A shift is a set of working hours, day by day, that limits when staff may sign in to PharmaERP. For example, Day Shift can mean Monday to Friday 09:00 to 18:00 with the weekend closed. You write the hours once and link the shift to as many people as you need. Administrators who set up staff access use this screen. People who review staff access, for example before an audit, use it to read shifts and their history.
A shift says only which hours apply, never which place. The place, with its time zone, is an office on Access Locations. On the Members page each person is linked to an office and, for that office, to a shift. At sign-in PharmaERP finds the person's office, takes that office's shift and checks the current time in the office's time zone.
Before you start
Access needed. Your administrator sets these rights for Access Shifts in Role Master.
View: open the screen, Help, History and Who uses this.
Create: use Add New.
Update: use Edit.
Delete: use Deactivate and Activate.
Buttons and menu items you have no right for are not shown. Rights are read when you sign in. After a change in Role Master, sign out and sign in again.
Nothing needs to exist before you add a shift. For a shift to affect anyone, an office must exist on Access Locations. The person must be linked to that office and shift on Members, with Time Access set to Yes.
To find the screen, open System Settings in the left menu. Under Roles & Access, click Access Shifts.
System Settings menu: Access Shifts is under Roles & Access, next to Access Locations
The screen at a glance
The screen opens with the heading, the Help and Add New buttons, the Status filter and a search box. Below them is the list of shifts. At first it shows only active shifts, in code order. Each line shows the schedule, the number of open days, the number of people on the shift, its status and when it last changed. The Option button at the end of each line opens a menu with Edit, History and Deactivate or Activate, depending on your rights.
Access Shifts list with Help, Add New, the Status filter and the search box
Step by step
Find a shift
Check which shifts already exist before you add one or link a person, so that the same hours are not written down twice.
Open Access Shifts. The list shows active shifts in order of their code.
Type part of a code, name or description in the search box at the top right, for example DAY. The list narrows as you type.
To see switched-off shifts, choose Inactive only (or All) in Status.
Click a column heading with arrows (Code, Shift Name, Status, Modified) to sort. Click again to reverse the order.
The Schedule column shows the week in short form, such as "Mon-Fri 09:00-18:00". When the open days have different hours it reads "Varies by day". A blue overnight label marks hours that run past midnight.
Add a shift with its weekly hours
You need the Create right. Decide the hours for each day and a short code that you will never need to change.
Click Add New. The form opens with a full week filled in: Monday to Friday open 09:00 to 17:00, Saturday and Sunday closed.
Type the Shift Code, for example DAY-01. Keep it short and stable. You cannot change it later.
Type the Shift Name, for example Day Shift. Administrators choose shifts by this name on the Members page.
Optionally type a Description.
Under Working hours, change the times of each open day. Type them as hh:mm, or click the clock symbol and pick the hour, then the minutes.
Untick Open on every day that is closed.
Click Save.
A new shift with Shift Code, Shift Name, Description and the filled-in week
PharmaERP checks the form, then saves the shift and all seven days together. The shift is marked Active and one line, "Created", is written to its history. You return to the list with the green message "Saved Successfully". A new shift affects nobody until you link people to it on Members.
If the shift cannot be saved, the form stays open with your entries and a red box lists every problem. Correct them and click Save again. Nothing is saved until every problem is fixed.
Tip: For a night shift, set From to 22:00 and To to 06:00. A To time earlier than the From time means "until that time the next morning". A blue overnight label appears. Enter the window on the day it starts: Friday 22:00 - 06:00 lets the person sign in at 02:00 on Saturday morning, even though Saturday is closed.
Copy hours across days
In the working hours, set the hours for Monday.
Click Copy Monday's hours to Tue-Fri. Tuesday to Friday now show the same open tick and times.
Click Close Saturday and Sunday to untick both weekend days in one click.
Click Save.
Both buttons change only the screen. Nothing is saved until you click Save.
Change the hours of a shift
You need the Update right.
In the list, click the Option button of the shift and choose Edit.
Read the yellow box at the top. When people are linked to the shift, it says how many people are assigned and that any change applies to all of them at their next sign-in.
Change the hours. The Shift Code is grey and cannot be changed. You can change the name and the description.
Click Save.
If people are on the shift, PharmaERP asks "This change affects N employees assigned to this shift. It applies at their next sign-in. Continue?" Click OK to save or Cancel to go back.
Editing a shift that 7 people use, with the yellow impact box above the form
Only the days you changed are updated. Each change is written to the history with the old and new hours. PharmaERP does not notify the people concerned, so tell them yourself. The new hours apply the next time each person signs in. Anyone already signed in carries on.
See who uses a shift
Do this before you change or switch off a shift.
Open the shift with Edit or History.
Click Who uses this.
The window shows the number of active people and one line per person, with their e-mail address, the office where they hold the shift (Paired with) and whether it is their primary office. If nobody is linked, it says "No employees are assigned yet."
Who uses this window listing the people on a shift
Read the history of a shift
Use the history to answer "who changed this shift, and when?"
In the list, click Option and choose History. You can also click History on the Edit page.
Read the Currently: line. It shows the hours of the shift today.
Read the list: When, Who, What changed, From and To.
Type in Search history to narrow the list, for example Tuesday.
The list opens with the oldest change first. Click When to show the newest first. The history records the creation, every change of name or description, every changed day with its old and new hours, and every switch off and on. Nothing can be edited or removed from it.
History of a shift with When, Who, What changed, From and To
Switch a shift off or on again
A shift is never deleted, so its history stays. You need the Delete right.
Click Who uses this and move everyone on the shift to another shift on the Members page first.
In the list, click Option and choose Deactivate.
Confirm the question "Deactivate this shift? Employees using it will no longer be able to sign in through it." with OK.
To bring a shift back, choose Inactive only in Status, click Option and choose Activate. No question is asked.
The shift now shows Inactive and disappears from the Active only list. If people are still on it, PharmaERP refuses and nothing changes.
Link people to a shift on Members
You do this on the person's record, not on this screen.
Open Members and edit the person.
Set Time Access to Yes.
In the Access locations section, click Add location.
Choose the office in the Location column and the shift in the Shift column. Mark the row as primary.
Save the record.
Only active shifts are offered. The shift's Assigned Employees count goes up by one and the person appears in Who uses this. The Members guide explains the rules for office rows.
Access locations block on a staff record with a Location and a Shift column
What the employee sees at sign-in
Nothing changes for staff whose Time Access is No. For a person with Time Access set to Yes on a Monday to Friday 09:00-18:00 shift:
The person signs in... | Result |
|---|---|
Tuesday 10:15 | Signed in |
Tuesday at exactly 18:00 | Signed in, because the end time itself still counts |
Tuesday at 18:00 and a few seconds | Refused with "Time period expired" |
Saturday 11:00 | Refused with "Time period expired", because Saturday is closed |
Tuesday 17:30, then keeps working until 19:00 | Keeps working, because hours are checked only at sign-in |
The hours are read in the time zone of the person's office, not in your own. The refusal message does not say why. The administrator can see the reason, the office and the shift on Login Security.
Fields explained
Field | What to enter | Rules |
|---|---|---|
Shift Code | A short, permanent key such as DAY-01 | Required. Up to 30 characters. Must not be used by any other shift, active or inactive, in any upper or lower case. Cannot be changed after saving. |
Shift Name | The name administrators choose from, such as Day Shift | Required. Up to 100 characters. Must not equal the name of another active shift. |
Description | What the shift is for | Optional. Up to 500 characters. Describe the purpose, not the people. |
Day | Shown automatically | Always seven rows, Monday first. |
Open | Tick the days when people may sign in | Unticking a day closes it and clears its times. Ticking it again does not bring the times back. At least one day must be open. |
From | Start of the day's hours, as hh:mm | Required for an open day. 00:00 to 23:59. Must differ from To. |
To | End of the day's hours, as hh:mm | Required for an open day. A time earlier than From means the hours run into the next morning. Must differ from From. |
Status (list filter) | Choose which shifts to show | All, Active only (the default) or Inactive only. |
Search | Part of a code, name or description | Not case sensitive. |
Messages you may see
Message | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Saved Successfully | The shift was saved and nobody is on it. | Nothing. |
Saved. This change affects N employees assigned to this shift, and applies at their next sign-in. | The shift was saved and people are on it. | Tell those people about the new hours. |
The Shift Code field is required. / The Shift Name field is required. | The code or the name is empty. | Fill them in. |
Shift Code "..." is already in use. | Another shift, even an inactive one, has that code. | Choose another code. |
Another active shift is already called "...". | An active shift has that name. | Choose another name, or deactivate the old shift first. |
Monday is marked as a working day but has no hours. Enter both a From and a To time, or mark the day closed. | A day is ticked open but a time is empty, or a time was typed in a form PharmaERP cannot read, such as 25:00 or 9.30. | Type both times as hh:mm, or untick the day. |
Monday has the same From and To time. For a full day enter 00:00 to 23:59. | From equals To. | Change one of the times. |
Monday has a time outside 00:00-23:59. | A time such as "9" without minutes. | Type hh:mm, for example 09:00. |
Every day of this shift is closed, so nobody assigned to it would ever be able to sign in. Mark at least one day as a working day. | No day is ticked open. | Open at least one day. |
This change affects N employees assigned to this shift. It applies at their next sign-in. Continue? | You clicked Save on a shift that people use. | Click OK to save or Cancel to go back. |
Deactivate this shift? Employees using it will no longer be able to sign in through it. | You chose Deactivate. | Click OK to go on. |
This shift cannot be deactivated because N active employees are still using it. Move those employees to another shift first. | You tried to deactivate a shift that people still use. | Move them to another shift on Members first. |
The change could not be saved. Nothing was changed. | Activate or Deactivate failed, for example because an active shift now has the same name. | Rename one of the two shifts and try again. Contact support if it persists. |
The shift could not be saved. Nothing was changed. | An unexpected failure while saving. | Try again. Contact support if it persists. |
That shift no longer exists. | The shift you opened is not there. | Go back to the list. |
That list could not be loaded. | Who uses this failed to load. | Close and open it again. Contact support if it persists. |
Time period expired | Shown on the sign-in page when a person signs in outside their shift. | Administrator: check the shift and the office's time zone, then see Login Security. |
Good to know
Switching a shift off does not stop it applying. A person still linked to an inactive shift keeps signing in by its hours. Move everyone to another shift before you deactivate.
Hours are checked only at sign-in. A person who is already signed in can keep working after the shift ends, and a change you save reaches people only at their next sign-in.
00:00 to 23:59 is not quite all day. The end time counts only to the exact minute, so a person on such a shift is refused between 23:59 and midnight.
The hours are read in the time zone of the person's office. If the office has none, the company's time zone applies. A sign-in refused at a time that looks allowed is usually a time-zone question.
On Members, the choice "-- No time restriction --" does not mean "no limit". For a person who should have no limit, link an all-hours shift instead.
Keep people's names out of the description. Everyone who can open this screen can read it. Who uses this already shows who is on the shift.