Excel is a great software package and offers flexibility and functionality. With Excel you can create overviews, generate reports and you can keep track of data. Yet it is not the ideal package for creating a work schedule. We have written down a number of disadvantages below.
1. No central timesheet.
Because Excel runs on one computer for one person, it is difficult to work with more then one person on a staff planning. If several employees are working on one schedule (on a shared computer), then it is not visible who made which changes. Which can cause problems later.
2. Publish the schedule.
When a schedule is ready, it must be converted to a pdf file so that all employees can view the schedule. An Excel document cannot be opened without special software. When the schedule is mailed around, it often happens that email addresses are incorrect so that employees do not receive the email.
3. Labor costs not clear.
When scheduling in Excel, it is not clear what the expected wage costs will be. If this is the case, the hourly wages will always have to be updated manually. Something that takes time and is prone to error.
For good staff planning,
there are better solutions than Excel.
4. Doesn't take finances into account.
When a schedule is made in Excel, it is not easy to check whether the schedule falls within budget. It is also not possible to see what the percentage of labor costs is compared to the expected turnover.
5. Availability is not shown.
Availability cannot be shown in the schedule. If this is visible, then it must be entered manually. With a schedule in excel, the availability of employees is not automatically visible.
6. Absences are not automatically visible.
Just like the availability, the absences are not visible as standard. These too must first be entered manually. Something unnecessary when using planning software. Absence will also be requested verbally, on paper, by text or e-mail and are prone to be lost or forgotten . With planning software you centralize this within the software.
7. Cannot be linked to an hour registration.
It is not possible to read the planned hours from, for example, a time clock so that the system can round the hours worked based on the schedule. When working hours are clocked with a time clock, it is nice that if someone is on the schedule at 9 o'clock, and at 8:50 a clock, a time of 9:00 is recorded.
There are many software solutions on the market for making a good schedule. Shiftbase is one of them. Information about Shiftbase can be found at Shiftbase
