Pro or Enterprise plan · Admin, Manager, or Team Lead role, depending on the task
- Plan
- Pro or Enterprise plan. Compare plans
- Edit a test schedule
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Admin, Manager, or Team Lead role
Or a custom role with Edit schedules set to Can edit all agents' schedules or Can edit schedules with custom permissions - Publish a test schedule
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Admin or Manager role
Or a custom role with Publish schedules
If your access is limited to certain sites, you can publish only the people in those sites.
Admins set roles and permissions in Manage team > Roles and permissions.
Use a test schedule to try ideas before your team sees them, like a new shift pattern or a different plan for a busy week, and to check how coverage holds up. Changes to your primary schedule take effect for your team right away; changes to a test schedule don’t. When you’re happy with a test schedule, publish it to your primary schedule.
To open a test schedule, go to Schedule > Staffing timeline and choose it in the Schedule filter.
Note: To add, rename, or remove a test schedule, contact our team.
How test schedules work
- A test schedule has its own events. Nothing you change there affects your primary schedule until you publish.
- In schedule lists, your primary schedule is marked (Primary).
- On a test schedule, the Staffing timeline shows your forecast, required staffing, and staffing metrics, the same as on your primary schedule.
- Agents don’t see test schedules. Their schedules, Google Calendar sync, schedule change notifications, and adherence alerts all come from the primary schedule.
- Some reports and heatmaps include a Schedule filter, so you can review a test schedule’s coverage there too.
Build a test schedule
- Edit it directly. Open the test schedule on the Staffing timeline and add or change events the same way you would on your primary schedule, then select Save. See Creating and modifying schedules.
- Apply a template. When you apply a template, choose the test schedule in Schedule.
- Generate a schedule. Schedule generation saves its results to the test schedule you choose as the Destination schedule, so you can review them before publishing.
- Use the schedule assistant. The schedule assistant changes whichever schedule is open. To try its changes without touching your primary schedule, open a test schedule first.
Some events on a test schedule are read-only copies from the primary schedule, such as recurring time off copied in by schedule generation. They’re marked Read-only. You can’t edit them there, and they aren’t published.
Publish a test schedule
Publishing copies the test schedule’s events for the dates you choose onto the same dates on the schedule you publish to. Dates aren’t shifted the way they are with templates. A shift that starts inside the date range is published in full, even if it ends after the range.
Important: Publishing can replace events on the schedule you publish to, depending on the Event conflicts option you choose. Check the option before you select Publish.
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Save any changes on the test schedule. Publish schedule isn’t available while you have unsaved changes.
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Select Publish schedule, next to Save on the Staffing timeline. You can also press ⌘/Ctrl + Shift + S.
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Choose your options (see below), then select Publish.
When publishing finishes, you see a summary of the date range, people, and event conflict option you used. To reverse it, select Undo in the summary or in the banner on the schedule. Each publish is also recorded in your scheduling history as Schedule copied.
Publish options
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Publish to | The schedule that receives the events. Your primary schedule is selected by default. You can also publish to another test schedule. |
| Date range | The dates to publish. Events from these dates on the test schedule are applied to the same dates on the Publish to schedule. |
| People to publish | All people, or Select with filters to narrow by channel, queue, site, team, or skill. |
| Event conflicts | How events already on the Publish to schedule are handled. See the table below. |
Event conflicts
| Option | What happens to existing events |
|---|---|
| Keep customized events (default) | Automated events, such as ones from templates or schedule generation, are replaced. Events created or changed by hand, recurring events, time off and other requests, and Google Calendar events are kept, and new events are placed around them. |
| Replace all events | Every existing event is replaced for the people being published, including time off and recurring events. People with no events on the test schedule for those dates aren’t changed. |
| Allow conflicts | New events are added and nothing is removed. Where events overlap, you choose which to keep on the schedule afterward. |
Important: Replace all events deletes recurring time off on the Publish to schedule for the people and dates you publish. If the test schedule only has a read-only copy of that time off, the copy isn’t published, so the time off isn’t replaced. To keep recurring time off, publish with Keep customized events.
If you publish with Allow conflicts, select a conflicting event on the schedule to choose which events to keep.