AutoFill - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How AutoFill Works
WhenToWork's AutoFill feature was developed by a team of math
Ph.D.'s and is the most advanced scheduling engine in the
industry. Not only are the work assignments automatic - ensuring
that no employee is assigned during their granted time off, cannot
work hours, or in violation of the maximums set, but it also uses
employee "prefer and dislike times" and "position
preferences" (skills) to optimize each schedule so that it is the best
possible schedule for all employees. And all of this is done in a
matter of seconds with one click! You can AutoFill based on Equal
Priorities (regular AutoFill), Seniority (hire date) or Priority Group
Don't see the AutoFill button
on your UnPublished
schedules?
-Some multi-week schedule
views do not have an AutoFill
button.
-Your main manager may not
have set your permissions to
allow you to AutoFill.
Each employee can be set as to what daily and weekly maximums AutoFill will use for them. The system
defaults to 40 hours/7 days per week and 1 shift/14 hours per day.
To change the AutoFill maximum hours/shifts/days for each employee:
From any page:
z In the top menu click EMPLOYEES to go to the Employee List page
z Click the pencil icon
next to an employee name to open the Edit Employee window
z
In the AutoFill Settings area change the settings as needed for this employee
z Note: if you want to allow AutoFill to assign split shifts be sure to change the Shifts/Day to more
than one.
z Click Save (or Save & Next to go to the next Employee)
AutoFill automatically assigns workers to shifts based on these maximum settings and also one of these three
options:
Using Equal Priorities (Default) - this is the option used by most companies - all employees are
treated the same. AutoFill will assess the best schedule with everyone in mind - trying to distribute the
shifts as evenly as possible within each employee's maximum hours/shifts/days.
z
By Priority Group - takes employees in group one - gives all of them their best possible schedule
(up to their maximum hours per week) and then takes the next group and fills in with them with their
best possible schedule up to their maximums etc.
z
By Seniority (Hire Date) - takes the most senior employee and gives them their most preferred
schedule then takes the next senior employee (with oldest hire date) and fills in with their best
schedule etc.
z
You also have the option to "Ignore employee work time preferences" when you AutoFill. When this is
checked AutoFill does not consider any employee "like" and "dislike" time preferences.
You can AutoFill, then Clear the assignments and AutoFill again to try out the different options.
AutoFill is designed to have a randomizing effect so that if you were to repeat AutoFill for the same schedule
you may get slightly different results.
After AutoFill you will see statistics for how well AutoFill did in assigning the shifts within your employee
preferences.
AutoFill is only available on UNPublished schedules.
Related Topics:
z
z
z
z
z
How Employee Work Time Preferences are Used
Ignoring Employee Preferences
Setting Minimum Time Off Between Shifts
Evenly Distributing "Special Shifts"
AutoFilling Certain Positions Separately
Troubleshooting - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - After First AutoFill - No Assignments?
If AutoFilling your first schedule results in no workers being assigned to the shifts please check the following:
1. Are employees set to work your Positions?
z On the EMPLOYEE list page click the pencil icon next to the first employee's name.
z Check the boxes next to the Positions that this Employee can work.
z Click Save & Next to Edit the next Employee etc.
2. Are Employee maximum hours per day shorter than the "Paid Hours" (duration) of the shifts?
To see what your employees Maximum Hours per day are:
z In the top menu click EMPLOYEES to go to the Employee List page
z Check the Max Hours per Day & Week column (if this column is not visible use the "Select
Columns to View" link in the upper left to make this column visible)
z To change the Max Hours click the pencil icon
next to the first employee's name.
z Correct the Max Hours and click Save & Next to go to the next employee etc.
3. Are your Shifts "Paid Hours" correct? (Using Auto Calc when adding shifts results in a shift duration that
does not include deductions for lunch breaks etc.) The shift duration should be the total paid hours for that shift.
To see what your shift durations are:
From any Schedule View
z In the Schedule View dropdown choose Multi-Shift Edit
z Look at the "Duration" column which shows the hours worked for each shift and correct this if
necessary for the shifts and click Save Changes (ex. an 8am to 5pm shift if set to Auto Calc will be 9
hours - if you want that shift to be only 8 hours be sure to change it manually).
z Make changes to the shift durations if needed
z Click Save Changes
WhenToWork.com Online Scheduling
AutoFill by "Priority Group"
The Priority Group setting allows you to put your employees into one of ten groups that are used if you want to
use "AutoFill by priority group."
AutoFilling by priority group means that all the employees in group 1 are assigned to their preferred schedules
first (up to their max hours per week), then once completed, the group 2 employees are assigned to the
remaining shifts, then group 3, etc
This allows those employees in the higher rated groups to get a more preferential schedule assignments, and
can help if you have full time employees that you always want to get their max hours per week.
To AutoFill based on Priority Group:
(Be sure you have edited your Employees and set their AutoFill priority groups)
From any weekly Unpublished Schedule View:
1. Click AutoFill to open the AutoFill window
2. Click the radio button next to "By Priority Group"
3. Click YES AutoFill this Schedule
Related Topics:
How AutoFill Works
z
z
„
z
z
z
After AutoFill - No Assignments?
Assign Employee Before AutoFill
Evenly Distribute "Special Shifts" ADVANCED
Ignoring Employee Preferences
Minimum Time Off Between Shifts
AutoFilling One Position Separately
WhenToWork.com Online Scheduling
AutoFill by Seniority (Hire Date)
You can set AutoFill to assign your employees to shifts based on seniority. It takes the most senior employee
(oldest hire date) and assigns them according to their availability and work time preferences and attempts to
give them up to their maximum hours per week. It then takes the next senior employee and fills in the empty
shifts giving the next employee his most preferred schedule etc. and continues for each employee. Using this
method results in your most senior employees getting their most preferred schedule (based on the work time
preferences they have entered.)
To AutoFill based on Seniority:
(Be sure you have edited your Employees and entered their hire dates)
From any Unpublished Schedule View:
1. Click AutoFill to open the AutoFill window
2. Click the radio button next to "By Seniority"
3. Click YES AutoFill this Schedule
Note the employee hire dates can be added when you add an employee or at any time when you edit an
employee.
Related Topics:
How AutoFill Works
z
z
„
z
z
z
After AutoFill - No Assignments?
Assign Employee Before AutoFill
Evenly Distribute "Special Shifts" ADVANCED
Ignoring Employee Preferences
Minimum Time Off Between Shifts
AutoFilling One Position Separately
WhenToWork.com Online Scheduling
Assign Employee Before AutoFill
AutoFill is the best way to assign workers to your shifts but if you want to manually pre-place employees into
shifts you can do so at any time by simply clicking the shift anywhere in the system. If certain employees always
work certain shifts ("Pinned employees") you can preplace them and then use Save Template to save the
schedule with those shifts already assigned - in later weeks you can Import the Template and then only AutoFill
the other open shifts, leaving the preplaced employees in their time slots.
To assign an Employee to a shift from the BY EMPLOYEE view:
On the By Employee Schedule View:
z Click on the shift you want to assign to open the Quick Shift Edit window (1.)
z Click the link to Change Worker (2.) Then proceed using the Shift Change window
below
To assign an Employee to a shift from other weekly views:
From any weekly Schedule View:
z Click on the shift you want to assign to open the Shift Change window
In the the bottom section of the window click the employee name. (Employees are listed by
availability and work time preferences - if you know which employee you want it may be easier to
find them by clicking the "Name" column heading which sorts the list alphabetically)
z Click the Save Changes button
z
Note: our system defaults the Shift Change window to the "Grid View" of employees (seen above).
You might want to try our "Non-Grid" view to see if you prefer that view by clicking the link in the
upper left. Your preferred view will be defaulted until you change it.
Related Topics:
z
z
z
Preplacing an Employee
Create Schedule Templates
Import Shifts for Week or Day
WhenToWork.com Online Scheduling
Prevent an Employee from Being AutoFilled
If you have employees that you do NOT want to be included when you AutoFill
AND you do NOT want them to be able to pick up Unassigned Shifts on the Tradeboard:
z
z
Set their Maximum Shifts per Day to zero (0)
Set their Maximum Hours per Week to one (1)
If you want the employee to NOT be AutoFilled
but you DO want them to be able to pick up Unassigned Shifts from the Tradeboard:
z
z
Set their Maximum Shifts per Day to zero (0)
Set their Maximum Hours per Week to Zero (0)
These Maximums are set for each employee on their Edit Employee page.
Related Topics:
z
z
z
Preplacing an Employee
Edit Employee Details
WhenToWork.com Online Scheduling
Evenly Distribute "Special Shifts" - Selective AutoFill
Sometimes you may want to make sure, for example, that all employees work at least one night shift per
week. Or you may want to be sure your "less popular" shifts are evenly distributed between all employees over
the week.
This can be accomplished by setting these special shifts to be in a Category and then AutoFilling that Category
first before AutoFilling the rest of the schedule.
The first time you use Categories it takes a bit longer to set up but in future schedules the categories and shifts
will already be set and all you will have to do is AutoFill. This first AutoFill will distribute those shifts evenly
among employees if possible.
Example: I want to be sure my less popular shifts are evenly distributed between employees.
Create a new Category
From any Schedule View
z In the Category dropdown choose Add/Edit Categories to open the Add/Edit Categories
window (1.)
z Enter a Category Name and Abbreviation (Ex. Less Popular Shifts and LP)
z Click Add Now (2.)
z The window will remain open for you to add more Categories - close the window when done to go
back to your schedule
Define any Existing Shifts as belonging in that Category
From any Schedule View
z In the Schedule View dropdown choose Multi-Shift Edit (1.)
z Click the Week Tab if is it not already chosen
z (Optional) Click any column heading to sort the shifts by that column
z (Optional) Filter the view to only show a certain Position or Category
z Choose a shift and in the Category dropdown choose the Category (Ex. LP) (2.)
z Change all shifts on the page that you want to be in that Category (each changed row will appear
green)
z Click Save Changes (3.)
AutoFill the One Category
From any Schedule View
z In the Category dropdown choose your Category (ex. LP) (1.) to limit your view to only show the
shifts in that Category
z Click AutoFill (2.)
z Click the radio button next to: Fill these categories: Less Popular (3.)
z Click YES AutoFill this Schedule (4.)
Then AutoFill the Remaining Shifts
z In the Category dropdown choose All Categories (1.) to show all shifts
z Click AutoFill (2.)
z Be sure it is set to: Leave AutoFilled shifts alone, fill the empty shifts (3.)
z Click YES AutoFill this Schedule (4.)
Note: When you Import into new weeks be sure to import the week where you have set shifts to be in categories
(or you can save and name the week as a named template). This way the shifts are already set to the proper
category when they are imported.
Related Topics:
z
z
z
Searching for Shifts
Import Shifts for Week or Day
Why Use Shift Categories?
WhenToWork.com Online Scheduling
Ignore Employee Preferences
If you do NOT want AutoFill to consider your employees' "prefer" and "dislike" work time preferences you can
choose to ignore them any time you AutoFill. The employees will not be aware that you ignored the work time
preferences they may have entered.
There is no downside to allowing your employees to enter their like and dislike times since you can choose to
ignore them. We normally recommend that you allow employees to set their prefer and dislike times but if for
some reason you do not want employees to see or be able to set their own work time preferences you can turn
this ability off on your SETTINGS>Employee Permissions page.
To AutoFill Ignoring Employee Preferences:
From any weekly Unpublished Schedule View:
z Click AutoFill to open the AutoFill window
z Check the box next to: Ignore employee "prefer" and "dislike" hours
z Click YES AutoFill this Schedule
The other places in the system where Employee Preferences show up are in the Edit Employee window when
you click an employee name, on the Availability schedule view, the Availability Chart in the Change Shift window
etc. The preferences are shown there just for your convenience and do not affect your manual scheduling.
Note you can always track how a schedule was AutoFilled using the "Schedule History" link at the lower right of
all schedule weeks.
You also can compare any schedule to the current employee work time preferences and constraints using the
Analyze feature.
Related Topics:
z
How Employee Work Time Preferences are Used
WhenToWork.com Online Scheduling
Minimum Time Off Between Shifts
If you want AutoFill to give your employees a minimum time off between their shifts you can set the number of
hours in the SETTINGS page. This setting is also used in the Shift Change window to show if assigning a shift
will conflict and is included in the Analyze Schedule function. This is a company-wide setting. You can always
manually assign shifts with less time between shifts.
To set the minimum time off between shifts for all employees:
From any page
z In the top menu click SETTINGS to open the Settings page (1.)
z Scroll down to AutoFill Minimum Time off Between Shift (2.)
z Enter the number of hours
z Click Save Changes (3.)
The next time you use AutoFill it only assign employees shifts that are at least this number of hours apart. You
can see if any shift is in violation of this rule using the ANALYZE function on the Sortable List Schedule view.
Related Topics:
z
z
How Employee Work Time Preferences are Used
Sortable List - ANALYZE Shifts View
WhenToWork.com Online Scheduling
AutoFill Certain Positions Separately
AutoFill can be used to assign employees to shifts one Position (or Position Group or Category) at a time. This
can be useful for companies that schedule separate departments in one WhenToWork account and have
separate managers handling certain Positions, Departments or Locations.
To AutoFill One Position or Position Group:
From any weekly Schedule View
z
z
z
z
In the Positions dropdown choose the Position (Position Group, Category or Category Group) you want
to AutoFill (1.) to display only those shifts
Click AutoFill to open the AutoFill window (2.)
Choose the setting: Fill these positions: (Positions or Group Name) (3.)
Click YES AutoFill this Schedule (4.)
You can then set your Position/Category dropdowns to show "All" shifts and AutoFill the remaining open shifts.
Related Topics:
z
z
z
How AutoFill Works
After AutoFill - No Assignments
Evenly Distributing "Special Shifts"
WhenToWork.com Online Scheduling