Addressing Premature Shift Endings in Shop Floor Insight

Addressing Premature Shift Endings in Shop Floor Insight

Scenario at Joey's Toy Shop

At Joey's Toy Shop, a peculiar issue has emerged affecting the shop floor employees, particularly those with extended shifts. These employees follow a routine where they log into Shop Floor Insight at the beginning of their shifts and then, after a day's work, they log in again to clock out. However, they've encountered a problem: upon attempting to log off, they find their time card, which was open in the morning, mysteriously closed and inaccessible. This issue doesn't seem to affect employees working standard shift lengths.

Identifying the Core Issue

The crux of this problem lies within the "Hours before Close" setting in Shop Floor Insight's configuration, found under the "Shop Floor Setup" page. This setting determines how long a time card remains active without interaction before it automatically closes. If an employee's shift duration exceeds this set threshold, their time card will close, leading to the problem observed at Joey's Toy Shop.

Proposed Solution

The straightforward solution is to adjust the "Hours before Close" setting to accommodate longer shifts while ensuring it does not disrupt the normal workflow for those with shorter shifts. Specifically, the setting needs to be increased beyond the longest shift length but kept within a reasonable limit to avoid overlapping into the next workday.

Implementation Steps:

  1. Adjusting "Hours before Close": Navigate to the "Shop Floor Setup" page and locate the "Hours before Close" setting. Increase its value to exceed the longest shift duration, which in this case is 12 hours. A setting of 13 hours would be appropriate to cover all shift lengths without prematurely closing any time cards.

  2. Optimizing the Setting: It's crucial to find a balance in the "Hours before Close" value to prevent it from being too high. If set excessively high, time cards for employees working late and starting early the next day might not close as expected, causing confusion and potential inaccuracies in time tracking.

  3. Operational Reminders: Employees are encouraged to interact with Shop Floor Insight more frequently than just at the shift's start and end. Regular clock-ins during the shift for various tasks can prevent this issue and contribute to more accurate job tracking. Additionally, manual options for ending shifts and supervisor interventions can offer more control and flexibility in managing time cards.

Conclusion

By carefully adjusting the "Hours before Close" setting and encouraging more frequent interaction with Shop Floor Insight, Joey's Toy Shop can efficiently resolve the premature shift ending issue. This approach not only addresses the immediate problem but also enhances overall time management and operational efficiency on the shop floor.

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