Rules

Within the system you are able to setup Minimum / Maximum Group Levels that help to manage leave more effectively and allow you to keep on top of staff demand within a specific Group. In addition you can also stop entrie Groups from being able to be off when 1 person within another group is already off on any given day by setting up a Restriction rule.

RULES - GROUPS

Firstly, to create a Rule you will need to do the following;

From the Settings menu, select Rules, then Create new Rule.
Select the Rule type, Group or Staff
Then choose which Group/Staff you would like to add a Rule for
Now select a function (as seen below)
- Restriction - This function allows you to stop the selected Group from being able to book leave when anyone within another Group is already off (or you can stop the selected Group from being able to book leave when a specific staff member is already off).
- Min. Group Level - This function allows you to state the minimum required number of staff you need at work on any given day, within the selected group.
- Max Group Level - This function allows you to set the maximum number of staff that can book leave within the selected group on any given day.
Then select who to apply this Rule against, either a Group or Staff member* If this is a Staff to Staff rule, you can also choose to reverse the Rule so that both staff members cannot be off together (otherwise it will default to the first selected staff member cannot be off when the second selected staff member is off).
Then choose whether you would like the Rule to Ignore Dates**
If you have selected NO to "Ignore Dates", then choose whether to Ignore Times***
You also have the option to choose specific days of the week this Rule will come into effect, for example the business might close on Saturday and Sunday therefore you don't need to include those days of the week.
Click Save.

*You will only be able to choose who to apply a Rule against if you have selected the Rule Type as Group or Staff Member and have chosen the function Restriction (Groups only).

Staff rule types can only be Restriction rules, you cannot set Min/Max rules for Staff to Staff rules or Staff to Group rules.

Via the Leave Types (See Leave Types article) you can choose which leave types take each type of Rule into consideration, for example you might only want Holiday to take Rules into consideration, but not Sickness or Meetings.

**IGNORE DATES

The Ignore Dates option allows you to choose whether the Rule focuses on the working days of each staff member within the Group.

Example based on 5 Staff in a Group, Minimum Rule set to 3 to be at work on any given day.

For example if 4 staff members work Monday to Friday and 1 staff member works Monday to Wednesday, the system can take into account that on a Thursday and Friday, only 4 people are actually at work, thus only 1 person can book leave (whereas on a Monday to Wednesday there are 5 staff, so up to 2 people can book leave).

***IGNORE TIMES

The Ignore Times option will only become available if you have chosen to Ignore Dates (see above). If you choose to Ignore Dates you can then specify whether the system will look at specific working times on each working day. If Ignore Times is set to YES the system will ignore Working Times and will only focus on when people actually work (see above).

Example based on 5 Staff in a Group, Minimum Rule set to 3 to be at work on any given day.

For example, if Ignore Times is set to NO: If 4 staff members work 0900 - 1730 and 1 staff member works 0900 - 1200, the system can take into account that from 1200 - 1730, only 4 people are actually at work, thus only 1 person can book leave that includes these times (whereas from 0900 - 1200 there are 5 staff so up to 2 people could book the morning off).

SPECIFIC DATES

This tab allows you to be even more specific with when to apply these Rules. You can choose a Start Date and an End Date or multiple date ranges throughout the year, in the event that these Rules happened periodically. You can also choose to repeat these date ranges yearly so that you don't have to keep setting the same Rules up every year.