Release Notes 9.15 - Printable
Overview
RMS
version 9.15 includes the following improvements and new features:
- Improved overtime rate calculation of piece pay.
- A modification to the Average Hours with Worked Before and After Check work rule.
- An improvement to the Trend-Adjusted Exponential Smoothing (TAES) modeling algorithm.
- A new Employee Productivity screen and report.
- Improvements to the Adjustments Template CSV file.
- Mobile password improvement: Mobile users can change their passwords up to three times a day.
- A prompt for providing feedback in the Mobile App.
- A Needs assistance link on the Mobile sign-in screen.
This release also includes several fixed issues. For more information, see Fixed Issues in version 9.15.
For a printable one-page version of these release notes, see Release Notes 9.15 - Printable.
Updates and hotfixes
See Updates and hotfixes for 9.x releases.
December 17, 2019
- Task Scheduler now correctly adheres to permissions that users configured in the Security screen (19921).
September 6, 2019
- The message in the UniFocus Mobile App invitation email no longer references managers' UniFocus user names (19862).
July 1, 2019
- Improved filter functionality in employee schedules (18597).Â
June 20, 2019
- All employee punches are now correctly recorded in Time & Attendance (19038).Â
June 19, 2019
- Shifts that are automatically approved by work rules now correctly appear as approved in both the employee Time Card and the Review Pay Period screens (19153).Â
April 30, 2019
- On the Employee Schedules screen of the Mobile App, the employee names in the Name column stay aligned with their respective shifts when users scroll through the list (17734).Â
- In the UniFocus Mobile App, the Time Off Request screen header no longer disappears after a user swipes through three requests (18314).Â
- In the Mobile App, when performing a shift giveaway, employees see a list of all other employees who have the same job and no conflicts for the day of the shift (18495).Â
- Administrative users the with the appropriate permission can enroll employees at Time Clocks, regardless of employees' scheduled shift length or any existing violations (18463).
April 23, 2019
- Improvements to the Adjustments Template CSV file (18376).Â
- The Property field on the Task Scheduler screen now correctly defaults to the property to which the user is logged in (18650).Â
March 6, 2019
- When users with UFTC Punch to Schedule enabled for secondary jobs punch in to their secondary jobs, the punches are correctly assigned to the secondary jobs (17741).Â
- Employees no longer receive error messages after sending swap shift requests (17971).Â
January 21, 2019
- In the UniFocus Mobile App, filter option labels in the Manager Schedules screen are no longer truncated when there is sufficient space to display the complete label name on the screen (17703).Â
Improvements and new features
See the pages below for improvements and new features in version 9.15:
Configuration
Earning types and work rules
Improved overtime rate calculation of piece pay (17259)
When configuring earning types (System Setup > Earning Types), a new Base Pay check box is available in the Include In section. This new configuration option includes the earnings in the Overtime Rate and Post Calculations work rules. If you are using piece pay for an earning type, it must be included in the base pay to correctly calculate the overtime rate.
For more information, see:
Labor forecasting
Improvement to the Trend-Adjusted Exponential Smoothing calculation (17010)
In previous releases, if you applied Trend-Adjusted Exponential Smoothing (TAES) to a forecast for the upcoming week, the software analyzed the last reported 15 data points for Actual KBIs—that is, the prior 15 weeks of data—and calculated a trend factor that was applied to the upcoming week. When forecasting more than one week in the future, the software analyzed the data set (the prior 15 weeks of Actual KBI data) and assumed that both the data set and the trend factor for the first upcoming week would be identical for all future weeks in the desired forecast range.
In this release, the TAES modeling algorithm has been improved to analyze the prior 15 weeks of Actual KBI data, calculate a trend factor for the first week in the forecast range, and then extrapolate the calculation across the forecast range.
EXAMPLE
The TAES-calculated trend factor of 20 is applied to an 8-week forecast range.
Before the improvement:
TAES weighted average | TAES trend factor | Weeks in desired forecast range | |||||||
380 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
380+20 | 380+20 | 380+20 | 380+20 | 380+20 | 380+20 | 380+20 | 380+20 | ||
400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 |
With the improved calculation:
TAES weighted average | TAES trend factor | Weeks in desired forecast range | |||||||
380 | 20 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
380+20 | 400+20 | 420+20 | 440+20 | 460+20 | 480+20 | 500+20 | 520+20 | ||
400 | 420 | 440 | 460 | 480 | 500 | 520 | 540 |
For more information on TAES and its application to statistical KBIs, see the following:
Work rules
Modification to the Average Hours with Worked Before and After Check work rule (17274)
The Average Hours with Worked Before and After Check work rule (System Setup > Work Rules > Holiday Eligibility) has been modified so that the Start Calculation From parameter now includes a new Prior Week option. This new option allows you to start an eligibility calculation from one week prior to the holiday date. Once selected, the calculation of holiday pay will be for the four weeks prior to the beginning of the last week.
For example, you are trying to calculate an employee's eligibility for Canadian Thanksgiving, which is on October 8:
- The workweek runs from Saturday through Friday, starting on Saturday and ending on Friday.
- Pay is biweekly.
- The employee's pay week starts on September 29 and ends on October 12.
Before the modification, to address the example above, you would have to look at the last closed pay period week, meaning that you could not look at the hours that fell within the current pay period. You would have to review the 4 weeks prior to September 29.
Now, with the modification, the calculation uses the four weeks prior to October 5th.
Labor
Employee Productivity screen and report (15990)
This release introduces both a new application screen and a new report that address employee productivity. On the application screen, you can view productivity goals and report the actual units serviced each day by employees in jobs that track employee-level productivity. You can also override productivity goals for employees on specific days. This information is used to calculate labor productivity at the employee level on the Employee Productivity report, which is available in Reporter.
For more information, see:
Mobile
Mobile users can change their passwords up to three times a day (17092)
In previous releases of the UniFocus Mobile App, users could change their password only once a day. In this release, users can change their passwords up to three times a day.
Prompt for providing feedback in the Mobile App (17601)
Mobile App users are now prompted to provide feedback. Users must be active on the Mobile App for three weeks before they receive the prompt.
Need assistance link on the Mobile sign-in screen (17619)
Both desktop (portal.unifocus.com) and mobile versions of the UniFocus Mobile app now feature a Need assistance link on the sign-in screen. This link is intended for users who are unable to sign in and do not know their ID or password. If users select the link, a dialog box with the following message appears:
If you are unable to log in or retrieve your password, contact your property administrator for further assistance. Your property administrator might need to resend a registration email so that you can reset your credentials.
Improved filter functionality in Employee Schedules (18597)
The UniFocus Mobile App now prompts first-time users to select jobs that they want to filter before they use Employee Schedules. The Employee Schedules screen appears after the filtered jobs are selected.
Summary of issues fixed in this release
Issue | Description |
---|---|
Administration (application security) | |
17245 | Single Sign On can now validate usernames that contain apostrophes. |
18650 | The Property field on the Task Scheduler screen now correctly defaults to the property to which the user is logged in. |
Analytics | |
17696 | RMS users who are not mapped to an Employee ID in Employee Maintenance can now add and view Time & Attendance tiles in the Manager Portal screen. |
Configuration | |
17741 | When users with UFTC Punch to Schedule enabled for secondary jobs punch in to their secondary jobs, the punches are correctly assigned to the secondary jobs. |
Financial | |
14600 | The Budget Labor Summary By Day report now correctly returns values for all hours when there are labor standards configured on both the job class and assignment level. |
17495 | When saving changes after deleting a budget line, users no longer encounter the following error message: "Incorrect syntax near ')'." |
Infrastructure | |
17729 | Separate instances of UniFocus RMS software can now be open simultaneously. |
Labor | |
15829 | Schedule approval icons are now correctly displayed on the Schedule Approvals screen when accessing the UniFocus Mobile App on a computer using Internet Explorer. |
17295 | The Schedule Approvals screen now displays correct available hours for employees. |
17426 | Users no longer receive errors when attempting to export their Payroll JE Maps. |
17700 | If the Hide Unscheduled Secondary Employees filter is applied to the Employee view of the Scheduling screen, the screen hides all employees who do not have the selected job(s) as a home job and are not scheduled in the selected job(s). |
Mobile | |
15783 | When viewing employee schedules as a manager in the Mobile App, a manager whose own schedule has not yet been published for the pay period can now correctly view all employee schedules for the pay period. |
17228 | Employees can now complete swap requests when changing a job during the swap request. |
17244 | When printed Mobile App invitations (paper invites) are sent to multiple employees, expired verification codes are appropriately updated so that managers can resend them if employees do not register in time. |
17415 | Mobile App users with jobs that are not publishable no longer see duplicate shifts on their My Schedule screens. |
17703 | In the UniFocus Mobile App, filter option labels in the Manager Schedules screen are no longer truncated when there is sufficient space to display the complete label name on the screen. |
17734 | On the Employee Schedules screen of the Mobile App, the employee names in the Name column stay aligned with their respective shifts when users scroll through the list. |
17735 | In the UniFocus Mobile App, employees' split shifts now correctly appear in chronological order on managers' Employee Schedules screens. |
17971 | Employees no longer receive error messages after sending swap shift requests. |
18314 | In the UniFocus Mobile App, the Time Off Request screen header no longer disappears after a user swipes through three requests. |
18495 | In the Mobile App, when performing a shift giveaway, employees see a list of all other employees who have the same job and no conflicts for the day of the shift. |
19862 | The message in the UniFocus Mobile App invitation email no longer references managers' UniFocus user names. |
Time & Attendance | |
17485 | If users are granted Watson Admin access on the Properties tab of the Security screen, they can successfully run the Holiday Eligibility report. |
19038 | All employee punches are now correctly recorded in Time & Attendance. |
19153 | Shifts that are automatically approved by work rules now correctly appear as approved in both the employee Time Card and the Review Pay Period screens. |
Time Clock | |
18463 | Administrative users the with the appropriate permission can enroll employees at Time Clocks, regardless of employees' scheduled shift length or any existing violations. |
Fixed Issues
Administration (application security)
17245
Summary | Single Sign On can now validate usernames that contain apostrophes. |
---|---|
Description | In previous releases, Single Sign On could not validate usernames that contained apostrophes. Users with apostrophes in their usernames could not log in to the application. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that Single Sign On can now validate usernames that contain apostrophes. |
18650
Summary | The Property field on the Task Scheduler screen now correctly defaults to the property to which the user is logged in. |
---|---|
Description | In some instances of previous releases, the Property field on the Task Scheduler screen did not correctly default to the property to which the user was logged in. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that the Property field on the Task Scheduler screen now correctly defaults to the property to which the user is logged in. |
Updated versions | Version 9.14 and later. |
Analytics
17696
Summary | RMS users who are not mapped to an Employee ID in Employee Maintenance can now add and view Time & Attendance tiles in the Manager Portal screen. |
---|---|
Description | In previous releases, RMS users who were not mapped to an Employee ID in Employee Maintenance could not add and view Time & Attendance tiles in the Manager Portal screen. Users received the following error message: "User must also be an employee." This issue prevented non-employee users, such as UniFocus Consultants, from modifying the Manager Portal screen. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that non-employee users who are not mapped to an Employee ID in Employee Maintenance can now add and view Time & Attendance tiles in the Manager Portal screen. They will no longer receive error messages. |
Updated versions | Version 9.14 and later. |
Configuration
17741
Summary | When users with UFTC Punch to Schedule enabled for secondary jobs punch in to their secondary jobs, the punches are correctly assigned to the secondary jobs. |
---|---|
Description | In the Time Clocks RMS configuration screen (System Setup > Time & Attendance > Time Clocks), the UFTC Punch to Schedule option authorizes the Time Clock to automatically associate an employee's punch with a job, based on the schedule.In some instances of previous releases, when users with UFTC Punch to Schedule enabled for secondary jobs punched in to their secondary jobs, the punches were incorrectly assigned to their home jobs. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that when users with UFTC Punch to Schedule enabled for secondary jobs punch in to their secondary jobs, the punches are correctly assigned to the secondary jobs. |
Updated versions | Version 9.14 and later. |
Infrastructure
17729
Summary | Separate instances of UniFocus RMS software can now be open simultaneously. |
---|---|
Description | In some cases, you might want to open separate instances of the RMS software. For example, you might want to have one open instance displaying the Timeline Scheduling screen and another open instance displaying the Revenue Center Forecasting screen. By viewing side-by-side instances, you can use the revenue center forecasting data to make informed decisions about how to schedule employees.Although RMS software allowed for multiple instances in past versions, a recent version introduced an issue that prevented multiple open instances. If you tried to open a separate instance, the system sent an exception error. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that separate instances of RMS software can now be open simultaneously. |
Updated versions | Version 9.12 and later. |
Financial
14600
Summary | The Budget Labor Summary By Day report now correctly returns values for all hours when there are labor standards configured on both the job class and assignment level. |
---|---|
Description | In some instances of previous releases, the Budget Labor Summary By Day report did not correctly return values for all hours when there were labor standards configured on both the job class and assignment level. For jobs that were configured with standards at both the job and assignment levels, the budgeted information would not always return the correct number of hours. In some instances, the report returned only hours generated at the job level. The report displayed the correct number of hours if standards were configured at the job level only or the assignment level only. |
Solution | The software has been fixed so that the Budget Labor Summary By Day report now correctly returns values for all hours when there are labor standards configured on both the job class and assignment level. |
17495
Summary | When saving changes after deleting a budget line, users no longer encounter the following error message: "Incorrect syntax near ')'." |
---|---|
Description | In some instances of previous releases, saving changes after deleting a budget line resulted in incomplete data that caused the system to return the following error message: "Incorrect syntax near ')'." This error occurred because the system allowed the passing of a null entry when saving to the database. |
Solution | The software has been updated to correct a condition that allowed the passing of a null entry when saving to the database. Now incomplete data cannot be sent. |
Updated versions | Version 9.12 and later. |
Labor
15829
Summary | Schedule approval icons are now correctly displayed on the Schedule Approvals screen when accessing the UniFocus Mobile App on a computer using Internet Explorer. |
---|---|
Description | In previous releases, schedule approval icons were incorrectly displayed on the Schedule Approvals screen when accessing the UniFocus Mobile App on a computer using Internet Explorer:
|
Solution | The software has been updated so that schedule approval icons are now correctly displayed on the Schedule Approvals screen when accessing the UniFocus Mobile App on a computer using Internet Explorer. |
17295
Summary | The Schedule Approvals screen now displays correct available hours for employees. |
---|---|
Description | In previous releases, the Schedule Approvals screen displayed incorrect available hours for employees. |
Solution | The software has been updated to correct the formula that calculates available hours: Available hours for each employee = employee's available hours for the planning period − scheduled hours for the planning period − approved time off. |
17426
Summary | Users no longer receive errors when attempting to export their Payroll JE Maps. |
---|---|
Description | In previous releases, when exporting a Payroll JE Map, the system incorrectly appended an additional ".csv" to the folder name. For example, if the desired file export location was: C:\Temp\PayrollMaps.csv ".csv" was incorrectly added to the file export location : C:\Temp.csv\PayrollMaps.csv This issue resulted in the path not being found. Because the file export location was incorrect, the file could not be exported and the system sent an error message. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that an additional ".csv" is no longer appended to the folder name when attempting to export Payroll JE Maps. |
17700
Summary | If the Hide Unscheduled Secondary Employees filter is applied to the Employee view of the Scheduling screen, the screen hides all employees who do not have the selected job(s) as a home job and are not scheduled in the selected job(s). |
---|---|
Description | On the Employee view of the Scheduling screen, the Hide Unscheduled Secondary Employees filter is used to hide employees who do not have the selected job(s) as a home job and are not scheduled in the selected job(s). In previous releases, the Employee view of the Scheduling screen was displaying some employees without scheduled shifts in their secondary jobs in the filter group even if the Hide Unscheduled Secondary Employees filter was selected. This issue occurred because the filter was coded to analyze employee shifts in the current planning period as well as the last day of the preceding planning period. If employees were not scheduled to work a secondary job in the filter group in the current planning period but were scheduled to work a secondary job in the filter group on the last day of the preceding planning period, they would appear on the Employee view of the Scheduling screen when the Hide Unscheduled Secondary Employees filter was applied. |
Solution | The code has been updated so that the Hide Unscheduled Secondary Employees filter analyzes only employee shifts in the current planning period. |
Mobile
15783
Summary | When viewing employee schedules as a manager in the Mobile App, a manager whose own schedule has not yet been published for the pay period can now correctly view all employee schedules for the pay period. |
---|---|
Description | In previous releases, when viewing employee schedules as a manager in the Mobile App, a manager whose own schedule had not yet been published for the pay period could only view employee schedules for current date or employee schedules prior to the current date—not the employee schedules for the future dates within the current pay period. For example:
|
Solution | The software has been fixed so that managers with unpublished schedules for the current pay period can view all published employee schedules in the Mobile App. |
17228
Summary | Employees can now complete swap requests when changing a job during the swap request. |
---|---|
Description | In some instances of previous releases, if Mobile App users with two jobs attempted to change jobs during a swap peer shift request, they would see the job change, but there was no data for peers with shifts. This issue prevented users from completing the swap request. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that peer shift information appears when users change jobs during a swap peer shift request. |
17244
Summary | When printed Mobile App invitations (paper invites) are sent to multiple employees, expired verification codes are appropriately updated so that managers can resend them if employees do not register in time. |
---|---|
Description | When managers send Mobile App paper invites to employees, the invitation is sent with a verification code. Employees have a specified amount of time to register. (The amount of time is configurable; the default is 10 days.) If employees do not register in time, the expired verification codes should refresh when the managers send the new invitations. In previous releases, when printed Mobile App invitations (paper invites) were sent to multiple users, expired codes were not correctly refreshing. If managers tried to resend, they received an error message notifying them that the code had expired. This issue prevented managers from being able to reinvite employees who did not register in time. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that expired verification codes appropriately refresh. |
17415
Summary | Mobile App users with jobs that are not publishable no longer see duplicate shifts on their My Schedule screens. |
---|---|
Description | In previous releases, when Manage Schedules or View Schedule Approvals was enabled in the RMS software, Mobile App users with jobs that were not publishable encountered duplicate shifts on their My Schedule screens. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that when Manage Schedules or View Schedule Approvals is enabled in the RMS software, Mobile App users with jobs that are not publishable no longer see duplicate shifts on their My Schedule screens. |
17703
Summary | In the UniFocus Mobile App,, filter option labels in the Manager Schedules screen are no longer truncated when there is sufficient space to display the complete label name on the screen. |
---|---|
Description | In the UniFocus Mobile App, filter option labels are truncated only if there is not sufficient space to display the complete name on the screen. In some instances of previous Mobile App versions, filter option labels were truncated in the Manager Schedules screen even if there was enough space to display the complete label. For example: Correct
Incorrect (Issue identified in this ticket)
|
Solution | The software has been updated so that filter option labels in the Manager Schedules screen are no longer truncated when there is sufficient space to display the complete label name on the screen. |
Updated versions | Version 9.14 and later. |
17734
Summary | On the Employee Schedules screen of the UniFocus Mobile App, the employee names in the Name column stay aligned with their respective shifts when users scroll through the list. |
---|---|
Description | On the Employee Schedules screen of the Mobile App, the employee names in the Name column should always be aligned with their respective shifts. In some instances of previous Mobile App releases, when managers scrolled through employee schedules on the Employee Schedules screen, only the names scrolled. The shifts column froze, causing a misalignment of employee names with their respective shifts. |
Solution | The Mobile App software has been updated so that employee names in the Name column stay aligned with their respective shifts when users scroll through the list on the Employee Schedules screen. |
Updated Versions | Version 9.15 and later. |
17735
Summary | In the UniFocus Mobile App, employees' split shifts now correctly appear in chronological order on managers' Employee Schedules screens. |
---|---|
Description | In some instances of previous releases of the UniFocus Mobile App, employees' split shifts incorrectly appeared in reverse chronological order on managers' Employee Schedules screens. For employees with split shifts, their earlier shifts appeared on the bottom row instead of on the top row. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that employees' split shifts now correctly appear in chronological order on managers' Employee Schedules screens of the UniFocus Mobile App. |
Updated versions | Version 9.14 and later. |
17971
Summary | Employees no longer receive error messages after sending Swap Shift requests. |
---|---|
Description | In some instances of previous Mobile App releases, employees received error messages after sending Swap Shift requests. These error messages were caused by certain data processing issues regarding shifts that were available for the swap requests. |
Solution | The Mobile App software has been updated so that employees no longer receive error messages after sending Swap Shift requests. |
Updated versions: | Version 9.15 and later. |
18314
Summary | In the UniFocus Mobile App, the Time Off Request screen header no longer disappears after a user swipes through three requests. |
---|---|
Description | In previous releases of the UniFocus Mobile App, the Time Off Request screen header would disappear after a user swiped through three requests. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that the Time Off Request screen header remains on the screen when users swipe through requests. |
Updated versions | Version 9.14 and later. |
18495
Summary | In the UniFocus Mobile App, when performing a shift giveaway, employees see a list of all other employees who have the same job and no conflicts for the day of the shift. |
---|---|
Description | In the Mobile App, when performing a shift giveaway, employees should see a list of all other employees who have the same job and no conflicts for the day of the shift. In some instances of previous Mobile App releases, employees who were performing a shift give-away would not see employees with shifts that occurred at any time during the day of the shift, even if other employees' shifts did not conflict with the specific shift in the give-away request. |
Solution | The Mobile App software has been updated so that employees performing a shift giveaway see a list of all other employees who have the same job and no conflicts for the day of the shift. |
Updated versions | Version 9.15 and later. |
19862
Summary | The message in the UniFocus Mobile App invitation email no longer references managers' UniFocus user names. |
---|---|
Description | In previous releases, when managers invited employees to join the UniFocus Mobile App, the invitation email contained a message that referenced the managers' user names: This message could be confusing because employees might not know the system user name of their managers. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that when managers invite employees to join the UniFocus Mobile App, the invitation email contains a message that does not reference managers' user names:
|
Updated versions | Version 9.10 and later. |
Time & Attendance
17485
Summary | If users are granted Watson Admin access on the Properties tab of the Security screen, they can successfully run the Holiday Eligibility report. |
---|---|
Description | In some instances of previous releases, users with Watson Admin access could not successfully run the Holiday Eligibility report. When generated, the report would appear with no data. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that users with Watson Admin access can successfully run the Holiday Eligibility report. When they run the report, it will appear with data, as expected. |
19038
Summary | All employee punches are now correctly recorded in Time & Attendance. |
---|---|
Description | In some instances of previous releases, an issue on the Time Clock Server prevented punches from being recorded in the Time & Attendance application. |
Solution | Software on the Time Clock Server has been updated so that all employee punches are now recorded in Time & Attendance. |
Updated versions | Version 9.14 and later. |
19153
Summary | Shifts that are automatically approved by work rules now correctly appear as approved in both the employee Time Card and the Review Pay Period screens. |
---|---|
Description | In some instances of previous releases, shifts that were automatically approved by work rules appeared as approved in the employee Time Cards but unapproved in the Review Pay Period screen. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that shifts that were automatically approved by work rules now correctly appear as approved in both the employee Time Card and the Review Pay Period screens. |
Updated versions | Version 9.14 and later. |
Time Clock
18463
Summary | Administrative users the with the appropriate permission can enroll employees at Time Clocks, regardless of employees' scheduled shift length or any existing violations. |
---|---|
Description | In the UniFocus Time Clock, administrative users with the permission to enroll employees should be able to enroll any employee, regardless of scheduled shift length or any existing violations. In some instances of previous releases, users were unable to enroll employees at Time Clocks if employees had scheduled shifts that were over the maximum daily hours work rule limit, as indicated on the scheduled shifts. Users would receive exception errors when attempting to enroll. |
Solution | The software has been updated so that administrative users the with the appropriate permission can enroll employees at Time Clocks, regardless of employees' scheduled shift length or any existing violations. |
Updated versions | Version 9.15 and later. |