Plan requirement
| Subscription | Any plan |
| Also required | Workforce Management |
| Access | Admin |
How a schedule is put together in Zendesk WFM, and why publishing it is a commitment rather than a save.
What goes into it
- The forecast, saying how many people are needed when.
- Availability: contracts, hours, approved time off.
- Shift templates, defining the patterns you use.
- Skills, where not everybody can handle everything.
The schedule is the arrangement that satisfies all four, or comes closest.
Draft and published are different states
A draft is yours to change freely. Publishing tells people when they are working, and after that a change is a change to somebody's plans.
That distinction is the most important thing about this feature.
Publish on a rhythm
The same day each period, far enough ahead that people can arrange their lives. Two weeks is common, four is better, and irregular publishing is what makes a workforce tool resented.
Perfect coverage is not the goal
A schedule that matches the forecast exactly usually does so by treating people as interchangeable units. Slightly imperfect coverage with humane shifts produces better service, because the people are still there in six months.
Handle time off first
Approve absence before generating, not after. Building a schedule and then removing people from it produces gaps you have to fix by hand.
Changes after publishing need telling
Somebody who does not know their shift moved will work the old one. The system knowing is not the same as the person knowing.
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