At Celayix, we’ve noticed a common pattern in how our scheduling software is used by our customers in the hospitality industry. Very often, the type or number of shifts that need to be scheduled on a given day fluctuates depending on multiple variables. These variables can include things like holidays that cause increased business, or special events that have been booked with the customer. Although there is often a distinct pattern to how our customers schedule shifts in response to these variables, it still requires them to respond manually. Using feedback from our customers, we are in the process of developing a feature to solve this problem of patterned yet repetitive shift scheduling – which is where scheduling templates come in.
Hospitality Scheduling Challenges
This problem is especially relevant to hotels and venues that provide spaces that can be booked for a diverse number of events with a varying numbers of guests. Often, for a given type of event, the types of shifts required to facilitate it are the same every time. For example, for a hotel that provides a space where customers can host dinner events, the hotel will need to schedule employees to do tasks such as wait tables, bus tables, and tend bar. Every dinner event will require the same type of shifts, but the number of people scheduled for each task will likely fluctuate depending on how many guests are expected to attend the event. Currently, the scheduler would have to identify the type and number of shifts required for that event, and add them individually to the schedule.
Scheduling With Event Templates
With our pending Event Template feature, we aim to provide a tool that will automatically create a batch of shifts for events based on a set of rules that the scheduler provides. In the example above, the scheduler would create a rule for each shift type; waiter, busser, and bartender, for the “Dinner” type event template. This rule would define a ratio that relates the number of guests expected to attend the event with the number of shifts that need to be scheduled in order to facilitate the event. From then on, every time there is a dinner event, the scheduler only has to create an event with the “Dinner” type and provide a guest count, and our software will automatically calculate the number of shifts to create.
Similar templates for different events can easily be created by defining another set of rules for different event types. We will also be providing functionality to allow users to break down event types further by creating sub-types for their events. For example, a dinner event might be a buffet or a seated and plated dinner. These different sub-types would very likely require a different set or number of shifts, so the user will be able to create different rule templates for each combination of type and sub-type.
This will be a valuable tool for any scheduler who often has to create large numbers of shifts in response to a recurring event. With only a minimal amount of setup required, they will be able use the Event Template feature to quickly and easily create batches of shifts.
If this upcoming feature interests you, please reach out to us to learn more!
