Notifications: Open Shifts and Messages

Managers and schedulers can receive event subscription notifications for their broadcasted shifts. There are two event subscriptions that you can subscribe to: when an employee accepts a shift and when open shifts are filled.

To subscribe to the event subscriptions, complete the following steps.

1. Navigate to Preferences > My Preferences > Event Subscriptions and expand the Staffing card.

2. As needed, select the Portal and Email options.

   You will receive a notification whenever an event occurs for a shift that you broadcast.

   • Employee Accepted Open Shift Broadcast - your message states "Employee Name accepted 1 of X Open Shifts available."

   • Close Open Shift Broadcast - your message states "All Open Shifts available were accepted. Open Shift is closed."

3. Click Save.

Before broadcasting open shifts or message notifications, make sure that employees have set up their preferences for receiving the notifications.

The following steps must be completed by each employee who will receive notifications.

1. Navigate to Preferences > My Preferences > Open Shift Notifications.

   For more information about this screen, its fields, and receiving text messages for notifications, see My Preferences > Open Shift Notifications.

2. If it is not already selected, select the Notify me option.

3. Enter your numbers and email address in the notification methods you wish to use.

   Note  

   The notification methods available are determined by your organization.

   In addition, notification methods that are required display an asterisk. You need to select them and enter values to continue.

   • Text Number - The system sends a text message to your mobile phone number with the message or details about the shift with a number to reply to.

     The number must be 10 digits and entered as either xxxxxxxxxx or (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

   • Email Address - The system sends an email with the message or details about the shift.

   • Phone Number - The system calls your phone number and gives you the message or details about the shift.

     The number must be 10 digits and entered as either xxxxxxxxxx or (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

4. Click Save.

Being able to send a message to certain scheduled employees can be a benefit to your organization. For example, you can give employees information about an upcoming shift or let them know where and when to meet at the start of a shift.

A read-only message can be sent to any or all scheduled employees in a branch-level organization unit (such as a Department or Cost Center), a profile group, or a specific profile, and who have set up and enabled notification preferences.

To send a message notification, complete the following steps.

1. Click the Roster tab.

   Message notifications can only be sent to employees who are already scheduled, as shown on the Roster tab.

2. On one of the rows, click a department code, the coverage numbers for a profile group, or a specific profile.

   Note  

   You cannot send message notifications to employees by selecting the Other profile group. However, you can send messages to employees in individual profiles within the Other profile group.

   The area you click determines which employees appear on the Roster tab.

   

3. From the Roster, select the employees who will receive the message.

   In addition, you can select employees from the Compare screen.

   1. Select employees from the Roster.

   2. Click Compare.

      The Transactions column shows transactions for the coverage period you are viewing. Any transactions that overlap the prior coverage period and the following coverage period also appear.

      Expand an employee row to view a two-week calendar to see the employee's scheduled transactions for each day.

   3. Select the appropriate employees from the Compare screen and continue with the next step.

4. Click the broadcast icon .

5. Your next step depends on what you clicked in step 2.

   1. If you clicked a department code or profile group, skip to step 7.

   2. If you clicked a profile, move on to step 6.

6. At the top of the Message dialog box, select the Message option.

   The Transactions column shows transactions for the coverage period you are viewing. Any transactions that overlap the prior coverage period and the following coverage period also appear.

   Expand an employee row to view a two-week calendar to see the employee's scheduled transactions for each day.

7. In the Broadcast dialog box, fill out the broadcast details.

   The organization unit and Profile fields are read-only.

   Tip  

   Be as brief as possible with the subject and text to help prevent difficulties with reading long messages via a text message on a phone.

   • Broadcast Date and Broadcast Time - To broadcast immediately, leave these fields blank. Otherwise, enter the date and time that you want to send the broadcast message.

   • Subject - Enter the heading for your message. The maximum number of characters is 64.

   • Text - Enter your message. The maximum number of characters is 256.

8. If needed, update the selected employees in the list.

   Employees who have not set up notification preferences or who have temporarily or permanently turned off notifications cannot be selected. They will not receive the notification.

9. Click Submit to send the message to the employees you selected.

   After clicking Submit:

   • The Broadcast dialog box closes and the broadcast icon appears on the corresponding organization unit, profile group, or profile row.

     To view a previously sent message notification, click the broadcast icon. If there are multiple notifications, select the correct one in the Select Broadcast dialog box.

     The Broadcast Shift dialog box opens. The notification details are read-only; you cannot add or remove employees, or edit, cancel, or rebroadcast the message.

     You can also view details of previous broadcasts on the Message Broadcast Summary tab. See Message Broadcast Summary.

Being able to send a message to all employees in an organization unit can be helpful for distributing department-wide communications. For example, you can send a message regarding a certain situation that applies to only a specific organization unit and ensure that only the employees in that unit receive the message.

A read-only message can be sent to:

• Organization units at the branch level (such as a department) or the leaf level (units under a department)

• All employees who have a primary home labor distribution in that organization unit and who have set up and enabled notification preferences

A message sent to a department will go to all employees in the department and to all employees in units under the department (if used). However, a message sent to a unit will go only to all employees in the unit (not to employees in its parent department nor to any sister units under the same department).

To send a message notification, complete the following steps.

1. On one of the rows, click an organization unit code.

   The Send Message link is not available to click until you first select a department or unit code.

2. Click the Send Message link.

3. In the Broadcast Message dialog box, fill out the broadcast details.

   The organization unit fields are read-only.

   Tip  

   Be as brief as possible with the subject and text to help prevent difficulties with reading long messages via a text message on a phone.

   • Broadcast Date and Broadcast Time - To broadcast immediately, leave these fields blank. Otherwise, enter the date and time that you want to send the broadcast message.

   • Subject - Enter the heading for your message. The maximum number of characters is 64.

   • Text - Enter your message. The maximum number of characters is 256.

4. If needed, update the selected employees in the list.

   Employees who have not set up notification preferences or who have temporarily or permanently turned off notifications cannot be selected. They will not receive the notification.

5. Click Submit to send the message to all the employees in the selected organization unit.

   After clicking Submit:

   • The Broadcast Message dialog box closes and the broadcast icon appears on the corresponding organization unit row.

     To view a previously sent message notification, click the broadcast icon. If there are multiple notifications, select the correct one in the Select Broadcast dialog box.

     The Broadcast Shift dialog box opens. The notification details are read-only; you cannot add or remove employees, or edit, cancel, or rebroadcast the message.

     You can also view details of previous broadcasts on the Message Broadcast Summary tab. See Message Broadcast Summary.

Instead of immediately scheduling an employee to an open shift, you can broadcast the available shift to a group of employees. The employees receive a notification about the shift and can reply if they are interested in working it.

To send an Open Shift Notification broadcast, complete the following steps.

1. If needed, change the day and coverage period.

2. Click the Qualified Staff tab.

3. Select the profile.

   1. Click a profile group, such as RN.

   2. In the expanded profile area, select a profile, such as RN2.

      A list of employees who are qualified to work appears in the list.

4. If needed, you can filter, sort, and compare employees to decide who will receive the broadcast message.

   For more information about the employee list, see Qualified Staff tab.

   • Click the filter symbol to open a list of filtering options.

     These filter options allow you to tailor the staff list to help you find the best matching employee for the shift. For example, you can filter for only qualification Level 1 and Receives Broadcast, then broadcast to this smaller group.

     • On Call - displays employees with an on-call activity code scheduled

     • Overstaffed - displays employees in an organization unit that is determined to be in an overstaffed situation

     • Float Staff - displays employees whose home labor distribution is a float organization unit

     • Productive Schedule - displays employees who are scheduled with productive schedules

     • Not Scheduled - displays employees who do not have a schedule

     • Matching Shifts - displays employees whose home labor distribution contains the same shift defined for the selected coverage period

     • Qualification Levels - displays employees who match the selected qualification level

     • Receives Broadcast - displays employees who have a phone or email notification method set up

     • Broadcast Not Sent - displays eligible employees who have not yet been sent an Open Shift Notification broadcast that overlaps the selected coverage period

   • Sort the staff list within each qualification level by clicking the column names in the header row. There may be additional pages of employees; click the page numbers to move to the next set of employees.

   • Compare employee information by selecting at least one employee from the Qualified Staff list and then clicking Compare. From the Compare Staff dialog box, you can:

   • Compare the staffing details of the selected employees.

     The Transactions column shows transactions for the coverage period you are viewing. Any transactions that overlap the prior coverage period and the following coverage period also appear.

     Expand an employee row to view a two-week calendar to see the employee's scheduled transactions for each day.

     For information about the transactions, see the Transactions table.

   • Link to an employee's TCS (Time Card Screen) in a new browser window by clicking an employee's name.

   • Assign employees to open shifts. For more information about assigning employees, see Assign a transaction.

   • Broadcast open shift notifications to the selected employees.

     If an employee has been sent an Open Shift Notification broadcast that overlaps the selected coverage period, the symbol appears next to the name along with the number of broadcasts sent to the employee. Click the symbol to view details about the broadcast, such as the date, time, and organization unit.

   When done comparing, close the Compare Staff dialog box.

5. From the Qualified Staff list or the Compare Staff dialog box, select the employees you want to send the Open Shift Notification to.

   • The phone number that displays is either the employee’s Open Shift Notification phone number (if it is supplied on the employee’s Preferences screen) or the employee’s highest priority phone number from the employee record.

   • If an employee has been sent an Open Shift Notification broadcast that overlaps the selected coverage period, the symbol appears next to the name along with the number of broadcasts sent to the employee.

     Click the symbol to view details about the broadcast, such as the date, time, and organization unit.

6. Click Broadcast or the broadcast icon from the Compare Staff dialog box.

7. In the Broadcast Shift dialog box, fill out the broadcast details.

   • Notification Type - This option only appears for organizations that are set up to choose how to handle responses for each broadcast.

     • Queue - Places responders into a queue where a scheduler or nurse manager can schedule them

       For information about scheduling queued employees, see View and edit previously sent Open Shift broadcasts below.

     • First Come First Serve - Automatically fills open shifts with employees in the order of their responses

   • Broadcast Date and Broadcast Time - To broadcast immediately, leave these fields blank. Otherwise, enter the date and time that you want to send the broadcast message.

   • Activity, Start Date, Start Time, Hours, and Lunch Length - When you enter the activity code, these other fields are automatically updated. If needed, you can override the information.

   • Shift Count - This is the number of available shifts that you are trying to fill. The initial value in this field is based on the understaffing value for the profile.

   • Response End Date and Response End Time (only with the Queue Notification Type) - Displays the default amount of time prior to the start of the shift to stop accepting responses. If needed, you can override these values.

     Tip  

     You can also schedule employees from the queue before the end of the response period. If all shifts are scheduled before the end of the response period, the response period automatically closes.

   • Comment - If needed, enter a comment that the receiving employees will see in the broadcasted message.

   • Employee list - Review the names and notification options, and select the employees you want to broadcast the open shifts to.

     You can only select employees who have a phone or email notification method set up.

8. If needed, update the selected employees in the list.

   Employees who have temporarily or permanently turned off notifications cannot be selected. They will not receive the notification.

9. Click Submit to send the open shift notification to the employees you selected.

   After clicking Submit:

   • Depending on how your organization has decided to handle schedule validation, you may or may not receive schedule validation alerts. If schedule validation (which uses the manual edit validation style) is enabled and there are validation issues, you can override the issues. As needed, select the ones you want to Override and click OK.

   • The Broadcast Shift dialog box closes and the broadcast icon appears on the corresponding profile row. For more information about this icon, see View and edit previously sent Open Shift broadcasts below.

     You can also view details of previous broadcasts on the Shift Broadcast Summary.

You can view the details of a previously sent broadcast and make changes to a broadcast, such as adding employees, removing employees, and deleting a broadcast.

For an explanation of the statuses you see for each employee who were a part of a broadcast, see Employee response statuses.

To view and edit a broadcast, complete the following steps.

1. Expand the appropriate profile group with the broadcast you want to view.

2. On a profile row, click the broadcast icon .

   The Broadcast Shift dialog box appears. Most of the details are read only.

   Tip  

   For an FSA: You can determine which columns are visible with this system preference setting: Current Staffing Overview.

   Near the bottom are two tabs: Notified and Qualified.

   • The Notified tab shows the list of employees who the broadcast was sent to. Here you can remove employees from the broadcast or schedule queued employees.

   • The Qualified tab shows a list of employees who were not included in the broadcast but are qualified to work the shift. Here you can add employees to the broadcast or schedule qualified staff.

   • Transactions appear for the coverage period you are viewing. Any transactions that overlap the prior coverage period and the following coverage period also appear.

   On both tabs, you can view a two-week calendar to see the employee's scheduled activities for each day. To view the calendar, click the arrow to the left of an employee's name. On the calendar, click the left or right arrow to move ahead or back another two weeks.

3. To remove an employee from an Open Shift broadcast:

   1. Click the Notified tab.

   2. Select the employees you want to remove from the broadcast.

      If employees respond after being removed, they receive a message indicating that the shift is no longer available.

   3. Click Remove Employee.

4. To add additional employees to a broadcast:

   1. Click the Qualified tab.

   2. Select the employees you want to add to the Open Shift broadcast.

   3. Click Add Employee.

      The open shifts are broadcast only to the employees you selected. Employees who received the notification after the first broadcast (prior to this new broadcast) do not receive another message.

      The symbol appears next to the employee's name along with the total number of broadcasts sent to the employee.

5. To delete the broadcast, click Delete.

   Deleted broadcasts affect employees in the following ways:

   • Employees with open statuses, such as Queued or Awaiting Response, can no longer be scheduled a shift sent in the broadcast.

   • Employees who respond to a broadcast that has since been deleted receive a message indicating that the shift is no longer available.

   • Employees who have already been scheduled through the broadcast (with statuses such as Scheduled or Claimed) keep their scheduled shifts. Their schedules are not deleted.

You can view a list of employees who were sent an open shift notification for the selected coverage period and profile. The list shows whether employees have responded and provides their seniority date and hours. For an explanation of the statuses you see for each employee who were a part of a broadcast, see Employee response statuses

To schedule queued employees, complete the following steps.

1. Expand the appropriate profile group with the broadcast you want to view.

2. On a profile row, click the broadcast icon .

   The Broadcast Shift dialog box appears.

3. Near the bottom, click the Notified tab.

4. Select the Show only Queued Responses option.

5. Select the employees who you want to schedule.

6. Click Schedule.

There are several reports that supply information about Open Shift Notification.

• Employees Configured for Open Shift Notification

  This report shows the employees that have added preferences for notifications, as well as a graph with the number of employees set up and not set up.

• Open Shift Broadcast Details (Legal)

  This report allows you to see the details of an Open Shift Notification broadcast, including information like who sent the broadcast, who responded to the broadcast and at what time, and who was awarded the shift.

• Open Shift Broadcast Summary

  This report shows a trend of the number of broadcasts (open shift notifications) that were sent for an organization unit during a specified date range, and the percentage that were filled, unfilled, or canceled.

• Open Shift Notifications Sent to Employees (Legal)

  This report allows you to see the details of the Open Shift Notification broadcasts sent to a specified employee, including information like shift details, who sent the broadcast, and the result of the employee's response.

• Open Shift Notifications Sent

  This report shows a summary of all the broadcasts (open shift notifications) that were sent during the specified date range.