Tech Tip: Date Range Delete: When & How To Use It

If you've been using EMS Manager, FIRE Manager or Zanager for some time now, you may have noticed a function called, "Date Range Delete," a sub-navigation option under "Schedule Editor." You may have even called us and had one of our technicians go over what exactly it does.

Here's a quick rundown of what each section does and when to use this neat and effective tool.

Date Range Delete allows you to remove scheduled time for a specific date/time range. It also allows you to remove scheduled time in a set pattern. Here is what each section provides: 

• Employee/Position
• Select the employee, ALL employees, BLOCK TIME or All employees & BLOCK TIME from the pull-down menu
• Select the schedule or ALL schedules for the employee selection
• Date/Time Range
• Select the Date and Time Range for the desired delete range
• Schedule Repetition
• Start Time & End Time allows you to pick a specific time range within a day to remove scheduled time
• Work Day(s) allows you to pick specific days of the week within a date range to remove scheduled time
• Previous Rotations is a list of current rotations set from "Repeats and Rotations." You can remove those rotations by clicking on "remove."

So when would a tool like this be useful? 

Let's say you have an employee that for a certain date range, let's say for all of May through July, needs Friday mornings 9AM-12PM off for a class. Rather then go through each day in the schedule, you can use this tool to remove those specific times, if any are scheduled. Here's how you would do it:

1. Select the employee's name from the employee list and select "All Schedules" from the schedule list
2. Select May 1, 2012 00:00 to July 31, 2012 00:00 from the Date/Time range selector
3. Select 09:00 as the start time and 12:00 as the end time and check off only Friday from the work day checkboxes

After a confirmation pop-up, what will happen is that anytime this employee was scheduled form 0900 - 1200 on a Friday during May through July, he will be removed from the schedule on those times. 

Other uses for "Date Range Delete" is to remove someone entirely from the schedule for a certain date range without shutting off their repeating schedule. For instance, if someone is on maternity leave or medical leave. 

"Date Range Delete" is also a fantastic tool to remove BLOCK TIME from blocked shifts in chunks. Let's say you have an event schedule that is permanently blocked. You use "Date Range Delete" to delete the block time you want to "open up" for a special event.

As usual, if you have any questions about this or any other feature, please do not hesitate to contact Customer Service at (888) 749-5550 or at support@aladtec.com.