Staffing Template

On the Staffing Template screen, you create templates that indicate the baseline staffing levels needed for each organization unit. These staffing needs are set up for each combination of profile and coverage period. A Staffing Template states, for example, that the ICU needs seven RNs every Sunday during a Day coverage period.

Once created, you use the Staffing Template to supply the initial data for the Staffing Plan, which uses the Staffing Template's needs as a starting point and then updates the needs based on current conditions, such as high or low census. For example, the Staffing Plan states that the ICU's census is low on Sunday, June 24, and only five RNs are needed instead of seven.

An organization unit can have multiple Staffing Templates to, for example, adjust for seasonal trends in staffing; however, only one template can be active at a time.

Note: Similar to the Staffing Template, the Core Staffing Template also defines staffing needs, but is set up using a combination of profiles and activity codes, rather than profiles and coverage periods. For more information, see Core Staffing Template.

Set up staffing needs

To configure how staffing should work for you, complete the following:

• Set the organization unit indicators
• Set the activity code indicator
• Add a Staffing Template
• Create the Staffing Plan

Organization Unit Indicators

To set the organization unit indicators, complete the following steps.

1. Navigate to Configuration > Organization Unit > Organization Unit > search for and open the desired organization units.
2. Click the Indicators tab and expand the Staffing and Scheduling card.
3. Click in the field for SS Solution Standard 1: Auto-apply default Staffing Template option.

   This indicator determines whether the Staffing Template is applied automatically or manually when first opening the Schedule screen for a new schedule period.

   The advantage to applying it automatically is that you do not have to remember to apply a template manually every schedule period. The disadvantage is that templates will be applied when you first view a schedule period even if you do not want it to. For example, if you open the Schedule screen for a schedule period five years from now, the template will get applied. However, if in the meantime, there are changes in the organization unit, that template may no longer apply and there would be clean-up efforts to get it corrected.

4. Select the desired option and then click Save.
   • N - The Staffing Template is not automatically applied
   • Y - The Staffing Template is automatically applied when there is no existing Staffing Plan record
   • P - The decision is made at a higher organization unit level (refer to the parent organization unit)
5. Expand the Self Scheduling card.
6. Click in the field for Self Scheduling Standard 10: Determines whether Activity Totals or Coverage Totals are displayed on the Employee Self Schedule screen.

   This indicator only affects which mode the employees see on the Self Schedule screen.

   For more information, see Concepts: Staffing needs by coverage period versus activity code below.

7. Select the desired option and then click Save.
   • A - Activity code mode (activity code totals appear on the Self Schedule screen)
   • C - Coverage period mode (coverage totals appear on the Self Schedule screen)
   • P - The decision is made at a higher organization unit level (refer to the parent organization unit)

Activity Code Indicator

To set the activity code indicator, complete the following steps.

1. Navigate to Configuration > Scheduling > Activity Code > search for and open the desired activities.
2. Click the Indicators tab and expand the Self Scheduling card.
3. Click in the field for Self Scheduling Standard 1: Determines whether activity is available for self scheduling.

   This indicator defines whether an activity code is available to employees for self scheduling and, if it is available, how the activity appears.

4. Select the desired option and then click Save.
   • A - Activity is available for self scheduling when using either:
     • Coverage period mode
     • Activity code mode, even if there are no needs
   • Y - Activity is available for self scheduling when using either:
     • Coverage period mode
     • Activity code mode, only if there are needs
   • N - Activity is not available for self scheduling when using either mode

Staffing Template

See the remainder of this topic for instructions on adding a new Staffing Template.

Staffing Plan

Once the Staffing Template is added, use it to create the Staffing Plan. See Staffing Plan.

Add a new Staffing Template record

To add a new Staffing Template, complete the following steps.

1. Navigate to Configuration > Scheduling > Staffing Template.
2. Under Actions, click Add.
3. Complete the new record's fields.
   • Code and Description identify and describe this Staffing Template.
   • Coverage Set Code indicates the set of coverage periods used by the organization unit. If the coverage set selected does not match the one set up for the organization unit on the Staffing Configuration screen, an error message appears.

     The staffing needs will be set up by coverage periods that exist within the selected coverage set.

   • Active field indicates whether this Staffing Template is currently active and available to be assigned.
   • Default indicates whether this template is the default for the organization unit. When the value is set to Yes, this template is automatically loaded when you click the Open Staffing Plan button.
   • Number of Weeks indicates the number of weeks of rotation before the same staffing needs pattern is repeated.

     In most cases, this staffing needs template is the same every week, and this value is set to 1. If alternating weeks in a schedule have different baseline staffing needs, this value can be set to 2 and the two weeks can be set up differently.

     When a Staffing Template is assigned to a scheduling period, the system replicates this template to fill all weeks of the schedule period. For example, if the number of weeks is set to 1, when a four-week schedule period is opened, the system replicates this template four times to fill the four-week schedule period.

   • Organization Unit indicates where this Staffing Template is applied.
4. Click Next.
5. Search for and select the profiles in this organization unit that will be set up on the Staffing Template.
6. Click Next.

   A grid appears for you to set up the staffing needs by profile and coverage period for this organization unit and the number of weeks indicated.

7. For each day in the week, enter the need for that profile and coverage period combination.

   This indicates the coverage needed throughout the coverage period, not necessarily the number of staff. For example, a need of one for an eight-hour coverage period could be covered by one employee working eight hours or by two employees each working four hours. A need of 1.5 for an eight-hour coverage period could be covered by two employees, one working eight hours and one working four hours. Or it could be covered by three employees each working four hours.

   You can change the profile or coverage period by clicking in the appropriate field and making a selection.

8. If you need to add another row, click in the Profile and Coverage Period fields in the blank line and repeat step 7.
9. If you need to delete a row, click in a row and press Delete.

   Tip: You can select multiple rows by holding Ctrl or Shift while clicking.

10. Click Finish to save the new record.

Replicate an existing Staffing Template record

You can replicate (copy) a Staffing Template in one of two ways: from an existing Core Staffing Template or from another Staffing Template.

Copy a Core Staffing Template to a Staffing Template

If you added a Core Staffing Template, you can copy it to a Staffing Template. This saves you from having to create or update the Staffing Template manually.

Note: The organization unit needs to have a Staffing Configuration applied before copying the Core Staffing Template to the Staffing Template.

To copy a Core Staffing Template to a Staffing Template, complete the following steps.

1. After creating a new Core Staffing Template or opening an existing one, click Copy to Staffing Template.
2. If the copy action is successful, a confirmation message appears. Click OK.

   If the organization unit already has a Staffing Template applied, a message appears asking whether you would like to override the original.

   Once completed, the Staffing Template is applied.

Replicate an existing Staffing Template record

Instead of starting over and creating a new Staffing Template record, you can replicate (copy) an existing record. This allows you to start with a copy of a record and then make any needed changes. This is helpful if, for example, you make minor changes at a regular interval, such as an annual update. In addition, this allows you to retain past, inactive versions of the Staffing Template.

To replicate a Staffing Template, complete the following steps.

1. Navigate to Configuration > Scheduling > Staffing Template > search for and open the existing Staffing Template record.
2. Under Actions, click Replicate.
3. As needed, update the record's fields.
4. Click Save.
5. Under Staffing Template Sections, click Details.
6. In the template grid, make the desired changes.
7. When finished, click Save.

Make changes to a Staffing Template

To make changes to a Staffing Template, complete the following steps.

1. Navigate to Configuration > Scheduling > Staffing Template.
2. Enter the appropriate parameters to open the organization unit's existing Staffing Template.
3. As needed, click the General and Details buttons, and make the required changes.
   • On the Details screen, click in a cell and update the staffing need value.

     The values can be modified by adding or subtracting needs, profiles, and coverage periods.

4. Click Save.

Concepts

Staffing needs by coverage period versus activity code

On some screens, you can decide how you would prefer to view staffing needs: by coverage period or by activity code. This means that the needs are first established on a staffing template and then appear on the various screens broken down by either coverage period or activity code. Your scheduling practices determine whether an organization unit is set up to view needs by coverage period or by activity code.

The following example illustrates a key difference between the modes.

Assumptions for this example:

• Three eight-hour coverage periods
• A need of four RNs per coverage period

With the coverage period mode, a scheduled eight-hour activity code overlaps a coverage period perfectly. The needs on the screen are decreased by one during the coverage period, from four to three. But what happens with a 12-hour activity code? One coverage period's need is decreased by one (from four to three) because eight hours of the activity code overlap it. The remaining four hours are removed from the next coverage period. But since the next coverage period is also eight hours in length, the subtracted four hours leaves half of a need, or 3.5.

While simple situations like this can be managed, if you have several different activity codes scheduled with different start times and lengths, the staffing needs can get confusing. For example, you might see a need of 2.13.

With the activity code mode, the activity codes are shown on the screens instead of the coverage periods. The needs always appear as whole numbers even when they cross coverage periods, eliminating the decimal values that can cause confusion. Using the previous example, a scheduled 12-hour activity code reduces the activity code's need by one (from four to three), even though it crossed into a second coverage period.

The following table explains whether the Staffing Plan or Core Staffing Plan populates the staffing needs for each area of the system.

*This is set with an organization unit indicator and an activity code indicator. See the "Set up staffing needs" section of Staffing Template.