Use your browser's Edit | Find menu or
Floor Schedule will create the fairest possible schedule. If is designed to work where random scheduling is desired, scheduling where all participants have an equal opportunity and equal responsibility to cover available shifts.
You may create and assign agents to up to nine different locations.
You may enter periods and dates on which particular agents are not available to work.
Floor Schedule synthesizes these requests and produces the schedule for you.
One caveat - too many requests, on or off, should be avoided. At a certain point a large number of requests will negatively affect the results. Why? When one agent makes a request, another must take their place.
Still, some users are not concerned about a less than fair outcome. Their goal is to allow certain agents to not work when they don't want to. Floor Schedule works great for this as well.
The first time you start the program, do the following:
1. Select SITE button and change the Name as you want it to be.
2. Change the numbers across from each day of the week to reflect the shifts you have on each day. If you have 4 shifts per day then enter 1's in each of the four periods. You can enter up to 8 shifts per day by entering 2's in each of the four periods.
3. After you've entered your shift numbers, select the time buttons across from each day. The eight shifts in each day are indicated sequentially by the letters A-H. You use the Times buttons to replace these letter shift descriptions with you own, usually a time, but it can description you like. Note the shortcut available on the Times Screen. Enter times for one day and you can copy those times to the other days by selecting a day and then selection the button day that you want to make this new day a copy of.
4. Select the AGENT button. Add your agents by selecting the ADD button and adding their name in the FULL NAME field. Now press the ADD button again. Do this until all your names have been added. Now click on the name EXAMPLE to make them the currently viewed agent and select the DELETE button to remove them.
5. Close the AGENT window and select the MONTH button.
6. Change the MONTH to be the month you wish to create a schedule for.
7. Close the MONTH and select GENERATE. Your schedule is generated.
8. Select the PRINT button. Your schedule is displayed as a PDF, you can send it to the printer by selecting FILE | PRINT in the PDF viewer. The schedule is automatically saved in a directory name FS_PDF on your desktop.
9. If you answer YES to the report, you will then have a report you can view. The report can be printed and is saved, the same as the Schedule.
10. That's it, you are done.
Please review the rest of this help document for more details. You can also use the CTRL + F key combination to search for a word or phrase you need help with. Each Floor Schedule screen also has a HELP button which describes that screen in detail.
You have two printing modes. 'Print Directly to Printer' and 'Print as a PDF'.
These are set under the Menu 'Settings | Print / PDF settings...'.
'Print directly to printer' prints in the normal way - sends your schedule to your printer.
'Print as a PDF' saves your schedule as a PDF file and sends your schedule to your default PDF viewer. You can also send your schedule to your printer by using the viewer's Print command.
How do I print in Landscape?
Press the PRINT button | In the print dialogue box, select PROPERTIES | Select the PAGE tab | Select LANDSCAPE | Press OK | Press OK again.
How can I set the FS PDF printer driver to print in landscape mode by default?
Select your Window’s START BUTTON (lower left) | Select PRINTERS AND FAXES (directly or CONTROL PANEL first) | RIGHT CLICK on FS PDF | Select PRINTING PREFERENCES | Select PAGE tab then LANDSCAPE | Press OK.
By default, Floor Schedule points to a private data location for each user of the program.
This allows multiple users on the same computer to each keep their own schedule and calendar
data private. If you'd like to have users share the same data, set each user's database location as public.
To set the location as public, use the 'Settings | Database Location...' menu.
Click the 'Set Public..' button to set a public database location and then select the Public Location option
to point instead to the public data location.
Each user must have read/write permissions to the public folder in order to use it.
If you use a computer in two locations, one at home and one at the office, or one desktop and one laptop, you can easily transfer your Floor Schedule license and data files between them. You do need to have the same version of Floor Schedule on both computers. You can get the latest version at anytime from our home page.
The export process allows you create a backup of your Floor Schedule files and also to share it between two computers that both have Floor Schedule installed. You can export to an external memory device such as a USB memory drive for safe keeping or for backup.
Insert your USB Flash drive or other external memory drive that you wish to export to.
Choose File menu, then Export.
Select the drive you want to export to. If the USB drive was already inserted before starting Floor Schedule, the default drive will be the USB drive. If the drive you want is not the default, use the pull down to select it.
Click OK.
Export copies your Data File to the drive of your choice. In most cases you will want to export to a USB Flash Drive. You may export to any portable data storage device that is interpreted as a drive.
Export allows you to transfer the latest copy of your Floor Schedule data files from one computer to another. For additional details see 'Importing Your Files'.
The export process copies your Floor Schedule Data Files to a specific folder on the target drive's root directory. This folder's name is FSBackup. The import process looks to this directory and folder to find the data file to import. This is why you are not asked to enter a complete path but only the drive.
The Import process allows you to share your Floor Schedule Data between two computers that both have Floor Schedule installed. It also allows you to replace an existing file with its backup copy. To import an existing file:
Choose File menu, then Import.
Select the drive you want to import from (normally a USB flash drive). Click OK.
You may import from any portable data storage device that is interpreted as a drive as well as from your own computer's hard drives.
Import allows you to transfer the latest copy of your Floor Schedule data from one computer to the other. This is useful if you are running Floor Schedule on more then one machine and want to move the most recently edited copy of your data from one machine to the other. For additional details see 'Export' and 'Moving Floor Schedule files between Two Computers'.
During the import process, if the data file being imported is older then the file that it will overwrite, you are warned and asked if you want to continue the process.
Import allows you to restore your Floor Schedule Data Files. If the hard drive on your PC should fail, and you have created a backup copy of your files, you can use the import process to restore your data.
The default import process looks to find a directory named FSBackup on the drive you point to when importing. This is the same directory that the export process exports to and creates if it does not exits. This keeps the process simple and consistent, eliminating potential confusion.
The import / export process will not work to transfer files from earlier versions of Floor Schedule to Floor Schedule 2011. If you'd like help with how to transfer files between earlier versions to Floor Schedule 2011 please contact us.
To show times in place of the shift letters:
Floor Schedule uses the letters A-H as generic placeholders for your shifts. You can enter your own descriptions for these place holders by using the TIMES buttons on the SITE screen, or through the 'Settings | Times' menu.
First select the Site, then select the day, then enter the descriptions you want the schedule to show in place of the default letters A-H. If you have set up your site shifts then the shifts you have entered are indicated by the highlighted letters.
Enter times, such as '9-12', in the field provided next to each letter, or you can enter a description such as 'Room B'. This gives you versatility on how you want to set up the schedule. One caveat is to keep your description as short as possible. Too long and this may cause the agent's name to wrap to the next line on the schedule day if the description and name can't fit together on one line.
If you have identical days, use the shortcut to save time. Enter your shift description for one day then select another day with should have the same shifts and description and use the day button you just entered. This will copy the first day's shift descriptions into the second. Repeat for all identical days.
For more help, see the help button on the Show Times screen. You can also watch the introductory video.
You may create a file from your schedule that can be imported to Google Calendar or Outlook Calendar and many other calendars. To create the file, first Generate your schedule, then select the CSV button on the button menu bar. CSV stands for 'Comma Separated Values'. This CSV file is saved in your PDF directory on your desktop. From Google, or Outlook, point to this file to import your schedule.
There are two files created when you select the CSV button. One file is a UNICODE file and the other file is an ANSI file. Both are marked appropriately and include the name of the site and the month, and the exact hour, minute, and second that each was created. For Google and most calendar programs you should import the UNICODE version of the file. If that does not work, try importing the older ANSI standard version of the file.
When you create your CSV file by selecting the CSV button, you may see a message 'Time Format Errors'. This means that one or more ttimes you entered under the menu 'Settings | Times...' are not in the proper time format such that external calendars can understand. You may edit the times directly on the schedule by double clicking the days where editing is needed, and when finished, create a new CSV file by selecting the CSV button OR you may fix the times using the 'Settings | Times...' menu, then generate a new schedule, then select the CSV button again. The proper time formats are:
9amThis is a licensed product. Copyright 2005 - 2011 by CRS. All rights apply.
Understanding the Inactive versus the Active License:
The author grants an active license to any user who purchases an active license from the author.
This product may be freely distributed with the complimentary active license included in the installation. At the end of the original installation month, the complimentary license will become inactive.
An inactive license does not interfere with your rights to operate this program. However, when using the program with an inactive license you will not be able to create future month's schedules. You may continue to use the Personal Calendar, view saved schedules and generate past months schedules.
To purchase an ACTIVE license
Start Floor Schedule. Choose the License Menu and then the PURCHASE option.
A license can only be purchased from within the Floor Schedule Program.
Software updates are free. Check our website periodically for update announcements.
If you are comfortable with the following instructions and warnings you may find it at times convenient to bypass Floor Schedule's Import process. you can copy and paste directly to the your 'your user name\application data\ Floor Schedule' directory.
Warning: Bypassing the Import process means that normal program protections are not available. You may not be warned if you are replacing a newer file with an older one.
Every three months Floor Schedule will remind you / ask you, if you'd like to Backup your data. See Export File.
coming soon...
coming soon...
After uninstalling the Floor Schedule program, all the program files will be removed except for your Floor Schedule data files and your settings files, which were created to store your preferences. This is by design to prevent their accidental deletion.
To remove your Floor Schedule data files after uninstalling the program, manually delete the 'your user name\application data\Floor Schedule' directory.
Although the makers of this software believe the software to be error free, have tested this software thoroughly and use the software for company and personal business on an ongoing and regular basis, we must include the following warning in order to protect ourselves from legal liability.
Please read and understand. By using this software you agree that:
This Software is provided "as is". Author makes no warranty, expressed or implied, with regard to the Software. All implied warranties, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular use, are hereby excluded. Licensor does not warrant that the Software is error free or that it will operate without interruption. AUTHOR'S LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO THE PURCHASE PRICE. Under no circumstances shall author of this product be liable for any incidental or consequential damages, nor for any damages in excess of the original purchase price.
Licensor shall not be liable to you or any other party for any damages arising out of the use of, or inability to use, this Software including but not limited to inability to access data, loss of business, loss of profits, or any other perceived or actual loss or damages. The foregoing limitations on liability are intended to apply to the warranties and disclaimers contained within this document and all other aspects of this software.