Locations is a new feature where you can create your shift layouts, assign agents to them, and define scheduling rules that will serve as directions for our algorithm to follow in order to create a schedule that works best for your team. Anything from operational hours, timezone to the maximum number of working hours per week will now be set up here.
You will also be able to choose what kind of shift logic to apply to any given location. Currently, we have two options to choose from Automatic or Fixed shifts. Let's dive in!
Note: to access Locations you will need to have Schedule - Manager (Full Access) permissions.
Check out the video below as our product manager MJ guides you through the setup of Locations!
Click on the sections below to go over each step:
Locations is part of the Organization structure features and you can access it in just a few clicks:
- Hover over the Admin section
. - Select the Organization Structure.
- Click on Locations.
Once you access Locations you will first see a blank page and to start setting up your location follow the below guide:
- Click on the
on the top left to create your first location. - Set up the rules of your location:
- Location name: enter a unique name for your Location.
- Operational hours and Time zone:
- Time zone: choose the time zone (by default, we insert the time zone that you have already selected on our Time zone Switcher).
- Operational Hours: choose your hours of operation (by default we have this set to Open every day, all day (24/7), but you can change this to certain days of the week and specific hours).
- Scheduling rules:
- Number of working hours per week: define the minimum and a maximum number of hours your Agents are allowed to work during a week.
- Number of consecutive workdays: define how many days in a row your Agents are allowed to work.
- Number of consecutive days off: define how many days off in a row your Agents are able to take.
- Minimum number of hours between shifts: define the number of rest hours your Agents will have between shifts.
- Overtime: specify the number of hours after which the overtime will be considered.
- Repeating of the schedule: you can choose if you want the schedule to repeat every calendar week, month, or quarter.
- Users
- Shift rules
Important: The Location setup rules (step 2) will only apply to the Automatic shift logic (see step 4, first bullet point) as the Fixed Shift logic will overrule the set Location parameters.
- Move on to the Shifts part by clicking on Shifts on the top right corner of the screen.
- Select your Shift logic:
- Automatic (default): you can create multiple shift layouts and assign users to them, we'll do the rest for you.
- Fixed: you can create multiple shift layouts, assign users to them and define at what time those users start working.
In the below sections you will learn more about the specifications and logic for the Automatic and Fixed shifts.
Let's say you want us to do the bulk of the work for you, in that case, choose Automatic. You can now start building your shift layouts.
- Click on the plus sign on the right side of Shift layouts.
- Configure your settings:
- Name: the name for this Shift layout.
- Length: the length of the shift.
- Keep the same shifts for: define for how long your agents will be working this shift.
- Max difference in shift start time: a window of hours where we'll schedule your agents to work (keep in mind if you don't fill it in we'll assume it's zero, which means your agents will start their shifts at the same time for the amount of time you defined on the Keep the same shifts for setting).
- Set intraday - when your agents' General tasks should occur:
- The Layout preview will show you an overview of what you're setting up below.
- Click the plus sign to get started.
- Choose the Task (this can be any General task that your agents need to have/accomplish on a daily basis such as Break, Lunch, or a daily stand-up meeting, for example, and/or any Workstream they're assigned to. If you do not select any Workstream our algorithm will auto populate the workstream for you based on what's been forecasted.)
- Can occur between ... of shift: this is the time interval in which these tasks will occur counting from the start of the shift (Example: if you place Break and choose 2 and 4 and it means that breaks for these Agents will be scheduled to happen between 2 and 4 hours after their shift has started)
- Duration: the duration of the task.
- Select Users to assign users to this shift layout and you're done (by default we show you All users but you can filter by your Teams, Workstreams, other Locations, and your Zendesk Groups.
Note: you can add more General tasks or Workstreams to your shift by clicking the plus sign and to delete the intraday task, click on the trash can icon.
Fixed Shifts
The Fixed shift logic works almost the same way as the Automatic one but we give you back more control over when your Agents are scheduled to work.
- Choose Fixed and click the plus sign to create your shift layout.
- Set up the Settings:
- Name: a name for your layout.
- Start time: the time your agents start working.
- Length: the length of the shift.
- Working days: the days your agents will work, the greyed-out days will be their days off.
- Intraday works the same as with Automatic.
- Select Users to assign agents to the shift layout.
To make any changes to the Location settings all you need to do is:
- Hover over the Location you wish to edit.
- Click on location or the
at the top right of the Location box. - Make all the necessary changes on any of the sections and click Apply.
- Once you are happy with your changes click
.
In case you need to delete the location, it takes just a few clicks:
- Hover over the Location you wish to delete.
- Click on location or the at the top right of the Location box.
- At the bottom of the edit window select Delete location.
- Confirm your actions by clicking
again.