The Fixed Shifts view provides a way to specify the exact shift someone will receive. This is useful when there is an agreement with staff as to exactly when they can work.
Excessive use of this feature will restrict Daitum’s ability to find a cost-effective roster. It is recommended that no more than 30% of staff are given fixed shifts.
Each day has an option to enable / disable fixed shifts for that day. Populate the ‘fixed shifts’ column with 'True' to enable fixed shifts for an individual.
The area and / or the shift times can be fixed. In the example below Taunya has two shift times fixed (but can work whatever rooms are specified on the Staff Areas view) and Nicolas has fixed rooms all days and a fixed shift times on Wednesday:
If consistent start times are all that are required, use the ‘Shift Consistency’ feature, or the 'Fixed start time' option on the Shift Lengths view.
Use the Open / Close options on the Work Preferences view to easily set (and rotate) who will Open and Close.
Setting a consistent roster
One use of the Fixed Shift functionality is to set a consistent roster for permanent staff while still having flexibility in the roster with casual staff. To achieve this:
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Start with Fixed Shifts off (set all employees ‘Fixed?’ value to False)
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Prepare to optimise as normal and Optimise the roster
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Review, finalise and publish the roster
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Run the Data → Update Fixed shifts menu option
This will copy over the existing roster shifts to the Fixed Shifts view
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Set the ‘Fixed?’ value for the required employees to ‘True’
With the above instructions complete the roster is ready to be copied for the following week. The permanent staff will receive the same roster and casuals will be used to try and find an efficient roster.
Some users keep this same roster for a 4-6 week period before resetting and establishing new start times for all.
This approach severely limits Daitum’s ability to optimise and will result in more expensive rosters. It also increases the likelihood that the roster produced will be non-compliant. Rosters produced should be thoroughly reviewed for compliance and the number of fixed shifts provided should be adjusted if requried.