Scheduling Templates

Scheduling templates make it faster and more efficient to create a roster in 7shifts. By creating templates, you can pre-define shifts, roles, and qualifications for employees! Templates allow for automatic scheduling that saves time and reduces errors - and is particularly beneficial for restaurants with repetitive scheduling needs.

Remember that a template is not the same as a schedule. It serves as a blueprint, outlining the rules and requirements for your specific scheduling needs.

How it works

  • Design a template that outlines all the shifts you need to fill, including the required qualifications such as Role and Skill Level for each position.

  • Once your template is ready, the template will identify available employees who meet the specified qualifications and automatically assign them to the designated shift times. This process takes into account each employee’s approved Availability and Time Off.

  • After the shifts have been auto-filled, take a moment to review the schedule. When you're satisfied with the results, simply hit Publish to finalize it.

Prerequisites

⚠️ Access to Templates may require an upgrade from your current plan.

⚠️ Templates are Location and Department-specific.

⚠️ Managers/Assistant Managers require permission 'Can manage templates'.

⚠️
Scheduling Templates are only available on the web app.


Create a Template 

To create a scheduling template, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to the web app as an Admin or Manager/Assistant Manager with permissions.

  2.  In the left navigation bar, head to Schedule.

  3.  Click on the Copy icon > select Manage Template.

  4.  Click + Add Template:

  5. Name your Template and then select the Location and Department > hit Save.

  6. Click on the Template to expand the template creation page. 

  7. Here, you can enter a Labor Target % and Projected Sales. Please note that these will be designated for the selected location and are not department-specific:

  8. Click + Add shift.
     
  9. Add shift details including the required shift types: Skill level, a specific person, or Open shift.

    Skill Level -
    By default, Employees are classified as Skill Level 1 (Beginner), unless specified otherwise within their employee profile.

    Specific Person -
    If you prefer, you can assign a specific person to a shift, but only employees from the selected Location and Department will be listed.

    Open Shift - This creates Open Shifts on the Schedules page where you can then drag and drop to manually assign them to your employees. 

    Select a Role, or leave the Role field blank to create a No Role shift which has no specific Role associated with it. (see example in image, step 15)

    You can also publish them as Open Shifts so that employees can volunteer to bid for them in the Shift Pool.



  10. Add shift details including the required role, time, and scheduled break, and apply it to days of the week:

  11. Click Create. 

  12. Repeat as necessary. Continue adding shifts to your template as needed. You can also drag and drop shifts assigned to the same Role for better organization.

  13. All modifications will be auto-saved as you work through the template.

  14. Nicely done! Once you have added all of your shifts, a scheduling template will look something like this:

    (click on the image to expand it)


Fill a Schedule Using a Template

Now that you've created your Template, use it to fill shift into the Schedule:

⚠️ Managers/Assistant Managers require permissions Can delete Schedules and Can manage templates permissions to apply scheduling templates to existing shifts or multiple templates.

  1. Log in to the web app as an Admin or Manager/Assistant Manager with permissions.

  2.  In the left navigation bar, head to Schedule.

  3. Use the filters to change the date range, Location, and Department.

  4.  Click on the Copy icon  > select Fill from Template:


  5. Select a template and choose whether to include labor percentage targets > click Submit:



  6. If there are pre-existing shifts, you will be prompted to either merge the template with these shifts or delete them:

  7. If any shifts remain unassigned after applying the template, you will see a notification that we were unable to find employees to fill all shifts. Click Review your schedule to view these unassigned shifts in the Unassigned Shifts section:

  8. You can drag and drop unassigned shifts to appropriate employees:

  9. For Open Shift Templates, drag the shifts from the Open Shifts section to the desired employees. You may also publish Open Shifts to the Shift Pool, allowing employees to bid on them:




Copy a Template

If your scheduling needs vary seasonally or by other criteria, you can create a new template by copying an existing one. This will allow you to use an existing Template as a framework to set up another Schedule Template more quickly.

⚠️ Templates are Location and Department-specific; copies can only be made for the same Location and Department.

⚠️ Sales projections from scheduling templates will not carry over if your Location has an integrated POS system.

⚠️ Scheduled breaks do not copy over with templates.

  1. Log in to the web app as an Admin or Manager/Assistant Manager with permissions.

  2.  In the left navigation bar, head to Schedule.

  3. Use the filters to change the date range, Location, and Department.

  4.  Click on the Copy icon  > select Manage Templates:



  5. Click on a Template.

  6. Click Copy Template.

  7. Enter a name for your copied template and click Save to begin making edits.

Delete a Template

  1. Log in to the web app as an Admin or Manager/Assistant Manager with permissions.

  2.  In the left navigation bar, head to Schedule.

  3.  Click on the Copy icon  > select Manage Templates.

  4. Click the More Options icon more-options-ellipses.png next to a template > select Delete:



RELATED ARTICLES:

Scheduled Breaks

Was this article helpful?
91 out of 100 found this helpful