Crunchtime Blog

How Restaurants Can Use Collaborative Schedule Editing

Written by Elizabeth Stacks | Jan 30, 2024 7:28:36 PM


Work jointly with your team to create schedules more efficiently. 

Collaborative schedule editing from Crunchtime Labor & Scheduling makes it easy for managers to work together and get more done in less time. Read this article to learn how you can leverage this feature for your restaurant. 


What is collaborative schedule editing?

This feature allows two users to edit the same schedule, at the same time, without losing any changes.  The ability to work together on schedules is especially useful for restaurants with large staffs and for stores with multiple managers working at the same time.
 

Watch the video below to see collaborative schedule editing in action. 


How can my restaurant benefit from collaborative schedule editing?

Let's face it, building staff schedules can be a daunting task, even for the best restaurant managers. From juggling staff availability, to predicting demand, and managing compliance — scheduling can be complicated and it doesn't hurt to get some help from time to time. 

  • Greater efficiency: Build schedules faster and more efficiently  
  • Collaboration: The collaborative editing process allows you to share the work of creating schedules, without slowing your team down. 
  • Increased flexibility: Two users can access the same schedule, at the same time without losing changes. 


What happens if two users make conflicting edits to the schedule? 

If two users are editing the same shift and one user saves their changes, the system will alert the user about any scheduling conflicts. For example, if an employee is double scheduled for a shift, a popup notification will be triggered. The user can then select which shift should be applied to the schedule. 

The popup will always display the current user’s shift first, but it will allow the user to select the shift that was created and saved by the other user. One choice must be applied to resolve the conflict before the schedule can be saved.


How do I know if another user is editing the schedule?

There are multiple ways to see who is collaborating with you:

1. Status Column – On the “Manage Schedules” page, a new column named “Status” has been added to show you if there are currently other users editing a schedule.  (pictured below)




2. Avatars in the header
– 
As soon as another user joins the schedule, that user’s avatar (or initials) will be displayed at the top left of the schedule. (pictured below) 




3. Popup Notification
– When another user opens the schedule that you are currently editing, a popup will notify you. (pictured below) 


Will I immediately see changes made by another user?

Users will not immediately see changes performed by other users; they will see their version of the schedule and any updates they have made. By clicking the “import” button on the top toolbar, the system will pull in changes to the original version of the schedule. Users can then choose to merge any changes that were made by another user. 

Are you ready to try collaborative schedule editing? Tell us what you think! 

If you're a current customer, log in to your Teamworx account to try collaborative schedule editing. We value your feedback, so let us know what you think by reaching out to your customer success manager. 


Related Read: 4 Ways Restaurants Can Reduce Labor Costs Without Cutting Shifts


 Request a Demo 

Request a demo to see how Crunchtime’s restaurant scheduling software can help you schedule smarter.