Objectives:
| * | Allow members of staff to view rotas without allowing them to make changes. |
| * | Allow a member of staff to self-roster. |
| * | Allow a planning person to create, edit and delete rotas, but not edit symbol definitions within rotas or make changes to your user group. |
Getting Ready: Before starting this lesson you should first complete lessons 1 and 2, "Register and log in" and "Set up the basic rota".
Action: If you are not already logged in as admin, log in as admin. Otherwise, if it is not already selected, select Your users & rotas in the top menu.
Result 3a: You see your identity in the tablet at the top right of the screen. The tablet button reads "Logout>>", and you see two menus, Your users and Your rotas, at the left of the screen.
Action: Select Your user group in the Your users menu.
Result 3b: A view of the same name appears.
Action: You can change the details in your Group description, if you wish, by selecting the menu item Edit description at the top of Your user group, editing the form that replaces the description view, then pressing the Save description edits button.
Result 3c: The details of your group are changed, but the text shown in the tablet at the top of the page does not change until you log out and then in again.
Objective: Create a general-purpose user identity in your user group to allow staff to view the group's rotas.
Action: Under "Group description", note what the Group ID is. You are going to use this number very soon. It's in the first column of the first table on the page.
Action: At the top of Your user group select the menu item Edit users.
Result 3d: A form replaces the table of users.
Both personal and general-purpose ID's can be entered in the form. For a personal User ID (email), you use a person's email address. However, to create a general purpose user identity for staff to share, you use staff@xxxxx, where xxxxx is your Group ID. For example if your Group ID is 00072 then the User ID for staff to share, is staff@00072. When you created your account, four users were created automatically in your user group:
| * | yourself as the administrator (with one password), |
| * | yourself as planner (with a different password), |
| * | a shared staff ID and |
| * | a shared guest ID. |
Action: Check that:
| * | In the User ID (email) column you have an entry of staff@xxxxx where xxxxx is your Group ID. |
| * | In the Password column you see a random number. |
| * | In the Role column staff is selected from the list. |
| * | In the Full name column, the entry reads Staff User. |
For security: You should change the password to one of your choice. Password entries of less than 5 characters are ignored. They do not change anything.
Action: Change the password, then press the Save user edits button.
Action: Make a note of the User ID and Password.
Action: In the menu at the top of your user group, select the View item.
Result 3e: You confirm your changes have taken effect.
Congratulations: You have created a general purpose user identity and password. You can now give them to your staff to enable them to view their rotas.
Exercise 3.1: Under Your users select Make credentials. Follow the instructions to create shared entry cards you can give to your staff with their general purpose User ID and Password.
Objective: Create a personal user identity in your user group to allow a staff member to propose their own shifts (self-roster).
This is how you create an entry for Bert Brown, for example:
Action: Make sure the menu item Edit Users at the top of Your user group is selected (Showing "Editing users").
Action: Make these entries in the blank row at the bottom of the form:
| * | In the User ID (email) column, enter bert@self-roster.co.uk. |
| * | In the Password column enter a password of your choice. |
| * | In the Role column select staff from the list. |
| * | In the Full name column enter Bert Brown exactly as that name is used in the rota. Spelling, any use of punctuation, small/capital letters and spaces in full names must always match. |
| * | If you know it, enter Bert's telephone number in the Telephone column. |
Action: Press the Save user edits button.
Action: Make a note of Bert's User ID (email) and Password.
Action: At the top of Your user group, select the menu item View.
Result 3f: You see your changes have been successful.
Result 3g: When you create or modify a user whose User ID (email) is a genuine email address and press the Save user edits button, an email is sent to them automatically to inform them.
Exercise 3.2: With the Status of the basic rota set to Draft or Approved, log out then log in as Bert Brown. Explore all the menus and the help systems to confirm that you can see, but cannot edit, the rota. Then log out.
Exercise 3.3: Log in as admin, set the Status of the basic rota to Self-Roster and log out. Log in again as Bert Brown and select Edit shifts from the rota menu and propose some shifts. For this to be possible, Bert Brown must be listed in the rota.
Note: Usually, staff self-roster using rotas for specific periods of time, but it can be useful to allow the staff to propose their own typical shift patterns in the basic rota as well. If you want to keep the basic rota visible to staff but prevent them from changing it, you must not leave it with a Status of Hidden or Self-Roster.
Objective: Set a planner ID in your user group to allow another person to add, view, edit, change and delete rotas.
Action: Make sure you are logged in as admin.
Action: Make sure the menu item Edit Users at the top of Your user group is selected.
Result 3h: In the Role column of the form for editing users you see planner selected from the list and in the User ID (email) column of the same row an entry with your User ID (email).
When you registered the group, your planner line was automatically assigned a password different from your admin one. When you log in, the combination of User ID (email) and Password identify you to Self-Roster.co.uk, so with different passwords you can log in with different roles or even into different groups. The latter is often useful for administrators.
Action: Make these entries in the planner row:
| * | In the Password column enter a password of your choice. |
| * | In the Full name column enter your planner's full name. |
| * | In the Telephone column enter your planner's telephone number. |
Action: Press the Save user edits button.
Action: Make a note of the User ID (email) and Password.
Action: At the top of Your User Group select item View from the menu.
Result 3i: You check that your changes have been effective.
For security: We recommend that you create a personal User ID (email) for each person using the system, using each person's genuine email address. It is best to keep the number of planning people to a minimum and it is important to use their personal email addresses.
Exercise 3.4: Log out, and log in again as a planner, using the identity you have just altered. Explore the system to make sure you can edit all the attributes of a rota, including the staff rostering details, and can see but not change the group information, including the user details.
Action: Log out and in again as admin, return to Your user group and select Edit options.
Action: Use the pulldown list to set the symbols option to fixed.
Exercise 3.5: Log in again as planner. Explore all the menus to confirm that you can still view and edit rotas, but now cannot edit symbols, and still cannot edit your user group. Set the Status of the basic rota to Self-Roster.
Note: Planners can also create, change and delete rotas.
Exercise 3.6: Log in again as admin, return to Your user group and select Make credentials from the Your user group menu. In the window that pops up, select the Personal entry cards menu item and follow the instructions to create a set of personal entry cards, one for each group member.
Notice that the personal entry cards include one for you as administrator, showing your password. These cards must be securely managed.
Congratulations: You have set a user identity and password for your planner to view, create, edit and delete rotas, and you have changed your group's options to prevent planners from editing symbol definitions.