Shift Rules allows you to adjust a set of parameters that RADAR can use to build dynamic schedule templates. When applied, these rules take forecasts and trends into account to generate a template that is sensitive to the location and time of its application. The main Shift Rules page displays a list of your current shift rules and their settings. You can filter by location using the drop-down towards the top of the page. 


Creating/Editing a Shift Rule 

Select NEW SHIFT RULE to create a new shift rule, or the pencil icon to edit an existing one. This will allow you to adjust your shift rule’s settings. Select the red x icon to delete an existing shift rule. 


Basic Info 

  • Name - Enter a name for your shift rule. This must be unique across all locations. Best practice for naming your shift rule is to create a name that clearly identifies the type of Job, Daypart, and day(s) of the week that the rule allies to. ‘Server AM Monday – Wednesday’ is a good example. 
  • Location - Choose the location for which this shift rule will be applicable. Alternatively, you can select ‘All Locations’ for the shift rule to be universally available. 
  • Job - Choose the job that this shift rule should schedule for. 
  • Metric Configuration Driving Metric - The driving metric is the main factor that your shift rule takes into account when creating a schedule. This is typically a matter of personal preference. There are six options: Sales, Item Group Sales, Checks, Guests, Entrees, and Item Group Quantity. 
    • Note - The Item Group Sales and Item Group Quantity Driving Metrics will cause a new ‘Item Group’ drop-down to appear. 
    • Example - If your concept has low check averages, but a high number of guests, guests would likely be the best driving metric to decide the number of employees that need to be scheduled. 
    • Example 2 - Some metrics are better suited to specific jobs. Back of House would be best scheduled according to the number of ‘Entrees’. 
  • Forecast Source - Set this option to either a manually entered forecast, or use a trailing 4 week / 6 week trend forecast. 
  • Manually Entered Forecast - This option will cause a Forecast Metric drop-down to appear. This will be populated with options from the Forecasting module, according to your choice of Driving Metric. For example, with ‘Sales’ as the Driving Metric, ‘Net Sales’ will be a common forecast metric choice. Note that you thus need at least one Forecast metric set up for this option to appear.
  • Trailing 4 / 6 Week - This option will cause the rule to act similarly to the Forecasting module. It will look back at the last 4 / 6 week period and weigh forecasted sales accordingly. 
  • Driving Amount - This option dictates how many occurrences of your chosen Driving Metric will drive the population of your shifts. This can be a numeric figure or dollar amount, and works in conjunction with Time Increment. See below for an example. 
  • Calculation Method - The Calculation Method is how your Metric, Amount, and Increment are applied. There is currently only one option: ‘Avg per Time Increment’. 
  • Time Increment - This option acts as the window of time in which your Driving Amount must occur. This can be 15, 30, or 60 minutes. Example Rules Say that the Driving Metric is ‘Sales’ for a server-based rule. A Driving Amount of 300 will thus indicate $300 of forecasted sales. With a Time Increment of 60 minutes, we are left with a rule that dictates: ‘For every $300 of forecasted sales within a 60-minute period, add an additional server to the schedule.’ Say you have line cook rule with a Driving Metric of ‘Item Group’, a Driving Amount of 15, and a Time Increment of 30 minutes. This would dictate: ‘For every 15 items in Group X forecasted to sell in 30 minutes, add an additional Line Cook.’ 
  • Shift Numbers and Times Maximum Shifts - The minimum number of employees that must be on at all times for the job in question. 
  • Maximum Shifts - The maximum number of employees that will be scheduled at the same time, per shift for the job in question. 
  • Start / End Time - These options designate the time frame that shifts can fall in. 
  • Days of the Week - Select any number of days of the week by selecting their respective check-boxes. The rule will only be applied to the days of your choosing. 
  • Minimum Shift Length - Sets the minimum number of minutes for any shift that the shift rule will create. 
  • Maximum Shift Length - Sets the maximum number of minutes for any shift length. 
  • Breaks Maximum on Break at a time - Sets the maximum number of employees that will be scheduled on a break at the same time. 
  • First Break for Shifts Longer than X minutes - Designates the shifts that will require a break. If this is set to 300 minutes, for example, any shift of 5 hours or more will also have a break. 
  • First Break Length - Designates the length of the first break. 
  • First Break Starts at X minutes - Refers to how many minutes in to the Shift the first break will be scheduled. 
  • Second Break - The second break fields follow the same parameters as the first break settings, but for employees that require a second break. RADAR will alert you to any second break settings that will result in violations with the ‘Maximum on Break at a time’ setting’. When this occurs, the ‘Second break starts at X minutes’ field will adapt to prevent you from entering data that results in conflictions. Copying a Shift Rule To create a new shift rule that is a copy of a pre-existing rule, select COPY SHIFT RULE. This is useful in combination with edit, allowing you to make a tweaked version of an existing rule without starting over. 
  • Location - Select the location from which to copy rules. 
  • Name - Enter the name of the new rule. This must be unique. 
  • Shift Rule to Copy - Select which of the location’s rules you would like to copy. Applying a Shift Rule Once you have added shift rules, they will be available for application in Builder. Note that users must have the appropriate permissions to apply a shift rule. Please see the Builder documentation for more info, and see the Advanced Labor Scheduling User Guide (in Training) for visual examples of Shift Rules.