Rotation Schedule Templates

Rotation Schedule Templates

Rotation Schedule templates enable you to create a resource plan for a unit or department. You can then apply the Rotation Schedule for various periods, for example, for one or more specific days or for a date range.

You can create and edit Rotation Schedule templates to reflect your regular, repeating work requirements by defining one or more rows for the job positions you require. You can assign employees temporarily or permanently to the job position rows.

You can create multiple Rotation Schedule templates to match your workload to deploy based on your location's needs. For example, you could create separate Rotation Schedule templates for a High Volume Day, a Medium Volume Day, and a Low Volume Day to match the workload on those types of days.

From the Rotation Schedule tile on the home page, you can create and manage Rotation Schedule templates.

Rotation Schedule Template List

In the Rotation Schedule tile on the Home page, click Open Template List. The Rotation Schedule page displays a list of existing templates.

You can perform the following actions:

  • Filter the template list: You can filter the list by columns, by as of date, or by location. To filter by columns, click Filter to the right of the column headings, then enter filter criteria in the text box for the columns you want to filter.
  • Create a new template: Click Create . For more information, see Rotation Schedule Templates.
  • Duplicate a template: Select a template in the list and click Duplicate . Change the properties of the template as needed, including entering a new Name. Information specified in the rows from the original template is retained; you can modify as needed.
  • Edit a template: Select a template in the list and click Edit . You cannot edit the Template Name, Rotation Length, Anchor Date, or Location. You can edit rows, shifts, job assignments, and so on.
  • Delete a template: Select a template in the list and click Delete. Click Yes in the warning message.
  • View published templates: Click Calendar View to visualize in a Gantt view chart format when the published rotation templates are deployed. For more information, see View published Rotation Schedules.
  • Import a template: Click Import to import an external rotation schedule template (.xlsx) file. For more information, see Import and export templates.

Rotation Schedule Templates

The Rotation Schedule Template page is used to configure your templates.

You can control how information is displayed in the template. In the column header for the job position rows:

  • Select Column Display to select which configured columns you want to display.
  • Select Expand to show all the available columns, or Collapse to hide them.
  • To change the width of a column, drag the edge of the column header. You may need to scroll to see all the column data.

To return to the Rotation Schedule page with the list of all templates, select Back to List. When working in a Rotation Schedule template, follow these guidelines to ensure the template is released correctly:

  • Always select Back to List after viewing or editing a template.

  • Do not navigate away from the Rotation Schedule application, log out, or close the browser while a template is open.

  • Exiting the template using Back to List releases the template and makes it available for other managers or administrators.

  • If you navigate away from an open Rotation Schedule template without selecting Back to List , the template may remain temporarily locked to you and unavailable to others.

Note: When you open a template, it remains locked until you select the Home icon, Back to List icon, or the organization icon beside the Home icon. If you log out, close the browser window, or exit the template in any other way, a background process checks whether the template has been locked for more than 30 minutes and releases the lock.

If a Rotation Schedule template becomes locked because it was exited without using Back to List , a system background process periodically releases the lock. However, the timing of this background process is not immediate, and until it runs, other users may be unable to open the template. To prevent unintended template locking and workflow disruptions, always exit templates using Back to List .

Create a new Rotation Schedule template

You can create a Rotation Schedule template based on the needs of your location or group of locations. Each row in the template represents a position with a job assignment, position characteristics, and a Rotation Schedule (a series of shifts scheduled for the rotation). One row is similar to a schedule pattern, and the Rotation Schedule is a collection of schedule patterns.

As you create the template,

  1. In the Rotation Schedule tile, click Open Template List to display the Rotation Schedule page.
  2. Click Create .
  3. Enter a Name and optionally a Description for the template.
  4. Select the Anchor Date.
  5. In Rotation Length, specify how often you want the pattern to repeat, in Days or Weeks. For example, you may want to specify a rotation length of 1 Day or 3 Weeks.
    The maximum rotation length is 1100 days or 160 weeks.
  6. Specify the number of Rows in the template. The number of rows corresponds to the number of positions you need to ensure coverage in your unit or department. For example, if your department needs 5 full-time positions and 2 part-time positions, enter 7. You can specify a maximum of 250 rows.

    Note that the number of rows included in a template may significantly impact the amount of time it takes the system to publish the template. UKG strongly recommends you publish the template as follows based on the number of rows:

    Number of rows

    Publish duration

    Greater than 100 rows

    3 months

    50-99 rows

    6 months

    1-49 rows

    Any date or Forever

Define values for the target budget

To define the values for the Target Budget (Hours/Wages) that appear in the Schedule Rotation:

  1. Enter values in the following fields:
    • Cycle Target Budget
    • Cycle Target Budget Hours
    Note: These values can be changed prior to the rotation being published. After the rotation is published, you must unpublish the rotation to make modifications.
  2. Select the Location where the template will be used. The selected location determines the workload type. If the selected locations have shift sets assigned to them, the workload is calculated using exact match (no percentages). If zone sets are assigned to the selected locations, the workload is calculated by percentage of coverage of the span.
    When a shift is published, an automatic tag is added to the open shifts when they are created within the Schedule Planner. This information applies to steps 3 and 4.
  3. From Open Shift Tag, select a tag to label open shifts in the Schedule Planner.
  4. From Assigned Shift Tag, select a tag to label assigned shifts in the Schedule Planner.
  5. Click Create. The new template displays on the Rotation Schedule Template page, where you can configure the template.

Define shift types

You can create new shift types or import existing ones from the system. Shift types are the same as shift templates in the system.

When either creating shift types or importing them, you can add transfers to the shift type or import the shift type with associated transfers. After publishing the schedule rotation, the transfers appear in the shifts created within the Schedule Planner. Arrows will appear to indicate that there is a transfer, which when hovered over provide additional information about the transfer.

  1. In the Rotation Schedule Template, click Define Shift Types.
  2. To create a new shift type:
    1. Click Create.
    2. Enter a Shift Name and optionally a Description.
    3. Enter the number of Productive Shift Hours for the shift.
    4. Select the shift segment Type, then specify the Start day, Start Time, End day, and End Time of the shift.
    5. (Optional) In the Tags column, select a tag to add to the shift.
    6. (Optional) In the Transfer column, select a transfer to add to the shift.
    7. Click Add to add another row to the shift type.
    8. Click Save.
    9. Repeat the steps to create more shift types.
    10. Click Close to return to the Rotation Schedule Template.
  3. To import an existing shift type:
    1. Click Import.
    2. Select a shift type in the list. Shift types are displayed in alphanumeric order.
    3. Click Import.
    4. Repeat the steps to import more shift types.
    5. Click Close to return to the Rotation Schedule Template.
  4. To edit a shift type, select it in the list, then click Edit.
    Note: It is not recommended to edit shift types once they have been published. The changes may cause numerous synchronization issues that would need to be resolved.
    • The maximum shift length is 7 days.
    • For call-in transfers, you need to have the same transfer on all segments of the shift.
  5. To delete a shift type, select it in the list, then click Delete.

Define baseline workload

When creating a template, you can define the baseline workload based on Shift Types or Shift Sets that are available for the template or based on Zone Sets to show the coverage need in a proportional manner.

Note: Zone Sets and Shift Sets information appears only if it has been defined in the system for the selected location. Zone Set workload is calculated in a proportional manner. Shift Sets workload is calculated on exact match with shifts.
  1. In the Rotation Schedule Template, click the Workload tab at the bottom of the template.
  2. Click the Expand icon to expand the Workload tab.
  3. In Show, select one of the following:
    • Shift Type
    • Shift Set
    • Zone Set — Shift types are displayed in alphanumeric order.
  4. In Job, select the position you want to define the targets for, or select Total Jobs.
  5. Click Edit Target to define or make changes to the Workload.
  6. For each row, enter the target number of required shifts for each day using either of the following methods:
    • Select a cell and enter the target value for the corresponding Shift Type, Shift Set, or Zone Set for that day in the schedule.
    • Right-click the cell you want to copy, then select Copy Target. To paste into a single cell, select the desired cell, then right-click and select Paste Target. To paste into multiple cells, hold down the Ctrl key, click each desired cell, then right-click and select Paste Target.
  7. Click Save.

Move workload to Workload Planner

You can move the data from the Workload tab to the Workload Planner in UKG Pro WFM. This enables you to share information between Rotation Schedule and the Workload Planner for the associated jobs, zones, shift sets, and days, without having to enter the data separately in both places. The values for each job and the associated zone or shift set per day is moved from Rotation Schedule to the Plan column in the Workload Planner. The Rotation Schedule template does not have to be published in order to move the workload data.

A maximum of 12 weeks of data can be moved at a time. Any values that were previously in the Workload Planner are overwritten with the workload data moved from Rotation Schedule.

To successfully move the data from the Workload tab to the Workload Planner, the following values must match:

  • Location for the jobs
  • Zone sets
  • Shift Sets
  • Days
Note: Because the Workload Planner only saves whole numbers, any decimal values in the Workload data are rounded (either up or down) to the nearest integer. Rounding is only impacted by the first digit after the decimal. If that number is greater than or equal to 5, the decimals are dropped and the integer is increased by 1. If that number is less than 5, the decimals are dropped and the integer remains the same. For example, 1.46 is rounded down to 1, but 1.65 is rounded up to 2.
  1. Click Tap the Workload tab at the bottom of the Rotation Schedule template.
  2. In Job, either select a specific job to move the workload data for or select Total Jobs to move the workload data for all jobs.
  3. Click Tap Move Workload.
  4. Enter the From Date and To Date to specify the date range for which you want to move the data.

    The date range cannot be longer than 12 weeks. To move the workload further out into the future, change the From Date value.

    The workload data cannot be moved for dates in the past.

  5. Click Tap Move.
  6. If a message displays that there is mismatched information, choose how you want to proceed:
    • Click Tap No if you want to fix the problems with the data before attempting to move the entire workload again.
    • Click Tap Yes to ignore the mismatched information, and move the rest of the workload information to the Workload Planner. You will need to update the mismatched information manually.
  7. Go to the Workload Planner.
  8. Set the date range and location to the values for the workload data that you just moved. The moved data displays in the corresponding Plan columns.

    Click Tap Audits to view changes to the Workload Planner data that resulted from moving the Workload, such as the old and new values, who made the changes, and when the changes were made.

Add shifts to the rotation schedule

In the Rotation Schedule Template, add shifts to the job rows in the schedule by using one of the following methods. Click Save when finished.

Using Quick Actions

To use Quick Actions to add shifts to the rotation schedule:

  1. Click Tap Quick Actions and select Add Shift .
  2. Select a shift type from the list. The shift types are sorted based on the earliest start time of the shift type.
  3. In the schedule, select the days where you want to add this shift. You can select a day at a time or a range of days.
    Shift types are color-coded based on the first letter of the shift label. All shifts starting with the letters A, D, E, and N display with a colored line in the Rotation Schedule:
    • D (Day): Blue
    • A (Afternoon): Yellow
    • E (Evening): Green
    • N (Night): Red

    All other shifts starting with any other letter display with a black line.

  4. To add more shift types, repeat steps 2 and 3.
  5. Click Tap Quick Actions to disable it.

Using the Shift glance

To use the Shift glance to add shifts to the rotation schedule:

  1. To add a shift:
    1. Right-click in the cell where you want to add a shift.
    2. Click Add Shift in the glance.
    3. Select a shift template from the list. The shift types are sorted based on the earliest start time of the shift type.
  2. To copy and paste shifts:
    1. Select one or more shift cells from an existing row in the schedule, then right-click and select Copy Shift.
    2. Select where in the schedule you want the copied shifts, then right-click and select Paste Shift.
  3. To copy and paste rows:
    1. Right-click the row you want to copy and select Copy Row.
    2. Right-click where you want to copy the row and select Paste Row.
  4. To remove a shift, right-click the cell for the shift you want to remove, and select Remove Shift.

Assign Employees to Jobs

You can assign employees to the positions in the rotation schedule. Any job rows that do not have an assigned employee display as open shifts in the Schedule Planner when the Rotation Schedule template is published.

  1. In the Rotation Schedule Template, right-click the row for the job you want to assign.
  2. Click Assign.
  3. In Assign Employee, select the From date for the assignment and click Select owner.
    The employees you can assign are only those employees that can work this job. The first group of employees in the list have this job as their primary job. The second group of employees displays below the horizontal bar and are employees that have this job as part of their Job Transfer set.
    Note: If Multiple Assignments is enabled on the system, allow up to 24 hours for the system to run the job during which time assignments will be added to the owners already assigned. Assignment fields in the Assignment column are read-only fields in the template grid that display "Assignment" when a job is assigned to an owner.
  4. Select the employee, then click Assign.

Working with paycodes

You can add paycodes to any cell in an assigned row of a Rotation Schedule. These paycodes can be used to indicate designated days off or to pre-book statutory holidays. Existing paycodes can also be edited and deleted.

Note: You cannot add a paycode to a cell in a row unless an employee is assigned to the row.

Add paycodes

To add a paycode:

  1. Right-click in an assigned cell and select Add Paycode in the glance.
  2. In the Add Paycode slider:
    1. Select the Effective Date to define when to apply the paycode. This date defaults to the date on the shift.
    2. In Paycode, select the paycode to add to the shift. Available paycodes are those from Pro WFM for which you have access.
    3. In Start Time, enter the start time for the paycode.
    4. In Duration, specify the duration of the paycode by selecting either Full Schedule Day or Specify Amount.
      If you select Specify Amount, add the duration in Amount Hours (hh:mm format).
    5. To have the paycode replace the shift, select Override Shift. If Override Shift is not selected, the paycode is applied to the day in addition to the existing shift.
      When Duration is set to Full Schedule Day, the existing shift is replaced. When Duration is set to Specify Amount, the paycode replaces the portion of the shift specified by the Start Time and Amount Hours.
    6. Select Add. The paycode is displayed on the shift.
    7. Select Save.
    8. Select Publish to synchronize the changes with Pro WFM.

Note about paycodes

Existing paycodes remain intact in the following cases:

  • When the employee of any row that has an assigned paycode is changed
  • When a job change removes an employee from an assigned row

To preserve data integrity in these cases, you must manually delete the paycodes as follows:

  1. Manually delete the paycodes. Refer to Delete paycodes for more information.
  2. Update the employee assigned to the row.
  3. Select Save, then select Publish.

Edit paycodes

If you edit a paycode after publishing, you must republish to ensure all changes are synchronized with Pro WFM.

To edit a paycode:

  1. Right-click the paycode displayed on the shift.
  2. Select Edit in the glance.
  3. In Edit Paycode, make the desired changes.
  4. Select Apply.
  5. Select Add. The paycode is displayed on the shift.
  6. Select Save.
  7. Select Publish to synchronize the changes with Pro WFM.

Delete paycodes

To delete a paycode:
  1. Right-click the paycode displayed on the shift.
  2. Select Delete in the glance.
  3. Select Save to store the changes.
  4. Select Publish to synchronize the changes with Pro WFM.

Edit a Rotation Schedule template

If you need to add more details to a template, you can modify a new template or an existing template. You can only edit a template that has not been published. To edit a published template, first unpublish it and then make your changes.

  1. From the Rotation Schedule page, select the template you want to edit and click Edit.
  2. To modify the template properties, such as Name and Description, click Edit Details.
  3. To modify the rows of the template:
    1. To add another row to the template, select a row and click Insert Row. A new row is added below the selected row.
    2. Right-click a job position row to display the glance.
    3. From the glance, you can:

      • Edit Row: Select the job for the row, along with other details. Click Previous or Next to copy the row's details to the previous or next row. Click Apply to save.

      • Assign: Assigns an employee to a job position. In Assign Employee, select the start date in From, and optionally select the end date in To, for the assignment. Click Select owner, select the employee, then click Assign.

        Reassign: Assigns a different employee to the job position. Click Reassign, select an employee, then click Assign.

      • Unassign: Temporarily unassigns an employee from the specified job position when they go on leave. You can optionally enter a specific date range for the employee to be unassigned. The days that the employee is unassigned for are grayed out in the rotation schedule. From Paycode Reason, select a paycode to justify the reason for the employee being unassigned from the job position.

        Note: For the unassigned period, the rotation line is split into two rows: the first line will be the job assigned to the employee and one paycode edit appears for the whole period where the employee has the paycode. However, when posting, paycodes will be created on days where the employee had shifts assigned.

      • Insert Row at Cursor: Adds a new row after the selected row.

      • Insert Row at End: Adds a row after the last row in the list.

      • Delete Row: Select the row you want to remove, click Delete Row, then click Yes in the warning message.

      • Copy Row: Select the row you want to copy, then click Copy Row.

      • Paste Row: Pastes the copied row to the selected row.

  4. Click Save.

Publish a Rotation Schedule template

The Publish functionality rolls out the Rotation Schedule template to the Schedule Planner so Schedulers can prepare the schedule for posting. Any positions without an assigned employee are created as appropriate open shifts in the schedule.

You can publish a template on multiple non-consecutive dates if desired.

Rotation Schedule supports shift group functionality for blocks of open shifts. When a template is published with a row of unassigned shifts, all shifts in that row are grouped together into a single shift group. When shifts are added or removed from an unassigned row and published, the shift group is updated to reflect the current state of open shifts.

New shift groups are created per publish range, ensuring each publish event is discrete and compatible with processing. Whenever a Rotation Schedule template is republished for a vacant line with additional, overlapping, or earlier date ranges, a new shift group ID is created. Each publish action produces an independent shift group and existing shift groups remain unaltered.

For more information about shift group behavior, including extended, overlapping, and republished date ranges, refer the Shift Groups job aid.

Note: Shift group functionality is available on an on-demand basis. Contact your UKG representative to request having this functionality enabled. Once it is enabled, a system administrator must configure it in Pro WFM by enabling the Shift Groups feature switch (Main Menu > Administration > Application Setup > System Configuration > Feature Switch), and setting the Scheduling Shift Groups function access control point (Main Menu > Administration > Application Setup > Access Profiles > Function Access Profiles > (profile) > APIs > Rest API) to Allowed for the desired users.

To publish a template:

  1. On the Rotation Schedule Template page, click Publish.
  2. Specify the date range for when you want the Rotation Schedule published to the Schedule Planner.
    1. In From Date, select the start date.
    2. In To Date, select the end date. If you select Forever as the To Date, the system publishes the template up to one day before the last shift builder date, which appears in the header of the template page in the Published Dates section. The last shift builder date is defined by the number of days entered in the Days for pattern rollout field of the Shift Builder Criteria page. For more information, refer to the Shift Builder Criteria help topic. When you select Forever as the To Date and publish the template, you can use Auto Publish to enable the system to automatically publish the template on the last shift builder date, for example, to process data for one day before the last shift builder date. For more information about Auto Publish including steps for configuring it, go to Automatically publish a template.
    3. The shift builder date, which appears in the Date patterns rolled out field of the Shift Builder Criteria page, moves forward based on how frequently the Schedule Builder event is scheduled to run in Event Manager. For more information, refer to the Shift Builder Criteria help topic.
    4. To add another date range, click Add Range, then specify the From Date and To Date.
  3. Click Publish.
    If there are terminated employees in the template, the message "Please remove the following employees from the template to avoid errors during publishing, as they are either already terminated or will be terminated soon" is displayed. Click Cancel, remove the shifts for the listed terminated employees, then publish the template.
  4. In the Rotation Schedule Template, a calendar icon displays for each shift in the specified date range to indicate that the template is published.
  5. Open the Schedule Planner for the published date range, and click Refresh to view the rotation schedule. You must post the schedule for employees to see their shifts.
Note: The shifts created using Rotation Schedule will show the shift name in the Schedule Planner and not the shift label, even if the shift display has been changed to Shift Label within the Schedule Planner.

To unpublish a template:

  • On the Rotation Schedule Template page, click Unpublish.

    The scheduled shifts are removed in the Schedule Planner for the employees assigned in the template and the calendar icon no longer displays on the shifts in the template. Open shifts that are in the template are also removed in the Schedule Planner.

Select specific lines for publishing

You can also select and publish specific lines in a rotation.

Before you can publish specific lines for publishing:

  • A rotation needs to be published to be able to see the checkboxes beside the rows.

  • A partial publish can only be executed when a full publish is done on the template.

A partial publish is limited by the time frame of the full publish. If the start date of the published time frame is in the past, the current date is used as the start date because the system Schedule Planner does not allow changes to data in the past.

Example: An employee will be on leave of absence for three weeks. In the rotation, we need to split the line into two, and for three weeks the rotation will be left unassigned. The scheduler can publish that line only if you select the check box to the left of the line. The shifts on the unassigned line for the three weeks will be moved from the employee to the open shift area in the Schedule Planner.

To publish a specific line:

  1. Click the checkbox on the lines you want to publish.
  2. Click Publish.
  3. In the Rotation Schedule Template, a calendar icon displays for each shift in the specified date range to indicate that the template is published.
  4. Open the Schedule Planner for the published date range, and click Refresh to view the rotation schedule.

You must post the schedule for employees to see their shifts.

Edit the cost center in a template

You can edit the cost center in a template by selecting from a list of predefined cost centers, which are defined in UKG Pro Workforce Management. After you publish the template with the newly added cost center, the cost center appears as a transfer in the appropriate cell in the Schedule Planner. To view additional information about the transfer or cost center, hover over the transfer icon in the Schedule Planner.

Considerations

  • The system prevents rotation templates from being published if the entered cost centers are invalid.

  • If a cost center is not defined, the system applies the default cost center based on the employee's pay rule.

  • If a defined cost center is the same as the cost center defined in the pay rule, no transfer appears in the cell in the Schedule Planner.

  1. Open a Rotation Schedule template.

  2. Click the Cost Center cell in the appropriate row.

  3. In the Add Cost Center dialog, click Add Cost Center.

  4. Use Search to look for a cost center or select it from the list.

    • The cost center list is divided into two categories:

      • Primary — The first cost center that is found in the location hierarchy. "Primary" appears in the same field as the primary cost center.

      • Non-Primary — The remaining cost centers that appear in the list.

    • Only those cost centers available to the logged-on user are available for selection. Unavailable cost centers appear in the list as "Not Available." You can pick only one cost center at a time.

  5. Click OK.

Resolve conflicts

The conflict check identifies duplicate or overlapping shifts that are assigned to the same employee in the same template or in any of the other Rotation Schedule templates. If conflicts are found, you can modify the template to resolve the conflicts.

  1. Open a Rotation Schedule template.
  2. Click Check Conflicts.

    In the row # column, a red triangle displays in the upper-right corner to indicate that a conflict exists for the assigned employee. Red triangles also display in each cell in the schedule where there is a shift conflict.

  3. Click the red triangle in the row # column to display the Shift Conflicts page for the assigned employee.
  4. Select the template you want to modify, then click Edit.
  5. In the Rotation Schedule Template, select Quick Actions, select Delete Shift, then select the shifts you want to remove.
  6. Click Save.

Automatically publish a template

You can configure the system to publish a template on a recurring basis.

Considerations

  • This option is available only after the initial publish of a template, and when Forever is selected as the To Date or the To Date is a date that occurs after the shift builder date.

  • When the Auto Publish option is on, it will be automatically triggered by the system after a week of publishing the template.

  • To apply the Auto Publish option to a template, you must click Auto Publish and change its state to "on."

To configure a template for Auto Publish:

  1. In the Rotation Schedule tile, click Open Template List to display the Rotation Schedule page.
  2. From the list of published templates, select the appropriate template.
  3. The Auto Publish button is available only when the end date of the template is set to "Forever" or beyond the shift builder date. Click Auto Publish and click Yes in the confirmation pop-up.

Example

If a template is published from June 17, 2024 to "Forever," and the shift builder date is July 16, 2025, the system publishes the template from June 17, 2024 to July 15, 2025.

Data for this activity appears on the Audit tab as follows:

Type

Action

Previous Value

New Value

Date Time

User

Template

Publish

6/17/2024 - 7/15/2025

6/10/2024 6:09 am

Smith, Jane

After a week of publishing, automatic publishing will occur for a week ahead of the already published shifts. The shifts are published from July 16, 2025 to July 22, 2025, and appear in the audit list with Auto Publish Date in the Action column.

Type

Action

Previous Value

New Value

Date Time

User

Template

Auto Publish Dates

7/16/2025 - 7/22/2025

6/17/2024 6:14 am

System

The header displays the published date and status as follows:

Published Dates 6/17/2024 - 7/22/2025

Automatically Published 6/17/2024 11:14 am System

View published Rotation Schedules

The Calendar View in the template list shows a visual depiction of when the published Rotation Schedule templates are deployed.

  1. On the Rotation Schedule page, click Calendar View.
  2. Select how you want to view the published Rotation Schedules, by Year, Month, or Week.

    In the calendar, the Start date and End date is shown for each published template.

  3. To view earlier or later dates in the calendar, click Previous or Next. Click Today to view the published templates for the current day.
  4. Click Close.

Rotation template name and row number visibility in Pro WFM

When a rotation template is published, each shift and pay code in Pro WFM displays both comments and notes. This allows schedulers to identify where shifts were generated from.

The notes displayed on shifts and pay codes are driven by the rotation template name and row (line) number. Comments originate in Pro WFM or are customer-defined and are applied through the configured comment categories.

This information is available in both the Schedule Planner and Dataviews, improving transparency between Rotation Schedule and Pro WFM and supporting vacancy reporting and operational analysis.

If a rotation template is unpublished, the associated rotation template name and row number are removed from the affected shifts and pay codes.

Note: This feature is available on an on-demand basis and must be enabled by UKG. Contact UKG Support to request enablement.
Configuration

Enable Function Access Profile (FAP)

The Function Access Profile must be enabled and applied for the logged-in manager. Even if the feature is enabled, shifts and pay codes will not be published unless the required Function Access Profile permissions are applied.

  1. Navigate to Menu > Administration > Application Setup > Access Profiles > Function Access Profiles.

  2. Select the required Function Access Profile.

  3. Select APIs , then select Rest APIs , and then Comments API Setup.

  4. Set Comments API Setup to Allowed.

  5. Select Save.

    Note: Even if the feature is enabled from the backend and the Comments API Setup is set to Disallowed, shifts and pay codes cannot be published.

Create comments for shifts and pay codes

Comments must be created for both the Shifts and Pay Codes categories for comments to appear on published rotation shifts and pay codes.

  1. Navigate to Home > Setup > Common Setup > Comments

  2. Select New and provide the name of the comment in the Comment Text field.

  3. Leave the Inactive checkbox blank to set the comment as active.

  4. Select Pay Codes as the available category and save.

  5. Repeat the steps to create a comment for the Shifts category and set it as active.

When a rotation template is published, comments for shifts and pay codes are visible along with notes driven by the rotation template name and row (line) number. In the Schedule Planner, when you hover over a published shift, the comment reflects the configured Shifts category comment, and the notes display the rotation template name and row ID. The comment is created once, while the notes update dynamically based on the published rotation template and row.

Import and export templates

Rotation Schedule templates can be exported to an Excel (.xlsx) file that includes all the template data organized in separate tabs ( Details, Work Plan, Shift Templates, Workload, and Total Hours).

Important: You must use the latest Excel file version compatible with the current release. If you use an outdated file version, the system generates the following message: This Excel file version is outdated. For future imports, use the example Excel file.
Note: If Multiple Assignments is enabled on the system, fields in the Assignment column will include data. If Multiple Assignments is not enabled, the fields in the Assignment column will be blank.
Likewise, rotation schedules that are created or modified externally in Excel (.xlsx) can be imported into the Rotation Schedule application.

Import a template

The template import process is case-insensitive. When there are variations in capitalization between the imported data (job paths, work rules, employee names, assignments, and cost centers) and the existing records, the system recognizes that the imported data matches the existing records.

Note: Ensure that the file you are importing does not have the same file name or template name as an existing template. Otherwise, the import will fail.

To import a template:

  1. On the Rotation Schedule page, click Import.
  2. In Import Rotation Schedule Template, click Choose file to select the .xlsx file to import. The maximum file size is 5 MB.
  3. Click Import.
    The imported template is shown in the list of templates on the Rotation Schedule page.

Export a template

To export a template:

  1. On the Rotation Schedule page, select the template and click Edit.
  2. On the Rotation Schedule Template page, click Export.
  3. In Select Rotation Length Date, select the date.
    • If the selected date is before the anchor date, the initial rotation cycle is exported.
    • If the selected date is after the anchor date, the rotation cycle which contains the selected date is exported.

    The exported template contains only one rotation cycle (length) based on the selected start date. The appropriate dates are displayed in the Work Plan tab in the exported Excel file.

  4. Click Export.

    A message displays that the exported template .xlsx file is downloaded automatically. You can also click the Exported Template File link in the message to download the file.

  5. Click Done.

Synchronize data between templates and the Schedule Planner

Changes made to shifts in the Schedule Planner after a Rotation Schedule template is published are shown as exceptions in the template. You can accept or refuse the changes. These changes appear after you click Synchronize to process the edits and the system displays them in both Rotation Schedules and the Schedule Planner.

To synchronize a published template, perform these steps:

  1. In the Rotation Schedule template, click Synchronize.

    A pencil icon appears in each day cell for shifts that were modified. A pencil icon also appears on shifts for which a synchronization occurs.

  2. To accept or refuse changes for individual shifts:
    1. Click in a cell to display information about the change made to the shift in the Schedule Planner.
    2. Click Apply to update the Rotation Schedule template with the change, or click Refuse to not update the template. If you do not update the template, you must manually update the information.
      Note: If the shift change includes both a job transfer and cost centers on any segment of the shift, then the Apply button is grayed out and you cannot apply the change to the template. Click Refuse.
    3. Click Save. The change to the shift is saved in the template as a new shift type.
  3. To refuse changes for all modified shifts at once:
    1. Select Refuse All Modifed in the toolbar. Note that this is only enabled if the template has been published.
    2. In the Refuse All Modified Shifts pop-up, select Refuse All to refuse all modified shifts for the template for the specified range of published dates.
      A banner message displays to inform you that the refusal process is in progress. Once the Refuse All process is completed, shifts eligible for refusal are indicated with a circular double-sided arrow icon. These shifts will not be considered when publishing, unpublishing, or synchronizing the template.
Examples:
  • The system appends a number in parentheses when a copy of a shift is created. For example, copying a shift named NC creates a new shift named NC - (1).
  • A template has been published from June 20 to June 30. In Schedule Planner, a user changes shifts on the following dates: June 21, June 24, and June 28. The user republishes the template from June 23 to June 26. The system synchronizes the template for June 24, only. A pencil icon appears on the June 24 shift in the cell and shifts from June 27 to June 30 will be unpublished.

Considerations for synchronizing templates

  • Synchronization for selected employees — Each time you publish a template for a specified date range and specific employees are selected in the template, the system synchronizes the selected employees for the specified date range.

  • When you click Unpublish for a published template, the system applies these actions to the shifts from the current date to the last published date range.

    Example: The current date is June 22. A template is published from June 20 to June 30. In Schedule Planner, edits are made to the June 21 and June 22 shifts. In the template, the user clicks Unpublish or Publish and the system synchronizes the shifts. The pencil icon appears on the shifts which are not synchronized. When you click the pencil icon, the following options are presented: Yes — All the shifts will be removed from the current date to June 30 and the system displays no unsynchronized data. No — The system will not remove the shifts and presents the unsynchronized data displaying showing a red pencil icon in each cell. In this case, a red pencil icon appears in the June 22 shift.

View Total Hours

You can view the total hours for the Year and for the Cycle (the rotation length). The values are shown in the Total Hours columns on the right side of the Rotation Schedule template. Select Expand to show all the available columns, or Collapse to hide them.

In the Budget column, the Cycle Cost column indicates the cost per rotation for one cycle.

  • If rows are assigned to employees, the system uses the employees' pay rules to determine their wages for the cycle.

  • If rows are unassigned, as in the case of an employee on leave, the system uses the monetary value defined in the Location Profiles for open shifts.

Running totals for hours and cost for the cycle appear in the header:

  • Targeted Budget (Hours/Wages)

  • Scheduled (Hours/Wages)

  • Difference (Hours/Wages)

You can use this information to make modifications to the Rotation Schedule template. For example, if the FTE (calculated) hours in a job row is more than the FTE (targeted) hours, you can use this information to remove excess shifts for an employee to get the FTE values closer to the same value. Likewise, if FTE (calculated) hours is less than FTE (targeted) hours for an employee, you can use this information to add more shifts.

To recalculate the cost for bulk edits made to the rotation, click Recalculate Cost prior to saving the changes. The Recalculate Cost button displays only if you have been given the appropriate access.

About how the budget is calculated

Information in the cycle is either unassigned shifts (open shifts) or assigned shifts where the Pay Rule is associated to the employee.

  • Open Shift Calculation

    (Shift End Time – Shift Start Time) * OS Avg Wage Rate = Shift Cost

  • Assigned Shifts

    Shift is Totalized * Employee Base Wage = Shift Cost

The shift is calculated the same way as in the Timecard. The employee Pay Rule considers shift distribution and return the amount of hours that will be multiplied by the Emp Base Wage which is effective dated.

Each rotation has one Cycle Cost (even if the rotation was split). At the end of all rotations, there is a Total line.

View the Audit tab

The Audittab displays all available template-level operations such as modifications to template properties and associated actions made to a specific template.

Note: After an action is performed by users, click Refresh to view each action.

Select the appropriate template and then select the Audit tab. The Audit tab displays edits in the following columns:

Note: Publish and Auto-Publish failures do not appear in the Audit list. In addition, the Audit list does not display row-specific actions.
ColumnDetails

Type

The type of change made which can be any of the following:

Name, Location, Open Shift Tag, Assigned ShiftTag, Template Description, Anchor Date, Rows, Cycle Target Budget Hours, Cycle Target Budget Cost

Note: The Cycle Target Budget Cost appears only when the Wage FAP is enabled in your access profile. If you do not have the appropriate rights access, the Cycle Target Budget Cost field is empty.

Action

The action performed by the user which can be any of the following:

Publish — The user published the template.

Unpublish — The user unpublished the template.

Publish Partially Failed — After attempting to publish the template, the system published the template with errors. A status of Published With Issues appears in the Template header.

Unpublish Partially Failed — After attempting to unpublish the template, the system unpublished the template with errors.

Auto Publish Dates — The dates of when the system auto publishes the template.

Auto Publish Partially Failed — After the system attempts to auto publish the template, the system publishes the template with errors. A status of Auto Published With Issues appears in the Template header.

Auto Publish — Indicates that a user changed the auto-publish state from on to off (or off to on) by clicking the Auto Publish button.

Create — The user created a new template.

Modify — The user modified data in the template that does not include the row data.

Previous Value

The value in the template prior to a template modification. Displays values for the following actions only:

  • Modify

  • Auto Publish

Note: The system displays values for a previously performed Auto Publish action as either ‘true’ or ‘false.'

New Value

The value modified by the user.

Note: The system displays values for a new Auto Publish action as either ‘true’ or ‘false.'

Date Time

The date and time of when the action occurred according to locale setting in the user's people record.

User

The name of the user performing the action.

Managing data on the Audit tab:

  • You can filter every column except the User column.
  • Only the Date Time column can be sorted.
  • After filtering and sorting the data on the tab, you must manually clear filtering and sorting before you click Refresh to reset the display to its original state.
  • To generate a report by exporting the Audit tab data to a CSV file, click Generate Report.