Manage Employee Visibility Periods

An employee visibility period defines both the time period during which an employee can submit a request for schedule changes, and the range of dates for which the request can be made. Consider these definitions and concepts before working with employee visibility periods:

  • Submission Period — The time period during which an employee can submit a request for schedule changes.
  • Visibility Period Action — An action you can configure to occur near the beginning or end of an employee visibility period. Examples include sending workflow notifications to employees to alert them of an approaching employee visibility period or initiating a business process at the end of an employee visibility period. See for more information.
  • Request Period — The date range when the request can occur. Example: If the request period is July 1—August 31, the employee can submit requests only for times during July and August.
  • Employee Priority — The system opens and closes employee submission periods in a sequential manner according to rank or seniority in the organization. If desired, this feature allows higher ranking employees to choose first for shift or vacation selection in a queue-based bidding process. Configure in one of these ways:
    • Open and close the employee submission period in a sequential manner according to rank or seniority in the organization (based on the order in a procedure set).
    • Open the employee submission period in a sequential manner according to rank or seniority in the organization and close all employee submission periods at the same time.
    Note:

    To use the Employee Priority feature, you must configure these items:

    • Scheduler Setup > Sorting and Matching > Procedure sets (see for more information)
    • Application Setup > Employee self-service > Request Submission by Employee Priority (see for more information)
  • Group Type — The Hyperfind query of employees who can submit requests.
  • Recurring Period — Repeats the schedule every x days, weeks, or months.
  • Rolling Period — Moves the entire schedule forward by a day at a time. The employee can request a schedule change after x number of days from that day (to give lead time to the manager) for a specific time period or for an unlimited time. Example: If the date today is May 15, the employee can request time off, after a 5-day delay, on May 20 for 30 days.

To begin working with employee visibility periods, explore the applicable topics.

  1. Click Tap Main Menu  . Select Maintenance >  Employee Visibility Periods.
  2. Click Tap Add Period  .
  3. In Name, enter a name for the employee visibility period.
  4. In Request For, select the type of request.
  5. (Optional) In Description, enter a brief description of the employee visibility period.
  6. Click Tap Suppress Event Notification to prevent notifications from being sent to the employee group after you create a request period.

In the Group Type section of the Add Period slider, you use Hyperfind queries to specify the groups of employees who can submit requests.

  1. Select the group type: 
    • Single group: The period for every employee is opened at the same time; there are no special privileges unless each employee is selected by a given priority.
    • Multi group: Each employee group has a period opened for them when they can pick their schedule. A minimum of two groups are required and you cannot choose the same group twice. Organizations with a large number of employees commonly create employee groups.
  2. Select the Hyperfinds you want to use to identify the employees who can submit requests. Each Hyperfind defines an employee group. If you have the appropriate access, you can use any personal Hyperfind queries that you have created. This step varies based on the type of group you have specified:
    • For single groups, specify the Hyperfind in the Employee Query field.
    • For multi groups, a table is displayed with rows you use to specify the Hyperfinds.
      • Click Tap the drop-down arrow and select the Hyperfind.
      • Use the up and down  to change the order of the employee groups. (Group order is meaningful if you specify a recurring visibility period. See Step 3: Specify employee visibility periods as recurring or rolling for more information.)
      • Click Tap Add Group to add another group to the list.
  3. Select Open submission period by Employee priority to use a time slot according to the employee priority as defined in a specific procedure set.

    Note: If you select this option, you cannot overlap recurring periods.

When you define an employee eligibility period, you can choose whether you want that period to be specified as a recurring or rolling period. A recurring period repeats based on the parameters you specify (frequency and duration, for example). A rolling period moves the employee visibility period forward by one day at a time.

Consider these factors when deciding on a method:

  • You cannot specify recurring and rolling period for the same employee visibility period.
  • You cannot specify a rolling period for a multi group employee visibility period.
  • You cannot specify a rolling period if you are allowing open submission periods based on employee priority
  • Recurring periods must have a specific start time, so you cannot choose Any Time for the submission period

You can specify frequency, duration, and, for multi groups only, whether you want to rotate the groups with each new recurrence of the employee visibility period.

  1. In Recurring Period, for either single or multi groups, select:
    • Yes, if you want the system to repeat the employee visibility period. Then:
      1. In Repeat every, select the number of days, weeks, or months you want the employee visibility period to recur.
      2. In Until, select:
        • Forever to run the employee visibility period indefinitely, or
        • Specify Date, and in End Date specify the date on which you want the employee visibility period to end.
    • No, if you do not want the system to repeat the employee visibility period.
  1. For multi groups only, indicate whether you want the system to rotate the groups defined in your employee visibility period. Rotation occurs at the end of each recurring period:
    1. Cyclical: The system rotates the groups so each has a chance to select their schedule first (so, for groups a, b, and c, a cyclical rotation would result in an order of abc, bca, and cab over successive rotations).
    2. Sequential: Groups are not rotated. The system always selects groups in the same order as specified in the Multi group list.

  2. In Submission Period, define the time period when employees can request schedule changes. Select one of the following:

    • Any Time (Not available for Multi Groups): The time period for request submissions is not limited.
    • Specify Time: Do the following:

      Select the Start Date and Start Time for the employees to submit their schedule.

      Select the End Date (up to 1 year later) or End Time to close the period. This date or time must be after the start date and time.

    • Time Zone: Optionally specify the time zone you want the system to use when setting the submission period. If no time zone is specified, the system uses the employee's time zone.

      Note: This field appears only if you select Specify Time for the submission period.

  3. In Request Period, define the date range for valid requests (not when the request can be submitted). Select one of the following:

    • Any Date: The time period for which a request can be made is not limited.
    • Specify Date:

      Select the Start Date. This date can be on or after the start date of submission periods in the future, or on or before the start date of submission periods in the past.

      Select the End Date.

      Note: To allow employees to submit time-off requests in signed-off periods, the visibility period can be configured for past dates exclusively using Request Period start and end dates that are earlier than the Submission Period start and end dates.

  4. Go to Step 4: Specify submission and request periods.

Set a rolling period to move the entire employee visibility period forward in one-day increments. The employee can submit a schedule request after x number of days from that day (to give lead time to the manager) for a specific time period or for an unlimited time.

Example: If today is May 15, the employee can request time off, after a 5-day delay, on May 20 for a 30-day period from the day of the request. If the employee makes a schedule request on May 16, the employee can request time off on May 21 for a 30-day period from the day of the request.

Note: To allow employees to submit time-off requests in signed-off periods, the visibility period can be configured for past dates exclusively by specifying negative values in the Open Period and Close Period fields to indicate days in the past.

You cannot specify both a rolling and a recurring period for the same employee visibility period.

  1. In Rolling Period, select:
    • Yes to repeat the schedule as a rolling period.
    • No if you do not want the system to repeat the schedule as a rolling period.
  2. In Open period, enter the number of days before or after the current date to open the rolling period.
    • Maximum days before = —365 days.
    • Maximum days after = 365 days.
  3. In Close period, enter the number of days before or after the current date to close the rolling period.
    • Maximum days before = —365 days.
    • Maximum days after = 365 days.
    • The close period date must be after the open period date.

    Examples:

    Open period = —365 days and Close period = —7 days.

    Open period = 7 days and Close period = 60 days.

  4. (Optional) Select Never close request once opened to run the rolling period indefinitely.
  5. Go to Step 4: Specify submission and request periods.

To finish defining the employee visibility period, you need to specify the submission period and the request period.

  1. In Submission Period, define the time period when employees can request schedule changes. Select one:

    • Any Time (Not available for Multi Groups): The time period is not limited.
    • Specify Time:

      Select the Start Date and Start Time for the employees to submit their schedule.

      Select the End Date (up to 1 year later) or End Time to close the period. This date or time must be after the start date and time.

    • Time Zone: Optionally specify the time zone you want the system to use when setting the submission period. If no time zone is specified, the system uses the employee's time zone.

      Note: This field appears only if you select Specify Time for the submission period.

  2. In Request Period, define the date range for a valid request. Select one:

    • Any Date: Employees can make a request for any date.
    • Specify Date:

      Select the Start Date. This date can be on or after the start date of submission periods in the future, or on or before the start date of submission periods in the past.

      Select the End Date.

      Note: To allow employees to submit time-off requests in signed-off periods, the employee visibility period can be configured for past dates exclusively using Request Period start and end dates that are earlier than the Submission Period start and end dates.

  3. Optionally, assign a visibility period action to the employee visibility period. See Step 5: Assign a visibility period action.
  4. Optionally, preview the submission period. See Preview the submission period.
  5. If you are done configuring the employee visibility period, click tap Apply to save it. 

You can optionally assign a visibility period action to an employee visibility period. A visibility period action can initiate a workflow notification and a business process at the start or end (or both) of an employee visibility period, depending on how the action was configured.

To assign a visibility period action:

  1. Ensure that you have specified a time zone for the submission period. See Step 4: Specify submission and request periods if you need help with this step.
  2. In Visibility Period Settings, select the action you want to assign to this employee visibility period in Visibility Period Action.
  3. Optionally, preview the submission period. See Preview the submission period.
  4. If you are done configuring the employee visibility period, click tap Apply to save it. 

You can preview the submission period while you are adding or editing an employee visibility period to the system. You might want to do this to ensure that new or edited submission periods reflect your needs.

You can also view submission periods for existing employee visibility periods. You might want to do this when reviewing existing employee visibility periods that you want to model.

By default, the system displays the submission period for the current month, so you might need to scroll to the Previous  or Next  month to display the submission period. The default view for submission periods is the Gantt view, but you can click tap the calendar  to display monthly or week views.

The leftmost column in the Gantt view displays the Hyperfind used to define the group associated with the submission period. If multiple groups are defined, each corresponding Hyperfind is displayed on its own line. Click Tap the caret next to the Hyperfind name to display the employees identified by the Hyperfind.

Hyperfind names are displayed as overlays in monthly and week views. Employees associated with Hyperfinds are not displayed in these views.

To preview a submission period for an employee visibility period you are creating or editing:

  • On the Add Period or Edit Period slider, click tap the Preview button.
  • Click Tap Close or OK to exit the Submission Period preview and return to the Add Period or Edit Period slider.

When you are done, click tap :

  • Apply if you want to save the new or edited employee visibility period.
  • Cancel if you want to exit the add or edit operation without saving any changes.

To view a submission period for an existing employee visibility period:

  1. Click Tap Main Menu  . Select Maintenance >  Employee Visibility Periods.
  2. On the Employee Visibility Periods page, click tap View In Calendar  .
  3. To view the submission period for another employee visibility period, select it directly from the drop-down list in the upper left corner of the Submission Period view.
  4. Click Tap Close or OK to exit the Submission Period view and return to the Employee Visibility Periods page.

To edit an employee visibility period:

  1. Click Tap Main Menu  . Select Maintenance >  Employee Visibility Periods.
  2. On the Employee Visibility Periods page, select the employee visibility period you want to edit.
  3. Click Tap Edit Period . The Edit Period slider appears.
  4. Make the changes you want.

    Note: You can edit an employee visibility period created by another manager with their personal Hyperfind queries, but you must specify an Employee Query that you have access to.

    Note: If you change an existing employee preferences request subtype, employees will not be able to make changes to any pending preferences requests associated with that subtype.

  5. When you are done, click tap :

To delete an employee visibility period:

  1. Click Tap Main Menu  . Select Maintenance >  Employee Visibility Periods.
  2. On the Employee Visibility Periods page, select the employee visibility period you want to delete.
  3. Click Tap Delete Period . The system displays a confirmation message.
  4. Click Tap :
    • No if you do not want to delete the employee visibility period.
    • Yes to complete the delete action.