Legacy Shifts: Create, Edit or Delete Shifts

Legacy Shifts: Create, Edit or Delete Shifts

What is a Shift?

A shift can be a single time period that a volunteer can sign up for, or it can be a series of recurring time periods that one or more users can sign up for. An example of the latter case would be “Every Saturday night of the year, we will need two volunteers on the phones from 8pm to 11pm.” We would call this a shift that recurs weekly.
  1. Only users with permission to do so can create shifts
  2. Every Vols-Staff member (unless they are a Trainee or where removed from this privilege) can assign themselves to shifts they have access to
  3. You can differentiate between a "normal shift" or "on call/support worker" shift and specify credit hours for serving the shift (which may be different than the actual hours of the shift).
  4. Once set up they will appear on the shift calendar in iCarol.
  5. Shift preferences can be set up by clicking Admin Tools in the left hand menu to control when people can sign up for (or un-register from) shifts, what type of automatic email notifications you want to enable and much more.
  6. Additional email notifications related to Shifts are configured on the Notifications panel in each users Vols-Staff profile

Info
In 2024, iCarol released an update to the Shifts feature within iCarol. This update includes a mobile responsive design, modernized and simplified workflows, and enhancements for filtering and viewing the Shift Calendar. iCarol Support is working with individual customers to upgrade their Shifts to the new functionality.  If you would like to take a look at the update to determine if you would like to upgrade, please submit a ticket to iCarol Support with this request.
Notes
Shift Settings
The settings controlling the Shifts area of iCarol are all located by clicking Admin Tools in your left side menu, then clicking the 'Shifts' tab. In addition to the settings shown here, there are additional settings related to Shifts for each user on their Advanced Security Settings page in their vols-staff profile.

Add a Shift

Shifts can be created and maintained many different ways, depending on the needs of your organization. For example, you can create ad hoc shifts that happen only once, or a series of recurring shifts.
This Help Article will only cover how to create a standard shift, which is a shift created for any purpose other than for use with a messaging portal. There is a separate Help Article that you can view to learn how to add a messaging shift. To add a standard shift in iCarol, you will complete the following steps to create a new shift:
Steps to create Shifts:
  1. Click on "Shifts" in the left hand menu.
  2. Scroll down on the main shifts page and click on "add a new shift"
  3. It opens up a screen that gives you a lot of shift options (some are only available if turned in the Admin Tools):
    1. ***Program (if applicable for your agency) allows you to specify what program or messaging portal this shift is for - or choose "all programs".
    2. *This shift happens:
      1. Only Once: There will be no recurrence of this shift. It will just happen on one day.
      2. Daily: This shift will happen every day, from the Start Date to the End Date.
      3. Weekly: This shift will happen on the same day of the week, every week, from the Start Date to the End Date.
      4. Certain day of a month: This shift will happen on the selected day of the month, every month, from the Start Date to the End Date.
    3. **Shift Name – Helps you and the users to distinguish different types of shifts. (if you want to add to an existing shift name, just select it from the drop down menu).
    4. *Date of first Shift – Click on the box to the right of the date to bring up a calendar.
    5. *Date of last Shift - Click on the box to the right of the date to bring up a calendar. No end date – The shifts will occur indefinitely, starting with the Start Date, and recurring based on the selection made in the " This Shift Happens" selection.
    6. *Start Time and Duration – The time that the shift will start, and how long it will last (in Hours:Minutes format – so “1:30” means 1 hour and 30 minutes).
    7. ***Credit hours (optional) - allows you to enter a certain credit amount for each shift where you want to differentiate from the shift hours (ex. where overnight shifts give greater credits than a daytime shift). By default this capability is turned off, but you can turn it on from the       Admin Tools -> Shifts page.
    8. ***Include in shifts and hours worked - you would uncheck this if the shift should not be part of the overall shift hours that are reported in the Statistics -> Shifts page, as well as in each person's user profile in Vols & Staff.
    9. *Workers needed -  the maximum number of  people who can serve on the shift.
    10. ***Type of Shift - select between "Normal Shift" vs "On Call/Support worker" shift. On-Call/Support worker shifts will automatically be listed on the main calls page indicating the shift name, the worker name on that shift and contact details for that worker. Also, a person can be on overlapping On Call and Normal shifts. And only Admins, and people with special advanced security exceptions can assign someone to an On Call shift.
    11. ***Shift Color – The color that the Shift Name will appear when present in a list of shifts. Helps visually distinguish shifts from one another.
    12. *Only on weekdays / weekends – For Daily shifts, you can specify if the shifts should only occur on weekdays, or only on weekend days. Note you cannot choose both options.
    13. ***Shift is for iCarol Messaging - This will appear for those subscribing to iCarol Messaging; see related Help Article about Messaging Shifts.
  4. Click on the Add Shift(s) button to put this shift on the calendar, or Cancel to keep the calendar the way it is without this new shift. 

On-Call Shifts

When someone is assigned to an On-Call/Support Worker type shift on the shift calendar, their name and contact information will be highlighted at the top of the main Calls page for quick reference for volunteers/staff.

The contact information displayed for on-call is stored and can be edited in that person's user profile.
If that person has a preferred phone number, then it will be highlighted in bold on that list.

If a worker is currently entering a call, and they want to see the on-call information
  1. Right-click on the 'Calls' icon in the left-hand menu
  2. Select 'Open Link in a new Tab'
  3. Click on that tab to view the on-call information
Notes
Important Notes
  1. If the flexible shift scheduling feature is enabled in your system, then any user can also create one-time shifts and change shift start/end times within your defined parameters
  2. If fields appear above with a single * that means the field can never be changed after the shift is created
  3. If fields appear above with a double ** that means the field can be changed after the shift is created, as long as a user isn't assigned to the shift
  4. If fields appear above with a triple *** that means the field can always be changed after the shift is created, even if users are assigned to the shift

Edit or Delete Shifts

  1. Only Admins and Supervisors (or users with special security permission) can modify existing shifts, unless flexible shift scheduling feature has been turned on.
  2. You can make less changes to a shift that already has people assigned on them.
  3. If you want to change more than one shift, we recommend that you start on the List All Shifts page. Then, instead of left-clicking on a shift to view it, right-click and then choose "Open in new Tab". You can make your changes in that new tab and then close the tab when you are done. The original tab will still have your filtered list of shifts displayed so that you can easily work on the next shift.

Steps to edit a Shift:

  1. Click on "Shifts"on the left hand menu.
  2. Scroll down and select "List all Shifts"
  3. Click on the Shift name of the listed shifts that you want to edit.
  4. You can edit certain fields depending on if users have been assigned to a Shift or not, the fields you can edit are as follows:
    1. If no users have signed up for the shift yet you can edit any fields aside from the following: date(s), start time, duration and workers needed
    2. If a user has been signed up to this shift you can only change the following fields: Shift name, Program, Credits, Include in shifts and hours worked, Type of shift, and Shift color.
      1. If a user has been signed up to this shift, you can edit the start time and duration of the individual shift; this can only be done from the 'Shift Calendar' view and cannot be done from the 'List All Shifts' view
  5. Click on "save changes" button or the "Cancel" button if you want to exit this page without saving any changes.
  6. If you want to make other changes, you first have to delete the shift (see below) and create a new shift.

Edit Shift - Limitations and Changes Procedure Alternatives

Since changes to the Shift definition affect both past and future shifts, they are not permitted once any workers are assigned to the shift In
Which Shift settings may be edited? 
  1. As long as no people are assigned to a shift, all settings except:
    1. start and end date
    2. (Number of) Workers needed
  2. Once a worker has been assigned to the shift:
    1. Shift Name
    2. Include in Shifts and Hours worked
    3. Paid Shift (if organizational setting is enabled)
    4. Type of Shift
    5. Shift Color
Any changes not allowed should be corrected by deleting and re-creating the shift. 

When the Shift has been in Service for a while:
The shift definition may be deleted effective the date the new shift will take effect.

What can you do about workers signed up in the future?
The simplest solution is to ask workers to note which shifts they are signed up for before you make the change so they can sign up for the same shifts after the new shift is created. There are two other alternatives you might prefer, both options are equally accurate if done carefully:
Option 1:
  1. Create an Export of shifts beginning on start date of new schedule. This will take a while to run.
  2. When the export is complete, sort it by worker name, and delete all records which are not assigned.
  3. Resort it by date/time. This is the document that will be used to assign the new shifts.
  4. Delete the old shifts beginning on the start date of new schedule.
  5. Create the new shifts beginning on the start date of new schedule. Verify that definition includes ‘No End date’
  6. Assign workers based on the edited export record of assigned shifts.
Option 2: takes more time, but there is less chance of misreading a list and assigning someone to the wrong date/time/shift name. 
  1. Establish a start date for this change, preferably in the future, to minimize manual work.
  2. Create the new shift definition. Colors assigned for different shift names make them easy to spot visually.
  3. Review the assigned shifts and delete a shift with a worker assigned, then assign that worker to the new shift.
  4. When this is complete, delete the shift definition (on List all Shifts screen), beginning on the start date of the new shifts.
Notes
Note: If your effective date for the change is in the past, only Admins have authority to assign workers, otherwise workers with lower security can assist with this assigning shifts to workers.

Steps to Delete Shifts:

  1. Click on "Shifts"on the left hand menu.
  2. Scroll down and select "List all Shifts"
  3. Click on the Shift name of the listed shifts that you want to delete.
  4. On this screen scroll down to the "Delete" button
  5. Now you can choose if you want to:
    1. Delete all past and future instances of this shift(s).
    2. Delete all shifts or only those shifts to which no one is assigned.
    3. Only delete instances of these shifts within a specific time period.
  6. Click on the "Delete Shifts" button (or cancel if you do not want to proceed with the deletion)
    1. You will see a confirmation text indicating how many shifts will be deleted, and if applicable how many shifts have people assigned.
    2. Clicking OK will permanently delete those listed shifts, so choose with care.
  7. If you do choose to delete shifts that had people assigned, they will be removed from the calendar for those shifts. 
    1. Remember to notify those users that the shift is no longer offered.

Steps to Delete only one specific Shift within a set of recurring shifts.

  1. Either use the above steps, select option 5.3 and the applicable date in which the shift is listed.
  2. Alternatively, you can also delete one specific shift by clicking on the shift from within the shift calendar and select the "Delete this Shift" button.
    1. Once confirmed, the shift will no longer be offered on that day, but will still be offered on other days according to how you initially set up the shift to recur. Note that any user who was assigned to that shift on that day will of course also be removed from the shift calendar for that shift. Remember to notify the user that the shift is no longer offered. 
    2. If for some reason you later changed your mind and wanted that shift back again, you would add a “Once Only” shift.

Alert
Troubleshooting: Deleted shift reappears after 1 year

When a worker is removed from a shift using the 'repeat shift' feature, with the 'no end date' selection, their shifts are normally permanently deleted. However, some agencies choose to assign a worker's name on the 'Add a shift' screen which permanently assigns that worker to that shift. In that case the 'remove a shift' is only effective for one year from the time of deletion, and the shift definition causes the name to 'pop up' on that shift one year in the future, the next day the shift calendar is updated. To prevent such a problem from occurring, always create new shifts without assigning a worker's name.

How to fix the issue:
  1. Review your list of shifts and identify which ones are assigned to a worker's name.
  2. If any name belongs to a worker who is no longer with your agency, that shift should be deleted, and recreated without assigning a worker's name. Anyone who has signed up for that shift in the future will need to sign up for the newly created shift.  
If you need help with this process, please send a request to support@iCarol.com with the following information:
Shift Name / Start time / duration
Worker name
Effective date
Reason: left agency / no longer working that shift

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