In the Select Calendar Period and Limits screen, you select a calendar period to associate with the session. The calendar period is already configured with the following:
- The dates that employees can bid on for vacation.
- The effective periods during bidding rounds when employees can place their bids.
This screen can contain up to three panels or sections:
Note: The Default Sub-Group Day Limit panel is context-sensitive (that is, it’s shown only if you selected a vacation bidding group that contains subgroups in the Vacation Bidding Session Details screen).
Select Calendar Period and Limits
In the Select Calendar Period and Limits panel, you associate a calendar period with the session and configure the session’s default vacation limits.
To configure the session’s scope, select a predefined calendar period in the Select the dates for the vacation bidding session drop-down list.
In this panel, you also configure the default limits that dictate one of the following:
- The minimum number of employees that are required to work on any day in the eligible period, or
- The maximum number of employees that can take vacation on any day in the eligible period.
You configure the default eligibility for each vacation day using the Set limits as and Default Day Limit settings. For example, say you select Employees Allowed Off and enter 5 in the Default Day Limit field. With this configuration, each day that’s eligible for bidding can support a maximum of five employees from the vacation bidding group taking the day off simultaneously. If you select Employees Required and enter 4 in the Default Day Limit field, each day that’s eligible for bidding requires a minimum staffing level of four employees from the vacation bidding group.
Optionally, you can limit the number of bid requests that employees can submit during a vacation bidding session. Enter a numerical value in the Maximum Bid Requests field to create a bid request threshold that can’t be exceeded. This limit applies to the entire vacation bidding session, not each submission round. For example, say you enter 3 in this field to limit employees to three bid requests in a session. If an employee submits two bid requests in the first round and tries to submit two bid requests in the second round, Dayforce generates an error message when they try to submit a fourth bid request:
If you selected a vacation bidding group that contain subgroups in the Vacation Bidding Session Details screen, Dayforce also shows the Default Sub-Group Day Limit panel:
This panel contains the subgroups that were enabled for the session. Dayforce automatically populates the value in the read-only Employee Count column, which represents the number of employees in the vacation bidding group that are assigned to the subgroup. In the Limit field, you must specify either:
- The minimum number of employees in the subgroup that are required to work, or
- The maximum number of employees in the subgroup who can take time away simultaneously.
The limit type that you specify using the Set limits as setting in the Set Calendar Period and Limits panel also applies to the limits you configure in the Default Sub-Group Day Limit panel. For example, if you selected the Employees Required radio button and you enter 3 in the cashier subgroup row, each eligible vacation day requires that at least three cashiers are available to work.
Note: When you configure the Employees Required limit and the session contains subgroups, the subgroup limit values that you configure in the Limit column of the Default Sub-Group Day Limit panel can’t, when combined, exceed the default day limit.
The Override Limits section contains a calendar that shows the dates that are eligible for vacation bidding in the session. After you select a calendar period in the Select Calendar Period and Limits panel, Dayforce updates the wizard to indicate visually which dates are eligible for bidding based on your calendar period selection. In the screenshot below, the eligible dates for bidding are between August 1 and August 31:
Dayforce shows the eligible weekday cells in white and eligible weekend cells in gray. Additionally, Dayforce marks ineligible dates with diagonal lines. In the screenshot above, July 31 and September 1 to 10 aren’t included in the vacation bidding period.
In this section, you can also override the default limit you configured for the session on any day in the calendar period. Click the cell of an eligible day on the calendar. Dayforce opens a dialog box that contains override options:
Depending on your Set limits as configuration, Dayforce shows either the All Employees Required or All Employees Allowed Off checkbox in the Group Limit section of the override dialog box:
| Set limits as selection | Description |
|---|---|
| Employees Required |
The dialog box contains the All Employees Required checkbox. Select this checkbox to override the default limit you configured in the Default Day Limit field and require that all employees in the bidding group are available to work on the selected day. That is, no employees in the vacation bidding group can bid on the selected day for vacation. Note: When this checkbox is selected, employees can still bid on the day for vacation, but Dayforce will deny the requests after the Vacation Bidding Session Processing background job runs. |
| Employees Allowed Off | The dialog box contains the All Employees Allowed Off checkbox. Select this checkbox to override the default limit you configured in the Default Day Limit field and grant all employees in the bidding group the ability to request the selected day off. |
As an alternative to using either of the checkboxes listed above, you can enter a customized limit for the day in the Override Limit field.
Note: The Override Limit field uses the same limit type you configured using the Set limits as setting. For example, if you selected Employees Required and you enter 10 in the Override Limit field, the day is updated to require a minimum of 10 employees scheduled.
If you apply any of these overrides for the day, click OK. Dayforce updates the calendar cell to show the override details:
In the above example, each Monday in October was manually updated to allow all employees to request the day off. Further, each Saturday was manually updated to limit the maximum number of employees who can take the day off to three. To remove or update the override limits you added manually, click the delete (
) and edit (
) icons.
You can also use the Copy Specific Day settings to copy an override record that you created for another day. Click the calendar icon and select a date or enter the date in the text field. Next, click the Copy Specific Day button.
If the vacation bidding session was configured to support subgroups, Dayforce shows additional details in the override dialog box when you click a calendar cell:
To update the daily limit for the entire vacation bidding group, excluding the subgroups, configure the settings in the Group Limit section. To add an override limit record for a subgroup, click Add in the Sub-Group Limit section. In the Value drop-down list, select a subgroup type. Apply one of the following override limit types:
- All Employees Required: Removes the day’s eligibility for vacation.
- All Employees Allowed Off: Removes the employee limit for the day.
- Override Limit: Use this field to enter a customized override limit value.
- Note: Only one of the first two override limit types are available, depending on your configuration.
You can click Generate to create new override records for each supported subgroup in the session. For example, if your session contains three subgroups, Dayforce adds a blank override record for each of the three subgroups.
To copy an override record that you created for another day, click the calendar icon and select the appropriate date or enter the date in the text field. Next, click the Copy Specific Day button.
After you click OK, Dayforce adds the subgroup limit icon (
) to the calendar cell to indicate that a subgroup override limit exists on that day:
When you click a calendar cell that contains a subgroup limit icon, Dayforce shows the values of configured subgroup limits in the same dialog box in which you configure override limits. The application shows the configured subgroup limit values in the Sub-Group Limit section of the override dialog box.
Note: Depending on the status of the vacation bidding session, these values might be read-only and unavailable for editing.
You can also configure and view override limits using a list instead of the calendar. Click the Grid/Calendar button to switch between the Grid and Calendar Views. The Grid View lists the same override information that’s available in the Calendar View:
In the Grid View, you can also configure override limits that span a range of dates rather than just a single day. Click Add to create a new override record, and specify the date range using the Range Start Date and Range End Date fields. Select the checkboxes in the All Employees Required or All Employees Allowed Off column (depending on which is available) or enter customized limits in the Override Limit column, as needed.
If the session supports subgroups, you can expand each override record in the Grid View to configure alternative limits for your subgroups. Click the arrow in the first column to expand the record. Dayforce opens the Sub-Group Limit Overrides panel:
To add an override limit for a subgroup during the range period, click Add. In the Value drop-down list, select a subgroup type. Apply one of the following override limit types:
- All Employees Required: Removes eligibility for vacation during the range period.
- All Employees Allowed Off: Removes the employee limit for bidding during the range period.
- Override Limit: Use this field to enter a customized override limit value.
- Note: Only one of the first two override limit types are available, depending on your configuration.
To create new override records for each supported subgroup in the session, click Generate.
Employees can view the default and override limits that you configured when they view the session details using the Bidding Calendar View in Work > Calendar:
In the example above, most dates that are available for bidding contain five vacation slots, meaning that a maximum of five employees can take the day off. The dates with five vacation slots reflect the default limit configured for all eligible vacation dates. On every Monday in August, nine vacation slots are available because those dates were updated to remove the limit on time away. Nine slots are available because the vacation bidding group that’s included in the session contains nine employees. When no limit is placed on an eligible day, the number of available vacation slots equals the total number of employees in the vacation bidding group. On every Saturday in August, only three vacation slots are available because those dates were updated with a customized override limit of three vacation slots.