How to Make Staff Schedule Templates (Part 1)

Step 1: Access the Staff Schedule Templates

Navigate to the Staff module and ensure you are on the Schedule tab.
Open the Templates tab, where you will manage all staff schedule templates.

Within Templates, you will see a Folders section used to organize your templates. Create new folders by selecting New Folder. After creating a folder, you can expand or collapse it to view the templates stored inside.

You may see existing templates in these folders (for example, an October staff schedule), or you can create a new one from scratch by selecting New Template.

Step 2: Use Folder and Template Options

Each folder and template has a three-dot options menu.

For a folder, the options typically include:

• New Folder – create a subfolder.

• Rename – change the folder name.

• Archive – hide the folder and its templates from the active view.

For an individual template file (staff schedule) within a folder, the options are similar.

You can:

• Copy – duplicate the template to use as a starting point.

• Move – relocate the template to a different folder.

• Archive – remove it from active use without deleting it permanently.

To view or restore archived templates, select View Archived Templates and unarchive as needed.

Step 3: Open and Configure a Staff Schedule Template

Open an existing template (e.g., “October Staff Schedule”) by clicking on its name.

This opens the template editor, where you can:

• Rename the schedule to something meaningful for your use.

• Adjust the time period size (e.g., 15-minute, 30-minute, or 60-minute blocks).

• Change the schedule folder where this template is saved if you want to reorganize it.

On the right-hand side, use the zoom tool to zoom in for detail or zoom out to see all staff on one screen.

At the top, use:

• Save to save any changes as you work.

• Export PDF to generate a printable or shareable version.

• AI Smart Assist, which you will use later to predict attendance and staffing.

Step 4: Customize Group Headers

Across the top of the schedule, you will see customizable headers or groupings (e.g., Infants, Toddlers, Preschool, Pre-K). You can:

• Click directly into a header name to rename it.

• Use Manage Headers to add new headers and reorder existing ones as desired.

In the Manage Headers window, adjust names and order, then press Apply to confirm.

Within each header, you will see all your groups. Group colors match what is configured in your center setup; update colors there if you want them changed here.

Step 5: Manage Groups and shifts

Under each header, groups (e.g., Sun Beams under Infants) appear with staff shifts you can manage.

Use the plus (+) icon to add a new shift or remove one if not needed.

You can also move a group to a different header/category by selecting a new category (for example, moving Sun Beams from Infants to Kinders).

To remove a specific staff shift, click on the shift controls and select Remove shift.

This lets you tailor the number of positions available in each group according to your staffing needs.

Step 6: Add Staff to shifts and Configure Sorting

To add a staff member to a shift (e.g., in the Raccoons group), click the plus (+) icon in an empty shift.

The shift will show as TBD (To Be Determined). Click inside the TBD shift to assign a staff member.

You can:

• Start typing the staff member’s name to search, or

• Select from the list shown.

Staff whose homeroom matches the group (e.g., homeroom “Raccoons”) are displayed at the top for convenience.

On the right-hand side, you can see each staff member’s position. Adjust how staff are sorted in the list by choosing to sort by Default, Position, or Group.

Once selected, the staff member (e.g., Leah) is added to the shift.

Step 7: Assign Shifts and Review Capacity

To assign a shift to a staff member:

• Left-click and drag across the time blocks to set the shift duration, or

• Click individual time blocks to customize start and end times.

At the bottom of the screen, you will see the total scheduled time for that staff member (e.g., 8.5 hours).

Also along the bottom:

• View the total licensed capacity of your entire center.

• See each group’s licensed capacity (e.g., Infants: 8, Ladybugs: 12, Raccoons: 16).

• Use this to ensure your staffing matches capacity and ratio requirements.

• Use the Notes section to record any general notes related to the schedule.

Step 8: Adjust Shifts and Add Breaks

If you need to modify a shift:

• Left-click any scheduled block to remove it and return it to unscheduled.

• Clicking again clears more blocks as needed.

To add a break instead of clearing a shift:

1. Identify the time you want the break to start (e.g., 11:00 a.m.).

2. Right-click on the staff member’s cell at that time.

   

3. From the context menu, choose to mark the time as a break.

   

The cell will show as a break, but initially without coverage.

This indicates the staff member is off on break and no one is currently covering the ratio.

Step 9: Add Support Staff and Link Break Coverage

To ensure coverage during breaks, you can assign a support staff member.

Under the Support section:

1. Add a shift by clicking the plus (+) icon.

   

2. Assign a staff member to that shift (e.g., Colton) as a support staff working during the day.

   

Now return to the staff member’s break (e.g., Leah’s break):

1. Right-click on her break cell again.

2. Select the option to assign a Covering Staff Member.

3. Choose Covering Staff Member from the context menu.

   

You will see a list of staff available at that time. Colton will appear, typically at the bottom, because he is already scheduled with a shift then.

Select Colton and click Save.

The system will adjust his shift so he is not double-booked, and you will see that he is now covering in the Raccoons room for that break. Hovering over the break will confirm that Colton is the covering staff member.

Step 10: Use Right-Click Options for Notes, Flags, and Cross-Room Coverage

Right-clicking a cell offers additional options beyond breaks and coverage.

For example, you can:

• Add a note to a specific cell (e.g., “Go to office to prep”).

• Add a flag to highlight a particular shift or cell for follow-up or special attention.

After entering your note and/or flag, press Save.

Icons will appear in the cell:

• Hover over the note icon to read the note.

• Hover over the flag icon to confirm the cell is flagged.

You can also use right-click to send a staff member temporarily to a different group to provide coverage:

1. Right-click the relevant cell.

2. Choose the option to assign the staff member to another group for that time.

3. Select the target group (e.g., Ladybugs).

   

You will then see that the staff member (e.g., Leah) is scheduled in the Ladybugs room during that time, similar to how Colton was linked to cover Leah’s break.

When you are satisfied with all staffing, breaks, coverage, and notes, press Save to store your completed staff schedule.

Step 11: Open Smart Assist for Attendance-Based Planning

Once your basic schedule is set, you can use Smart Assist to optimize staffing based on predicted child attendance.

Open Smart Assist from the top menu.

In Smart Assist:

1. Set the date you are planning for (e.g., October 22).

2. Choose which groups you want to analyze. For example, you can select just the Sun Beams group.

   

3. Or select multiple groups (e.g., Infants and Toddlers) if they are combined early in the morning, for example.

   

You can also filter by:

• Age

• Program

Similarly to the staff schedule, choose the time interval you want to view (e.g., 15, 30, or 60 minutes).

Step 12: Configure Smart Assist Averages and Interpret Results

Decide how Smart Assist should calculate attendance:

• Same Day of Week Average – uses the last 60 days of the same weekday (e.g., all Thursdays), excluding holidays, to compute the average expected attendance at each time.

• All Days – uses all open days in the last 60 days (excluding closed days and holidays such as weekends and statutory holidays), without filtering by weekday.

Smart Assist then shows, for each time interval:

• The expected number of children.

• The minimum and maximum headcounts actually seen at that time over the sampled days (hover over the question marks for more details).

• The registered count (e.g., you might see 0 expected at 6:00 a.m. but 12 children registered for that time).

You can also choose to include pending children who are scheduled to start by the selected date so that they are reflected in the registration numbers.

Use this information to determine how many staff are required to be in ratio based on expected attendance, rather than just registered capacity.

When you are finished reviewing Smart Assist, close it.

Then save your schedule again to ensure all final adjustments are recorded.

Finally, exit the Edit Templates screen.

You can now proceed to the next process, where you will learn how to convert this template into an active schedule.