Groups and Min Staffing Levels - Best Practice

Overview

The Group function in edays allows users to be grouped based on organisational requirements, e.g., by location, department, or team name. They can also be used for grouping by other attributes, e.g., first-aiders or mental health first-aiders, or by any arbitrary group of users required. There are no restrictions on how many groups you can have, and not all users are required to be in a group (unless this is actually required.)

Groups are also available on the calendar to change the order of how users appear. They are also available in other sections of the admin panel, e.g., the bulk user update tool, enabling the update of all users in that group in one go. 

What is the difference between a Group and a Group Type?

Within edays you have two different group options:

1. Group Type: This is the name of the group category, e.g., a Country or Location
2. Group List: Is the list of Group(s) within the Group Type which can then be assigned to a user, e.g., England or Netherlands (Country – Group Type) / London or Amsterdam (Location – Group Type)

What is a Min Staffing Level?

The Min (minimum) Staffing Level functionality in edays allows administrators to set caps on the number of users that can be off at any one time. This can be setup using a number or percentage of staff in a group (e.g., 25% - useful if there are a lot of people in a group, or the group is changing size regularly). There is also the flexibility to set a min staffing level at different times of the year, for example if your organisation has busier periods than others when there may be a need to have more staff in attendance. 

Note: Min staffing levels can be overridden by any authoriser. 

Difference types of Min Staffing Levels?

Within Edays you have 3 types of min staffing levels, these are listed below:

1. Standard: Min staffing level set ones and will be the cap for all users in that group.
2. Seasonal: Flexibility to set a min staffing level which is different to the standard at another time of the year if your organisation has busier periods, e.g., only allow 1 person to have planned absence during December rather than 2 (for the rest of the year.)
3. Variable: Flexibility to set a min staffing level everyday if required, this is normally used for individuals who are required for call-outs or needing a number of people in for different shifts. 

Note: If you use the seasonal minimum staffing limits, 0 means unlimited numbers of staff within that group can be on leave, whereas if you specify 0 for the variable option, no users can be off at that time.

How to create and configure Groups and Min Staffing Levels?

Additional guides and resources on creating groups and their use: 

1. Groups - Adding a new group

2. Groups - Editing a group type

3. Groups - Deleting a group type

4. Groups - Editing a group type

5. Changing a user’s group(s)

6. Bulk User Update - Groups

7. Groups - Apply a minimum staffing level to a group

8. Changing a user’s group(s)

A video on the configuration and example configuration can be found here: https://www.e-days.com/learning-centre-overview/7-groups