Manage Shifts in Salesforce Scheduler

Service territory managers can view, add, and edit Shifts to manage the availability of service resources in their service territory. Depending on your setup, you can create a role hierarchy in which a service territory manager creates shifts for service resources, and then the service resources confirm the shifts or vice versa.

Let’s take an example of a bank branch that has a branch manager (service territory manager), retail bankers (service resources), and contractors for specialized skills (service resources).

In this example, the branch manager can have ultimate control. Depending on the hours that the retail bankers worked during previous weeks, the branch manager can create tentative shifts and ask the retail bankers to confirm them. The branch manager can even decide that the shift timings can or can’t go beyond the service territory’s operating hours. In scenarios where the branch manager doesn’t want to consult with the retail bankers for their shifts, the manager can directly create confirmed shifts.

Contractors can have complete control of their own working hours. By using the experience cloud, they can choose to create shifts that accommodate different service territories on different days for different working hours. For example, a contractor whose expertise is in wealth management can set up shifts for three days a week in the San Francisco branch from 9 AM to 5 PM and for two days a week in the San Jose branch from 12 PM to 5 PM. Contractors can even choose to take appointments beyond the operating hours of a service territory.

Note For a contractor to create and manage shifts independently, a service territory along with the service territory member record must be available. Moreover, use of shifts without considering the service territories’ operating hours must be configured.

• Considerations for Shifts
  Here are some things to keep in mind when you implement shifts.
• Manage Your Shifts in Schedule View
  Schedule view shows shifts grouped by service resources or by work type group in a calendar format. The view makes identifying tentative, published, and confirmed shifts easy. The view also shows service resources’ absences and service territories’ holidays.
• Create Shifts in Salesforce Scheduler
  Create shifts that vary daily or weekly. You can use shifts to assign service resources for periods that follow a flexible pattern. For example, different working hours at the same service territory or availability of the same service resource at different service territories.
• Configure Shift Settings
  Add engagement channel types and topics to a shift. You can also define maximum appointments that customers can schedule for each of these associated topics.
• Create Shifts in Bulk by Using a CSV File
  Capture shift information in a CSV file, convert the CSV file to a JSON file, and then use Bulk API to create shifts in Salesforce Scheduler.
• Engagement Channel Types
  Engagement channel types are mediums, such as Phone, Video, and In Person that service resources use to meet customers. Enable the Schedule Appointments Using Engagement Channels setting so that territory managers and service resources can use the engagement channel types and the channel types' junction objects. Territory managers and service resources can define the availability of resources for the engagement channel types by adding one or more channel types to a shift. Salesforce Scheduler shows service resources and resource time slots based on the channel type that a user selects when creating an appointment.
• Multiple Topics for Shifts
  To add one or more topics (work type groups or work types) to a shift, enable the Multiple Topics for Shifts setting.
• Set Up Roles and Hierarchies for Shifts
  Roles and hierarchies define who reports to whom and help define the approval process for shifts. You can assign users who own a specific role for various service territories. For example, Adam is a bank manager and John is a retail banker. You can create a territory manager role and a retail banker role, where the retail banker reports to the territory manager. Assign the territory manager role to Adam and the retail banker role to John. By using this hierarchy, Adam can create shifts and then ask John to confirm his availability by approving shifts.
• Create Record Types for Shift Statuses
  To make the required shift status options available for the roles that you created, create record types. For example, a service territory manager can create confirmed shifts or can create tentative shifts and then request the service resources to confirm them. For this process, you can create a record type called Territory Manager Status for the role of Territory Managers, and then select Tentative and Confirmed statuses. When territory managers create shifts, they can only view the Tentative and Confirmed options in the Status field.
• Determine Appointment Time Slots with Shifts
  To determine time slots with shifts, enable shift-related rules in the scheduling policy. To consider a service territory member’s shifts instead of the service territory member’s operating hours, enable the Use service territory member’s shift option. However, if you want to consider the intersection of shifts and the service territory’s operating hours, then enable the Use service territory’s operating hours with shifts option along with the Use service territory member’s shift option. To consider the account’s operating hours along with the intersection, enable the Enforce Account’s Visiting Hours option.
• Set Up Approval Process for Shifts
  Streamline updating shift statuses by enabling the approval process. With the approval process, service resources and territory managers receive email alerts when a shift is created, approved, or rejected.
• Restrict Service Resources from Modifying Shifts for Two Weeks with an Apex Trigger
  Service territory managers work with their service resources to plan shifts in advance. For example, you want to make an appointment booking available for two weeks starting from the current day. As a result, you want to prevent service resources from modifying their shifts during that period. To restrict a service resource from making any updates to shifts for two weeks, create an Apex trigger.
• Restrict Working Hours Selectively
  If you enable the Use service territory’s operating hours with shifts scheduling policy, Salesforce Scheduler uses the intersection of shifts and service territory operating hours to determine the availability of all service resources. However, if you want to restrict working hours to service territory operating hours only for a few service resources, use triggers.