Documentation

User Interface

The user interface can be split into a few different sections -

The Menu Bar is used to open and save the work that you do with Rotamatic as well as print the rotas that you've created. If you've used many Windows programs you should be pretty familiar with all of the options included. The View option is used to open and close various pages within the program such as the Shifts Page and the Time Off Page.

The Shift Details Panel and the Time Off Detail Panel serve a similar purpose. They are used to change the settings of the selected shift or time off in the Main Panel. If the Shifts Page is the currently visible page on the main window then the Shift Details Panel is shown, otherwise if the Time Off Page is currently visible then the Time Off Details Panel is shown.

The start and end times of either shifts or time offs can be set using the up and down buttons of the respective panels. Both panels also have an Employee chooser which shows the employee that is allocated to either the shift or time off. Depending on whether time off rounding has been set in the software options to full days or not, the Time Off Details Panel shows either day and month values for setting the start and end values or hour and minute values.

Each shift has a job title allocated and this can be set using the arrow buttons by the Role chooser. Each time off has a time off reason associated with it instead and this can be set using the Reason chooser.

Notes can be added to shifts and time offs by selecting them in the main window and then entering text in the textbox at the bottom of either the Time Off Details Panel or Shift Details Panel respectively. You can choose whether or not to have notes for a shift appear on printed rotas by choosing whether to put a tick in the box next to 'Print notes on rota'.

The employee panel lists the employees that have been entered into the system. Each employee is set to a colour that the shifts allocated to them will be printed in. This makes it easy to quickly see when a particular employee is working. The coloured rectangle next to each employee's name shows this colour. By setting the text boxes at the top of this panel you can limit which employees are shown. When a shift is selected in the Shifts page, using the Availablity textbox you can show either the employees that are available for that that shift or those that are unavailable. Similarly you can use the Job Title textbox to limit the employees shown to those that have a primary or secondary job title that matches the selected shift's job title. When a shift is selected employees who are taking time off will not be shown unless a tick is placed in the box where is says 'Show employees taking time off'.

The three letter code in the box corresponds to the job title that has been set for them.

The employees are grouped according to their job titles. The staff rotas that the program prints are organised in the same way - the employees from the job roles at the top of the employee panel are stacked above those from lower job roles. It is possible in the Employees Page in the Main Panel to organise which job roles are printed above each other, for example it is possible to organise your rotas to be printed with the managers being listed at the top and other job roles below.

By clicking the small green plus button next to an employees name, the employee expands to show a box giving details for the amount earned and hours worked for the current week. These figures are for the week beginning with the date shown on the Date Changer.

An employee can have a minimum and maximum number of weekly hours set in their details. If an employee is allocated a number of working hours that is lower than the minimum or higher than the maximum for the seven days starting with the date selected on the Date Changer then the employee's name will be highlighted in red.

The Date Changer

The Date Changer is used for setting the date within the program. The date can be set in two ways.

The left double arrow button moves the date back by a week and the right double arrow button moves the date forward by a week. The single arrows move the date forward and backward by a day.

Alternatively the date can be set using the up and down arrow buttons next to the day, month and year numbers.

The Main Panel is used for several different functions. There are seven different pages that can be viewed in the Main Panel - the Shifts Page, the Time Off Page, the Weekly Rota Page, the Employees Page, the Job Titles Page, the Time Off Reasons Page and the Reports Page. These individual pages can be shown by selecting the appropriate option from the View item of the Menu Bar. If a page is visible within the Main Panel then it can be chosen by clicking on the appropriate tab at the top of the Main Panel.

The Shifts Page is used for adding shifts. Shifts can be added by clicking on the top of a day. As the mouse moves over the top of the day, the top of the day changes colour to show where to click.

By clicking either the Week View button or the Month View button it is possible to view either 7 days or 35 days.

The Shifts Page is used for organising shift patterns and for allocating shifts to employees. Each of the coloured strips is a shift. The length of a shift corresponds to the length of time that the shift lasts. When an employee is allocated to the shift it changes colour to that employee's colour. The square boxes within the shifts show the shift's job title. A shift with 'njt' inside the box is yet to have a job title set for it. Clicking on a shift selects that shift. The selected shift is repainted in stripes to distinguish it out from the other shifts.

Using the Shifts Page it is possible to cut, copy, paste and delete single shifts as well as cutting, copying, pasting and deleting whole days of shifts.

The Time Off Page

The Time Off Page is very similar to the Shifts Page. It is used for adding time off to the system. Time offs can be added by clicking on the top of a day. As the mouse moves over the top of the day it changes colour to show where to click.

Just the same as the Shifts Page, the Week View and Month View buttons can be used to switch between viewing 7 days or 35 days.

Each of the coloured strips is a length of time off that an employee can be allocated to. The length of a time off strip corresponds to the length of time that the period of time off lasts. When an employee is allocated to the time off it changes colour to that employee's colour. The square boxes within the shifts show the time off reason. A time off with 'uns' inside the box is yet to have a time off reason set for it. Clicking on a time off selects that time off.

Just the same as the Shifts Page, using the Time Off Page it is possible to cut, copy, paste and delete periods of time off as well as cutting, copying, pasting and deleting whole days by right clicking the mouse.

The Weekly Rota Page shows the rota that will be printed. The text boxes at the top of the page can be used to selectively print certain groups of employees. As you alter these settings the Weekly Rota Page is updated to show the results. Further details on selective printing can be found here.

The stacking order of the employees on the rota is controlled by the order of job titles on the Job Titles Page. Further details on ordering the job titles can be found here. There is a setting within the options page to turn off stacking based upon job titles and to order in alphabetical order.

If a shift does not finish on the same day that it started on (eg. if it was a night shift) then the end time will have a date printed beside it in brackets. Notes for each shift are printed underneath the rota if the 'Print notes on rota' checkbox was clicked for a shift.

The blue SMS button at the top left of the rota is used for sending this weekly rota out to the relevant employees by SMS text message. Further details can be found here.

The Job Titles page is used for entering and ordering the job titles within the program. Job titles can be added and deleted using the plus and minus buttons at the top of the page.

The ordering of the job titles is done using the two blue arrow buttons. This stacking order corresponds to the order that employees will be printed on rotas.

The three letter code in the box on the right is shown on shifts in the Shifs Page.

The Time Off Reasons Page

The time off entered into the system can be classified as being for one of a number of reasons. These reasons can be entered in the Time Off Reasons Page. There are three reasons already entered in the system as well as the Unspecified reason. Extra reasons can be added by clicking the green plus button as the top of the page.

Each time off reason has a three letter code that is dispayed in a box at the right hand side of the page. This code is also displayed on any periods of time off that are displayed on the Time Off Page on Main Panel.

The Employees Page is used for entering and modifying the details of employees within the program. Employees are added using the green cross button at the top of the page.

By clicking on the smaller green cross button beside an employee's name their details becomes visible.

An employees colour may be changed by double clicking the coloured box besides their name and selecting a different colour.

After an employees details have been altered you have to click the Save button to make the changes permanent.

The Reports Page is used for viewing and printing reports and charts for the data in the system. There are four different reports to choose from - two graphs and two tables.

By clickin on the small green plus button on the left hand side of the page next to the report name a set of options are shown. Using these options it is possible to specify the start and end time that the report covers. There are also other options for each report that limit the data that is displayed. These reports can be exported to Adobe pdf and Microsoft Excel format.

The Options Window can be selected from the Tools option on the Menu Bar.

Various program settings can be altered using the Options Window.

This is also where usernames and passwords are entered for Clickatell text messaging accounts and for Rotamatic website accounts.