Glossary
The glossary includes terms used throughout the system. These terms are listed in alphabetical order.
24-Hour Format
When a field requires a time value, the value must be displayed in 24-hour format or military time. To convert an hour value after noon, add 12 to the hour value. For example, if the time to be entered is 3:00 pm, the correct value to be entered in the field is 15:00 (3:00 + 12:00).
For more information about entering time values, see Time Value Fields.
Acceptable Variance
The acceptable variance setting allows the user to determine the level at which overstaffed and understaffed staffing values are color highlighted in the balancing grid.
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When the variance between coverage and need meets or exceeds the acceptable variance values, then any understaffed (negative variance) values are highlighted in red and any overstaffed (positive variance) values are highlighted in blue.
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When the variance between coverage and need is less than the acceptable variance value, the values are not highlighted and display in gray.
The acceptable variance values is set up by accessing the right click menu in the balancing grid, then selecting .
Accepting Employee
When trading or offering a schedule, the accepting employee is the second employee involved in the traded schedule or the one who accepts the offered schedule. The employee who initiated the trade or who offered the schedule is the requesting employee.
Acuity
Acuity is a measurement of how critical the illness is of a patient and, therefore, the amount of nursing care needed. A patient in ICU with chest pains would have a higher acuity level than a patient staying overnight for routine tests. The higher the acuity, the more care hours needed for a patient.
Patient acuity levels and patient census (number of patients) are used by Staffing and Scheduling in the Recalculate Staffing Needs feature to determine the total hours of patient care needed, and the necessary staff to provide that care.
For more information see .
Adjustment
An adjustment is a correction to an employee's pay information. Adjustments are paid in the current or future pay periods, even if the date of the adjustment was in a past pay period.
Alternate Home Labor Distribution
An alternate home labor distribution of an employee indicates the alternate job class or position assignments that the employee is authorized to work within his/her Home organization unit. Alternate home labor distributions for an employee are set up on the Labor Distribution screen in the employee record. An employee can only have one Primary Home labor distribution effective at one time, but may have multiple alternate home labor distribution assignments.
Note
For more information, see .
Alternate Labor Distribution
An alternate labor distribution of an employee indicates the job class or position assignments that the employee is authorized to work which are not in their Home labor distribution. Alternate labor distributions for an employee are set up on the Labor Distribution screen in the employee record. An employee can only have one Primary Home labor distribution effective at one time, but may have multiple alternate labor distribution assignments.
Note
For more information, see .
Archived Schedule
An archived schedule is a schedule that has gone through a process where a "snapshot" is taken of the schedule at a certain point in time. The archive shows the names of the employees, scheduled activity codes, the staffing needs and coverage information.
Authorized users can view archived schedules but cannot make any changes to them.
Note
For more information, see Archive Schedule.
Ascending Sort
In an ascending sort, the values are sorted from lowest to highest. Numbers are sorted 1-9, letters are sorted A-Z.
Values can be sorted by clicking on the heading at the top of the column to alternately sort in Ascending or in Descending order, as indicated by the icon. This feature is available for values displayed in a grid format, for example, the schedule screen or the results list of a search.
Branch Structure Level
The branch structure level is the third of the four major organization structure levels used for payroll processing and scheduling. There can be up to nine structure levels within an organization, but the four key structure levels are called root, trunk, branch, and leaf. Many of the payroll and scheduling reports are totaled by these levels.
During initial system set up, these levels are identified and linked in the system. Authorized users can view the structure levels assigned to each of these levels on .
Calendar
A calendar is a scheduled activity where the employee is not clocked in and working. Some examples of calendar entries are vacation, sick, or jury duty.
CBT (Computer Based Training)
CBT is an acronym for Computer Based Training, which are classes that can be taken online using a computer. When successfully completed, these CBT classes fulfill the requirement of the course. Some courses can be taken through either a traditional class or as a CBT class. When a class is offered as a computer based training class, the CBT icon
is displayed. Click on the icon to link to the class. Authorized employees can also select a Computer Based Training program from .
For more information, see .
Census
Census or volume is the number of patients being cared for in an organization unit. This information is used by the Recalculate Staffing Needs wizard in the Schedule screen to determine the staff needed to adequately care for the number of patients.
For more information see .
Child Organization Unit
A child organization unit is one that exists at a structure level in line below a parent organization unit. Organization units are parents of all organization units in structure levels in line below it and children of all organization structure levels in line above it.
To view a diagram of these relationships, see More About Parent/Child Relationships.
Click
The term click in this document refers to an action involving the computer mouse. To "click" on a check box, field, menu, or action button, move the cursor over that target and then press the right mouse key on a right-handed mouse or the left mouse key on a left-handed mouse.
Clicking on a check box alternately adds or removes a check mark indicating the record is selected, clicking on a field sets the focus of the cursor on that field, clicking on a drop down menu expands the list so one of the options can be chosen, and clicking on an action button activates the action.
Client or Customer
A client or customer is a health care provider using Time and Attendance and Staffing and Scheduling, such as your hospital or clinic.
Clocking
Clocking is a coined term referring to a time punch entered into the system, similar to "punching a clock". Clockings are created by swiping a badge at the badge reader, registering online through Quick Badge screen in the portal, calling in through the TimeCall system, or automatically generated by the system.
The time and attendance application processes these clockings to determine whether they are an In punch or an Out punch and what kind of pay code should be associated with the resulting hours.
Clocking information can be viewed in the employee record on the ActiveRoster screen, the Time Card Screen (TCS screen), employee Monthly View, and in various Time and Attendance reports.
Competency
A competency is an education tracking requirement for an employee. Employees must meet all course and competency requirements for a profile to be eligible for scheduling. Competencies are usually "hands on" demonstrations of abilities, compared to a Course which is more "classroom" information and training.
Competencies can also be set up as Stations, such as EKG's or Injections, or a set of competencies can be internally determined to equal a specific skill level in Staffing and Scheduling.
For more information, see .
Core Schedule
A core schedule is a set schedule rotation that the employee is usually scheduled to work, defined by activity code and profile. For example, an employee might have a core schedule to work every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and alternate weekends. The employee can expect to be scheduled for these days unless he or she is on vacation or makes other arrangements. Core schedules are set up in the employee records.
For more information, see .
Core Staffing Plan
The core staffing plan defines the staffing levels needed for an organization unit for a scheduling period, set up for each combination of profile and activity code. These values are used when running the scheduling process using a selection style that is set up to use a core staffing plan. These staffing level needs are usually loaded from an existing core staffing template, but can be manually entered.
Core Staffing Template
The Core Staffing Template is a staffing grid used for populating needs-based schedules in an organization unit. These staffing needs are set up for each combination of profile and activity code. This option can be used to set up staffing needs for organization units that use "staggered shifts" where coverage for specific time frames are needed.
Core staffing templates are used to create the Core Staffing Plan, which indicates the staffing needs for a specific scheduling period. Auto Schedule Passes where the Selection is set to Core Staffing Plan use this information when running the scheduling process.
For more information, see .
Coverage
The number of staff scheduled to work or "cover" a specific time frame. Coverage is measured by number of staff working during a Coverage Period.
In the scheduling process, the system will schedule qualified employees to provide "coverage" for the staffing needs set up in the Staffing Template.
Coverage Period
To monitor staffing, scheduling and productivity, a 24-hour day is broken down into coverage periods or shifts, such as Day, Evening and Night. The entire set of coverage periods for a day is referred to as a Coverage Set.
Coverage periods can be of any length, and do not have to be of the same length. For example, there can be a coverage set with the following coverage periods: 8-Hour Day, 4-Hour Evening1, 4-Hour Evening2, 8-Hour Night.
For more information, see .
Coverage Set
A coverage set is a group of Coverage Periods spanning the times the organization unit is staffed. If an organization unit is staffed 24 hours per day, the coverage periods should span 24 hours. If an organization unit is only open from 7:00 AM to midnight, the coverage periods should span those hours. Examples of typical coverage periods are Day, Evening, Night or Day1, Day2, Eve1, Eve2, Night1, and Night2.
Coverage Sets are used with Staffing and Scheduling, and Productivity reporting.
For more information, see .
Default
A default is a setting that is automatically selected or a value that is automatically entered in a field unless an alternative is specified. Default settings may be used in fields with drop down menus, in education tracking courses and categories expiration values, and for indicator settings.
User defined defaults can be set up for Organization Units, Scheduling Groups and Selection Styles in .
Descending Sort
In the descending sort, the values are sorted from highest to lowest. Numbers are sorted 9-1, letters are sorted Z-A.
Values in columns can be sorted by clicking on the heading at the top of the column to alternately sort in Ascending or in Descending order, as indicated by the icon.
Edit Validation
The Edit Validation type of Selection Style is used to verify that an employee being manually added to the schedule meets the specified qualifications of the profile and does not violate any of the selected rules, such as Maximum Work Stretch or Overtime.
Education Tracking and Management
Education Tracking and Management application is one of the applications in Time and Attendance and Staffing and Scheduling. This application is used to establish and track the course and competency requirements for employees based on the job classes, positions, and/or organization units they are assigned. Employees are notified on the Home page if they are missing requirements or if a requirement has expired. Employees can search for and register for required classes through various education tracking screens in the portal.
For more information on configuration, see .
Extra Shift
The Extra Shift indicator determines whether a shift is an extra shift or a regular shift. Marking certain shifts as "Extra" allows you to prioritize employees that should be called off first in the event of a low census scenario.
When the Extra Shift feature is enabled, schedules are considered Extra when they are acquired by the employee through the following ways.
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Approved from a request to work an open schedule
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Accepted via an Open Shift Notification broadcast
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Changed manually by a scheduler to be Extra
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A schedule awarded from an Offer
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An Extra schedule that has been traded
When an employee trades a schedule already labeled Extra, the Extra status follows with the employee to the new schedule. For example, the employee had a schedule for Thursday and traded with someone for a Friday schedule. The Friday schedule is now labeled as Extra.
Factor
Factors are used in the Pay Code Equation to determine employee pay. Factors can be set up to apply at different labor distribution levels, such as job class, profile, organization unit, payroll group, union code, grade, or status code, or can be set up to apply to certain shifts, projects, unions, or employees. The level the factor is set up is called the Target.
For more information, see .
Float Pool
When staff members are unavailable to work, such as due to sickness or vacation time, they need to be replaced by qualified staff. The replacement staff often has a home department specified to rotate or to "float" to different department. This home department may be referred to as the "float pool" or "resource pool".
Float pool employees are initially scheduled to work specific days in the float pool and then are reassigned to the department where they will actually be working on that day.
FTE (Full Time Equivalent)
FTE is an acronym for Full Time Equivalent. This value compares the approved working hours of a position to that of a full time position. FTE values are used in budgeting and position control.
Full time positions are usually defined as 80 hours in a pay period. For example, if an employee works 40 hours in a pay period, they are working 40/80 hours or a .5 FTE. An employee who works 60 hours in a pay period would be considered a .75 FTE.
Home Employee
A Home Employee is an employee whose Primary Home Labor Distribution matches the organization unit being processed or reported on. This is set on the Labor Distribution screen in the employee record by selecting the Primary Home button when creating the record.
For more information, see .
Home Labor Distribution
The home labor distribution of an employee indicates the main organization unit where the employee is assigned. The Home labor distribution assignment is used to determine the access Roles and processing Assignments for the employee and also to determine whether employees are included in reports and other processing (such as calculations and scheduling).
The primary home labor distribution assignment specifies the main job class/position of the employee within the home labor distribution. An employee can only have one effective Primary Home labor distribution assignment effective, but may have multiple Alternate Home labor distribution assignments (same organization unit as the Primary Home but with a different job class/position) and Alternate labor distribution assignments (different organization unit than the Home labor distribution).
Note
All labor distribution assignments for an employee are set up on the Labor Distribution screen in the employee record. For more information, see .
Icon/Image
An icon or image is a picture or symbol that represents a function, transaction, information, or screen. These symbols can be quickly identified by the users, without having to display text.
To view the explanation or description of the icon, hover the cursor over the icon. The description appears as a tooltip.
For more information and examples of the icons used in the system, see .
Indicators
Indicators are predefined values that specify how application options will be executed for a selected record. Indicator value options for a record are previously set up, and can be selected on the Indicators tab of that record.
Indicators have a default setting, which is the setting for all the records in the related screen unless this value is manually updated for a specific record. Default values are set up on .
The indicator settings of multiple records can be updated at the same time by using the Replace feature. For more information, see .
Information Cards
Information cards are displayed on the employee Home page and the employee TCS page. These cards contain important information for the employee. the cards can be opened and viewed by clicking the card arrow on the card. Cards that display on the Home page and on the TCS screen can be selected by authorized users on the My Preference card.
For more information on the data included on these cards, see Home Page Information Cards and TCS (Time Card Screen).
Inherited Role
An inherited role is an authorization role that is indirectly assigned to an employee. This role is set up on any level of , and is automatically assigned to all employees whose Home labor distribution matches any of the levels of the organization unit.
For example, if an employee belongs to a home labor distribution of Corporation A/Facility 1/Department 304/ Unit 1, he or she will "inherit" all the roles set up in the Organization Unit screen for Corporation A and for Facility 1 and for Department 304 and for Unit 1. An inherited role can be overridden at the employee level by assigning the employee the same role but with a different level of access (grant, deny or pass through).
Note
Inherited roles are not listed in the Roles screen in the employee record. They can be viewed in the employee record on .
Input Devices
Various input devices may be used by employees to register into the system. Badge readers (where employees swipe their badge), TimeCall (where employees are able to call in via telephone), Quick Badge (where employees are able to clock in via the web portal) are examples of input devices.
Job Class
A job class is a work assignment. Some examples of job classes are registered nurse, maintenance worker, and laundry aide. For more information, see .
Labor Distribution
The Labor Distributions screen in the employee record is used to view and/or configure the employee organization unit, job class and/or position assignments. These assignments are used for scheduling, time and attendance calculations, or rules processing. An employee can have multiple Alternate and Alternate Home assignments but can have only one Primary Home assignment with the same effective date time frame.
Leaf Structure Level
The leaf structure level is the lowest of the four major organization structure levels used for payroll processing and scheduling, and is optional. There can be up to nine structure levels within an organization, but the four key structure levels are called root, trunk, branch, and leaf. Many of the payroll and scheduling reports are totaled by these levels.
During initial system set up, these levels are identified and linked in the system. Authorized users can view the structure levels assigned to each of these levels on .
License
A license is formal permission from the proper authorities to perform certain acts or to carry on a certain business, which without such permission would be illegal; such as to practice medicine.
Licenses are tracked in the employee record and when the Licenses qualification rule is validated during the scheduling process, only employees with the required licenses are scheduled.
Need-Based Schedule Pass
A need-based schedule pass is one that populates only the staff required, as defined on the Staffing Plan or Core Staffing Plan. For example, if there are 4 LPN schedule openings during the day coverage period and 3 are already filled, when running a need-based schedule pass, the system will schedule 1 LPN to fill that 4th staffing need.
By contrast, core schedule passes do not look at the staffing needs, but populate all employees who have a core schedule set up for that day.
For more information on schedule passes, see .
Needs
In the Staffing and Scheduling application, needs are the number of staff required to provide adequate patient care for the labor distribution. The baseline needs for a department is set up by number of staff required by coverage period in the Staffing Template, or by number of staff required by activity code in the Core Staffing Template.
The needs can be adjusted for patient census and acuity by using the Recalculate Staffing Needs feature in the Schedule screen.
For more information, see .
Needs Grid
The needs grid is the lower grid in the Schedule screen. This displays the profile and coverage periods, and also the Coverage, Need, and/or Variance of the required staff for each day of the scheduling period.
For more information, see .
Non-Productive Time
Non-productive time is scheduled activities or pay codes that are not set up to be "Productive" time. Usually, these are activities where an employee is not physically working at the facility; for example, vacation, sick, and on call are examples of non-productive time. Non-productive time may be paid or unpaid, based on the pay code assigned.
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Activity Codes are set up to be productive or non-productive based on the setting of Activity Code Indicator Schedule Standard 1.
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Pay Codes are set up to be productive or non-productive based on the setting of Pay Code Indicator Schedule Standard 5.
Notification
Employees can sign up to receive a notification when certain events occur. The notification to receive are selected by the employee through .
Notifications can be received via email, or as a message (in the employee's My Unread Messages screen on the Home page, in the Messages screen in ), or both.
Organization Unit
Organization units are the corporate structure levels of a health care facility. There may be up to nine organization levels in a corporation, but only three are used directly for scheduling and time and attendance. These three main levels are generically called the Trunk, Branch, and Leaf levels. In the fields displayed in Time and Attendance and Staffing and Scheduling, the labels display the names of these levels that are specific to the corporation, which are defined with the initial setup of the system.
Pane
When viewing information in the application, the screen "window" may be divided into segments called "panes".
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The left pane displays the Actions available for the selected screen, such as add, delete, or replace, and any Section buttons, such as General or Factor.
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The center pane displays the page containing information relating to the action selected (for example, if the Add action is selected, the page to add a new record is displayed).
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The right pane displays values for the highlighted field, including online help text, field look up values, or calendars.
Parameters
Parameters are setting values for a selected record. They can be used to group together records, or replace values (such as job class abbreviations for job class codes) Parameter value options for a record can be added, edited or viewed on the Parameters tab of that record.
Parameters may have an optional default setting, which is the setting for all the records in the related screen unless this value is manually updated for a specific record. Default values are set up on .
The parameter values of multiple records can be updated at the same time by using the Replace feature. For more information, see .
Pay Code
Pay codes are used to calculate the employee pay, based on the employee pay rate and formulas of the pay code. Pay code formulas can include differentials for working evening or night shifts, weekends, holidays, or overtime.
Pay codes also determine the pay categories for employee earnings during the pay period to be used in reporting.
For more information, see .
Pending Schedule
A pending schedule is a scheduled activity on the schedule screen that has not gone through the publishing process. Some schedule reports only include published schedules, while other reports have parameter options to include pending or published schedules or both.
Schedules that are pending have an icon displayed to the left of the activity code in the schedule cell.
Position
Each position identifies a job class held by one or more employees within a specific labor distribution. For example, positions are used to differentiate an RN who works in the ICU department from an RN who works in the Med-Surg department. Position codes can be created by stringing together (or concatenating) the organization unit codes and the job class code identifying the position. For example a trunk organization unit code (20) plus the branch organization unit code (3270) plus the job class code (2000) can be concatenated to create the position code of 20-3270-2000.
Employee positions are used to determine the schedules an employee is authorized to work, staffing and payroll assignment tables the employee qualifies for, or education requirements of the employee.
For more information, see .
Position Permissions
Position permissions means that an employee is assigned one of the positions that is included in this listing of authorized positions, such as for a schedule, a selection style, or scheduling filter. An employee's positions are set up in in the Profile Code field.
Note
In order for an employee to have position permissions to available schedules, the Position Code field must be set up. It is not enough to have a job class/organization unit match to the position; the field itself must have a value.
Predefined Notes
Predefined notes are standardized text which can be attached as pay period notes, as employee transaction notes, as schedule notes or to the ActiveRoster.
Predefined notes can be set to allow editing of the Text field, so additional information can be added.
Note
For more information, see .
Preferred Shifts
Preferred shifts are set up on the employee Rotating Schedules screen. These indicate the days of the week that the employee prefers to be scheduled. When running the scheduling process, the selection style can be set up to only schedule those employees who prefer to work specific days of the week.
For more information, see .
Primary Home Labor Distribution
The primary home labor distribution assignment specifies the main job class/position of the employee within the Home labor distribution. An employee can only have one effective Primary Home labor distribution assignment effective, but may have multiple Alternate Home labor distribution assignments (same organization unit as the Primary Home but with a different job class/position) and Alternate labor distribution assignments (different organization unit than the Home labor distribution).
This is set up in the by selecting the Primary Home option.
Productive Time
Productive time is scheduled activities where the employee is clocked in and working, and where the activity has been set up to be "productive".
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Activity Codes are set up to be productive or non-productive based on the setting of Activity Code Indicator Schedule Standard 1.
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Pay Codes are set up to be productive or non-productive based on the setting of Pay Code Indicator Schedule Standard 5.
Profile
A profile is a scheduling assignment for an employee. Built into the profile codes are the qualifying position codes, station requirements, skill levels, and license requirements to work a schedule assignment.
For more information, see .
Profile License
Profile licenses are licenses or certifications that are required to work a specific profile. These licenses may not be required by the Position linked to the profile. For example, a license or certification to operate a specific piece of equipment, such as EEG or MRI, by a Lab-Tech position.
Profile Permissions
Profile permissions means that an employee has a position in their employee Labor Distribution record that matches one of the positions authorized to work the profile. Profile permissions is used in scheduling and also with the schedule assistant call off/call in wizard.
For more information, see .
Published Schedule
A published schedule is a scheduled activity on the schedule screen that has gone through the publishing process. In Self Scheduling, shift trading and offering are only available for published schedules. Some schedule reports only include published schedules, while other reports have parameter options to include published or pending schedules or both.
Schedules that are not published are classified as Pending, and have an icon 
displayed to the left of the schedule.
Read Only Access
Read Only Access means the user is able to view the information in fields but cannot add, edit or delete any values. Read Only Access is indicated grayed out fields .
Relief Employee
A relief employee is an employee who has an Alternate Home or Alternate position in a labor distribution, and also has the Relief Position field set to Yes in the record. This setting is used with the Scheduling Assistant to locate employees set up with Relief positions.
Relief employees are not included in the schedule when the organization unit is open, but can be added using the Add Employee schedule tool. For more information, see .
Replication
Replication is an action that copies all general, indicator, and parameter attributes of an existing record to help you save on setup time.
Request Queue
The request queue is the listing of submitted requests waiting to be handled by an authorized user. These requests are accessible through . Depending on the type of transaction submitted, it may be available on one of the following screens: Education Requests, Request to Work, Trade Requests, Transaction Requests, or Unavailability Requests.
Note
The roles assigned to a user determine whether submitted requests need to go through the request queue for approval or whether they are entered as transactions.
Request to Work
The Request to Work feature allows employees to search for schedule openings they are qualified to work. The system searches for any openings that the employee has position permissions to work. In addition, if organization unit indicator set up allows, the search can be expanded to include openings where employees have the required job class and/or license.
Request to Work Period
The Request to Work Period is a rolling time frame defined as the days on or after the Request to Work Begin Days value through the end of the schedule period that contains the Request to Work End Days value. These values are set up on the organization unit's Staffing Configuration (see ).
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The value of the Request to Work Begin Days is added to the current day to determine the Request to Work minimum date.
For example, if this value is set to 3, employees can submit requests for available schedules starting three days after today. If this value is set to 0, employees can submit requests to work on the current date.
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The value of the Request to Work End Days is added to the current day to determine the Request to Work maximum date.
The entire schedule period that contains this date will be open for Request to Work.
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If the maximum date lands in the next schedule period, the entire next schedule period is also open for Request to Work.
Example
If the End Days value is set to 28, and there are 35 days remaining in the current schedule period, the rest of the current schedule period is open for Request to Work.
If the End Days value is set to 28, and there are only 19 days remaining in the current schedule period, the maximum date lands in the next schedule period. In this situation, the rest of the current schedule period and the entire next schedule period are open for Request to Work.
Requesting Employee
When trading or offering a schedule, the requesting employee is the one who initiated the trade or offer. The second employee involved in the trade or the one who accepts the offered schedule is called the accepting employee.
Rotating Schedule
A rotating schedule is a recurring pattern of staffing activities used by the system when running the automatic scheduling passes. These can be core schedules or a mixture of core schedules and need-based schedules.
A Rotating Schedule Template can be set up at the system level and assigned to employees, or one can be created specifically for the employee in the employee Rotating Schedule screen.
Schedule Group
A schedule group contains multiple labor distributions combined into a single group, used for creating schedules, viewing schedules, or generating reports. Certain set up screens display an option button to select either a single labor distribution or a schedule group. When selecting a schedule group, the groups listed in the left pane have been previously set up on .
Note
Users must have data access to all organization units in the Schedule Group to be able to see the schedule group and select it from the list.
Selection Style
The Selection Styles screen defines the rules used in the scheduling features, such as automatic schedule creation, validation of manually entered schedule assignments, self scheduling, shift trading/offering/bidding and the Scheduling Assistant wizards.
Selection Styles are set up on . Default selection styles for the different functions are set up on .
Shift
The word shift can have different meanings in this system.
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A shift can refer to a work schedule. For example, if an employee is scheduled to work as an LPN from 7:00-15:30, that can be referred to as the employee's shift.
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An employee's Shift Time is the defined starting and ending times of the employee's working schedule. This is used to compare an employees authorized working schedule with the times the employee actually clocks in and out.
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Shift is also used as another term for Coverage Period. If someone is working during the Day coverage period, that employee might say they are working the "Day Shift".
Skill Codes
Skills can be used to qualify employees for an assignment by their expertise in the Position and/or Station requirements of the Profile. Employees must meet or exceed the minimum Skill Level value to qualify. For example, an RN position may require a skill level of 3 or above to be scheduled in the Charge Nurse profile.
Staffing and Scheduling
Staffing and Scheduling is an application used to manage employees. Within Staffing and Scheduling is the ability to define labor distribution staffing requirements, populate and maintain a schedule, define employee scheduling preferences and rotating schedules, as well as other staffing and scheduling functions.
Staffing Plan
The Staffing Plan screen is used to define the staffing levels needed for an organization unit for a scheduling period, set up for each combination of profile and coverage period. These values are used when running the scheduling process using a Selection Style that is configured to use a Staffing Plan. These staffing level needs are usually loaded from an existing Staffing Template, but can be manually entered.
Staffing Template
The staffing template is a staffing grid indicating the baseline staffing levels needed for an organization unit. These staffing needs are set up for each combination of profile and coverage period. These templates are used to create the Staffing Plan, which indicates the staffing needs for a specific scheduling period when running the scheduling process.
For more information, see .
Swap (To/From)
When a user swaps a schedule, he/she is moving it from one schedule cell to another. Schedules can be swapped from one day to another for the same employee or can be swapped from one employee to another.
The new cell for the schedule is the cell it is swapped to and the cell where it originated is where it is swapped from.
For more information on swapping schedules, see the following topics:
TCR (Time Card Report)
The TCR is an acronym for Time Card Report. This is a report that displays all the pay period information on a selected employee. This report can be viewed in the employee record by clicking on the Time Card Report button, and can be forwarded to another user by clicking on the Carbon Copy button in the Report Actions section. Current, Future and Previous time card reports can also be viewed in .
For more information, see .
TCS (Time Card Screen)
TCS is an acronym for Time Card Screen. This is the main viewing screen in the employee record, and the default screen that is displayed when an employee record is first open. The Transaction List is automatically displayed at the top of the screen. Other cards of information can be selected for display through .
For more information, see the Employee record > Employee Actions > TCS.
Third-Party Vendor
The term third-party vendor refers to a company other than symplr and the health care facility using Time and Attendance and Staffing and Scheduling (i.e. your hospital).
For example, certain computer based training programs and acuity calculating programs are created by other software vendors but can be interfaced with Time and Attendance and Staffing and Scheduling.
Time and Attendance
Time and Attendancetracks employees' time and attendance information. Using indicators, parameters and table value rules, it processes information on employee clockings, calendars, adjustments, benefits, or deductions, to determine the type of pay to be distributed to the employee, such as regular, overtime, shift differential, holiday, or vacation. This information is then sent to a payroll system.
TimeCall
The TimeCall feature is an application where users are able to clock into the system by phoning in their badge numbers from authorized telephone locations, rather than using other input devices such as a badge reader or the Quick Badge feature in the portal.
Trunk Structure Level
The trunk structure level is the second of the four major organization structure levels used for payroll processing and scheduling. There can be up to nine structure levels within an organization, but the four key structure levels are called root, trunk, branch, and leaf. Many of the payroll and scheduling reports are totaled by these levels.
During initial system set up, these levels are identified and linked in the system. Authorized users can view the structure levels assigned to each of these levels on .
UDF (User Defined Field)
UDF is an acronym for User Defined Field. These UDF's are values that are defined by the user to add flexibility to the system. An example is the Pay Code UDF Categories. The categories can be used for reporting purposes.
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
URL is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator (or Universal Resource Locator). It is the address of a resource, such as a document or Web site on the Internet, such as http://www.google.com, or Intranet, such as \\genhosp\gh031\HelpFiles. The address consists of a communications protocol followed by the name or address of a computer on the network and often includes additional locating information, such as directory and file names.
Validation
When scheduling employees, the system does a validation process to verify the employees meet or exceed the qualifications of the position they are being scheduled to work.
The scheduling rules that are validated are set up on the Selection Styles screen. Different selection styles can be set up for manual scheduling, automatic scheduling, self scheduling, or requests to work.
Variance
Variance is the difference between the number of staff scheduled to work (coverage) and the number of staff required to provide adequate patient care (need).
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Coverage is determined by the number of staff who are scheduled to work using activity codes that indicate the employee is providing patient care.
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Need is determined by the number of staff who are needed to work as indicated on the staffing plan for the organization unit.
Zero-Length Activity Codes
Zero-length activity codes are those codes set up with the Length (Hours) field set to zero. These are usually non-productive activities, such as sick time or vacation. Creating activity codes without a predefined length allows flexibility for the scheduler to enter a single code into the schedule screen and then get a prompt to specify activity length for the specific employee.
The setting of Activity Code Indicator SS Solution Standard 6 determines whether a prompt is generated when a zero-length activity is entered.