Staffing Configuration - Priority Dates

In the Staffing Configuration screen, the Priority Dates button opens a screen to indicate dates that have highest scheduling priority (for example, holiday time frames). When running the scheduling process, the priority date(s) that occur within the scheduling period are scheduled before the rest of the days. Using this feature prevents employees who are eligible to work a holiday from being disqualified because of other scheduling rules, such as overtime or approved hours.

If Priority Days are also set up for this Staffing Configuration record, the system will schedule the days within the Priority Dates time frame in the sort order specified by the Priority Days table.

For example:

• The Priority Days are set as Saturday, Sunday, and Friday. The rest of the days populate in chronological order (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)
• The Priority Dates for the Thanksgiving Holiday are set up as Thursday through Sunday of the last week of November (such as November 27-30)

When the scheduling period that includes the dates of November 23-36 is run, the scheduling process will first schedule Saturday, November 29, then Sunday, November 30, then Friday, November 28, then Thursday, November 27. The system will then populate the rest of the scheduling period in the normal sequence.

Adding a Priority Dates record:

1. From the Configuration section>Scheduling card, select the Staffing Configuration screen.
2. Search for and open a record. Click on the Priority Dates button in the left pane.
3. Enter the Start Date for the first day of the date range to be scheduled first.

   The date of the first day of the priority date range.

   More About Date Value Fields

   When a date field is highlighted, the Date Selector is displayed in the right pane to search for the date. Use the arrows in the heading bar to scroll to the Previous or Next month's calendar. Double-click on a date to enter it into the field. Alternatively, dates can be typed into the field.

4. Enter the End Date for the last day of the date range to be scheduled first.

   The date of the last day of the priority date range.

   More About Date Value Fields

   When a date field is highlighted, the Date Selector is displayed in the right pane to search for the date. Use the arrows in the heading bar to scroll to the Previous or Next month's calendar. Double-click on a date to enter it into the field. Alternatively, dates can be typed into the field.

5. Enter a Description to describe this priority date's record.

   A label describing this priority dates record (for example, the name of the holiday).

6. Click on the Save button
7. Repeat steps 1-4 for all the priority dates to be configured.
8. In the Priority field, set the priority number of which holiday record should be populated first. This is used when more than one holiday falls within a scheduling period (for example, Christmas and New Year's).

   Number indicating the order these Priority Dates records should be populated, in the event there is more than one record included in the same scheduling period (for example, Christmas and New Year Holidays).

9. Click on the Save button to save this record.

   Note: The priority dates need to be updated each year, before the scheduling process is run for the date range.