Just like in Schedule Xpress modules, bulk updating can be an important way to save time in Time Processing.

In this article, we'll be covering the following topics of Time Processing in Schedule Xpress:

Bulk updating - The Basics

Bulk updating rates and hours

Bulk updating is the method in between a singular record update, and a mass import using a .csv (Excel) file. It gives the user the opportunity to save time by producing an update for several records at once.

In Time Processing, this can be used in a range of different ways. Let's explore them now.

The simplest form of updating more than one shift is to select the shifts you want to update by check marking them.

In this example, we've chosen to update 2 shifts.

If it's a Time Processing-related change, then it's likely that the update you want to make it either present on screen, or in the Time Processing tools.

By this, we mean:

Note: Only users who's feature access levels permit them to view or adjust any of the above will be able to see these options.

Prior to a bulk update, the number of shifts you have highlighted will always be present before choosing your selection.

In the example, 2 shifts have been chosen.

If you chose to Approve 2 shifts time, it would approve times for both.

It's important that you use the grid view layout columns to highlight the data you want to see, so that you're fully aware of a shift's current status. You can use the 3 dots to select your columns to display.

Note: The columns will only stay temporarily for your current session. To ensure that they stay, we encourage that you customize your columns.

Before you approve the times, you can see that these are currently set to No in the Time approved column.

Now you can Approve 2 shifts time.

You'll see the Time approved status is now set to Yes. This means that the shifts are now locked.

The Update shift is your pathway to choosing a range of different ways you can bulk update shifts.

If you choose the Update shift(s) option, you'll be prompted to Select fields to update. You can update more than one field in a single update.

Note: If you're bulk updating fields, you need to ensure that the change for all shifts is the exact same. You cannot make different changes to shifts in a single update.

For example's sake, let's change the Shift dates, Schedule start times and Schedule end times.

When you've selected the fields you want to update, you'll be prompted to fill the new details for each field.

You'll see these shifts have now been moved to August 3rd 2022, from 9:00am to 5:00pm.

You can also bulk Delete shift(s).

However, it's important to be aware that dependent on the current status of the shift, you may be greeted with warnings and errors. If your feature access levels permit you to override warnings and errors, you'll be able to proceed. If not, you may be declined when trying to make the change.

Time Processing gives you the ability to bulk update rates and hours.

You can bulk update the Pay hours option for any shifts that have been worked but not approved (locked). Shifts that haven't been worked or locked will not be replaced.

This feature gives you the opportunity to bulk replace hours types such as regular and overtime.

You can choose from which hours types you want to move.

Note: The hours types will only display when bulk replacing if they're selected in the Rates and Hours form.

The Hours section allows you to define how you move your hours from and to, as above. You have the following 5 options to choose from:

The All available option is selected by default. It means all the available hours will be moved from one hour type to another.

Using Flat amount allows you to specify the amount of hours you move from and to using the selected hours types.

Note: If the specified hours is more than the shift length, the form will correct the hours to match the original shift length. For example, if you want to move 5 hours from Regular to Overtime, if you enter 6 hours to replace, the entire original 5 hours will be moved. However, the additional 1 hour will be deducted.

Within time range moves any hours occurring during a specified time period from and to the selected hours types.

From example, if the specified time period is between 12:00am and 04:00am, then your selected hours types will be replaced if any shift hours occur during this time.

Over allows you to move any shift hours over a specified threshold from and to selected hours types.

Under allows you to move any shift hours under a specified threshold from and to selected hours types.

Let's look at an example of how it will display. We're going to move Pay hours from Regular to Overtime using the Over method. You'll see that at this current moment, the shift hours are distributed as Regular only.

In this case, we're going to bulk replace any hours of 2 selected shifts that are more than 7 hours, from Regular to Overtime. Also, we'll use Night - 02 as our Payroll override reason, because the 2 shifts overlapped into the nighttime period.

Note: Before adding hours, it's important to know that when no hours types are selected to move, the Payroll override reason will stay disabled. After selecting the hours type to replace, the Payroll override reason code will default (00) by populating automatically, and the user will be able to change the code if required.

Once updated, the shift hours will distributed as between Regular and Overtime, as per the Pay hours replacement.

The Pay rates option of the Time Processing replace tool allows you to perform a bulk update of the Pay rates for worked shifts. It allows to increase/decrease pay rates by a flat amount or percentage.

The Rate type section allows you to define which rate type you want to change.

Note: The rate type drop-down shows rates based on rates and hours branch configuration.

The Rate amount gives you the opportunity to select whether you want to Replace with, Increase by or Decrease by. Once you've chosen one of these options, you can input the new rate.

Before showing you an example, let's break down how these 3 options will come into play.

Replace with allows you to replace a selected rate type with the new rate amount entered.

The Increase by allows to increase the existing amount by a flat amount or by percentage.

The Decrease by allows to decrease the existing amount by a flat amount or by percentage.

Let's look at an example of how it will display. We're going to change two Regular Pay rates of $15.00 and $16.00 dollars to become $20.00 dollars an hour in a single bulk update.

So, we're going to make sure our Rate type is Regular. Also, our Rate amount will be Replace with and a new unit of $20.00. We'll also be deciding that the Payroll override reason for this change is because the shifts were created at short notice.

Once this change is made, you'll notice that the new Regular rate is displayed as $20.00 for the two shifts.

You can choose to bulk update with more than one fields, however, inline validations are shown if required fields are not selected.

If you're updating both Pay hours and Pay rates at the same time, you'll need to ensure that every selection is made or you will not be able to proceed. In this example, the number shown exceeded the maximum character limit, producing a validation warning.

Bill hours operates very similarly to Pay hours. Bill hours can be used to perform bulk updates for worked and unlocked shifts.

The Bill hours bulk update allows you to move hours types from and to other hours types. For example, Standard to Statutory hours.

Note: The hours types will only display when bulk replacing if they're selected in the Rates and Hours form.

The Hours section allows you to define how you move your hours from and to, as above. You have the following 5 options to choose from:

You can read the Payroll section of Hours to get a breakdown of what each means.

Let's look at an example of how it will display. We're going to move Bill hours from Regular to Statutory using the Within time range method. You'll see that at this current moment, the shift hours are distributed as Regular only.

The shifts below both cover 12:00am - 10:00am and the shift hours are both distributed using 8 Standard hours and 2 Overtime hours.

So, were going to make any hours that fall Within time range 4:00am and 8:00am to become Statutory hours. This will mean that 4 hours should now be allocated to Statutory.

Now you can see that 4 hours have been allocated to Statutory.

The Bill rates option of the Time Processing replace tool allows you to perform a bulk update of the Bill rates for worked shifts. It allows to increase/decrease Bill rates by a flat amount or percentage.

The Rate type section allows you to define which rate type you want to change.

Note: The rate type drop-down shows rates based on rates and hours branch configuration.

The Rate amount gives you the opportunity to select whether you want to Replace with, Increase by or Decrease by. Once you've chosen one of these options, you can input the new rate.

You can read more about the definitions of Replace with, Increase by and Decrease by in the Pay rates Rate amount section. You can add the unit that reflects whichever options you choose to the right hand side.

Let's look at an example of how it will display. We're going to change two Double Overtime Bill rates of $75.00 dollars to Increase by 20% an hour in a single bulk update.

So, we're going to make sure our Rate type is Double Overtime. Also, our Rate amount will be determined by Increase by, with a new unit which is 20% greater. We'll also be deciding that the Payroll override reason for this change is are default override.

Once this change is made, you'll notice that the new Double Overtime rate is displayed as $90.00, which is 20% greater than the original record of $75.00.

When it comes to reviewing your Payroll and Billing, it's important to understand the difference between the preferences of Shift Start Date and Midnight cutoff (Calendar Date). These influence how your Update rates and hours presents when bulk updating.

Read the difference between the two below:

Before showing you how this will influence bulk updating in Time Processing, let's look at where to you can set your preference.

From the homepage of eTime Xpress, go to Configuration > Company Branch > Branch Bill/Pay Settings > File > Preferences. Here, you can select the distribution of your hours by Shift Start Date or Calendar Date.

When bulk updating with Shift start date applied, it will appear the same as all the above examples.

However, if you've applied Midnight cutoff, you'll notice how the form changes.

Note: This only applies for shifts that overlap from one day to another.

As the form shows, you can toggle between Start day and Next day.

You can either choose to select one of the options individually, which will only change the hours for Start day or Next day.

Or both, Start day and Next day combined. This will change all hours or rates in sync.

Let's look at some examples.

For Start day, we'll use Pay rates as the example. The example shows shifts from 8:00pm - 4:00am and 11:00pm - 7:00am.

For Start day, we're going to replace the current Regular pay rates of $18.00 and $15.00 to Replace with $25.00, with the Payroll override reason due to the shift being a Night shift.

This will subsequently have the following effects on the two shifts:

Note: If a shift is updated after this rate is changed, the entire hours of the Start day will revert back to the original. Any hours overlapping midnight will remain the same.

For Next day, the same process applies as for Start day. However, only the hours on the next day will be affected.

We'll use 2 shifts which both start and end at 7:00pm - 2:00am. This time, we're going to change the pay hours for Start day & Next day to Overtime because of short notice.

At this current moment, both Start day and Next day hours are Regular.

Now, we're going to make All available hours become Overtime pay hours.

You'll see that all hours have been moved to Overtime, while removing the original Regular hours. This will also increase the Total pay amount.

Please apply the same methodology as above for Bill rates and hours.

For any changes, we encourage filtering for the overrides reasons, so that you can see the reason why the rate has changed.

Update allowances allows you to perform bulk updates of shift allowances for worked shifts only. It permits to either add allowances for all the selected shifts, or replace all the existing allowances.

When updating an allowance, you can either Add allowances or Replace all existing allowances.

Replace will remove any previous allowances and replace them with the new records. Or if you aren't adding new records, it will just remove the original records, leaving them blank.

As can be seen you can then click the dropdown to select an allowance type, the unit, and both pay and bill rates. Once applied, you can see the allowances form in the grid view layout.

If a unit shows 3 dots to the right, it means that their is more than one result for this shift. If you click the 3 dots, they will expand to show the results.

A validation panel will appear if an entry requires your attention before being completed. The validations will be shown if you try to update rates and hours for:

If the user is only trying to update an unlocked section of Payroll or Billing, then no validation will be shown and the update will be applied. But if user is either trying to update a locked section or both locked and unlocked sections together, then validation will be shown.

In the validation panel, you only have the option to Discard changes, because in this instance, nothing can be ignored and saved.

For more information on bulk updating in Time Processing, you can Contact Support now!