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Overview

WPS version 9.10 includes the following improvements and new features:

  • Improved functionality of standard sets linked with budget datasets.
  • Improvement to the Adjustment Wizard user interface.
  • Customizable User Name field in Employee Maintenance.
  • Ability to publish schedules that match your company's planning period.
  • New features in the UniFocus Mobile App:
    • Language selector.
    • Manager alerts for time off requests.
    • Printed invitations to the Mobile App.
  • Improved weather service.
  • New Schedule Approvals screen for desktop and mobile applications.
  • Improved labels on the Excel Schedule report.

Budgeting

Improved functionality of standard sets linked with budget datasets  (14787)

Recent versions of RMS have offered improvements to the Budgeting module, especially through the expansion of standard sets and KBI sets. To ensure efficient configuration and budget calculations, in this release UniFocus has offered the ability to link standards sets with budget datasets and provided a new user permission for configuration.

These new features include:

  • Linking standard sets to budget datasets (14790)—In previous versions, you could not associate a standard set with a budget dataset. In this release, the Budget Dataset screen (System Setup (  ) > Financial > Budget Dataset) now contains a Standard Set column where you can select a standard set to associate with a budget dataset.

    • Warning message (14958)—You will receive a notification if the KBI set in the Standard Sets configuration (System Setup (  ) > Labor > Standard Sets) and the KBI set in the Budget Dataset do not match. The message prompts you to reconfigure so that the KBI sets match.

      Background information: The KBI set that is attached to the Labor Standard determines the configuration for the KBI calculation. The standard set used in the Budget Dataset determines how KBIs are displayed in the KBI Forecasting screens. For example, one standard set might be configured as an input, which means the unit value is imported or entered (so the cell is active); the other is configured as a calculated KBI, which means the system would calculate the value and that value is not editable. So if the standard set used in the calculation is input but the one used in the screen view is calculated, the system would show zero (because there is no calculation) and the user will not be able to input the number of units they want.

  • Default standard set on Calculate Working Dataset (14791)—The standard set selected for the budget dataset will appear as the default standard set selection in the Calculate Working Datasets dialog boxes, which are accessed from the following tasks in Budgeting (Main Menu (  ) > Financial > Budgeting): 

    • KBI Projections > Related Tasks.

    • Adjust Hours and Rates > Related Tasks.

    • 30/60/90 KBI Projections > Related Tasks.

    • Recalculate Profit Dataset.

    • Period End KBI Projections > Related Tasks > Calculate Profit Dataset.

    • Generate Profit Flex (there are two of these, one for EPEP and one for Actuals). 

    • Manage P&L Lines > Generate Profit Flex. 

    • Enter Actual KBI Values > Calculate Working Dataset.

      Note: If no standard set is selected in the Budget Dataset screen, the standard set option on the Calculate Working Datasets screens defaults to its original default selection.

  • New user permissions (14792)—The Actions tab of the Security screen (Main Menu (  ) > Admin > Security) now contains a new permission called Can Change Standard Sets. If allowed, users can modify the standard set used for calculating. If not allowed, they can only calculate using the designated standard set for the budget.

User interface change to the Adjustment Wizard  (14739)

In previous releases, the Adjustment Wizard (or the Add New Adjustment dialogue box) featured drop-down lists for selecting the start and end dates of adjustments. In this release, the Adjustment Wizard features calendar menus for selecting the start and end dates.

Employee Maintenance

User Name field can now hidden from the General tab in Employee Maintenance  (14985)

In previous releases, the User Name field was always displayed in the General tab of the Employee Maintenance screen and could not be hidden. In this release, the User Name field can now be hidden. The User Name field is now available for selection in the Employee Field Override screen. If the Visible check box is selected for the User Name field on the Employee Field Override screen, the User Name field will appear on the General tab of the Employee Maintenance screen. If the Visible check box is cleared, the field will be hidden. 

By default, the User Name field will now be hidden in the General tab of the Employee Maintenance screen. 

Employee Maintenance, Mobile

Printed invitation for the UniFocus Mobile App  (14923)

This release offers a mobile registration solution for clients who do not have access to employee email addresses. From the Employee Maintenance screen, managers can print PDF invitations for all active employees who have not already registered for the UniFocus Mobile App (version 2).

When employees receive the PDF invitation, they complete the following registration steps:

  1. Go to the registration URL listed on the invitation.
  2. Enter their name and email address.
  3. Enter the information provided on the invitation:
    • Client code
    • Verification code
    • Employee ID

For more information, see Inviting employees to the UniFocus Mobile App.

Labor

Publishing schedules by planning period  (14982)

In previous versions, you could only publish schedules for a week at a time, regardless of the type of planning period your company used. In this release, your options for publishing schedules match with the types of planning periods your company uses.

Labor, Mobile

Improved weather service  (15061) 

Weather service has been improved to include worldwide weather for 14-day forecasts. 

Schedule Approvals screens in desktop and mobile  (14796, 14810) 

This release features new Schedule Approvals screen in both the WPS software (desktop) and the UniFocus Mobile App. With this new screen, managers can establish a scheduling process for marking schedules as complete, approving or unapproving completed schedules, and publishing those schedules for employees. The Schedule Approval screen is helpful in organizations where managers must approve schedules before they are finalized and made available to employees.

On the Schedule Approvals screen, users can do the following:

  • View summary information about schedules to determine their quality and readiness for publication.
  • Filter the screen view by property, potential scheduling issues, and completed schedules.
  • Mark schedules as complete.
  • Approve schedules.
  • Unapprove schedules to undo approvals.
  • Publish schedules.

Notes:

  • The tasks to which users have access are determined by user permissions.
  • Schedules can only be marked as complete in the desktop view of Schedule Approvals.

Overview of the schedule approval process, users, and permissions

The Schedule Approvals screen offers flexibility for your schedule approval process, as each organization will have different needs. The general process of schedule approvals includes the following steps:

  1. A user writes the schedules and then marks them as complete when they are ready for approval.
  2. A user reviews the completed schedules and determines whether to grant approval. Once schedules are approved, they are ready for publishing.
  3. A user publishes the approved schedules so that they are available to employees. Employees view their schedules in the UniFocus Mobile App.

There are three separate permissions to address the three types of tasks that users can perform on the Schedule Approvals screens:

  • Write schedules and mark schedules as complete—Users will see the Mark as Complete button if they have access to the Scheduling screens and have Labor Structure permissions to jobs requiring approval. They are authorized to mark schedules as complete.
  • Approve/unapprove schedules—Users with Labor Structure permissions to approve schedules will see the Approve and UnApprove buttons. They are authorized to approve and unapprove schedules.
  • Publish schedules—Users with this permission will see the Publish button. They are authorized to publish schedules.

You can assign these permissions to match the responsibilities of your managers and the scheduling workflow of your organization. For example, you might split the three tasks between two different users. You can grant one user the permission to mark schedules as complete and another user the permission to both approve/unapprove and publish the schedules.

Accessing the Schedule Approvals screens

In the desktop

If your company is using Schedule Approvals in the desktop, you access the Schedule Approvals screen on the Labor Planning screen (Main Menu (  ) > Labor > Planning). The task button is labeled Manage Schedules.

 Note: If your company is not using Schedule Approvals, the task button is labeled Publish Schedules.

In the Mobile App

If your company is using Schedule Approvals in the Mobile App, managers can access the Schedule Approvals screen from the Team Administration menu.

Scheduling information on the screens

The Schedule Approvals screen displays a variety of scheduling information that assists users in determining whether schedules should be approved and published. The information displayed on the screen depends on whether you are using the WPS software (desktop) or the UniFocus Mobile App. Both desktop and mobile views display all properties to which users have access. By default, the screen opens to display information for the current planning period for each property.

This following information is displayed for each schedule in both desktop and mobile versions:

  • Status icons:
    • The check mark icon indicates approval status. A gray check mark icon (  ) indicates that the schedule has not been approved. A green check mark icon (  ) indicates that the schedule has been approved. If the schedule does not require approval, N/A is displayed.
    • The arrow icon indicates publication status. A gray arrow icon (  ) indicates that the schedule has not been published. A blue arrow icon (  ) indicates that the schedule has been published. If the schedule does not require publishing, N/A is displayed. 
  • Issue Indicators:
    • Quality—The scheduling manager has scheduled too few hours, where the variance between the scheduled hours and the projected hours is outside of a configured threshold for under-scheduling. This is typically configured as 3% to 5% in most installations. So if the manager had scheduled too few hours or more than 5% below the projected hours, then the Quality indicator is colored purple and displays the number of related issues. 

    • Cost—The scheduling manager has scheduled too many hours above the projected hours outside of a configured threshold for over-scheduling. This is typically configured as 3% to 5% in most installations. So if the manager had scheduled more than 5% over the projected hours, then the Cost indicator is colored red and displays the number of related issues. 

    • OT—This is a percentage of scheduled hours that are overtime (OT) hours. This threshold is configured based on the company's policy for acceptable scheduling of OT. For example, if the threshold is set to 3% and there are more than 3% scheduled hours are OT hours, then the OT indicator is colored blue and display the number of related issues.

    Note: UniFocus software already had the ability to configure Quality and Cost thresholds, which were used in a variety of components of the WPS application (like the Scheduling screen). OT is a new threshold in the software and a new configuration point in Labor Structure, where you specify what percentage of OT you want to trigger an alert.

Data for levels of the labor structure

In both the desktop and mobile version, you can drill down into lower levels of the labor structure. In the Mobile App, click the labor structure name above the issue indicators (Quality, Cost, and OT). In the desktop view, expand the tree menus in the Property tables.

Data for jobs

In both the desktop and mobile version, you can drill down to view more details about a job, including a detailed list of quality, cost, and OT% issues. In the Mobile App, click through the labor structure screens until you get to the job level. In the desktop version, expand the tree menu until you reach the job level and then click on a job to expand the Job Details pane. Information at the job level includes the following:

  • Variance %—The overall percentage variance between scheduled and projected hours for the planning period.
  • Days Outside Threshold—The number of days in the planning period where schedules are outside of the threshold for over- or under-scheduling.
  • OT%—Percentage of scheduled hours that are OT hours.
  • OT Employees—Number of employees who have scheduled OT.

Any scheduling issues for a job appear in an itemized list.

Additional data 

The desktop version of the Schedule Approvals screen contains addition information that is not found in the mobile version:

  • Scheduled hours 
  • Projected hours
  • Schedule costs
  • Projected costs
  • Variance costs
  • Number of employees with OT
  • Cost of OT
  • Available hours

Mobile

Language selector  (MOB-2308)

Mobile App v. 2 is now available in the following languages, which can be selected from the General tab of the Preferences screen: 

  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Spanish
  • Japanese
  • Chinese

Manager alerts for time off requests  (15660)

In the last release (9.09.01), the Mobile App introduced an improved Time Off Requests calendar view of employee time off requests. This release introduces a new Time Off Request manager alert that indicates the number of employee time off requests. Selecting this alert takes managers to the Time Off Requests Calender view. 

Schedule Approvals for the Mobile App  (14796)

For more information, see the note Schedule Approval screens in desktop and mobile  (14796, 14810).

Reports

Addendum text for schedule labels appears on the Excel Schedule report  (14086)

The Excel Schedule report now displays label text that also appears on the Scheduling screen. Use the Schedule Label Addendum work rules to configure these labels.

 

 

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