Availability Patterns

You use the Contract Availability pane when you create a new contract or when you edit an existing contract.

To view the Availability Pattern pane for an existing contract:

1. Select Policies > Contracts.
2. Select an existing site in the Objects pane.
3. Select an existing contract in the Contracts pane.
4. In the right-side pane, select Availability Pattern.

Use the Availability Pattern pane to define the days and hours that each contract can be scheduled.

You can schedule a contract only within the parameters that are set here, but you can change these hours at any time.

Important

Availability Pattern settings are not the same as Availability Preferences settings that you configured in the Calendar. Availability preferences that are requested in the Calendar apply to single agents, as do the daily availabilities that the preferences are based upon. The Contract > Availability Pattern tab sets the default daily availability for the entire contract type.

Overnight Availability on Last Day of Contract

The availability of the contract on the last day is not cut off at 24:00 hours, but allows overnight shifts.

Defining Availability-Pattern Hours

To define Availability Pattern hours:

1. Enter the start time and end time, in hours and minutes, that this contract must be available for work for each day of the week.
2. If the availability extends past midnight, select the Next Day check box.
   
   The maximum availability duration is 36 hours, which can occur only when the shift start time is midnight. If you use a different shift start time, you must adjust the end time to ensure that it does not violate the 36-hour maximum.
   
   For example, if the shift start time is 1:00 AM, the maximum duration is 36 hours minus the number of hours between midnight and the start time. In this case, you must set the end time to 12:00 PM, so that the maximum duration is 35 hours.
   
   This rule—that the duration that is set by the start time and end time must be less than or equal to 36 hours—applies to each 15–minute timestep. So, if your shift start time is 8:30 AM, the maximum duration is 36 – 8.5 = 27.5 hours. Therefore, the latest end time that you can enter by using this example is 12:00 PM.
   
   The duration must be greater than or equal to the Minimum Daily Working Hours.
3. Click Apply.

Editing Availability Patterns

To modify the Availability Pattern:

• Select the contract, and redefine the hours on the Availability Pattern pane.

Important

If you make changes that do not pass validation, the Review Validation Messages pane is displayed, which includes a list of error and warning messages. For more information about these messages, see Review Validation Messages.

Copying and Pasting Availability Patterns

To copy and paste an Availability Pattern:

1. In the Availability Patterns pane, click Copy for the week day you want to copy.
2. Navigate to the weekday to which you want paste the weekday, and click Paste .
   The Start and End time are copied to the selected week day.