Base schedules and shifts

What a base schedule is

The base schedule is the set of shifts that make up the standard working day for a group of employees. It is defined at the organisation or at each branch and specifies, for each day of the week, which shifts are active and in which time window they fall.

When an employee clocks in, the system consults their effective calendar and locates the shift corresponding to that moment. If the clock-in falls within the window of an active shift (according to the schedule and the configured workday mode), the record is accepted as valid.

Shift types

Single daily shift

This is the most common type of shift. The employee has a single continuous time window per day: one start time and one finish time.

The window is defined by four parameters:

• start.hour and start.minute: hour and minute the shift starts.
• end.hour and end.minute: hour and minute the shift ends.

For example, a standard morning shift could be configured with start.hour: 9, start.minute: 0, end.hour: 17, end.minute: 0.

Multiple shifts per day

Some companies structure the working day into two blocks: morning and afternoon. In these cases it is possible to define two shifts for the same day, each with its own time window.

A typical example would be a morning shift from 09:00 to 14:00 and an afternoon shift from 16:00 to 20:00. The employee makes two entry records and two exit records, one for each block.

The system evaluates the clock-in against the shift whose time window corresponds to the moment of the record. If the employee clocks in at 09:05, the system links it to the morning shift. If they clock in at 16:00, it links it to the afternoon shift.

How the system selects the active shift

At the moment of the clock-in, the system goes through the day's active shifts and determines which one is in force at that instant. The selection is based on comparing the time of the clock-in with the time windows of the shifts defined for that day.

If there are several shifts in the day, the system selects the one whose time window includes the moment of the clock-in. If the clock-in falls between two shifts —for example, during the break between the morning and afternoon blocks— the system rejects it with the code checklog/out_of_schedule.

The working week: working days and disabled days

The base schedule does not only define the time windows, but also which days of the week are working days for that employee or branch.

For each day of the week it is possible to indicate whether it is enabled or disabled. A disabled day is equivalent to a non-working day: if an employee tries to clock in on a day marked as disabled, the system returns the code checklog/day_disabled.

Configuring the days of the week

Configuring working days is done from the back office, in the schedules section of the organisation or the branch:

1. Sign in to the back office with a role that has editing permissions (owner or manager).
2. Navigate to the Configuration section of the relevant organisation or branch.
3. Go to the Schedules section.
4. For each day of the week, mark whether the day is enabled or disabled.
5. Save the changes.

Changes to working days take effect immediately on the effective calendar of every employee who inherits that schedule.

Configuring the base schedule at the organisation and at the branch

The base schedule can be configured at two levels:

• Organisation level: Defines the general schedule that applies across the whole organisation. It is the starting point of the hierarchy.
• Branch level: Allows each branch to have a different schedule from the organisation's. If a branch has its own schedule configured, that branch's employees inherit the branch schedule instead of the organisation's.

This architecture is especially useful in companies with multiple sites operating in different time bands or with different working days.

It can also be configured at employee level, for those who have their own schedule different from their branch's.

Breaks within the shift

In addition to shifts, each day supports breaks with their start and finish times. They are configured in the same weekly schedule, under the corresponding day, and several can be added.

How those breaks are counted —with the fixed duration configured or with the actual time the employee marks— depends on the break mode chosen. See Strict and flexible workday.

Calendar presets

Configuring the weekly schedule site by site is repetitive when several branches share the same pattern. To avoid this, the calendar allows you to save the configuration as a preset and apply it later wherever it is needed.

• Save configuration stores the current schedule under the name you give it.
• Apply loads a saved preset onto the calendar you are editing.
• Presets that fall out of use can be deleted.

It is the practical way to set up a new branch with the same schedule as the others without redoing it day by day.