Give'em a Break

Scheduler Menu Item Features

Give'em a Break's Scheduler menu offers many different menu item features including managing the shift scheduler database. The database is the collection of all existing shift schedulers.

Open Shift

The Open Shift feature will display the Open Shift Scheduler window. You can select a different shift to open by selecting the desired shift in the window of the scheduler and then click the Open button as shown below. In this example, Give'em a Break will shutdown the active shift scheduler and then open the selected Monday Shift scheduler. If you decide to not open a different shift scheduler, click the X in the upper right window area or click the Back button.

*The Remove all Schedulers from the Database checkbox feature is disabled for use. This feature is only enabled when Give'em a Break is first started up.

Spawn Shift

The Spawn Shift feature will display the Spawn Shift Scheduler window. You can spawn an additional shift scheduler by selecting the desired shift in the window of the scheduler and then click the Spawn button as shown below. In this example, Give'em a Break will not shutdown the active shift scheduler but instead, will start another instance of Give'em a Break and load the additional Monday shift scheduler. In addition to the main shift scheduler, you can spawn up to 4 additional instances of different shift schedulers which you can then manage up to a total of 250 employees simultaneously. This Spawn feature is very helpful when managing employee breaks in different local departments and/or different departments operating at remote locations. If you decide to not spawn an additional shift scheduler, click the X in the upper right window area or click the Back button.

*The Remove all Schedulers from the Database checkbox feature is disabled for use and will only be enabled when Give'em a Break is first started up.

Duplicate Shift

The Duplicate Shift feature will completely copy the active shift scheduler. Enter the name of the new duplicate shift scheduler and click OK. Click the Cancel button to not duplicate the active shift scheduler. Once the new duplicate shift scheduler is created, you can use Give'em a Break's Open or Spawn features above to load the new shift scheduler into the main dashboard interface.

New Custom Shift

The New Custom Shift feature allows managers to create an unlimited amount of custom shift schedulers. Depending on your business model, you can create the necessary schedulers which will organize and logically manage employee breaks throughout the workweek. Enter the name of the new New Custom shift scheduler and click OK. Click the Cancel button to not create a New Custom shift scheduler.

Example: You own the Acme Restaurant Co. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Sunday. The restaurant operates two shifts per day. A morning/lunch shift and a dinner shift. Each shift is staffed by different employees. You can create two custom shift schedulers for each workday. This solution provides separate containers for each group of employees who work their assigned shift and workdays. You can then load the required shift scheduler to provide employee breaks during the applicable workday shift.

Delete Custom Shift

The Delete Custom Shift feature will permanently delete the desired shift scheduler. To delete a shift scheduler, click on the name within the list to highlight it. Click the Delete button to delete the shift. If you decide to not delete a custom shift scheduler, click the X in the upper right window area or click the Back button.

Important: All settings, employee names, assignments and worksheets data will be permanently deleted. You can backup a shift scheduler before permanently deleting it by using the Duplicate Shift feature or the Backup All Shift Schedulers feature.

*A custom shift scheduler cannot be deleted while it is actively loaded in the main dashboard interface. Complete these steps to delete the desired custom shift scheduler.

1. Close the custom shift scheduler that will be deleted.

2. Open any other shift scheduler.

3. Navigate to Scheduler on the menu then Delete Custom Shift.

4. Select the desired custom shift scheduler listed in the window as exampled below and then click the Delete button.

*Once a custom shift scheduler is deleted, you may want to use the Backup All Shift Schedulers feature to create a new backup which will not include the custom shift scheduler that was just deleted. If you restore a backup database .dat file and that file contains a backup of the deleted custom shift scheduler that shift scheduler will be restored during the restoral process.

Import All Shift Schedulers

The Import All Shift Schedulers feature is used to import any backup .dat file that was created by the Backup All Shift Schedulers feature. You can import any backup file that was created on the local computer and you can also import any backup file that was generated on a different computer. It is recommended to use the Backup All Shift Schedulers feature first before importing a backup file because the configuration of all existing shift schedulers will be overwritten during the import process.

Backup All Shift Schedulers

The Backup All Shift Schedulers feature is designed to backup Give'em a Break's entire database which includes all existing shift schedulers. You can manually create a new backup at any time by navigating to Scheduler on the menu then Backup All Shift Schedulers. You can also configure Give'em a Break to automatically create a new backup each time the program is started. Go to Tools/Options... on the menu and add a checkmark to the Automatically Backup All Shift Schedulers feature. Give'em a Break will save up to 30 backups. When that limit is reached, the oldest dated backup will be removed/deleted when a new backup is created.

Restore All Shift Schedulers

The Restore All Shift Schedulers feature provides a convenient list of accumulated backup .dat files. Each backup contains Give'em a Break's entire database which includes all existing shift schedulers. These files are date/time stamped upon their creation.

Important: If you restore a backup while operating an active shift scheduler, all existing shift schedulers in the current database will be deleted and overwritten by the restored backup. You can use the Backup All Shift Schedulers feature first before you restore a backup.

Import Employees

The Import Employees feature offers a convenient option to easily add employee names and their associated job positions into the shift scheduler. Instead of manually entering employee names, creating job positions and then assigning job positions to those employees, you can import the data from an Excel spreadsheet. Give'em a Break will parse the contents of column A (Employee names) and column B (Job Positions) of an Excel spreadsheet. The maximum amount of employees that can be added to a shift scheduler is 50. Therefore, you can import up to 50 entries. If a shift scheduler already contains a certain amount of employees, Give'em a Break will account for the amount of those employees and then import the maximum amount possible from the spreadsheet.

Example: There are 10 employees already added to the shift scheduler. the total amount of employees includes employees in the Employee list and employees in the Off Work list. During the import process, Give'em a Break will account for the 10 existing employees and import up to 40 additional Employee names and their job positions from the spreadsheet.

The example Excel spreadsheet file of 1. import employees example.xlsx is included with the installation of Give'em a Break. You can import the data from this file to experience a real-time example of how this feature functions.

Purge All Employees/Positions

The Purge All Employees feature will permanently delete all employee names, their settings and all job positions from the shift scheduler. This feature will also delete the most recent saved Template. You can backup all of the data first before permanently deleting it by using the Duplicate Shift feature or the Backup All Shift Schedulers feature.

Print Employees

The Print Employees feature will print all employees First, Lunch and Last Break schedules for the workday shift. The print will include, the employee's name, job position, start time and the end time for each of their breaks. You can print using the Alphabetized function or the Employees list function. The Employees list function will generate the print based on how the employees are currently sorted in the Employees list.

Print Relief Employees

The Print Relief Employees feature will print all Relief Employees First, Lunch and Last relief break schedules for the workday shift. Each Relief Employee section in the print will include the name of the employee who will receive a relief break from the Relief Employee, the employee's job position and the employee's start/end time of their break.

Preparation Mode

The Preparation Mode feature is a valuable tool that can be used when preparing employee break assignments for the workday shift. When activated, this feature will temporarily change the First, Lunch and Last Break duration minutes to the 1 minute value. This feature saves management a lot of time when preparing the shift scheduler for Automatic Tracking Mode operations.

Example: The shift scheduler has been configured to provide a 15 minute First Break, a 30 minute Lunch Break and a 15 minute Last Break to all employees working the workday shift. You have assigned break start times, relief employees, job positions, etc... to these employees. You now want to test and confirm that all assignments will function as designed before the workday shift starts. You then start the Automatic Tracking Mode feature but you now have to wait 15 minutes for the First Break to start/end to visually confirm that all employee assignments, job position coverage, etc... have satisfied your requirements of appropriately managing the workday shift. You would then have to wait for the 30 minute Lunch Break to complete and so on... This approach is very time consuming. The Preparation Mode feature bypasses this experience by temporarily configuring the break duration minutes for all three breaks to 1 minute. This way, you'll know within a very short amount of time whether your scheduled assignments have accomplished your break management requirements. If not, you can easily modify the assignments, start Automatic Tracking Mode again to confirm the successful outcome of the changes that were made. Once you are satisfied with the results of the shift scheduler configuration, you can the deactivate Preparation Mode. Give'em a Break will then automatically restore the break duration minutes back to a 15 minute First Break, a 30 minute Lunch Break and a 15 minute Last Break. Once Preparation Mode has been deactivated, you can then assign the correct First, Lunch and Last Break start times to the employees. Lastly, use the Save Scheduler as Template feature to backup the logical, organized, optimized and error free shift scheduler configuration that you have created.

Preparation Mode Activated

Preparation Mode Deactivated