Autofill can be used fill a range of Open shifts with the most suitable employees. The process uses Employee search rules and Shift processing order to determine how the shifts are filled.

In this article, we'll cover the following on using Autofill in Schedule Xpress:

Finding your Autofill

Creating an Autofill filter

Using Autofill in your Schedule

Your Autofill is located in your Schedule, under Schedule Tools > Autofill.

Note: You must check mark at least one shift to use Autofill, otherwise it will remain greyed out.

Before filling your shifts using Autofill, you'll need to create an Autofill filter with set criteria for your search. You can find this section in Schedule Xpress, under Settings > Branch features > Autofill.

Once inside, you'll see your current list of filters on the left-side.

You can Create a filter, Clone a filter or Delete a filter using the options in the top-right corner.

You can default a filter by clicking the star to the right of the name. Once defaulted, it will turn orange.

When you use the Autofill tool, this will always be the first filter in your list.

Note: The default filter can NOT be deleted. If you want to delete it, make another filter the default.

You'll be required to choose one of the following Methods when creating an Autofill filter:

Let's look at what each mean.

Priority method can be used if you wish to assign suitable employees to Open shifts either randomly or in a priority order; based on options such as cost, location, lowest hours and seniority. This method gives you the flexibility to define which shifts will be auto-filled, which order your Open shifts will be processed and the order employees are assigned.

Sequence method can be used if you wish to assign suitable employees to Open shifts based on a strict sequence order. Once the last employee in the sequence has been assigned an Open shift, the process will return to the first employee in sequence for the next Open shift.

If the next employee in sequence cannot be assigned to the next Open shift (based on Shift processing order), then two options exist:

You'll need to apply an Employee search rule to all of your Autofill filters. The Employee search rules contain criteria for your search, making sure that you find the most suitable employees to fill your shifts.

For more information on how you can build a rule, visit our Settings: Employee search rules article.

You'll need to choose an Employee search rule for each Autofill filter, as below.

Your Shift processing order allows you to define specific shift fields which will determine the order in which your shifts will be filled.

Typically, most companies will want to select Shift start date and Schedule start time, so that the earliest shift dates/times are filled. However, you can change these fields by check marking the ones that will apply to you.

You can use the dropdown to select your fields and re-order them using the double-sided arrow on the right-edge.

Prior to using Autofill, you'll need to check mark all the shifts you want to fill in your Schedule. To ensure that you only check mark the shifts you want to fill, we'd recommend using your Advanced filters to locate these shifts in your Schedule. You may want to search for specific Customers, Site or Services.

If you want to select all shifts on your page, you can do so by check marking the box in the top-left corner of your Schedule grid. Alternatively, you can check mark shifts individually or use the 3 dot selectors to check mark entire rows or columns.

Once you've selected all the shifts you want to Autofill, head to Schedule Tools > Autofill 'X' shifts.

You'll then be able to select the Autofill filter you want to use.

Once selected, press Autofill.

Once your Autofill is complete, you'll be given a breakdown of the shifts that were filled. The next step will be to Approve or Cancel all.

If you're happy with the Auto-filled shifts, you can Accept them. If not, you'll need to Cancel all.

Once Accepted, the shifts will remain in your Schedule. If Cancelled, they will go back to Open shifts.

If the shifts couldn't be filled, then it means that the requirements for the shifts couldn't be matched by all of your employees. You can Accept the shifts that we're filled and follow the next steps for a guideline on how you can fill the remaining Open shifts.

The shifts that couldn't be filled will show as Open shift not filled. To fill the shifts that were not filled during your Autofill run, you can:

If you require more help with your Autofill, please Contact Support now!