Computerworld 1996 March

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Scheduling Employees for Windows Version 2.00 A tool for Managers Guia International Corporation 731 Edgewater place Kennesaw, Georgia 30144 (404)926-6085 Table of contents ~ ----------------- Introduction ............................................ 1 Equipment needed ........................................ 1 Mouse tracking .......................................... 2 Installation ............................................ 2 Using the Menus ......................................... 2 The Opening Screen ...................................... 2 The Editor .............................................. 3 Edit controls ........................................... 3 Display of totals ....................................... 3 The time bar ............................................ 4 Making a new time bar ................................... 4 Move a time bar ......................................... 4 Changing a time bar ..................................... 4 Deleting a time bar ..................................... 4 Copy an Employee's day of time bars ..................... 4 Move a time bar past midnight ........................... 5 Entering and changing Day Types ......................... 5 Dual Assignments ........................................ 5 Copy a Department Day Schedules ......................... 5 Repeat a week schedule .................................. 5 The Time and Wages distribution Graph ................... 6 Reports ................................................. 6 Schedule file names ..................................... 6 Print Schedules ......................................... 6 Departments ............................................. 7 Employees ............................................... 7 About Dates ............................................. 7 To start the Program after installation ................. 7 Technical information ................................... 8 Registration Fee ........................................ 8 Technical Support ....................................... 8 Introduction ~ ------------ The Scheduling Employees for Windows is an application designed for managers to schedule personnel resources while monitoring the time and wages as the scheduling process progresses. Daily activities may be detailed by assigning "Day Types". Day Types are a single characters such as V= Vacation. Ten Day Types may be specified for the use in each Department. A graph will display the time and wage distribution for a 24 hours period for each hour. The schedule function needs a Department with Employees to begin scheduling. Schedules are for a one week period. You may schedule up to 100 Employees in each of up to 99 Departments. To make the application more "User friendly", the user will not have to deal with Directories and SubDirectories. If details of a technical nature are needed, see the section entitled "Technical information". The application is divided in two parts: 1 - The opening screen. It contains functions related to the application, Departments and Employees. 2 - The Editor performs the scheduling and schedule printing functions. 3 - The Graph will show the Employee, time and currency distribution for a 24 Hour period. Equipment needed ~ ---------------- You will need an IBM or compatible PC (286 or higher) and a combination of at least one diskette drive and one fixed(hard) disk. Microsoft Windows 3.1 or later must be installed and a mouse attached. A VGA Monitor. A printer to print reports and schedules, a laser printer is preferred. Mouse Tracking ~ -------------- Since almost all functions are directed through mouse action, it is a good idea to slow the pointer movement on the screen. To slow down the Mouse Tracking: o - From the Window Program Manager, select the Control Panel. o - Click on Mouse. o - Move the Mouse tracking speed towards Slow. o - Move the mouse and see if the move feels comfortable. o - Click on Ok to save the setting. Installation ~ ------------ Before installing the application, make a backup copy of the program. Since the program is not copy protected, you may use the DOS command DISKCOPY or COPY *.* Insert the program diskette in Drive A: From the Windows Program Manager, select "File", then "Run" and type a:setup when asked. All the Programs and files will be installed, you will be prompted for the Disk drive and Directory that you want these files to be located, a default path is offered. Using the Menus ~ --------------- The Scheduling Employees for Windows, uses drop-down menus. Just point at the heading and press the left mouse button and a further selection can then be made. The Opening Screen ~ ------------------ The purpose of the Opening screen is to; o - Set up new Departments with Day Types. o - Enter, change or delete Employee records. o - Print reports, Invoice and this manual with page numbers. o - Set up options for file designation,time format and day starting hour in the Editor. o - Help if needed. o - Exit the application. Click on "Schedule Employees" to go to the Editor. The Editor ~ ---------- To become familiar with the application, some files are added during the installation process. These files created the "Example Department" with fictitious names for Employees and a single Schedule-file based on the date of installation. The Department represents a restaurant with Servers, Cashiers and Cooks. Take a look at the screens, edit times in the Editor, sort based on start and stop times. Note that the Schedule file name is "Year-Month-Day.Weekday" so when you choose a Schedule-file the oldest dates are on top. No adjustments are made for "Overtime", the currency totals are strictly time scheduled multiplied by the hourly rate. Click on "Graph" at the bottom of the screen, and the distribution for that day will be displayed. By entering another assignment you can further break this down. Edit controls ~ ------------- Note the "Scroll bars" in the Editor, from left to right you may scroll to go from midnight to midnight on the top scroll bar. If you point on the arrow, the increments are one hour, any other place, equals 6 Hours. To quickly go from Midnight to Midnight, two controls on the bottom of the screen can be used. To change days, point the mouse to the desired day and click. Twenty Employees will fit on a screen, the vertical scroll bar will only be displayed if you have more than twenty. To quickly go from to first to the last page, two controls use on the bottom of the screen marked "First page" and "Last page". Display of totals ~ ----------------- Also notice some option button that you can click. The column next to the Employee name will change based on these option buttons. As you progress with the scheduling process, this column will display daily or weekly accumulated totals for time or currency for each Employee. Note: The daily time and currency totals displayed, are for that day only, in contrast to the daily totals in the Schedule Report that are the shift totals and include time after midnight if the shift started on the previous day. The time bar ~ ------------ Time is entered and changed in the Editor screen. The representation of time is the "Time bar". You may have up to 34 Start and Stops per week for each Employee. Since the accumulated time is displayed as an option, unpaid break-times such as a lunch break should also be entered. Note: An arrow is displayed under the "Hour-ruler" to show the current mouse position. As you enter time by dragging the mouse, a bar under the ruler will show you the progress. After the bar is completed the bar is adjusted to the nearest 15 minutes. You may choose to color of the bar under "Options" in the Opening screen. Making a new time bar ~ --------------------- Start and stop times are entered by pointing the mouse at an editor line, pressing the left button and holding it down while dragging the mouse from left to right or right to left. Move a time bar ~ --------------- Pointing to the bar, away from either end and while holding down the left button, will allow movement from left to right. Any conflict or override with existing bar will be resolved automatically. Changing a time bar ~ ------------------- Pointing the mouse to the beginning or the end of a bar will allow stretching or decreasing the bar size. Deleting a time bar ~ ------------------- A quick double click anywhere on the bar will delete the bar. Pointing to the end of a bar and decreasing the bar size to less than 15 minutes, will also delete the bar. Copy an Employee's day of time bars ~ ----------------------------------- By pointing the mouse at an Employees line with time, press the right mouse button and the bars will be copied. At the same time a message will be displayed "Holding time for copy". While the message is displayed, you can copy this time to any Employee's line that has no time in it by pointing at that line and pressing the right mouse button. You may also go to other days and repeat the process. To copy a new bar, point to the "Holding time for copy" message and click to reset, then pick up the next bar to be copied. Move a time bar past midnight ~ ----------------------------- Example: To enter time from 11 pm on day one, to 3 am day two. Solution: Enter 4 hours in day one from 6 pm to 10 pm. Point the mouse to the first hour and move the beginning of the bar to 11 pm. The remaining time will now appear in the next day. Entering and changing Day Types ~ ------------------------------- Day Types may be changed directly by pointing the mouse and clicking at the box to the left of the edit area and pressing a valid Day Type character. You may also select "DayTypes" from the menu on top. All valid Day Types will be displayed for your selection. Dual Assignments ~ ---------------- For Employees that consistently have dual assignments, (Cook in the morning and Cashiers in the afternoon), you may consider entering them twice, than schedule them after a sort on Employee number to prevent overlapping time schedules. Copy a Department Day Schedule ~ ------------------------------ After you have completed the schedule for a day, you can copy that schedule to any other day if that day has no scheduled time in it. 1 - Go to the day to copy to. 2 - Select Copy from the menu. 3 - Select the day to copy from. Repeat a weekly schedule ~ ------------------------ Many organizations have rotating schedules that repeat themselves every 2, 3 or 4 weeks. Make up the week one schedule by entering all the time without Day Types like vacations etc. Save the schedule by selecting "Save as.." from the menu and enter 1-1-11 as the file name. Save week two as 2-2-22. This way, these files are always listed on top of the file choices for selection. After loading the file for a new schedule, make all the changes and add vacations etc. Save the file as the date for that week. Inactive Employees will not be loaded if they are included in a schedule from the past. They will also filtered out and not be saved on the new schedule. The Time and Wages distribution Graph ~ ------------------------------------- By clicking on the "Graph" button in the Editor, the Time and Wages distribution will be shown. Initially, all assignments will be displayed. By entering each assignment, the graph will show more detail. Each 15 Minute period is represented with a graph line. The sequence starting with the first 15 minutes each hour is Red, White, Blue, Yellow. Reports ~ ------- Two types of report are available, one Employee register that prints the Employee name and other information that is requested, the other is a requested Weekly Schedule to be printed. The Schedules are printed from the Editor screen all other printing is done from the Opening screen. Schedule file names ~ ------------------- When a schedule is saved, the name of the file is based on the Week-starting or Week-ending date (Based on option selection). In order to list the file selection in date sequence, the file name is: YY-MM-DD.dayname regardless of the International date settings in the Windows Control panel. So a file named 93-12-30.thu is dated December 12, 1993, which is on a Thursday as reflected in the file extension. Print Schedules ~ --------------- Two printing formats are offered. One format will print the schedules vertically with Times and Currencies to the right and a format that shows the Days from left to right. The last format needs special font considerations, since the text must fit the paper to print on. Avoid selecting a font that is not native to the printer, it will take time to download the font. For most printers, a Courier font Pointsize 8 will be fine. If you select a font that does not fit, you will be advised with a message. If you print to a Matrix printer, select the Courier 17.1 font. That is the font that used to print condensed in DOS. A Character based schedule is offered to save time, especially on Matrix printers, for Laser printers it does not make that much difference. The Graphic based option has a better appearance. The print-order is the same as the schedule displayed on the screen. As an option you may print Time and or Currency totals as part of the output. The daily times and currencies are for that shift and include any time past midnight. The daily totals for some Employees may be off slightly if partial hours are worked, causing rounding errors. Time and currency totals do not include any "break times" that were set up in the Editor. No adjustments are made for "Overtime", the currency totals are strictly time scheduled, multiplied by the hourly rate. At your option you may direct your printing direct or through the Print Manager in Windows. Departments ~ ----------- To decide the Department size, consider: A Department should include all the Employees that would be the responsibility of a Manager. Employees should consistently be a part of that Managers operating unit. The Department related activity is located under menu item "Scheduling Employees" on the Opening screen. You may have up to 99 Department, and up to 100 Employees per Department. Employees ~ --------- Employees are entered in the Opening screen. While entering or changing a Employee record, use the Tab or Enter key to advance through the Employee screen or hold down the Shift key and press the Tab key for reverse tabbing. Instructions on the bottom will help you entering information. Employees are divided in Active and Inactive Employees. The Editor will only display Active Employees. If you display an old schedule and an Employee on that schedule was deleted or inactive, when you save the schedule, that Employee will not be included in the schedule. About Dates ~ ----------- Dates entered in the Employee record and in the Editor, conform to the International setting in the Windows Control Panel. You may enter: 2 apr 93 or: 2-Apr-93 or: apr 2, 1993 or any combination for April 2, 1993. If there is an error in the date format, a message will alert you. To start the program after installation ~ --------------------------------------- After installation, you may select the Schedule Employee for Windows Icon from the Program Manager Window, or select "Run" and answer Path\SEW to the file prompt. Technical information ~ --------------------- This application creates Directories for new Departments as needed. The "Example Organization" is installed in Directory SEW1DIR during the install process. Subsequent Directories will be named automatically when new Departments are installed like SEW2DIR, SEW3DIR etc. When a Department is deleted, the Directory will also be deleted and reinstalled as new Department is created. The associated Directory is displayed on the Department Window when "Change Department" is selected from the menu. The files HEADING.DAT, EMPLREST.DAT and Schedule files (YY-MM-DD.day) in each Directory must always be transferred or backed up together since they contain pointers. In the WINDOWS\SYSTEM Directory, the following files must be present: CMDIALOG.VBX, VBRUN200.DLL, COMMDLG.DLL. Registration Fee ~ ---------------- The registration fee is $39.50 in US currency. Registrations will be acknowledged by mail within 30 days of receipt and confirms the authorized use of the program. Any updates will be included if INVOICE.DOC is used for version determination. Agreements know as "Site License Agreements" providing for unlimited usage for one location (by address) are in effect after the registration of three regular registrations (to the amount of $118.50) have been submitted. Many recommendations for new features and also operational improvements come from our users. With your registration, include any remarks you wish, we will look at and evaluate every suggestion made and they are always welcome! Technical Support ~ ----------------- After the registration has been received by Guia International, the User is entitled to free telephone or written support for a period of 90 Days. Any extended support may be negotiated thereafter but shall at minimum be in conformance with the regulations of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). For assistance, call (404)926-6085. Acknowledgements ~ ---------------- PS/2 is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Redmond, WA. Program License Agreement ~ ------------------------- Read the following terms and conditions before using the program. By using or accepting this program, you indicate that you accept the terms and conditions set forth bellow. Guia International Corp. provides this program and licenses its use. You assume responsibility for the selection of these programs to achieve your intended results, and for the installation, use and results obtained from the programs. Limited warranty The programs are provided without warranty either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event, will Guia International Corp. be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other lost incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use such programs even if Guia International Corp. or any of its agents or dealers had been advised of the possibility of such damages. When you start using the program as a production tool, the Opening Window fee is due to Guia International for each system the program is installed on. The acknowledgement returned to you will serve as your license for authorized usage. You are free to duplicate the application and make distributions providing that no alterations are made with the exception of compression to facilitate electronic transmission. You acknowledge that you have read this agreement, understand it and agree to be bound by its terms and conditions.