Creating a Shift Pattern
Shift Patterns can be created and managed via: Longform > Personnel Tree > Shift Type Setup > Edit Shift Patterns.
To set up a Shift Pattern:
Go to Edit Shift Patterns.
Select the relevant Object Class (e.g. Editors).
(Optional) Assign a Division – if set, only shift types belonging to this division will be available.
Define the shift schedule period (start and end date).
Click Settings to proceed to shift configuration.
Shift Pattern Settings
In the Shift Pattern setup, the following options are available:
Rotation Pattern
Weekly: Each member retains the same shift for an entire week. Note: If weekly pattern is selected, Shifts are always plotted from Monday to Sunday. If the enterted start date for Shift Pattern is not starting on Monday, the shifts will be plotted from first Monday before the selected date.
If the end date of the Shift Pattern is not on Sunday, the shifts will be plotted to the first Sunday after the selected date.Daily: Shifts can vary from day to day.
Required Shifts
Define which Shift Types must appear at least once per week for each member.
Use the Days column to specify how many times each shift type should occur weekly per person.
The Required Shifts can be used to ensure required days off in the week.
Weekends Off Per Month
Determines the number of weekends each user should have completely off (i.e. both Saturday and Sunday without required shifts).
Minimum Hours Break
Set the required minimum number of hours between two shifts for a given user.
Plot Over Personnel Events
If enabled, shifts will be plotted regardless of existing personnel events.
Plot Over Public Holidays
If enabled, shifts will be plotted on public holidays.
First Week Preview
After setting configuration, clicking Next opens the First Week Preview, where you can:
Manually assign shifts to each user.
Use Auto Fill to randomly distribute shifts based on your settings.
View a summary table of shift coverage per day.
Re-organise users, dragging them up & down, if neccessary.
Remove users (highlight the row > right mouse click > remove), if specific class members should not be included in the Shift Pattern.
Once confirmed, clicking OK will apply the rotation across the defined period.
If any violations occur (e.g. rule conflicts or unfilled required shifts), they will be displayed before proceeding and can be fixed manually before rotating Shift Pattern.
Creating a Shift Pattern
Existing Shift Patterns can be extended, so the rotation continues from the last assigned shift.
To extend Shift Pattern:
1. Go to Shift Patterns
2. Click "Extend to" button of the selected pattern (Note! Only the most recent Shift Pattern can be extended!)
3. Enter a new name and new end date.
4. All other settings remain unchanged.
5. The rotation continues from the last assigned shift.
Additional remarks:
New users in the Object Class will be added to the First Week Schedule and can be edited manually.
Inactive Users will be greyed out, but their shift rotation remains for history/reference.