Changing the work schedule within the current year (TimeMoto PC Plus Software)

Schedules are used to define your employees' regular working hours. Most of the time, you create a schedule once and add it to a user, where it is then permanently effective. But what happens if the regular working time changes during the year? Here, you will see step-by-step instructions on how to change a schedule or a user.

If you assign a new schedule to a user, this will also affect the employee's planning retroactively. To change a schedule in the current year without changing it retroactively, you can use a combination of a fixed schedule and the planning function in the TimeMoto PC Plus software.

Preparations

What kind of schedule is being used?

If you are using a schedule with a fixed number of hours per day/week/month, it is best to create a new user with the new schedule and set their entry date to the date from which the employee's new schedule should apply. (Please do not forget that the employee must also identify themselves with the new user ID on the date of the schedule change.)

The instructions below only apply to schedules with a fixed start and end time.

System Back-up

In order to be able to undo any errors, it is recommended to make a back-up of your system beforehand. You can create a backup in the software under [File] > [Preferences] > [Back up to disk].

Closing the Year

Before changing the schedule in the current year, we advise you to make sure that the previous year has been closed in the software. The following article explains how to close the year exactly:

Closing the year

Project "De-Plan"

Make sure that you have a project that cancels planned working time. Use the type "Unplanned time" for this project. It is likely that you will already have this project. You can read about how to edit projects here:

Projects

Steps to change the work schedule during the current year

We will take the following steps in order to change the work schedule during the current year:

1. Creating and assigning the new fixed work schedule for the user
2. Create the old work schedule in the Planning
3. De-plan the new work schedule in the Planning
4. Schedule the old work schedule in the past

1. Creating a new work schedule

First, we will create the new fixed work schedule under [Edit] > [Workschedule]. If you require more information on how to create work schedules, we refer you to the following article:

Work schedules

After you have created the new work schedule, you can assign it to the corresponding user under [Edit] > [User]. Select the user and click "Edit". Then select the new work schedule on the "System data" tab under "Work schedule". Save the changes.

The new work schedule is now applied retroactively to the beginning of the current calendar year. If this is correct, you are now done with the work schedule changes in the current year. However, if you want the old work schedule to apply retroactively, please follow the remaining instructions in this article.

2. Creating the old work schedules in the Planning

In order to schedule the old work schedule in the Planning, we must create it under [Edit] > [Schedule] as a flexible schedule. The following article explains exactly how to create work schedules for flexible scheduling:

Using the Planning for Flexible Work Schedules

3. De-plan period

Before we schedule the old work schedule in the past, we have to de-plan the appropriate period. De-planning will cause the software to ignore the new work schedule in that period, and we can now schedule the old work schedule.

Under [Edit] > [Planning], select the "Grid View" on the right. Adjust the filters in the upper left corner so that you see at least the time period you want to de-plan. Right-click on the first day of this period and select "Add new".

In the window that now appears, enter under "End date" the date up to which you want to de-plan. Then, under "Projects",  select the "De-plan" project. Confirm by clicking on "OK".

Example

You want to keep the old work schedule from 1/1/2019 to 30/6/2019. In the schedule, right-click 1/1/2019 and select "Add new". Enter 30/6/2019 as the end date and select the project "De-plan". After you have clicked on "OK", the period from 1/1/2019 to 30/6/2019 will be de-planned.

4. Scheduling the old work schedule

We will schedule the old work schedule on top of the de-planned period. Highlight the period by holding your left mouse button and dragging the selection:

Then, drag and drop the old work schedule into the Planning. A window appears in which you can confirm your action by clicking "OK". The old work schedule is now scheduled.

If you want to learn more about scheduling flexible work schedules, please see the following article:

Using the Planning for Flexible Work Schedules

If the user has no bank holidays and/or vacation during the de-planned period, you are now done with changing the work schedule during the current year!

Done! You have successfully changed a schedule during the year.