Escaping the Excel spreadsheet scheduling quagmire
Many perceive the cost of scheduling spreadsheets to be minimal since templates
are available as free downloads and their basic functions can be accomplished by
novices. But the ongoing overhead of maintaining these
spreadsheets drain resources that can be used more profitably elsewhere.
Almost every scheduling manager has a “war story” about spreadsheet
mishaps that caused employee grievances, substantial financial loss, or embarrassing
mistakes. Overwriting a formula with data, adjusting the wrong cells, forgetting
to hit F9 to recalculate, hiding cells and rows later needed, and inadvertently
copying the wrong formula are everyday spreadsheet hazards. Scheduling with spreasheets
is a job from hell.
Escape this “spreadsheet scheduling quagmire” and significantly reduce
labor costs through efficient scheduling with Snap Schedule. Read on to learn from
ex-Excel users who now use Snap Schedule to slash hours off of staff scheduling
tasks, trim payrolls, cut overtime, publish timely schedules, and deliver easy and accurate management reporting.
Back when we used Excel templates for staff scheduling, I had to reprint schedules
with each change that came up during the schedule's duration. It was cumbersome.
It encouraged errors —like not giving someone enough hours. It
was tedious and I couldn't do long-range shift schedules easily, which we need for
union requirements.
Previously, I spent eight to 12 hours a week staff scheduling in Excel. I
had to constantly cut, paste, then double-check if I had overwritten something crucial.
I didn't have detailed visibility below our patrol sergeants. And,
being a spreadsheet, Excel's reporting was limited to printing what you could select
on a screen. That's not always useful when somebody gets an idea for
a new work schedule report...
Snap Schedule had better visual compatibility with modern Windows programs... It'
s more friendly. I could see better on the screen what was happening
in the community. I have drag-and-drop scheduling. I can
email shift schedules to my people. The reporting power blew me away.
You see and sort your data by almost any criteria, so shift schedule
reports to management are truly meaningful...
We went from using 60 percent of available budget year-to-date down to 30 or 40
percent. That saves taxpayers direct and indirect costs. If
we add that windfall to the hours the schedule planner saves, Snap Schedule employee
scheduling software can pay for itself in a few days.Captain Jeffrey D. McDougal,
Operations Division Commander, Zephyrhills Police Department
|
Read Full Story
|
To wrestle with [our] complex work schedule in Microsoft Excel required one full-time
employee five days a week. Yet it was still very difficult to keep factors
equitable for members. Our Excel spreadsheets stretched out to column
DE—109 columns! We had a hundred rows down for members and a separate
tab for each month. It was impossible for Excel scheduling templates
to encompass and work with all necessary factors.
We had large numbers of people opening and editing the shift schedules. Excel
couldn't digest it all and constantly became corrupted. Worse, the difficulty
of manipulating Excel forced us into rote solutions and routines —not the
most efficient or fair way to manage dynamic scheduling.
Snap Schedule is the ultimate solution for employee shift scheduling and rostering.
It fit every single one of our parameters, looked easy to work with, had a familiar
Microsoft look, and ran on very modern technology...
Snap Schedule is also saving us quite significant payroll costs, as we're using
fewer members to get through our caseload. It gives us the visibility
and control to schedule more members for full days of work. Previously,
we often paid full salary for days we could only partially fill with hearings. Now,
Snap Schedule thoroughly fills members' days, so we've cut back on more-expensive
part-time staff. We're rostering more tightly and more frugally.
Evan Pidgeon, Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal
|
Read Full Story
|
Our real-world problem with work force scheduling is that people are people. Things
change constantly. Someone gets sick, has car trouble, a special event
— there’s time-off scheduling — all of which made us crazy when we used
Excel templates for shift and rotation scheduling. It was doable, but
that was the hard way. It took too many steps, largely because different
employee schedule functions all had to go on different Excel worksheets.
When I showed Snap Schedule to management, they were immediately impressed. Two
things hit them. The sensible screens told them it was modern software,
so it would have all the new tools and people would understand it. It
would also be easy to teach and spread to other facilities. But the
payroll projections and people-tracking capabilities sealed the deal. We
have a fixed budget to work with, yet we’ll never short-change a customer. We
have to ensure that our shift schedule has covered all the bases, yet not pay for
superfluous staff. Now we can do all that — and predict the financial
results. Jason Ramsey, Scheduling Supervisor, Mississippi Security Police
|
Read Full Story
|
Accommodating physician’s preferences and changes in Excel was a huge hassle requiring
several worksheets. I had to put different providers in different-colored
fonts, which wasn't clear so people couldn't always tell whether, when, and where
they were working. In printouts, I had to manually highlight each provider
in a separate color. Then, verifying thorough coverage and totalling
hours for payroll added another five or six hours per week. I was always up late...
Snap Schedule is exactly designed to cover handle our biggest need —which
was Excel's biggest weakness — multiple locations, I can easily
put in scheduled vacations, sudden requests for days off and sick days. I
put in meetings and CME time as shifts and I can repeat patterns I set up. We
easily see if any shift at any location isn’t correctly covered and it alerts me
if I try to mis-schedule someone.
I can look down the side and see how many hours I have people working
at which location. Colors tell people where they’re going on which days,
and all parties can see that no provider is working extra hours except by request.
Then I email schedules to providers so they see them immediately, which
is really helpful. And I can already tell it will be easy to teach another
person to use. I wish we’d had it years ago.Claudia Foster-Olson,
MD, The Vancouver Clinic
|
Read Full Story
|