Use Case

Shifts can be created and scheduled for staff to designate staff availability or unavailability. Staff shift types can be created and customized as needed. Using shifts is recommended for better scheduling of appointments.

Set-up

Shift functionality comes as a standard feature in Provet Cloud. The following settings affect shift scheduling and should be reviewed prior to creating shifts.

Shift Types

Shift types define the nature of the shift being scheduled, and whether this staff shift is available for online booking appointments or if the shift will be an all-day event for example.

Shift type settings can be accessed through: Settings > Department > Shift Types.

Use the “+Add” button to add additional shift types, or the pen icon to edit any existing shifts.

Shift Type Customisation

When creating shift types, there are several setting selections available to customise the shift type behavior and interaction with other functionalities.

Appointments: When this setting is active, it indicates the shift accepts appointment scheduling and will default be visible on the appointment calendar.

Online booking: This is a preliminary setting which must be enabled to allow the shift to be scheduled for online appointments.

All day: When enabled, this setting indicates the shift will be scheduled for open to close business hours. An all day shift event example would be a public holiday where the clinic is closed for the full day.

Reason types: This setting interacts with the online booking and the available shifts shown to clients. For example, if the client selects the reason for visit as an 'exam urgent care emergency', the above example shift would appear as available to schedule an appointment within. However, if the client selects 'exam medical progress', since it is not listed in the reason types, this shift would not appear as available to be scheduled against for that reason type.

Update existing shifts: If you are updating an existing shift, marking this setting will push any changes to reflect on already scheduled existing shifts.

Default Appointments

Within shift type customisation settings is the option to define default appointments. Default appointments creates a standard appointment block within the shift scheduling as long as the scheduling time matches the defined default appointment time.

To create a default appointment within a shift type:

1. Select the 'default appointment' addition button
2. Define the start and end time
3. Define the 'reason' which is a freetype field
4. Define a 'reason type' if appointment settings are enabled to require this
5. Select 'Save'

Multiple default appointments can be created simultaneously against a single shift type.

Wards

Before any staff shifts can be scheduled to specific wards (sub-departments), wards will need to be defined within settings. These settings can be accessed through Settings> Department> Wards. Using the “+Add” button, you can add wards and define an easy to recognize code. Wards can be edited using the edit pen icon or deleted with the trash bin icon.

Teams

Similarly, before any shifts can be scheduled including a staff team, teams will need to be defined within settings. These settings can be accessed through Settings> Department> Teams. Using the “+Add” button, you can add teams and define an easy to recognize code. Teams can be edited using the edit pen icon or deleted with the trash bin icon. A team can be assigned to a specific ward or be independent for scheduling purposes.

Instructions

Scheduling Staff Shifts

To create staff shifts, first access the appointment calendar. Next, select the “Shifts” tab. An example screen is shown below.

Once within the shifts’ tab, first select the user you wish to schedule a shift for. The user field is indicated in red below. If you would like to schedule a shift for a user within a specific ward, you will want to select the ward next. Once a ward has been selected, a team can also be assigned if needed. Next, select the shift type.

Finally, define and select the time duration for which you would like to schedule the shift. Additional, shift specific selections are available such as whether the shift is available for online booking. A screen example is shown below.

To create the shift, click anywhere within the desired day’s column. If any scheduled shifts conflict, a warning will prompt notifying you prior to allowing the shift to be scheduled.

Editing Staff Shifts

You can freely edit and update scheduled staff shifts by clicking on the desired shift. This will prompt the shift edit screen. An example is shown below,

Shift start and end times can be freely edited, along with the date. Additional information which can be modified includes ward and team selection. You can also define and edit online booking types for which appointments can be scheduled during the shift. If needed, the shift can also be deleted from the edit screen.

If any appointments are currently scheduled during the selected shift, these will display at the bottom of the card as shown below. If you need to update a staff shift which requires you to reschedule current appointments, you can use quick select the “Move appointments” button to easily move scheduled appointments from the current staff shift to another accordingly.

Copying Staff Shifts

You can easily copy shifts to multiple days or weeks using the blue “Copy shifts” button indicated in red below.

To copy shifts, first select the “Copy shifts” button, which will prompt the copy shifts screen to open. An example is provided below.

The “From this date” field will be the beginning date that shifts will be copied from, with the “To this date” field as the end date. Next, complete the “start copy shift(s) here” field which defines what beginning date the copied shifts will be applied and scheduled to the shift calendar. You will then use the “Repeat count” field to determine the number of times the selected shifts will be applied to the calendar. Finally, select the user(s) for which shifts will be copied and click save.

An example of a completed copy shifts card is shown below for reference.

Deleting Staff Shifts

You can quickly and easily delete multiple shifts using the red “Delete shifts” button located to the right of the copy shifts button demonstrated above. A screen example of the delete shifts card is shown below.

To delete user(s) shifts, first define the user(s) which the shifts will be deleted for. Next, select the start and end dates and times for which you wish to remove all shifts from.

The “shifts that will be deleted” field and the “shifts that cannot be deleted” field will update once the previous information is provided to notify you of shifts that will be impacted by your defined parameters. Shifts that cannot be deleted are shifts that have appointments scheduled to them. An example screen is shown below. Once you have verified your shift selections, click the red delete button.

What are the main options to customise the process?

There are several department settings which you can use to customise your calendar view when scheduling and managing shifts in addition to the settings mentioned above.

Settings > Department > Calendar & Scheduling

• You can use settings such as “weekends” to include or exclude weekend days in the calendar view.

• Additionally, you can define which day displays as the first day of the week.

• The appointment calendar view can be further customised by using the setting “calendar slot sizes” to determine the time duration of each calendar slot, which can be as short as 5 minutes and as long as 60 minutes.

• Furthermore, the settings “first hour of the day” and “last of the day” can limit which hours of the day display as default to limit the calendar view to business hours.

• You can also select to show shift times and types on the general appointment calendar.

User Profile Options

Using the drop-down arrow next to a user’s name in the upper right corner of the screen, you can access the user profile. Within the user profile, you are able to enable settings which allow for user appointment and shift calendar feeds. These settings can be found under the “Calendar Feeds” section. Provet Cloud's shift and appointment feeds allow you to easily see your upcoming events from any device. Feeds are exported in iCalendar format that is supported by all major calendar providers such as Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCal.

Within the “Personal details” section, you can enable the setting “no scheduling outside shifts” to limit any appointments from being scheduled for a user outside of their scheduled shifts.