Release Notes for Hero Schedule

Version History

7/22/2024
Version 24.7.6

  • Major Feature: Add "ABC"-style coloring to the main schedule view.
  • In the activity schedule view, display the activity hierarchy.
  • Improve the usability of the time off request form for mobile-sized displays.
  • Optimize the open shift approval screen for hundreds of open shifts.
  • Fixes: Shift trades were displaying duplicate employee names. A heavily-edited shift would sometimes cause shift trades to fail.

7/11/2024
Version 24.6.11

  • Allow users to take time off of scheduled overtime (supervisor approval required).
  • Improve the usability of several screens on mobile-sized displays.
  • Allow first/last pay periods of the year to be any time of year to support more non-calendar-year scenarios.
  • When creating a large number of open shifts in a single group, only send one notification.
  • Minor label change to be more consistent.
  • Fixes: When setting up accrual schedules, a maximum balance of 0 was not being saved. Address a very rare issue where a shift edit record would be duplicated.

6/7/2024
Version 24.6.6

  • Major Feature: Make Hero Schedule an installable web application (PWA).
  • Major Feature: Rewrite the shift abbreviation admin screen.
  • Supervisors can make shift trades directly on behalf of others, bypassing the approval process. Furthermore, flexibility was added to shift trades so same-day shifts can be traded, and previously-edited shifts can be edited.
  • The open shift email link will now take users to the specific shift.
  • On the shift pattern scheduler, improve the available options to speed up the schedule creation process.
  • For open shifts on the calendar view, show the invite note.
  • Abbreviations can not match an activity without regard to the specific time being worked.
  • Minor: when opening Hero Schedule from a link when not logged in, open the desired screen after login.
  • Fixes: Fixed a data grid paging issue on the employee and shift abbreviation admin screens. Fixed an issue with the employee selection on the time card screen.

5/11/2024

  • Improve the use of colors on the shift bidding screen so users can better visualize potential schedules.
  • Add an employee export.
  • Minor usability improvement to the group administration page.
  • Make the overtime request note more convenient for supervisor approval.
  • Improve mobile app experience on the shift bidding screen.
  • Add a spreadsheet download for bidding schedules.
  • Improve support for organizations that prefer to emphasize the shift bidding features.
  • Several employee import improvements (detect duplicate logins, support group assignment, don't require department, handle blank rows & columns better).
  • Fixes: Remove a false conflict detection on shift trades.

4/22/2024

  • Major Feature: Add support for single sign-on with Azure AD/Entra ID via OIDC.
  • Major Feature: Allow organizations to customize schedule coloring.
  • Add a new "per hour worked" accrual schedule.
  • Fixes: Minor cosmetic on blue shift change border.

3/14/2024

  • Fixes and enhancements for the new "Expanded Activity View."

2/26/2024

  • Major Feature: Add a new "Expanded Activity View" of the main schedule.
  • When adding new members to an open shift pool, also add them to current open shift invites.
  • On employee import, include certain permissions if present.
  • Allow editing a hire date separately from editing salary history.
  • Allow a shift to be traded that was previously manually edited.
  • Fixes: Fix badge showing on activity view for everyone.

1/26/2024

  • Major Feature: Rewrite the accrual account type maintenance screen.
  • Streamline time off request entry by allowing the user to click on the account to allocate all hours to that account. If an employee only has one option, that account is automatically selected.
  • Add support for sick-time policies where (for example) an employee is only deducted 8 hours even if the shift they missed was 12 hours long.
  • On time cards and pay period reports, include each employee's regularly-scheduled hours next to their actual hours.
  • Fixes: Fix an issue on the administrator employee edit screen when setting the time card viewing permission. On the administrator's pattern schedule editor, fixed an issue that would occur when copying the current schedule to a new draft schedule.

12/11/2023

  • Major Feature: The ability to add shift bidding has been added to Hero Schedule.
  • Support Overtime Policies with multiple rates, for example, 1.5x after 40 hours and 2x after 50 hours.
  • Fixes: Fix issue that prevented setting the last pay period of the year in some cases. Fix a time stamp time zone issue related to time off requests.

10/26/2023

  • Enhance Overtime Report to include additional details and to group by Employee Groups.
  • Allow employees to reset forgotten passwords without supervisor assistance.

10/12/2023

  • Time card view permissions can be controlled at a more granular level.
  • Show supervisors more clearly on employee management screen.
  • Improve employee deactivation by automatically clearing their schedule and denying pending requests.
  • Update the time off approval screen so it's faster for organizations that don't typically use Open Shifts.

9/28/2023

  • Major Feature: Add the ability to create schedules as a "draft," so it doesn't affect the actual schedule, and can easily by copied from one year to another.
  • On the main schedule view, improve the group an employee is displayed under when they are members of multiple groups in the selected time period.
  • On the overtime approval popup, show more details about the overtime request.
  • Fixes: Fix issue where the pattern scheduler was (rarely) showing the wrong dates.

8/23/2023

  • Update the calendar view and other views to use the organization's desired week start.
  • Support an Overtime Policy that should NOT by applied to certain Overtime Categories.
  • Improve this display of shift abbreviations that contain spaces
  • Fixes: Main Schedule View: If an FLSA boundry and Blackout Day occur on the same day, show both cell decorations on those day cells. Fix issue where extra account options were shown for some Overtime Requests.

8/3/2023

  • Supervisor support for showing Time Cards by Employee Group instead of Department.
  • Allow an organization to specify which schedule view is the default for their employees.
  • Remove some restrictions on the time periods for which Employee Groups can be changed.
  • Add Employee Group column to pay period report

7/21/2023

  • Major Feature: Add a new employee calendar view.
  • Show Open Shifts on the new calendar view.
  • Nudge the day cell so the note icon fits better.
  • Improve the user's experience when having trouble logging in.
  • Add "Just Me" option on the main schedule view.
  • Fixes: Day Cell: Fix the coloring when a time off occurs on a weekend. Fix pattern scheduler not showing Employee Groups in an edge case. Fix an edge case issue with the overtime report.

6/24/2023

  • Major Feature: Open shifts can be created in a recurring pattern.
  • Add a "skip approval" icon for Open Shifts.
  • Remove restrictions on Shift Abbreviations.
  • For the Pattern Scheduler, use Employee Groups instead of Departments
  • When an Open Shift is created from a Time Off Request, allow the Activity to be easily changed.
  • On data import, improve date interpretation

5/26/2023

  • Major Feature: Add new Overtime Policies feature to the FLSA system.
  • Improve the Overtime Report's accuracy for closed pay periods by using actual transaction information.
  • On the main schedule view only show the default Employee Grouping.
  • Allow a supervisor to override FLSA rules when approving Shift Trades.
  • Add the ability to exclude certain Activities from overtime calculations.
  • Fixes: Fix an occassional error on the supervisor Employee Eedit screen. Fix the Shift Trade approval controls showing at the wrong times. Fix certain "on-call" accrual transactions being assigned the wrong type.

4/6/2023

  • Add the convenience of being able to approve a Time Off Request directly from the Day Detail view.
  • Minor improvement to the color of overtime on the main schedule view.
  • Accrual Accounts: Add the ability for automatic accruals on specific dates.

3/24/2023

  • Migrate holiday rules to use Employee Groups.
  • Show the Activity on the Open Shift approval view.
  • Small improvements to some SMS messages.
  • Allow users to create multiple Open Shifts from a single entry.
  • Support import of accrual transactions.
  • Show more open shift info to users.
  • Improve Shift Abbreviations when they match multiple shift items.
  • Improve date entry on some supervisor screens.
  • Show all available accounts when editing a Time Off Request.
  • Support a split shift for overtime, for example, 0800-1200 and 1300-1700.
  • Allow an approver to directly edit approved Overtime Requests.
  • Fixes: Some Open Shift time stamps were not displayed in the user's time zone. In some cases, users could only view one time card at a time when they had permission to view multiple.

2/14/2023

  • Main Schedule View: Add custom date range, allow multiple Employee Groups to be selected, and make minor improvements to the Day Cells.
  • Add approval info to the Overtime Request on the day view.
  • Improve Neogov export's account type configuration.
  • Fixes: Fix a Cancel button not closing its menu. Fix main menu always highlights "Home" option. Fix rare edge-case time card bug.

1/30/2023

  • Add more visibility to blackout days.
  • Improve FLSA blue border.
  • Add more options for pay period configurations.
  • Employee Import: Improve error messages when information cannot be processed
  • Prevent last period of year from being changed after it's closed.
  • Fixes: Fix shift change modification showing time stamp not in user's time zone.

12/22/2022

  • Major Feature: Create Employee Groups (will eventually replace Departments with more flexible options.)
  • Minor user interface improvement when defining accrual schedules.
  • Add additional options to accrual schedules for more flexible accrual scenarios.
  • Allow admins to select which pay period to count as the last one of the year.
  • Time Clock: Ability to manually add entries.
  • Fixes: Day Cell: Fix weekend style overwriting holiday style. Time cards: Correctly display accrual maximums when viewing pay periods that haven't been closed yet.

11/23/2022

  • Major Feature: Add feature for broadcasting messages to Employees.
  • Several UI improvements to both the Time Clock and Time Card.
  • Add the option for an Activity to be selected with Overtime Requests.
  • Fixes: Fix several dates not displayed with user's time zone.

10/31/2022

  • Major Feature: New Time Clock feature for users to clock in and out in Hero Schedule.
  • Major Feature: Accrual Schedule Editor: major update to this screen, and support accrual per month.
  • When overtime is worked overnight, allow admins to configure which day the overtime is attributed to.
  • Performance improvements around displaying employees.

10/19/2022

  • Major Feature: Add Shift Trade feature
  • Shift Patterns: fix horizontal scroll for long patterns.
  • Open Shifts: add ability to create with an Activity.
  • Improve time card header cosmetic.
  • Add employee import
  • Major rework of the supervisor's Activity Maintenance screen.
  • Fixes: Fix edge case with hours worked on pay period report.

9/29/2022

  • Major Feature: Overhaul the Notification and Notification Preferences.
  • Allow any first pay period start
  • Main Schedule View: allow users to group employees, sort by activity, toggle whether the badge number is shown, and show just one- and two-day views.
  • Add sub-activities.
  • Add new employee field, "Title."
  • Default Schedule View: Names should not scroll with the reset of the schedule.
  • When logo is clicked navigate to a natural screen.
  • Day Cell: Darken the shift change cell border.
  • For certain Overtime Categories, the time entry should be optional.
  • Fixes: Show missing info on approvals. Fix swapped tooltips. Fix time off/overtime email links. Fix edge-case pay period closing bug.

8/25/2022

  • Allow users to request time cards from a bigger date range.
  • Approvals: show "loading" in grids.
  • Day Cell: Show cells with both a shift change and a Time Off Request correctly.
  • Add details to time off entry screen.
  • Improve error descriptions.
  • Fix shift change reset.
  • Employer Editor: allow user to optionally see the password they just typed in.
  • Add "change password" feature.
  • Make it so user's don't need to log in as often.
  • Fix datepicker and max shift validation message.
  • Day Cell: Fix time off not showing color correctly.

6/30/2022

  • Optimize the Main Schedule View's load time.

7/25/2022

  • Fix issue with viewing archived open shifts by department.

6/29/2022

  • Fix pay period close button not working in some cases.
  • Fix Shift Abbreviation editor screen detecting changed data where there wasn't any.

5/26/2022

  • Major upgrade to the Manage Pay Period screen.

2/24/2022

  • Major Feature: Major upgrade to the Pattern Scheduler.
  • With a continuous "on-call" schedule, handle Time Off Requests in an improved way.
  • Full-day part-time on call leave shouldn't also credit On Call Day accrual.
  • Fix minor time card UI bug.

1/6/2022

  • Fix an issue with the Excel version of the Overtime Report.

11/15/2021

  • Day View: Adjust how Kelly Days are displayed.
  • Add FLS boundaries to schedule view.

10/13/2021

  • Drive Kelly Days automatically from Max Shifts
  • General Open Shift enhancements

9/21/2021

  • Fix Time Off Requests that start the day after the shift starts.
  • Add the ability to create Open Shifts without a Time Off Request.
  • Move organization setup to sub-menu.
  • Allow supervisor to cancel an open-shift-filling overtime request.
  • If admin changes an Overtime Category to Choose Every Time, updated Overtime Requests currently in-flight with the Employee's default choice.

8/27/2021

  • When filling an Open Shift, allow employee to choose the Accrual Account.
  • Major upgrade to the Overtime Category editor screen.
  • Improve open shift notifications to be more informative.
  • Fix issue with on-call manual shifts
  • Main Schedule View: Freeze main schedule view header.
  • Main Schedule View: Cosmetic change to the date navigation.

7/19/2021

  • Open Shift: Ability to fill a single open shift with multiple people
  • Open shift: allow user to add a note when accepting invite.
  • Fix time off accrual allocations when the accrual schedule is inactive.

6/30/2021

  • Major Feature: Add new Open Shifts feature.
  • Allow approvers to cancel open shifts
  • Fix creating open shifts for older, 24-hour time off requests.
  • Make sure employee start date is always the first salary date.
  • Fix a rare edge-case pay period closing bug.
  • Minor cosmetic improvements to FLS admin screens.
  • Major upgrade to approval screen.
  • Fix rare issue with a Time Off Request in the early AM hours of a 24-hr shift.

5/27/2021

  • Add flexibility to notifications.
  • Fix kelly day/time off issue.
  • Improve the way we tell users about problems with an Overtime Request.

4/7/2021

  • Major upgrade to admin employee maintenance.

3/26/2021

  • Force 1/4 hour increments for most time entry.
  • Improve general performance of Overtime handling.
  • Fix 24-hr time off requests.
  • Update Main Schedule View when changes are made in the Day Detail.
  • Add flexibility to how Time Off Requests affect Accruals.

2/24/2021

  • Major Feature: Support for Kelly Days has been added.
  • Major Feature: Support "On Call" accrual calculations has been added.
  • Improve the printing of time cards.
  • Major upgrade to time card display.
  • Fix some rough edges around 24-hour shift patterns.
  • Improve notes editing.
  • Add feature a per-holiday benefit choice.
  • Major upgrade to Overtime Request entry UI.

1/25/2021

  • Major upgrade to Time Off Request UI.
  • Major upgrade of the Shift Change view.
  • Main Schedule View: highlight "today."
  • Improve CSV and Excel exports.
  • Edit department sort order.
  • View Accrual Balances: minor layout changes.

11/2/2020

  • Major upgrade to the Main Schedule View.
  • Fix accrual balance admin page when no pay periods exist.
  • Upgrade the administrator's holiday editor screen.
  • Fix 24-hour shifts being counted as zero time.