Cover Employee Absence#

Estimated time to read: 7 minutes

Overview#

An employee absence can leave a shift short of qualified personnel. Shift Planning lets you temporarily reassign a qualified colleague to cover the gap.

This page contains two scenarios:

• Coverage within a Team/Shift - cover an absence by moving a cross-certified employee.
• Coverage from another Team - handle two absences in a Team, offer a replacement from another Team through the pool, and record the availability of an off-duty Employee as backup. Verify coverage in both Teams.

Before You Start#

Complete Shift Planning Configuration and restore the starting assignments after Calendar Day Types.

Table: Absence-coverage starting conditions

Open ControllerProductionShiftPlan > Calendar, display the exercise date, and select ControllerAssembly and ControllerFinalTest in the Workgroup filters. Clear any previous validation results. Keep permanent Employee assignments unchanged throughout the exercise.

Coverage within a Team#

Record Absence#

1. Confirm the starting Shift 2 counts: three Assembly Operators (A1, A2, A3) and one Test Technician (A4).
2. Select only A4 on the exercise date. Select Set Non-Working Days, choose Absence as Non-Working Day Type, and select Set.
3. Keep the Employee Calendar Day for A4 selected and select Validate.

4. Inspect the warning and error indicators above the exercise date and hover over them to read the Shift 2 messages. Confirm both results:

   Workgroup	Required	Available	Expected result
   ControllerAssembly	2 Assembly Operators	3: A1, A2, A3	Surplus warning (W).
   ControllerFinalTest	1 Test Technician	0	Shortage error (E).

   Table: Shift 2 coverage with A4 absent

   

Temporarily Assign Employee#

1. Select only A3 on the exercise date. Confirm the Calendar Day is working, A3 has no non-working-day exception, and Is Temporarily Assigned is false. Verify the Active ControllerTestTechnician Certification.

2. Select Assign Temporarily and enter the following values:

   Field	Value
   Workgroup	ControllerFinalTest
   Team	TeamA
   Position	ControllerTestTechnician

   Table: Temporary destination for A3

3. Select Assign. Confirm Is Temporarily Assigned is true and the saved destination matches the table. Keep the absence of A4 recorded.

4. Select the Employee Calendar Day for A4, which still has Non-Working Day Type set to Absence, and select Validate again.

5. Confirm the previous Shift 2 Assembly surplus warning and Final Test shortage error are no longer reported. A4 remains absent; A3 supplies the required Final Test coverage. Teams D and B retain their original assignments and Assembly surplus on Shifts 1 and 3.

   

Coverage from Another Team#

Team A cannot always cover a shortage internally. In this exercise, A2 and Test Technician A4 are absent, so A1 and A3 must remain in Assembly. The planner needs a qualified replacement from another Team.

Team D will offer working D3 through the pool as the intended replacement for Team A. Record the availability of off-duty C3 as a backup in case the planned reassignment cannot go ahead. Plan the change before Shift 1 starts: D3 will move from Shift 1 to Shift 2, rather than work both shifts.

Prepare the Team Shortage#

1. On the same exercise date, remove the temporary assignment for A3 from the preceding exercise using Remove > Remove Temporary Assignment > Remove. Keep the absence of A4 recorded.

2. Check the additional participants before proceeding:

   Employee	Starting assignment	Qualification and exceptions
   D3	TeamD, Shift 1, ControllerAssembly.	Both operating Certifications are Active; no absence, pool, availability, or temporary-assignment exception.
   C3	TeamC, off-duty, normally ControllerAssembly.	Both operating Certifications are Active; Employee Calendar Day exists, no absence or other exception, and work availability is unset.

   Table: Cross-team participants

3. Select only A2 on the exercise date. Select Set Non-Working Days, choose Absence, and select Set.

4. Select the absence record for A4 and Validate. Inspect Shift 2: Assembly has A1 and A3 against a requirement of two; Final Test has no technician against a requirement of one. Moving A3 would now create an Assembly shortage, so leave A3 in place.

   

Offer Employee Through the Pool#

1. Inspect the Shift 1 staffing of Team D. Confirm three Assembly Operators (D1, D2, D3) and one Test Technician (D4). Releasing D3 would leave the two required Assembly Operators.
2. Select only D3 on the exercise date. Confirm Is Employee Working Day is true, Is In Pool is false, and Is Temporarily Assigned is false.
3. Select Place In Pool, review the Employee and date, and select Place.

4. Confirm Is In Pool is true. D3 is offered for reassignment but still has the normal Team D assignment. Pool placement alone does not fill the shortage in Team A.

   

Record Employee Availability as a Backup#

D3 remains the intended replacement. Record the availability of C3 so there is a possible backup if D3 cannot cover the absence. Availability alone does not assign C3 to the shift.

1. Select only C3 on the same date. Confirm Is Calendar Working Day is true, Is Employee Working Day and Is Available To Work are false, and Non-Working Day Type is unset.
2. Select Set Work Availability, review the Employee and date, and select Set.

3. Confirm Is Available To Work is true while C3 remains off-duty. Pool placement is for a working Employee; work availability is for an off-duty Employee. Neither operation alone creates a temporary assignment.

   

Temporarily Assign Employee to Team#

1. Select only D3 on the exercise date.

2. Select Assign Temporarily and enter:

   Field	Value
   Workgroup	ControllerFinalTest
   Team	TeamA
   Position	ControllerTestTechnician

   Table: Cross-team temporary destination

3. Select Assign. Confirm Is Temporarily Assigned is true and the saved destination is TeamA / ControllerFinalTest / ControllerTestTechnician on Shift 2. Verify that D3 is no longer counted on Shift 1 of Team D. If the displayed assignment does not match, resolve the discrepancy before accepting the coverage change.

   

Verify Coverage in Both Teams#

1. Select the Employee Calendar Day for A4 and select Validate.

2. Verify the assignments directly and inspect the current validation results:

   Team and shift	Assembly: required / available	Final Test: required / available
   TeamA, Shift 2	2 / 2: A1, A3	1 / 1: temporarily assigned D3
   TeamD, Shift 1	2 / 2: D1, D2	1 / 1: D4

   Table: Staffing after cross-team reassignment

3. Confirm the Final Test shortage in Team A is resolved without creating a shortage in Team D. Team B remains unchanged on Shift 3, including its Assembly surplus. C3 remains an unassigned backup.

   

In the first scenario, Assembly had enough qualified Employees to cover Final Test internally. In the second, another absence removed that flexibility, so coverage came from Team D while preserving its required staffing. C3 remained available as a backup.

Return to Shift Planning to review the configuration and learning path.