule Process card by clicking on the card arrow.
  2. Enter the parameter option values to set the start date/time and the end date/time for the holiday for this assignment.
  3. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save all indicator and parameter values.

Step 2A: Set up the Assignment Code General Tab

  1. From the Configuration section>Assignments card, select the Assignment Code screen.
  2. Click on the Add button to add a new Assignment Code. The following General screen is displayed.
  3. Enter the date this Assignment Code will be effective.
  4. Select the Standard option from the Assignment Source Classification field.
  5. In the Assignment Source Code field, select Holiday from the field look up values.
  6. Enter a Code and Description to identify this holiday assignment record.
  7. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save the record.
  8. The Indicators and Parameters tabs are now available for set up.

Step 2B: Set up the Assignment Codes Indicators Tab

To set up the Assignment Codes Indicators tab, complete the following steps:

  1. Click on the Indicators tab, then open the Schedule Process card.
  2. Set Holiday Assignment Code Indicator Schedule Standard 1 to Y to process the selected holidays in this assignment using holiday rules.
  3. Set Holiday Assignment Code Indicator Schedule Standard 2 to the proper option of how holiday shifts are determined.
  4. Set Holiday Assignment Code Indicator Schedule Standard 3 to Y to process the Every Other Holiday Rule.
  5. Set Holiday Assignment Code Indicator Schedule Standard 4 to N.
  6. Set Holiday Assignment Code Indicator Schedule Standard 5 to the proper option to determine if there is a maximum number of schedules that an employee is eligible to work during the holiday time frame.
  7. Set Holiday Assignment Code Indicator Schedule Standard 6 to N.
  8. Set Holiday Assignment Code Indicator Schedule Standard 7 to N.
  9. Set Holiday Assignment Code Indicator Schedule Standard 8 to N.
  10. Set Holiday Assignment Code Schedule Standard 9 to the proper option to determine if productive core rotating schedules should be populated on holidays if the employee is eligible to work.
  11. Click on the Parameters tab to set up the companion parameters.

Step 2C: Set up the Assignment Codes Parameter Tab

To set up the Assignment Codes Parameter tab, complete the following steps:

  1. Select the Parameters tab, then open the Schedule Process card.
  2. Depending on the setting of Holiday Assignment Code Indicator Schedule Standard 2, set the companion parameter to indicate how holiday shifts are determined.
  3. Holiday Assignment Code Parameter Schedule Standard Integer 1 determines the maximum number of schedules that can be assigned to employees during a single holiday date range. If using this rule, enter a positive integer in this field.
  4. Holiday Assignment Code Parameter Schedule Standard Integers 2 - 5 are not used with this assignment and can be left blank.
  5. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save the record.

Step 2D: Set up the Assignment Codes Criteria Section

The Criteria section is where the employees that should receive this assignment are identified. The criteria options that are available were previously selected on the Assignment Source screen>Assignment Determination section screen.

To configure the criteria requirements, complete the following steps:

  1. With the Assignment Code record open, click on the Criteria section button in the left pane.
  2. Click on Add to add a new record.
  3. Enter an Effective Date, a Code and Description to identify this Criteria record.
  4. In the additional fields, enter the criteria options that identify employees who should be given this assignment. Note: Additional criteria options can be added (by authorized users) through the Assignment Source Screen>Assignment Determination button.
  5. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save this record.
  6. To add additional groups of employees to this assignment, click on the Add button again and complete steps 3 - 5. The groups given to this assignment are displayed.
  7. Click on Save to save the record.

    Note: Employees must meet ALL the requirements within one of the Criteria records to qualify for the assignment.

Step 2E: Set up the Assignment Codes Holiday Section Screen

The holidays that are included in this assignment are selected on the Holiday section screen.

To set up this screen, complete the following steps:

  1. With the Assignment Codes screen open, click on the Holiday section button in the left pane.
  2. Click on the Add button to open the Holiday Search screen. Enter search criteria to find holidays to include in this assignment.
  3. A listing of the holidays that have been previously set up on the Holiday screen is displayed. Check the box to the left of each holiday to be included in this assignment. Note: There may be more than one record for the same holiday. Be sure to choose the correct one.
  4. When all holidays for this assignment have been checked, click Assign: Common Data (to assign the same data for all) or Assign: Individual Data (to assign different data for each).

Step 3: Set up the Every Other Holiday Reference Date(s)

  1. Go to the Configuration section>Assignments card>Assignment Source screen.
  2. From the Advanced search criteria, enter Holiday Assignment in the Category field.
  3. Search for and select the Holiday record to be set up (e.g. Holiday) and open the Parameters tab
  4. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save the record.

Step 4: Assign employees to the A or B rotation

Employees are assigned to either the A or the B rotation by an indicator setting in their employee record. This is so half the employees are eligible to work a specific holiday while the other half are off. Then, on the following holiday, the other half of the employees are eligible to work.

Note: By default, this indicator is set to A. Only employees who should be assigned to the B rotation need to be updated.

  1. From the Employee section, use the Employee Search feature to locate the employee record(s) to configure.
  2. Open the employee record to the General screen>Indicators tab>Schedule Process card.
  3. Set the Employee Indicator Schedule Standard 1 value to indicate whether the employee belongs to the A or B holiday rotation.
  4. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save the record.

The alternating major holiday and minor holiday rotations defined by Holiday Assignment Code Parameter Schedule Standard Date 1 and Holiday Assignment Code Parameter Schedule Standard Date 2 are considered Schedule A holidays. All holidays not eligible to be worked in Schedule A are considered to be eligible in Schedule B.

Each department needs to track which holidays are Schedule A and which are Schedule B, based on these dates, so they can assign their employees accordingly. If one department has more or fewer holidays than another department, their A and B holidays would be different. In other words, A and B rotations are not directly linked any holiday itself, but whether the holiday is eligible or ineligible based on the alternating status starting with the Schedule Standard Dates.

With the Every Other Major/Every Other Minor Holiday Rule, the major and minor holidays are tracked on separate rotations.

Note: This setting is NOT the same as the A or B indicator setting on Holiday Indicator Schedule Standard 1. That setting is used to indicate which holidays are major holidays and which ones are minor holidays.

Step 5: Enter the Employee Holiday Shift Eligibility Date

If an employee has a waiting period before he or she is eligible to participate in the Holiday assignment rules, an eligibility date can be entered in the employee record.

Note: If the employee does not have a waiting period, this field can be left blank.

  1. From the Employee section, use the Employee Search feature to locate the employee record(s) to configure.
  2. Open the Employee General screen> Parameters tab>Schedule Process card.
  3. In the Employee Parameter Schedule Standard Date 2 field, enter the date when the employee is eligible to start the holiday rules.
  4. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save the record.

Step 6: Add the Holiday Validation to the Selection Style

The Holiday rule must be selected as a validation in each pass of the selection style.

  1. From the Configuration section>Scheduling card, select the Selection Styles page.
  2. Open the selection style being used with the automatic scheduling process and/or manual process.
  3. Open a scheduling pass and click the Qualification button.
  4. Point the cursor to the Holiday rule in the Available Rules column. Drag the rule to the Selected Rules column.
  5. Repeat steps 3-4 for each pass to be validated.
  6. Click on the Save button at the bottom of the screen to save the record.