Creating a Relief Bid Package

A relief bid package is used when you want to create a package that contains open shifts and/or ad-hoc shifts.  Typically, this would not be a repeating pattern of shifts and would only be for a short time period (< 14 days).  

To create a new relief bid package:

• Click the Bid Packages tab.
• Click the Create New Bid Package button
• RosterApps directs you to the Create New Bid Package page. Complete the sections on this page with information about your new bid package. Below is a list of the sections with descriptions.
  
  • Work Group: Select the work group that will use this bid package. 
  • Bid Package Name: The name of the bid package.
  • Effective Start Date: Select the date that the shifts in the bid package will begin. Relief bid packages can overlap any other bid packages for the same work group in RosterApps.  Please note: you cannot change this date once you create your bid package, so please be certain when setting this date.

  • Effective End Date: Select the date that the shifts in the bid package will end. Relief bid packages can overlap any other bid packages for the same work group in RosterApps. Please note: you cannot change this date once you create your bid package, so please be certain when setting this date.

  • Seniority Rank Rule: Select the seniority rule that should be used to order the employees for assigning bid lines.

  • Days In Cycle Pattern: Enter the length (number of days) of your schedule that you are trying to fill with this relief bid package.  Unlike standard bid packages, this is not a repeating pattern so the value set here will be the exact number of days that employees will be bidding on.

  • Bid Window Open: Select the date and time that employees can begin bidding on schedules in this bid package. You can set this date at a later time or edit it later if you set it now.

  • Bid Window Close: Select the date and time that the bid window closes. You can set this date at a later time or edit it later if you set it now.

  • Click the 'Employees Allowed to Bid Regardless of Skill for Select Skills' checkbox if you want to allow employees to bid on lines which they don't have the required skills.
  • Click the 'Employee Can Save Bid if They Selected All Available Lines' checkbox to allow employees to select and save all lines when submitting their bid preferences.
  • Select the Create bid package from open shifts radio button
• Once you finish entering information on this page, click the Create button to create your new bid package (or click the Cancel button to cancel).

Add Bid Lines

For relief bid packages, there will only be a single bid line that will be present.  This will encompass all the days that were specified in the "Days in Cycle Pattern" field when creating the bid package.  When creating/editing the bid line, there are two different types of shifts that can be added:

1. Open Shifts (these originate from the Shift Management page)
2. Ad-hoc shifts - these are new shifts that are created directly within the relief bid package.

To add a bid line:

• Click the Bid Packages tab.

• On the main bid package page, find the bid package you want to add bid lines to in the table of bid packages. Click the Edit link in that bid package’s row.
  

• On the Edit Bid Package page, click the blue text link Edit Bid Lines.
  
• RosterApps directs you to the Edit Bid Lines page.  Click the Add Bid Line button.
• The New Bid Line page is then displayed:
  
  
• The left side panel of the screen provides a filtering option for finding open shifts.  It is possible to filter by:
  • Original owner - last name of the person who originally was assigned the shift
  • Bid Line Name - name of the bid line from which the shift originated
  • Shifts with breaks - clicking this checkbox will only show those shifts which contain breaks
  • Work Group - select the work group from this location that has the shift(s) you are searching for.  Relief bids allow shifts from other work groups to be included.
  • Shift Type - this provides the option to filter on Regular shifts or Bid Line shifts
  • Required Skills - select one or more skills that is required for the shift(s) you are searching for.
• After entering criteria in the Filter section, click the Apply button to have the shifts filtered.  By default, all open shifts for the location will be displayed.
• On the main part of the screen, the days that make up the bid package are displayed at the top of the screen.  Below them, all the open shifts are displayed corresponding to the day for which they are for.
• To add an open shift, simply click on it and it will be moved to day above it.  Click the twisty next to the shift times to expand or collapse the shift details.  If you want to remove the shift, click the X icon next to the shift times.  Multiple shifts can be added to a day if desired. 
  
  
• To add an ad-hoc shift, click the Add Shift button at the top of the screen.  This will bring up a dialog where the shift details can be specified:
  
  
• Enter the details of the shift and click the Apply button.  The new ad-hoc shift will appear in the day it was created for.  Click the trash can icon to delete the shift.
  
  
• Once you have setup the bid line with all the shifts you want included, click the Save Bid Line button to save the new bid line.  It now appears in the Edit Bid Lines screen:
  
  
• Continue to add additional bid lines as needed.  Note that because each bid line is comprised of unique shifts (either from shift management or ad-hoc), there is only one slot available (this value cannot be changed).