Getting the Most Out of Kronos Basic Scheduler - A Blog Series

Would you like to get the most out of Kronos’ Basic Scheduler?

Getting the most out of Kronos' Basic Scheduler makes sense. The jump to the Advanced Scheduler is a hefty investment in money and time. By time, I am not just talking about the length of implementation; I’m talking about the major change management involved, including training and developing buy-in from your employees.

Kronos Advanced Scheduler is a great tool; it is well thought out and once you get started, easily becomes a vital asset to your organization. However, until that day comes you, my friend, are working with the Basic Scheduler.

In the next two or three blogs I’d like to talk about the tools you can use in the Basic Scheduler that can make it more useful to you and your organization. So here is how this is going to shake out:

• Blog 1:  SCHEDULE PATTERNS – Can you do more with them?

• Blog 2:  SCHEDULE GROUPS – Different uses and advantages

• Blog 3:  OTHER BASIC SCHEDULER TOOLS – What you didn’t know you could do in Basic Scheduler

We will start with patterns because they provide a lot of bang for the buck. Most users out there are already using patterns but typically they can use them more effectively. Now don’t
misunderstand what I’m saying, patterns are great, but they aren’t the end-all be-all for building a schedule.  You can apply a pattern to an employee (or to a schedule for that matter, but more on that later) but you will still need to edit the shifts within that pattern for things like work rule transfers, labor account transfer and pay code edits.  Once you understand what you can do with patterns, you will be able to create complex schedules in an efficient manner. 

We will discuss how to schedule groups next.  Schedule groups are great tools.  For a long time, schedule groups were nothing more than a grouping utility - grouping people based on where they work or their… you got it… schedule.  No longer. I don't want to ruin the surprise here, but schedule groups now have a thing called schedule inheritance. This is where they get, well, awesome!  Scheduling groups with inheritance allows you to assign things like patterns to a group, and when you assign employees to the group you can have them inherit the patterns that were applied to the group in the first place! I promise this is a great tool for assigning schedules efficiently. 

Finally we will talk about how you can create templates that can be used over and over to help schedule things like FMLA, vacation and any other type of planned time off.  Once created, they can be applied as quickly and easily as hand-typing a shift.  All of these things together should save you time, making your schedules just as complex as they are now, or more complex with less effort. 

So check in over the next few weeks and learn what you can do with your schedules. We may cover what you already know, but I’ll bet you will walk away with some new tools to put in the old tool box. 

I hope you join me.