Setting Up Auto Scheduling

⚡ What Is Auto Scheduling?

Auto Scheduling takes your scheduling experience to the next level, building your schedule for you instead of you piecing it together shift by shift.

It takes the day-to-day thinking that normally goes into scheduling, like who's available, whether you're covering demand, and whether you're staying within budget. Auto Scheduling handles that for you, creating your schedule in just a few clicks. You'll still review the result and make any final edits before publishing.

This article walks through the setup work required before you can run Auto Scheduling. Once everything below is in place, head to our article Utilizing Auto Scheduling to learn how to build and assign shifts.

🔎 Why Use Auto Scheduling?

Here are some common scenarios where Auto Scheduling can help save time and keep your schedule accurate:

• Saving Time: Builds your schedule for you in a few clicks, instead of piecing it together shift by shift.
• Considering Employee Availability: Only assigns shifts that fit what an employee has submitted for their availability, time off, and desired number of shifts.
• Following the Rules You Set: Respects the priorities set on your Schedule Presets, like an employee who should always be considered for a shift before anyone else.
• Using Your Sales & Labour Data: Can factor in your past and projected sales and labour costs to help determine how many people you actually need scheduled.
• Reducing Repetitive Setup: Build your Schedule Presets and Labour Guides from your account's own scheduling history instead of starting from scratch.

🔐 Access Required

Auto Scheduling is available on the Supreme package.

Who can manage Schedule Presets, Employee Availability, House Shifts, and Auto-Assign Shifts?

• Super Administrators: Full access to create, edit, and delete Schedule Presets and House Shifts, and to run Auto Scheduling. As well as approve and reject employee availability requests. 
• Team Administrators: Can manage these if the View/Update the Scheduler permission is enabled for the relevant Position(s). If you are unable to access, please confirm your permissions with a Super Administrator.

Who can manage Labour Guides and Scheduler Settings?

• Super Administrators: Full access to Scheduler Settings and Labour Guides.
• Team Administrators: Can access Labour Guides if the Company Setup: POS Data permission is enabled. They do not have access to Scheduler Settings, regardless of scheduler permissions. If you are unable to access, please confirm your permissions with a Super Administrator.

📋 Topics covered in this article:

• The Building Blocks of Auto Scheduling
• Setting Up Schedule Presets (Manual or Auto-Create)
• Setting Up Labour Guides (Manual or Auto-Create)

📚 Related articles:

• Utilizing Auto Scheduling
• Publishing the Schedule
• Creating & Utilizing Schedule Templates
• Check out our dedicated Scheduler section to find how-to guides, FAQs, and more.

The Building Blocks of Auto Scheduling

Before you can use Auto Scheduling, a few parts of the platform need to be set up first. Think of this as prequalifying information: it tells the platform how many shifts to create and which roles. Without it, the platform doesn't have enough to build something realistic for your business.

• Schedule Presets: required shifts that tell Auto Scheduling the position, timing, and who should be considered for the shift. Without Schedule Presets in place, Auto Scheduling won't have enough information to build shifts accurately. You can build these yourself, or generate them from your account's own shift history.
• Labour Guides: think of these as your staffing targets, how many people you need working at different sales levels. This is what lets Auto Scheduling factor your sales into the number of Shifts created. You can build these from scratch or generate them using your account's historical data.
• Employee Availability: what each employee has submitted to the platform about when they can work. This can include their available working days and hours, as well as the number of shifts they'd like per week. This is what Auto Scheduling checks before assigning any shift, so it doesn't assign someone a shift they can't actually work. 
• House Shifts: think of these as the draft version of your schedule. The specific shifts the system has figured out need to be covered. Without House Shifts, Auto Scheduling has nothing to assign. You can build these yourself, or let the platform generate them for you based on your account's own history. 

Setting Up Schedule Presets

Schedule Presets are reusable, preconfigured shifts that help template the shifts that can be assigned to employees. You can include details such as the role it applies to, the shift's start and end times, and the average cost per shift.

Schedule Presets do two things in Auto Scheduling:

• Tell the system what shifts need to be created, including the role and time.
• Tell the system which employees should be prioritized for the shift once it's ready to be assigned to staff.

There are two ways to create Schedule Presets. The sections below will cover the following: 

• Manually Creating a Schedule Preset 

• Auto-Creating a Schedule Preset

Manually Creating a Schedule Preset

When creating a Schedule Preset for Auto Scheduling, you will see additional toggles that allow you to prioritize employees. Consider whether someone should be the first person considered for a shift, rather than others. This could be based on seniority or experience, such as someone who opens because they're trained on a specific task. You can also set an additional group specifying who else from the team can be considered if the first person isn't available.

There's a third rule that lets you mark a Schedule Preset as required, meaning the platform must create the shift when using Auto Scheduling to ensure coverage is always maintained, regardless of what someone's availability restricts or what the Labour Guide requires.

1. Click the Scheduler tab.
2. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Schedule Presets.
3. The Schedule Presets page will load, and click Add Schedule Preset.
4. From the Add Schedule Preset builder, fill in the following:
   1. Under Label, enter the title of the Preset.
      📌 | Note: This is visible to employees when a shift with this Preset is assigned to them.
   2. Under Position, select the Position(s) the Preset applies to.
      📌 | Note: This determines which Positions can be assigned a shift using this Preset.
   3. Under Days Available, check or uncheck Sunday through Saturday to set which days the Preset can be used.
      💡 | Tip: Uncheck any days you don't want this shift scheduled on. This helps both your team and the platform understand when the shift can and can't be used.
   4. Under Base Cost, enter the dollar amount associated with the Preset.
      📌 | Note: Think of this as the average cost of the shift. We recommend always filling this in, so labour costs are calculated properly. 
   5. Under Start Time, set the start of the shift by the hour, minute, and AM/PM. 
   6. Under End Time, set the end of the shift by the hour, minute, and AM/PM.
   7. Under the Auto Scheduler Settings section, fill in the following fields if applicable:
      1. Under Qualified Group A, select the employee who should be given first priority for the shift, if applicable.
         📌 | Note: This is your Priority Employee. The shift always goes to this employee first if it fits their weekly availability. Only one Priority Employee can be set per Preset, and it can be left blank if no one applies.
      2. Under Qualified Group B, select the employee(s) who should be given second priority, or click Select All to include every employee assigned to the Position from Step 5.
         📌 | Note: These are your Preferred Employees. If the Priority Employee isn't available or assigned, the shift goes to a Preferred Employee instead. You can add multiple Preferred Employees, and leave this field blank if no one applies.
      3. Under Automated Schedule Required Shift, check the box to mark the shift as Required, or leave it unchecked to make it Optional.
         📌 | Note: Turning this on means the shift will always be created in Auto Scheduling, regardless of forecasted sales. Someone must be assigned to it whenever it's enabled.
5. Once done, click Add Preset.
6. The page will refresh. Review the newly created Schedule Preset in the list, and edit, copy, or delete it as needed.
7. If you are setting up Auto Scheduling for the first time, see the Labour Guides section next. Otherwise, head to Utilizing Auto Scheduling!

Auto-Creating a Schedule Preset

Instead of building each Schedule Preset from scratch, you can generate presets from your account's own history. Before the platform can generate, it looks for a few prequalifying conditions in your shift history:

• A shift pattern must appear at least 3 times in the last 8 weeks to become a Preset. If a Preset with the same Position, times, and days already exists, no duplicate will be created.
• Employees who worked that exact shift pattern at least 2 times in the last 8 weeks are attached to the new Preset as qualified employees. If only one employee qualifies, they're set as the primary employee for that Preset.
• Only regular scheduled shifts are considered; House Shifts are excluded from these qualifications.

1. Click the Scheduler tab.
2. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Schedule Presets.
3. The Schedule Presets page will load, and click Generate Schedule Presets.
4. Select the Position(s) to customize which roles you want generated, or Leave Blank to include all.
5. Once ready, click Generate.
6. A pop-up titled Success will appear, it'll list out what positions had schedule presets created and how many (e.g. Payroll Coordinator: 1), click OK to close out. 
   📌 | Note: If no Presets could be created, you'll see a Warning pop-up instead, letting you know none were created based on your past schedules. Click OK to close it.
7. The page will refresh. Review the new auto-generated Presets in the list, and edit, copy, or delete them as needed.
   💡 | Tip: Auto-generated Presets have "(Auto Generated)" included in the title, so you can tell them apart from the ones you built manually.
8. If you are setting up Auto Scheduling for the first time, see the Labour Guides section next. Otherwise, head to Utilizing Auto Scheduling!

📌 | Reminder: Generated Schedule Presets are built from your account's own shift history, so they're a strong starting point. Take a moment to review each one and make any updates needed to align with your current goals and labour budget.

Setting Up Labour Guides

Labour Guides tell Auto Scheduling how many employees to staff for a role at different sales levels, so that shifts can be generated with the right level of coverage.

To use Labour Guides, sales data needs to be tracked in the platform, either synced automatically through a POS integration or added manually as sales and sales forecast data under the Sales tab.

The sections below will cover the following:

• Scheduler Settings: Labour Guide Units
• Manually Creating Labour Guides
• Auto-Creating Labour Guides

Scheduler Settings: Labour Guide Units

Before you can build a Labour Guide, your account's Labour Guide Units need to be set to Sales so the platform bases staffing recommendations on sales rather than Guest Counts.

📌 | Note: Only Super Administrators can access Scheduler Settings.

1. Click the Scheduler tab.
2. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Scheduler Settings.
3. From the Scheduler Settings page, scroll down until you locate Labour Guide Units. 
4. Under Labour Guide Units, click the drop-down menu and select Sales.
5. Once done, click Update Settings. 

Manually Creating Labour Guides

When manually setting up Labour Guides for Auto Scheduling, it helps to think through a couple of things first: which Positions actually need one, and what sales ranges and staff counts to set for each.

Not every Position needs a Labour Guide. Salaried positions, for example, often work the same hours every week regardless of sales, so a Labour Guide usually isn't necessary for them. It's most useful for hourly positions, where staffing needs shift with your sales, like adding extra coverage during a busy stretch or scaling back when things are slower.

1. In the top right-hand corner, click the Company Name.
2. In the drop-down menu, click Company Setup.
3. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Labour Guide.
4. The Labour Guide page will load, with a list of all your active positions.
5. Navigate and find the Position you wish to set up a Labour Guide for, and click the pencil icon.
6. The page will load the Labour Guide details for the selected position. Fill in the following:
   1. Under Revenue Centers, click the drop-down menu and the Revenue Center(s) this Labour Guide should apply to.
   2. Under Min ($) and Max ($), enter the sales range for this staffing level, and under Count, enter the required number of employees. 
      📌 | Example: to schedule one employee when sales are expected between $0–$60/hour, set Min = 0, Max = 60, and Count = 1.
7. To add more sales ranges, click the plus icon and repeat step 6.2.
8. Once done, click Save Changes.
9. The page will refresh, and you'll see the values listed for that position's Labour Guide. 
10. Repeat steps 5–8 for each Position that needs a Labour Guide.
11. Once done, head over to Utilizing Auto Scheduling for the next steps! 

Auto-Creating Labour Guides 

Instead of manually estimating staffing targets for each Position, the generator analyzes your historical sales and scheduled shifts to recommend Labour Guide values based on how your business has actually operated. 

Before the platform can generate a Labour Guide, it looks for a prequalifying condition in your account:

• At least 8 weeks of historical sales and scheduled shift data are required. If there isn't enough history available, the generator won't be able to create recommendations.

Once generated, a History of Changes section on the Labour Guide page tracks any updates made to your values over time, and you'll see a confirmation prompt before an auto-generated guide overwrites any existing values.

⚠️ | Warning: If a Position already has a Labour Guide set up, generating a new one for that same Position will replace its existing sales ranges and staff counts. It doesn't add to what's already there. The generated values aren't applied until you click Save Changes, and the History of Changes section will record what the values changed from if you ever need to set them back. We recommend reviewing the generated values carefully before saving.

1. In the top right-hand corner, click the Company Name.
2. In the drop-down menu, click Company Setup.
3. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Labour Guide.
4. The Labour Guide page will load, and click Generate Labour Guide.
5. A pop-up titled Generate Labour Guide will appear. Fill in the following:
   1. Under Positions, click the drop-down menu and select the applicable Position(s).
      ⚠️ | Warning: Selecting a Position that already has a Labour Guide will overwrite its existing values once generated. Double-check your selection if you want to keep what's already set up for any of these Positions.
   2. Under Type, this should default to Sales based on the setup of your Scheduler Settings. 
6. Once done, click Generate.
7. The page will refresh, and the relevant Position's Labour Guides will open in an editable state. Review the auto-generated values, and edit, delete, or cancel (Stop icon) them as needed.
   📌 | Note: If no Labour Guide could be created, you'll see a Warning pop-up instead, letting you know none were created as there wasn't enough historical data. Click OK to close it.
8. Once happy with the values, click Save Changes to apply the generated Labour Guides! 
   ⚠️ | Warning: Once saved, this replaces any existing values for the selected Position(s) with the ones shown on screen. If you don't want to apply the generated values, click the stop icon on the far right of that Position's row to cancel and revert back to your original values. 
9. Once done, head over to Utilizing Auto Scheduling for the next steps! 

📌 | Reminder: Generated Labour Guides are built from your account's own shift history, so they're a strong starting point. Take a moment to review each one and make any updates needed to align with your current goals and labour budget.

Frequently Asked Questions About Auto Scheduling

Have questions about setting up or running Auto Scheduling? Whether you're wondering about subscription requirements, Priority Employees, or the difference between manual and auto-generated House Shifts, this section provides quick answers to help you use Auto Scheduling with confidence.

Q: Does Auto Scheduling require an additional fee? 
A: Yes, your account needs to be on the Supreme package to have access to the Auto Scheduling feature. If you're interested, reach out to our PUSH Support Team, who can connect you with the right team member.

Q: Can I assign more than one Priority Employee to a Preset? 
A: No, only one Priority Employee (Qualified Group A) can be assigned per Preset, but you can assign multiple Preferred Employees (Qualified Group B). See our Schedule Presets section for more details. 

Additional Information

Need further help? Refer to our Getting Help & Contacting Support article for the latest support options and ways to connect with our team.