You are here: Building the Model: General Elements > Shifts & Breaks > Calendar Editor
Shifts and time off for activities and resources are defined using the Calendar Editor. Time off for holidays and vacation is defined in the Calendar tab by simply selecting the specific days to take off. A change in which shift an activity or resource is on can also be defined in the Calendar tab. The details of a shift, which include what hours of each day the shift runs and when breaks occur, can be defined in the Shifts tab. Shifts and breaks may start and end at any 5 minute interval of the day and are defined by selecting blocks on a grid divided into days and hours. Once a calendar schedule has been defined, it may be saved as a calendar file with a PMCAL extension so that it can be chosen for use by other activities and resources.
The Calendar Editor window consists of a menu button, Quick Access toolbar, as well as the Calendar tab and Shifts tab, and the tab-specific toolbars. Clicking between the Calendar and Shifts tabs will display different views of functionality for defining your calendar schedule. Below is a screen shot of the Calendar Editor with the Calendar tab selected.
The remainder of this section describes the Shift Editor interface and the following procedures:
Adding or Editing Time Off
Adding or Editing Shift Changes
Splitting a Calendar day between time off or shifts
Erasing Time Off or Shift Changes
Drawing a block of time to define Work
Adding a block of time to define a Break
Editing Work or Break time
Erasing Work or Break time
Adding and Deleting Shifts
Duplicating Shifts
Renaming Shifts
Importing and Exporting Shifts
Changing the Shift Color
The Main menu in the Calendar Editor is accessible from the Menu button found at the top left corner of the application.
New Start a new shift file definition. If a shift file is already open, it will be closed. If the shift file was modified, you will be prompted to save the changes before it is closed.
Open Browse to open a shift file for viewing or editing.
Save Saves any changes made to the loaded shift file. If it is a newly defined shift file, the Save As dialog will open.
Save As Save the currently loaded shift file as a different filename.
Recent Calendar Files Lists the most recently loaded calendar files opened in the Calendar Editor.
The Quick Access Toolbar is found at the top left of the application and to the right of the Main menu button. The toolbar contains Save, Undo, and Redo buttons.
The Calendar tab is located below the Quick Access toolbar. A 12 month view of the given calendar year displays any defined holiday, vacation, shift change, or other exception to the base shift schedule over the course of that year. These exceptions can also be added or modified from this view. The year can be changed by clicking on the year number, which displays a scroll of years prior or forthcoming, or by clicking the arrows to the left and right of the displayed year.
Holiday Designates planned holidays to be marked on the calendar. A shift is off on a Holiday.
Vacation Designates scheduled vacation time. A shift is off during a vacation.
Other Designates all other possible time off taken and the scheduled shift is not worked.
Shift Based on the chosen shift, designates the shift worked (or exception to the base shift) for a given day of the week.
Please Note
One or more shifts in addition to the base shift have to be created in the Shift tab in order to appear on the Shift button drop down list. Whichever shift was the last one selected from the drop down list will be the one shown on the button.
Erase Allows time off or shift exceptions to be erased from the calendar and resets the days to use the base shift.
Clear All Clears all the exceptions defined for the displayed calendar year.
Allows the user to view non-working days from the Calendar view. Shifts have to be scheduled on the calendar for this to be possible. The shifts also must have at least one or more days where work is not performed. Once one or more of these shifts have been assigned to days on the calendar, simply click the Show Non-Work Days check box in the upper right hand corner of the Calendar Editor.
Split Day Launches the Split Day dialog, which allows you to select how the days schedule is divided between shifts or time off. Move the red line divider to the right or to the left to move the time of the split.
Erase Same function as that of the Erase option in the toolbar. Selecting erase will delete the assigned shift or time off designated for that day and revert back to the base shift.
Fill Day With Choose between Holiday, Vacation, Other or one of the user defined shifts. Right click on the day and select Fill Day With to designate what schedule that day should follow.
The Shifts tab is located below the Quick Access toolbar and to the right of the Calendar tab. Select the Shifts tab to define the specific work and break time the activity or resource will be available on an hourly basis. A base shift must be defined and is the main shift that all other calendar items are exceptions to.
Add Work Select Add Work from the Shift toolbar to add hours worked to a shift. Select the Add Work button and click on a day of the week on the shift schedule. The period of time clicked on will fill with the color blue to indicate the hours worked for that selected day.
Add Break Select Add Break from the Shift toolbar to add break time for a shift. Populate the period of break time the same way you would with the Add Work button. Break time will show up in red on shift calendar.
Erase Select Erase from the Shift toolbar and then click on any hour of blocked time to erase a shift decision.
Clear All Select Clear All on the Shift toolbar to delete all previously assigned hours.
View Resolution Work and Break time can be defined down to the nearest 5 minute interval. Other minimum time resolutions can also be used such as 15 minute, 30 minute, and hourly. These are set using the View resolution button.
The view resolution button is a drop down button that gives four choices for setting the minimum time resolution. When a time resolution is selected, the Calendar Editor grid will automatically adjust and only allow Work or Break time to be defined to that nearest resolution.
For example, if the View resolution was set to 30 minutes, Work or Break time could only be drawn to the nearest 30 minute period.
The Shifts List is a list of the user defined Shifts. Each shift has a unique color identifier for easy viewing in the Calendar tab view.
Add Select the Add button to create a new shift
Import Select the Import button to pull a shift schedule in from an external file location on your computer.
Right-Click Menu for Shifts List Hover over a created shift and right-click to display a menu. The user can rename, duplicate, delete or export a shift from this menu.
Rename Allows the user to rename the shift from its default name to a user defined name (this can also be accomplished by double-clicking on the shift name).
Duplicate Creates a shift identical to the shift selected for duplication and appends it to the end of the list.
Delete Removes the selected shift (this can also be accomplished by clicking the "X" to the right of the shift name.
Export Allows the user to save the shift as a shift file (.sft) on the users computer.