Schedule Setup 

Schedule setup allows you to manage all Provider and Employee schedules. You can define individual work hours, holidays, lunch hours, and staff meetings. There is no concept of "default" schedules, because it lets define any kind of rotating or alternating schedule you want.

Once schedules are setup, open/closed hours will be indicated in the Appointment module with the background colors set in Definitions, Appointment Colors.

In the Main Menu, click Setup, Schedules.

Each day is represented by one cell, and today's date and schedule is flagged in red text. As you enter schedules, each cell will reflect the changes/additions. The following options can be used to filter the grid. If you change options, click Refresh to update the grid

From/To Dates: The date range displayed.
Show Practice Notes: Display notes entered on the Edit Day window.
Providers/Employees: Filter which providers/employee schedules show in the grid, or select which providers/employees will be affected by schedule changes. For example, when you click Clear Week, only the schedules of selected providers/employees will be affected. This is useful when you are only changing one person's schedule.
Show Weekends: Check this box to show Sunday and Saturday schedules. If weekends are hidden, then changes you make will not apply to weekends.

Define Schedules
To set each day's schedule, you will use a the copy/paste/repeat feature. First, select a day by double clicking on it.

There are two tabs:
- List: Lists all providers/employees scheduled for the day, their start/stop time, operatory and any notes.  The lists is sorted first by Practice notes, then by provider, then by employee. 
- Graph: A visual representation of notes, employees and providers work schedule for a specific time span. See Graphical Chart below.

Delete Button:  If you have no time blocks selected and click Delete, all entered time blocks for this day will be deleted.  If you select a time block, then click Delete, only the selected time block will be deleted.  If you delete a timeblock by mistake, click Cancel and the deletion will not be saved. 

Step 1: Add a timeblock
1. Select the providers and/or employees this time block will apply to. Press Ctrl while clicking to select multiple names, or to deselect a name.
2. Click Add.

3. Enter a block of hours. (e.g. 8:00 am to 12:00 pm). You can use the drop down to select time in 30 minute increments, or enter your own time using the same format (00:00 AM).

4. Select the Operatories that are affected by this time block. Operatories selected for a provider time block will override provider Operatory settings. This makes it easy to scheduleg multiple providers in a single operatory at any time of the day. Assigning an operatory here will cause a colored vertical bar (provider's appointment color) to show in the Appointments module along the left side of the time block.

If you schedule more than one dentist, or more than one hygienist, at the exact same time, not all the provider bars will show. Only one dentist and one hygienist can show simultaneously.

5. Enter any notes specific to this time block, then click OK. These notes will appear in the Notes column of the Appointment window, Employee tab, and on the Graph tab under Practice notes.

6. Repeat steps 1 – 5 until the entire day's schedule is setup the way you want it.

7.  Click OK to save the day's schedule.

Step 2: Copy, Paste, Repeat
Once one day is setup, copy/paste days and weeks, or repeat.

Copy/Paste a Day: Once a day is setup, copy/paste it to another day.
1. Click on the day.
2. Click Copy Day.
3. Click on a different day, then click Paste.

Copy/Paste a Week:  Once an entire week is setup, copy/paste it to another week.
1. Click on any day in the week.
2. Click Copy Week.
3. Click on a day in a different week, then click Paste.

Copy/Repeat:  Instead of pasting one day or week at a time, you can also paste repeatedly.
1. Click on the day, or any day in the week.
2. Click Copy Day, or Copy Week.
3. In the # box, enter the number of days/weeks you would like to repeat the schedule. Usually this is a large number, such as 500 days or 100 weeks.
4. Click on the first day/week you would like the schedule to be copied to.
5. Click Repeat.

Clear Weeks: Delete all schedule entries, for the selected provider/employees, for the selected week.
To clear multiple weeks, you can also go to a blank week, copy it, then repeat it. Make sure the Replace Existing box is checked. (for example repeat it for 20 weeks to clear 20 weeks.)

Replace Existing: When checked, the schedule being pasted/repeated will replace any existing schedule. If you do not check this box when pasting/repeating, then the pasted/repeated schedule will be added to the existing schedule, but won't replace it.

Graphical Chart
A graphical chart is available to give you a visual representation of each provider and employee's work schedule for a single day.  Click the Graph tab on the Edit Day window.

The graph is divided into 15 minute time segments.  A vertical bar indicates the current time. 

Sort:  Sort the list by start time, stop time or employee/provider name. 

Filter:  Select what should appear in the chart. 
- Notes: Check the box to display any Practice notes.  These will appear first.
- Providers:  Check the box to display all scheduled Providers.  These will appear second in the list, as a group.
- Employees: Check the box to display all scheduled Employees.  Employees are identified by name, and any notes entered in their time block show.

Scale:  Select the start and end hour to display. 
0 = 12:00 AM 
24 = 12:00 PM

Holidays, Vacations,  Random days closed will Office Closed
Holiday:   A holiday is an officially recognized holiday like Christmas, not a day that the office is simply closed or the dentist is on vacation. To mark a holiday:
1. Double click on the day to open the Edit Day window.
2. In the Practice area, click Holiday.
3. Enter the Holiday text in the Note box, then click OK.
On the schedule, the text will display. In the Appointment module, the day's background will be the color set in Definitions under Appointment Colors, Holiday.

Vacations/Office Closed:
1. Double click on the day to open the Edit Day window..
2. Do not enter any time blocks for the day(s). To delete multiple time blocks at once, press Ctrl and click to highlight, then click Delete.
3. In the Practice area, click Note to enter a description (e.g Dr. Jones Vacation, Office Closed).

Other Examples
Schedules that Alternate Weekly:
- Set up one week the way you like it. 
- Copy that week and paste it using Repeat 16 to fill approximately 4 months.
- Alter one of the weeks to represent the alternate schedule. Copy that week, then paste on week at a time to each of the 8 alternating weeks.

Taking every third Friday off:
1. Set up the standard schedule for a few months. 
2. Double click on one Friday, highlight all time blocks, and click the Delete button.
3. Copy the day, then paste one day at a time to the Fridays you take off.