Setting Up & Managing 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.

🔎 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)
• Building Shifts with Auto Scheduling (Manual or Auto-Create)
• Assigning Shifts with Auto Scheduling
• Running Auto Scheduling When Needed
• Frequently Asked Questions About Auto Scheduling

📚 Related articles:

• 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. 

If you've already got these set up, skip ahead to the Building & Assigning Shifts with Auto Scheduling section. 

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, skip to the Building & Assigning Shifts with Auto Scheduling section. 

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, skip to the Building & Assigning Shifts with Auto Scheduling section. 

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.

📌 | Note: If you don't see Labour Guides in your account, please reach out to our support team so they can review your setup.

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 knows to base 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 number of employees required. 
      📌 | 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. Check out the Building & Assigning Shifts with Auto Scheduling section to learn more about creating shifts based on your Schedule Presets and Labour Guides! 

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 is 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.

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).
   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 or delete 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! 
9. Check out the Building & Assigning Shifts with Auto Scheduling section to learn more about creating shifts based on your Schedule Presets and Labour Guides! 

Building & Assigning Shifts with Auto Scheduling

Once your Schedule Presets and Labour Guides are set up, you can begin using Auto Scheduling to build your schedule. This happens in two steps:

1. Create your House Shifts, either by building them yourself or asking the system to generate them for you.
2. Have Auto Scheduling assign those shifts out to employees.

💡 | Tip: Make sure to review any pending Shift Approvals. This can include Weekly Availability changes and Time Off Requests. This ensures Auto Scheduling has the most accurate information to work from when creating and assigning shifts. We recommend making this a regular step to check! Checkout the dedicated section for more information. 

The sections below will cover the following:

• Manually Creating House Shifts
• Auto-Creating House Shifts
• Auto-Assigning Shifts to Employees

Manually Creating House Shifts

Before Auto Scheduling can assign shifts to employees, it needs House Shifts on the schedule. Think of a House Shift as a shift built from a Schedule Preset, just without an employee attached yet. 

The system takes care of that assignment afterward, so for now, focus on building out your ideal schedule with House Shifts. You can create these manually, which is a great option if you already have a go-to week you like to reuse (especially if you've saved it as a Schedule Template).

1. Click the Scheduler tab. 
2. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Weekly Schedule. 
3. To adjust how you view the Scheduler, click the drop-down menu next to Employees, and select either Employees, or Employees Unique, Positions. 
   ⚠️ | Important: Auto Scheduling currently only works on a weekly basis. It doesn't support scheduling from the Daily view at this time. 
4. Locate the House Shifts section on the Schedule and hover over and click the plus icon. 
5. The House Shift pop-up will appear. Fill in the following:
   1. Under Positions, select the relevant Position. 
      💡 | Tip: This filters the list of Schedule Presets available to choose from, based on the Position selected.
   2. Under Employees, this should auto-fill as House Shift. 
      📌 | Note: For Auto Scheduling, make sure this always stays set to House Shift if you want the platform to auto-assign it to an employee. 
   3. Under Tag, select a Tag, if applicable. 
   4. Under Presets, select the relevant Schedule Preset. 
   5. The Start and End Times will be pre-filled based on the chosen Schedule Preset. Click and adjust the times if applicable.  
   6. Under Breaks, click the drop-down and select the relevant break type, if applicable.
      📌 | Note: Only available with the Advanced Breaks or Break Compliance feature. Contact the PUSH Support Team if you'd like this enabled.
   7. Under Comments, add any notes about the shift, if applicable. 
      ⚠️ | Warning: This is visible to employees.
   8. Once done, click Confirm. 
6. You'll be taken back to the Scheduler, where the new House Shift will appear!
7. Once you're done building out your House Shifts, you're ready to have the platform auto-assign them to employees. See the Automatically Assigning Shifts section below for more information.
   💡 | Tip: Want to reuse these House Shifts for another week's schedule? Save them as a Schedule Template!

Auto-Creating House Shifts

Instead of manually creating House Shifts for each Position, the generator analyzes your historical information and Labour Guides to recommend shifts based on how your business has actually operated.

Not every Position needs House Shifts generated. Salaried positions, for example, often work the same hours every day, so there's usually no need to include them. You can filter which Positions are included during generation, so only the ones that actually need coverage have House Shifts created.

📌 | Note: This feature is being released gradually and may not yet be available in all accounts. If you’d like early access, please contact our Support Team.

1. Click the Scheduler tab. 
2. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Weekly Schedule. 
3. To adjust how you view the Scheduler, click the drop-down menu next to Employees, and select either Employees, or Employees Unique, Positions. 
   ⚠️ | Important: Auto Scheduling currently only works on a weekly basis. It doesn't support scheduling from the Daily view at this time. 
4. (Optional) On the right side, click Filter to adjust which positions have House Shifts auto-created. 
   💡 | Tip: This is a great way to skip Positions that don't need House Shifts generated, like salaried roles that work the same hours every day.
5. In the Filters pop-up, under Positions, select the Position(s) you want the system to generate shifts for, or leave it blank to include all Positions.  
6. Once done, click Close.
7. The Schedule will refresh and only include the relevant positions.
   📌 | Note: This doesn't remove or affect shifts for any other Positions already on the schedule. Just impacts what positions the House Shift generator can use. 
8. Once ready, on the right side, click Options, and select Generate House Shifts. 
9. In the House Shift Generator pop-up, review the listed positions and either click Generate Shifts to proceed or Cancel to go back a step. 
   ⚠️ | Warning: Once confirmed, House Shifts will be created for every Position listed. Take a moment to make sure the list is correct before proceeding.
10. When Generate Shifts is selected, a pop-up titled Are You Sure?  will appear as a final warning before shifts are auto-created. Click Generate to proceed or Cancel to go back.
11. If Generate is selected, the page will refresh, and House Shifts will be auto-created and appear on the Scheduler!
12. Once you're done building out your House Shifts, you're ready to have the platform auto-assign them to employees. See the Automatically Assigning Shifts section below for more information.
    💡 | Tip: Want to reuse these House Shifts for another week's schedule? Save them as a Schedule Template!

Automatically Assigning Shifts

Once House Shifts are on the schedule, you're ready for the platform to automatically assign them to employees. This uses each employee's latest Weekly Availability, along with the Priority and Preferred Employees set on the relevant Schedule Preset, to decide who gets each shift.

This is the last step of Auto Scheduling. Remember all that initial setup work with your Schedule Presets and  Labour Guides? Plus, creating House Shifts? Once those are in place, assigning shifts is as simple as a few clicks, letting the platform match your team to the shifts your business needs to run day-to-day.

1. Click the Scheduler tab. 
2. On the left-hand navigation bar, click Weekly Schedule. 
3. To adjust how you view the Scheduler, click the drop-down menu next to Employees, and select either Employees, or Employees Unique, Positions. 
   ⚠️ | Important: Auto Scheduling currently only works on a weekly basis. It doesn't support scheduling from the Daily view at this time. 
4. (Optional) On the right side, click Filter to adjust which positions House Shifts are auto-assigned to employees. 
   💡 | Tip: This is a great way to slow down on the auto-assignment to employees, like by department or specific positions. 
5. In the Filters pop-up, under Positions, select the Position(s) you want the system to auto-assign the House Shifts for, or leave it blank to include all Positions.   Once done, click Close.
6. Make sure House Shifts are created in the Scheduler, whether manually or auto-created!
7. Once ready, on the right side, click Options, and select Auto Schedule. 
8. In the Auto Schedule pop-up, review the following information and adjust the relevant settings:
9. Under the Positions to Schedule section, review that the relevant roles are listed. 

   1. Under Shifts To Schedule, check or uncheck which shifts you want the platform to work on. At least one must be selected:

      Setting	What It Does
      Unassigned Shifts	Includes shifts that are currently unassigned (House Shifts).
      Assigned Shifts	Includes shifts that are already assigned to employees, and will reassign them if a better match is found.

   2. Under Auto Schedule Settings, check or uncheck the settings that apply:
      💡 | Tip: We recommend leaving all of the settings below turned on for the most accurate results.

      Setting	What It Does
      Allow Employees To Work Multiple Shifts Per Day	Let employees be assigned more than one shift on the same day.
      Observe Employee Number Of Shifts Preference	Respects each employee's preferred number of shifts per week.
      Observe Time Off Requests	Avoids assigning shifts during approved time off.
      Observe Employee Availabilities	Only assigns shifts during times employees have indicated they're available.

10. Once done, click Assign to proceed or Cancel to close out on auto-assigning. 
11. If Assign is selected, a pop-up titled Are You Sure? will appear as a final warning before shifts are auto-assigned. Click Assign to proceed or Cancel to go back.
12. If Assign is selected, the page will refresh, and an Auto Schedule Results pop-up will appear, showing:
    1. Shifts Processed: the total number of shifts considered (House Shifts and already-assigned shifts combined).
    2. Assignment Results: the total number of shifts that were successfully assigned.
    3. Unassigned Shifts: a list of any shifts that couldn't be assigned, with the Position, date, and time for each.
    4. Employee Summary: the total number of employees considered, how many received shifts, and how many didn't have availability recorded in the platform.
       📌 | Note: The Employee Summary can help explain why certain shifts went unassigned. 
13. Click OK, and the Scheduler will refresh, showing assigned shifts under the relevant employees. Review the schedule and make any changes needed, then publish when ready! 
    📌 | Note: Any shifts that couldn't be assigned will remain listed under House Shifts. 

Running Auto Scheduling When Needed

Once your Schedule Presets, Labour Guides, and House Shifts are in place, running Auto Scheduling is a quick, repeatable process rather than building the schedule from scratch, however often you build out your schedule. 

Remember to review the following on an ongoing basis, to ensure things stay accurate:

• Employee Availability: Review this often. Outdated or unapproved availability is the most common reason shifts get assigned inaccurately.
• Labour Guides: your staffing needs can shift throughout the year, whether due to seasonality or other business changes. Adjust your sales ranges and counts as needed.
• Schedule Presets: revisit these periodically, adjusting positions, timing, or priority or preferred assignments as your team grows and business needs change.

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 still make manual changes to the schedule after running Auto Scheduling? 
A: Yes. You can add, remove, and drag and drop shifts as normal after Auto Scheduling assigns them.

Q: Do I still need to publish the schedule after using Auto Scheduling? 
A: Yes, Auto Scheduling will create and assign the shifts, but you'll still need to publish the schedule for employees to see it.

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. 

Q: What's the difference between manually creating House Shifts and Auto-Generating them? 
A: Manually creating House Shifts means adding each one individually in the Weekly Schedule view. Auto-Generating House Shifts uses your Labour Guides, Schedule Presets, and employee availability to create the needed House Shifts for you instead. Both options are available; use whichever fits your workflow, or a mix of both. 

Q: I don't see the option to Generate House Shifts. Why not? 
A: Auto-Generating House Shifts is rolling out in phases across eligible accounts. If you don't see this option and would like access, please contact our PUSH Support Team to have it enabled.

Q: Do I have to build or generate House Shifts every single week? 
A: Not necessarily. If a week's House Shifts don't change much from week to week, you can save that week as a Schedule Template and load it into future weeks instead of rebuilding or regenerating it each time. Or use the Auto Scheduling feature to build out multiple weeks' worth of shifts and adjust and publish as needed. 

Q: Can Auto Scheduling account for an employee working too many days in a row, or grant automatic days off? 
A: Not currently. You can still manually move shifts after Auto Scheduling runs, and we welcome feedback on features like this for future versions.

If this is something you'd like to see improved, let us know by submitting product feedback under the Roadmap & Ideas page.

Q: Can I copy a schedule built with Auto Scheduling to another week? 
A: Yes, you can copy an auto-scheduled week to another week, or to a custom date range, like any other schedule.

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.