 448    5817   8711   9771   15447  17860  21624  25976  27566  30073  33458  36268  38915  39795  40708  46536  50671  51483  55269  62897  69958  78795  88072  96864  107288 111265 111704 112957 127265 142254 155494 158832 162916 164515 167593 170843 171964 175345 182935 184143 185013 186473 195166 197656 199183 202500 206410 209477 210653 213422 216524 218103 222054 223943 230409 233165 236727 240047 248383 252757 253794 255952 256674 -101
EPSKED Scheduling - Main Menu
Overview of the EPSKED Scheduling Main Menu
  The EPSKED scheduling program facilitates creation, review and printing of
schedules for your physicians, automating a number of laborious tasks that
would be difficult and time consuming to accomplish manually.

  The Main Menu screen allows you to select from among several options.  Most
commonly you will elect to create a new schedule, retrieve a previously
created schedule, or reenter the configuration program to make changes.
Please also take a moment to review the cumulative summary and Utilities Menu
features described below so that you are aware that they are available.

  Selection of the desired scheduling option is made by pressing a single key,
as was done in the Main Menu of the EPSKED configuration program.  The
following Help Screens contain brief descriptions of each of the available
options.

  Remember that you can view the current program screen any time you are
reading a help screen by pressing the <Alt> key.  When you release it, you are
returned back to the help screen information.



              **** Copyright (c) 1995 - ByteBloc Software ****
 01-2
   The following options can be selected from the Main Menu:
<S> Skedule creation
  Press the <S> key on your keyboard to select this option.  To create each
schedule you enter information in logical steps that answer five questions:

   ╔══════════════════════[ Creating a schedule ]══════════════════════════╗
   ║ ■ What date do you want the schedule to start?                        ║
   ║ ■ Are there any changes to the normal configuration information that  ║
   ║   you want to make specifically for the schedule?                     ║
   ║ ■ Are there any holidays in the schedule?                             ║
   ║ ■ Are there any shifts your physicians are not available to work?     ║
   ║ ■ Are there any shifts specifically requested by your physicians that ║
   ║   you want to manually preschedule?                                   ║
   ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

  EPSKED uses this information to generate a schedule.  Numerous features are
available to help you review and modify the computer generated schedule,
including additional computerized revision.

  When the schedule is completed to your satisfaction, EPSKED can print master
schedules, individual schedules and summary tables for distribution to your
physicians.
 01-3
<R> Retrieve / modify a skedule
  Select this option to retrieve the schedule of a previously created
schedule. The retrieved schedule can be modified and printed if desired.
Summary data is automatically updated.

<C> Cumulative (multi-skedule) summary
  After you have created one or more schedules, EPSKED can calculate a
cumulative summary, giving collective totals of the shifts and hours scheduled
for each physician for the entire period.  Select the <C> option to request
EPSKED to display this information, for any period from one schedule to
several years.  A cumulative *schedule* of holidays worked is also produced,
which can be displayed and printed if desired.

<L> Load the configuration program
  Select this option when you want to modify your schedule configuration
information.  Any modifications you make in the configuration program apply to
all future schedules.  Use this option for adding new shifts or physicians,
revising requested hours or shift relationships, adding new summary
categories, or changing the format of the schedule printout and display.
 01-4
<U> Utilities Menu (more selections)
  Press <U> and EPSKED displays a new menu, offering you choices of:
 ■ Print a "Days Off" request form.  This is a convenient form, complete with
   instructions, that can be used by your physicians to indicate their
   availability for scheduling for a specific schedule.
 ■ Manually enter a schedule.  Use this option to enter the schedule that you
   (poor soul) had to manually create prior to use of the EPSKED program.
   Once manually entered and saved, that schedule is available to EPSKED to
   ensure that no scheduling conflicts exist between the end of the last
   manually created schedule and the beginning of the first computerized
   scheduled.
 ■ Delete unneeded files.  Unneeded files come from two sources: schedule
   variants (EPSKED allows you to save up to ten variants for each schedule,
   each schedule variant occupying approximately 2K of disk space) and
   "printing to disk" of items usually printed to paper (to allow import into
   a word processing program).  When no longer needed, these can be deleted to
   make available more space on your disk drive.
 ■ Add a scheduling directory.  EPSKED can create separate printed schedules
   for up to twenty-six different facilities or groups.  One example of this
   is the separate schedules for staff and resident physicians in a training
   program.
 ■ Backup schedules to a floppy disk.  EPSKED can copy your configuration and
   scheduling information to a floppy disk.
 01-5
<X> Exit this skeduling directory
  Selection of this option normally returns you to the DOS command line.  If
you used the "<A> - Add a scheduling directory" option from the Utilities Menu
to create more than one scheduling directory, you are instead returned to the
Multiple Skedule Selection screen.
02
Skedule Selection
  The Skedule Selection screen is the first screen displayed after the Main
Menu <S> (Skedule creation) command, or after the Utilities Menu <P> (print a
`Days Off' request form) or <M> (manually enter a schedule) options.

  If you are creating a schedule, selecting the schedule start date is the
first step:
  ╔══════════════════════[ Creating a schedule ]══════════════════════════╗
  ║ ■ What date do you want the schedule to start?                        ║
  ║ ■ Are there any changes to the normal configuration information that  ║
  ║   you want to make specifically for the schedule?                     ║
  ║ ■ Are there any holidays in the schedule?                             ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts your physicians are not available to work?     ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts specifically requested by your physicians that ║
  ║   you want to manually preschedule?                                   ║
  ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

  The Skedule Selection screen prompts you for the starting date for your
schedule; EPSKED then automatically displays the proper calendar.

  Below the screen title (EPSKED Scheduling - Skedule Selection) are displayed
the starting dates of three preselected schedules, each numbered to its left
with a bright yellow <1>, <2>, or <3>.  If you desire scheduling for one of
these three schedules, press the associated number.
 02-1
  If the schedule you desire is not shown, you may enter a specific date;
alternatively, press the <PgUp> or <PgDn> keys to change the schedule
selection to the three schedules immediately earlier or later than those
currently displayed, then make a selection as above.
  To enter a specific schedule, look at the bottom portion of the central
window where a flashing cursor is present, adjacent to the word "Month:".
Type the first three letters of the name of the month in which the desired
schedule starts (e.g., "FEB" for February).  The display of the remainder of
the name of the month is completed by EPSKED, and the cursor then moves down
adjacent to the word "Year:".  Type the last two digits of the year that you
desire to schedule (e.g., "95" for 1995).
  For monthly schedules, the schedule is immediately displayed.  For four and
six week schedules, the displayed, preselected schedules change to ones that
bracket the month that you entered.  Select the desired schedule by pressing
the <1>, <2>, or <3>.
  If, while entering the year you decide to go back and change the name of the
month you selected, press the <Up Arrow> and the cursor returns to its
original position next to the word "Month:".
  If you decide you do not want to create a schedule, press the <Home> or
<Esc> to return to the previous menu.

  EPSKED accepts dates from 1980 to 2079, which should outlive its usefulness
to any original user of the program.
03
A Problem - no preceding skedule found!
  The current program screen is displayed if you have requested computer
scheduling but EPSKED cannot find a schedule for the period immediately
preceding the current schedule.  It is important for EPSKED to have access to
this information in order to avoid scheduling conflicts between the final days
of one schedule and the first days of the next schedule.
  On the program screen, you are given the options of manually entering the
prior schedule, continuing work for the current schedule without benefit of
having the information from the prior schedule, or returning to the prior
"Skedule Selection" screen to elect to work on a different schedule.

  If you elect to manually enter the preceding schedule, you do not have to
enter the entire schedule unless you are interested in having complete
summary data available!

  See the help screen for the "Enter Old Skedule program" screen (this is
displayed two screens after you select the <Y> option) for more advice on what
information needs to be entered.
04
Change Day Types
Overview of the Change Day Types screen
  The Change Day Types screen is normally the first program screen displayed
after you select the schedule on which you want to work -- either for
computerized scheduling, manual scheduling or for printing of a "Days Off"
request form.
  Usually the Change Day Types screen is displayed and you simply print the
request form or press the <Esc> key to proceed without making any changes!
If desired, however, the Change Day Types screen permits you to alter the Day
Type of individual days within the schedule.
  If you are creating a schedule, changing Day Types is part of the second
step:
  ╔══════════════════════[ Creating a schedule ]══════════════════════════╗
  ║ ■ What date do you want the schedule to start?                        ║
  ║ ■ Are there any changes to the normal configuration information that  ║
  ║   you want to make specifically for the schedule?                     ║
  ║ ■ Are there any holidays in the schedule?                             ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts your physicians are not available to work?     ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts specifically requested by your physicians that ║
  ║   you want to manually preschedule?                                   ║
  ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

  An example of when you might want to alter the Day Type of individual days
within the schedule:
 04-2
EXAMPLE of changing Day Types:
  Suppose that your emergency department uses twelve hour DAY and NIGHT shifts
every day and adds a SWING shift for overlapping coverage on weekends only.
In your configuration of EPSKED you defined Weekday and Weekend Day Types.  If
July 4 falls on a Tuesday but is usually a busy day for your department, you
could change the July 4 shifts to those of the Weekend Day Type to obtain
additional coverage.

 Change Day Types Screen Description
  The blank schedule is displayed in a calendar-like fashion, with either
Sunday or Monday at the far left of each week, depending upon which you
configured as the "Leftmost day of the skedule" in the configuration General
Format screen.  For some monthly schedules, the last one or two days of the
month may be displayed in the upper left-hand corner due to space limitations
on the monitor.  (When the completed schedule is printed on paper, these days
are printed at their normal position at the bottom left-hand corner of the
calendar.)
  On the right margin, vertically oriented, is displayed the date of the
currently displayed schedule.
 04-3
 Change Day Types Screen Description (continued)
  The display lines within each day of the schedule are filled with blank
lines representing the appropriate shifts for that day as designated in your
original Day Type configuration entries.  Each shift is represented as a white
line with a small terminating square at either end (■───────■).  If your
configuration required that two shifts share a display line, each of the
shifts is represented by a shorter line, terminated by a small square on the
left end only.  A slash mark (/) is used to emphasize the separation between
the two shifts displayed on the same line (■───/■───).
  In addition to the calendar display, there are three or four other blocks of
information present.  The position of these blocks on the screen varies
depending on where space is available surrounding the calendar display.  The
blocks are:
 ■ The screen title (CHANGE DAY TYPES).  Under this is written "Date:",
   followed by a flashing cursor.  This is the prompt for entry of the date of
   any day that you want to alter to a different Day Type.  As you enter
   numbers, they are displayed above the cursor.
 ■ A "Skedule Totals" area, displaying totals *for the entire schedule* for
   hours, shifts that you defined as having a high priority for matching
   requested values, and all shifts that need to be scheduled.
 ■ One or two menu blocks, in reverse video with a bright stripe along its
   left border, showing prompts for the available commands for this screen.
   An explanation of these commands is shown on the next Help Screen...
 04-4
  The following commands are available (as prompted in the menu block):
Date - to change next
  Type the numerical date of the next day which you desire to change to a
different Day Type.  For single digit dates (1 - 9), press the number, then
<Enter>.  For double digit dates (10 - 31), press the two numbers without
pressing <Enter>.  For instructions on actually altering a day to a different
Day Type, return to the Change Day Types program screen, type the date of the
day you desire to change, then press <F1> for further help.
<#> - Print request form
  Press the <#> key (press and hold down the shift key, then press the key
labeled with a "#" and a "3").  Select this option if you want EPSKED to print
a convenient "Physician Scheduling Requests" form, complete with instructions,
that can be used by your physicians to indicate to you their availability
(days off for vacation or other obligations) for the schedule.
<Esc> - next screen   (or may be -->  <Esc> - Main Menu)
  Press the key labeled "Esc" when you are done with the Change Day Types
screen and desire to proceed to the next entry screen.
<Home> - prior screen
  Press the key labeled "Home" to return to "Skedule Selection" screen.
<Alt> - View all shift names (not displayed on some monthly schedules)
  Press and hold down the <Alt> key.  The lines representing the shifts are
replaced with their actual names, clarifying shift names if there is some
confusion.  Release the <Alt> key to return to the normal schedule display.
05
Change Day Types - (Modifying an individual day)
  To reach the current program screen, you have typed in a numerical date
since you entered the Change Day Types screen.  You may now change the Day
Type of the chosen date to any of the Day Types you designated in the
configuration program.

Note several changes in the screen display:
 ■ The shifts in the selected day are now displayed in reverse video in order
   to highlight that day.
 ■ Beneath the "Date:" entry site (where the flashing cursor is still
   present), the name of the Day Type currently used for the chosen date is
   displayed in flashing reverse video.  (The Day Type used may have changed
   from what was originally used for that day to a new Day Type.)
 ■ Some of the command prompts displayed in the menu block (the reverse video
   rectangle with a bright stripe along its left border) have changed.  These
   new commands are explained on the next screen.
 05-2
<Space> - alter Day Type
  To make a change in the Day Type of the day selected, press the <Spacebar>.
The flashing name of the Day Type used for the day changes to a different Day
Type.  The shifts displayed on the day change to the shifts used on that Day
Type, and the displayed "Skedule Totals" for hours and shifts are
automatically updated for the change.
<Arrows> adjacent date
  Use this option if you want to change the Day Types of several vertically or
horizontally adjacent days.
  EXAMPLE: Suppose you have defined Weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and Weekday
(Monday - Friday) Day Types for your schedule.  You might want to assign the
Weekend Day Type to all Mondays on the schedule and instantly see the effect
this has on the "Skedule Totals".  To make this change, enter the numerical
date of any Monday in the schedule to highlight that day, press the <Spacebar>
until the flashing name of the Day Type currently used for the chosen date is
the Weekend Day Type, then press and hold down the <Up Arrow> or the <Down
Arrow> key.  All Mondays on the schedule are briefly highlighted as they are
changed to the Weekend Day Type, with the "Skedule Totals" updated.
<Enter> - changes finished (this command is not documented on the screen)
  Press the <Enter> key if you desire to return to the program screen menu
presented when you originally entered the Change Day Types screen.  (You need
to do this if you want to print a scheduling request form.)
06
SCHEDULING - Physician Information menu
Overview of the Physician Information Modification menu
  Making changes to the normal scheduling requests of your physicians is part
of the second step in preparing EPSKED to create a new schedule:

  ╔══════════════════════[ Creating a schedule ]══════════════════════════╗
  ║ ■ What date do you want the schedule to start?                        ║
  ║ ■ Are there any changes to the normal configuration information that  ║
  ║   you want to make specifically for the schedule?                     ║
  ║ ■ Are there any holidays in the schedule?                             ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts your physicians are not available to work?     ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts specifically requested by your physicians that ║
  ║   you want to manually preschedule?                                   ║
  ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

  The Physician Information Modification menu is similar to the equivalent
configuration screen, and the options should be familiar.

  As with the configuration program, the <I> option uses an Entry Form that
allows you to modify configuration options for an individual physician.  Other
configuration screens display information which mostly duplicates information
shown on the Entry Form, but allows you to examine and modify specific
information (such as requested hours) for all physicians rather than all
information for a single physician as is shown on the Entry Form.
 06-2
Screen description
  Dissimilar to the configuration program is a display, shown below the menu,
of the schedule totals for the "Requested" and the available "To Skedule"
statistics.  These values are specific to the current schedule and present
summary values for total hours, and totals for the numbers of shifts in your
configured maximum (), high (!) and medium (≈) priority request categories.
For example, if your schedule contains 1000 hours that need scheduling and
your physicians have requested a total 1100 hours, the 1100 is displayed in
the first column to the right of the "Requested──" label, and the 1000 is
displayed to the right of the "To Skedule─" label.

  You should review the "Requested" and "To Skedule" values and adjust your
physician requests so that they match as closely as possible.  This will
improve the quality of the schedule EPSKED produces for you!

  Select the <H> - Hours and shifts requests option to review the requested
values for all your physicians.

  If the totals for either requested hours or requested shifts in the maximum
priority request category are significantly over or under the total numbers
available in the schedule, a warning prompt is displayed when you press <Esc>
to proceed to the next screen.  The prompt offers the opportunity to review
and modify the requested values before proceeding.
 06-3
  A brief description of the purpose of each of the available selections is
shown below. The various entry areas allow you to modify each physician's
individual requirements *for the current schedule*.  Detailed help is
available from within all screens by pressing the <F1> key.
 ■ <I> Individual physician entry form - Review and modify scheduling
   preferences for an individual physician.
 ■ <H> Hours and shifts requests - Make changes to the requested number of
   hours shifts for any physician.  Try to adjust requests so that the
   requested amounts match the amounts available!
 ■ <S> Sequences of shifts - If desired, adjust the number of shifts in a row
   or the Relations Model for each physician *for the current schedule only*.
 ■ <P> Preferences for shift types - Make changes to the shifts your
   physicians cannot work or prefer working or dislike working.
07
SCHEDULING - (Physician) Entry Form
Overview
  This help screen contains both general information for the physician Entry
Form and detailed information about the Physician Name Abbreviation entry
section of that form.  Detailed, context sensitive help information about
other sections of the Entry Form are available by pressing <F1> when entering
information in those areas.

  The configuration physician Entry Form displays all configuration requests
specific to an individual physician.  In addition to a name, other information
is displayed.  Most important to you in the scheduling program are the usual
number of hours and shifts requested by the physician for the current
schedule.  When producing a schedule, EPSKED attempts to match the requested
values as closely as possible for each physician.
 07-2
Screen description
  The majority of the physician Entry Form screen is occupied by the entry
form itself.  The unlabeled entry areas at the top of the form displays a
physician name and physician name abbreviation, and are unique to this screen.
  Data entry areas in the physician Entry Form are:
 ■ In the row starting with the REQUESTED HOURS entry area, you can enter
   requests related to the number of hours and shifts for which the physician
   should be scheduled.  To make your life easier, take a moment to understand
   the use of the "=" and "%" entries in these columns, which allow EPSKED to
   automatically calculate some requested values.  (Detailed information about
   this is contained in the help information available by pressing <F1> while
   highlighting any entry area on that line.)
 ■ In the row starting with the SHIFTS IN A ROW entry area, indicate sequences
   of shifts preferred by each physician.  The number of shifts worked in a
   row, nights worked in a row, and whether the physician wants to either work
   the entire weekend or be off for the entire weekend (or doesn't care) can
   be indicated.  If you configured more than one Shift Relations Model,
   select which one is used for each physician.
 ■ In the row starting with the CAN'T DO SHIFTS entry area, let EPSKED know if
   there any types of shifts that an individual physician cannot work, or ones
   she or he prefers or dislikes working.  (For example, physicians who work
   only in a fast track area may not be able to work other shifts.)
Remember, for detailed help, press <F1> from any entry area!
 07-3
Screen commands

<F2> - swap displays
  Press <F2> to change the screen display from the physician Entry Form screen
(which shows all configuration options for one physician) to a screen which
still displays the currently highlighted option, but for all physicians.

Arrow keys - move cursor
  Similar to other screens.  <Tab> works also.

<PgUp>/<PgDn> - swap doc
  Press the <PgUp> key to move to the Entry Form of the previous physician
alphabetically, or <PgDn> to move to the Entry Form of the next physician.

<Esc> - prior menu
  Press <Esc> to return to the Physician Information menu.

<Ctrl+first letter> - direct to name
  This prompt is continuously displayed immediately above the instructions at
the bottom of the screen.  Press and hold down the <Ctrl> key, then press the
first letter of the name of the physician whose Entry Form you want to
display.  If more than one physician has the same first letter, continue
holding down the same keys until the correct physician's form is displayed.
 07-4
Physician name abbreviation
  To the right of the physician name, separated from it by a  ≡  symbol,
notice that EPSKED displays a unique two letter abbreviation for each
physician.  This abbreviation is used to simplify entry of your requests
elsewhere in the scheduling program.  For example, when you will want to
display individual physician schedules which highlight all shifts worked by a
single physician.  If "SA" has been designated as the abbreviation for Dr.
Samuelson, then typing "SA" at the appropriate prompt would result in a
displayed schedule with Dr. Samuelson's name highlighted for each shift that
he is working, facilitating your review of his individual schedule.
  You do not normally need to change the abbreviations from the scheduling
program, but if you do, pick easily remembered letters, since the abbreviation
you enter is used throughout the scheduling program.
08
Changed Day Types After Scheduling - A Caveat
     *********** (This help screen is automatically displayed) ***********
  If your new Day Type contains shifts that were not used in the original
Day Type, some of your physicians may be unexpectedly off for any newly
added shifts unless you understand the following information.
The bottom line:
  When you exit this help screen, you should use the Availability Window to
check the availability of your physicians for any new shifts added to the day.
If you want to change an availability value you need to save and exit the
schedule, then immediately retrieve it, selecting the offered option of making
changes in physician availability before retrieving the full schedule.
The explanation:
  In the Off Shift Requests screen, when you first enter a date on which a
physician has requested shifts Off, EPSKED internally marks *all* shifts in
the day as Off, including all configured shifts not currently being used
(scheduled) by the Day Type assigned to the day.
  If the physician requested the entire day Off, this is what you want, and
causes no problems even if you change Day Types.
  If, however, the physician requested only certain shifts as Off in the day
and you used the <Del> command to make the physician available for the
remaining shifts, EPSKED still keeps the physician Off for the undisplayed
shifts that are not currently being used.  This causes no difficulties unless
you have changed the Day Type to one that includes one of the previously
undisplayed shifts, which may then be unexpectedly marked as Off.
09
SCHEDULING - Physician Data - Requested Hours
  One of the variables that EPSKED considers when creating a schedule is the
number of hours that should be scheduled for each physician.  If you are
entering this information from the Entry Form, the value you enter applies to
the physician named at the top of the form.  If you are entering the
information from the Hours & Shifts screen, the value you enter applies to the
physician whose name is displayed in the first column at the left of the entry
line.

  A specific numerical value (from zero to 499) can be entered.  If you enter
a zero hour value, EPSKED will not schedule the affected physician for any
shifts, though you may hand schedule the physician at any time.  Alternatively
a "=" can be entered by pressing the <=> key.  This indicates that you want
EPSKED to distribute the total available (not specifically requested) hours in
the schedule equally among all of the physicians for which this option is
chosen.

  For the "=" option: the total of all specific numerical hours values
requested is subtracted from the total number of hours available for
scheduling, then the remaining hours are equally divided among the physicians
for whom the <=> option was chosen.  This calculated value is displayed as a
numerical value next to the "=" marker.  For example:
 09-2
An example of <=> option calculations
  Suppose you have a total of 1100 hours of shifts in a schedule worked by ten
physicians.  If an "=" entry is made in the Requested Hours column for all the
physicians, EPSKED would calculate that each physician should work 110 hours
and display this requested value as " =110 " hours for each physician.
Alternatively, if one of your physicians always works 200 hours, you could
enter a fixed value of 200 for his requested hours and an "=" value for the
remaining nine physicians, who would then split the remaining 900 hours with a
calculated value of 100 hours each, displayed as " =100 ".
  Use of the "=" option makes it easy to ensure that the total of requested
hours equals the number of hours that need to be scheduled.
  Depending on your scheduling practices, you may want to use the "=" option
for all of your full time physicians while entering a specific hours value for
any part time physicians.  Or, you may want to do the reverse: if your full
time physicians work a fixed (specific) number of hours each schedule, the
remaining hours in the schedule could be equally divided among your part time
physicians.
10
SCHEDULING - Physician Data - Requested Shifts
  Displayed in the columns to the right of the REQUESTED HOURS entry area are
entry areas for indicating the number of shifts a physician works each
schedule in up to three request categories.  (The actual number depends on the
number of categories established during configuration.)  You may enter either
a specific numerical value (from zero to the number of days in the schedule)
or may use two other options indicated by pressing the <%> or the <=> keys.
  Make life easier for yourself!  Be sure you take a moment to experiment
with the"%" and "=" options so that you understand their significance!
  A percentage sign ("%") entry instructs the EPSKED scheduling program to
calculate a physician's target value for shifts in a request category based
upon the target value the physician has displayed for "Requested Hours".  This
option helps automate calculation of target values for schedules in which
physicians who work more total hours are expected to work proportionately more
shifts in a request category.
  For example: a schedule contains a total of 1000 hours and includes 30 night
shifts.  If one physician requests scheduling for 100 hours (=10% of the total
hours in the schedule), a <%> entry for a NIGHT SHIFT request category causes
the EPSKED to calculate and display a target value of " %3 " as that
physician's requested NIGHT SHIFTS (=10% of the 30 total night shifts in the
schedule).  If another physician requests 200 hours (=20% of the total hours),
EPSKED calculates and displays " %6 " as that physician's requested for NIGHT
SHIFTS (=20% of the 30 night shifts in the schedule), with the physician
working more hours automatically requesting proportionally more night shifts.
 10-2
  Similar to the "=" entry in the Requested Hours column, a "=" entry in a
requested shifts column signifies that you want EPSKED to distribute the total
available shifts in the schedule equally among those physicians with this
option.
  For example, suppose your schedule contains a total of 50 weekend shifts,
worked by ten physicians.  If an <=> entry is made in the Requested Hours
column for all the physicians, EPSKED calculates that each of the ten
physicians should work 5 weekend shifts and display this value as " =5 " for
the requested number of WEEKEND SHIFTS for each physician.  Alternatively, if
one of your physicians prefers working weekend shifts and usually works ten of
them, you could enter a fixed value of 10 for that physician and an "=" value
for the remaining nine physicians, who would then split the remaining forty
weekend shifts with a calculated (rounded) request value of 6 weekend shifts
each.  Four weekend shifts would be left unrequested, which you could allow
EPSKED to distribute or, prior to scheduling, you could specifically assign
them to some of the "=" physicians, changing their requests from "=" to a
specific numerical value.
  To calculate the numerical value attached to the "=" entries, EPSKED
subtracts the sum of the specific numerical request values and the calculated
"%" values from the total number of shifts available, then divides that number
by the number of physicians for whom the "=" option was selected.
  Use of the "=" and "%" options makes it easier to ensure that the total of
requested shifts equals the number of shifts that need to be scheduled.
11
SCHEDULING - Physician Data - Shifts In A Row
  Displayed below the SHIFTS IN A ROW label is a number representing the upper
limit of the number of days in a row that each physician *desires* to work.
EPSKED does not set a minimum number of days in a row for each physician to
work, but schedule configurations that establish a large number of PREFER
shift relationships (in the Shift Relationships Entry screen of the
configuration program) most closely attain the desired number of days in a
row.  Schedule configurations that establish few or no PREFER relationships
tend to produce more isolated shift scheduling.
  If necessary, EPSKED schedules a physician for ONE more day in a row than
the requested upper limit in order to avoid scheduling another physician for
shifts having a DISLIKE preference relationship (as indicated by your entries
in the "Shift Relations Entry" screen) or if it is the only way to schedule a
physician for his requested number of hours.

  EPSKED will schedule a physician for as many shifts in a row as necessary
in order to avoid leaving a shift unscheduled, but only after attempting to
schedule that shift by all other means at its disposal.
 11-2
  The Shifts In A Row column also allows you to enter a <!> next to each
number, indicating that the physician wants to work as closely as possible to
the requested number of shifts in a row.  Use the <!> option judiciously, as
it can severely limit schedule flexibility.
  Please realize that the <!> option works most effectively if set prior to
initial computerized scheduling.  Values can be changed afterwards so that
they affect computerized schedule revisions, but are then far less
effective.
  If you need improved shifts in a row scheduling in a schedule that was
originally created without using the <!> option, try changing to the <!>
option for the desired physicians, then ask EPSKED to perform a computerized
schedule revision (press <?> from the Skedule Revision screen).  If this does
not result in a satisfactory improvement, you may want to try rescheduling
from scratch, but using all configuration changes you may have made to the
current schedule, including any changes to the <!> option.  To do this, first
*save* and exit the current schedule, then press <S> from the scheduling Main
Menu.  From the Skedule Selection window, pick the current schedule.  A window
will be displayed advising that you have a previously saved variant of that
schedule.  Press <Enter> to copy the configuration changes from that schedule,
then proceed with scheduling as normal, but with improved shift in a row
weighting from the start because of the copied <!> option changes.  (To copy
these instructions to your printer, first make sure your printer is turned on,
then press the <Print Screen> key now.)
12
SCHEDULING - Secondary Shifts In A Row Requests
  Displayed below the secondary shifts IN A ROW label is a number representing
the upper limit of the number of days in a row that each physician *desires*
to work the type of shift that you configured in the secondary Shifts in a Row
Selection.  This feature is most commonly used to create a "Nights In A Row"
request option.  Any number from one to nine may be entered by pressing the
corresponding number key on the keyboard.

  EPSKED does not set a minimum number of secondary shifts in a row for each
physician to work.  Schedule configurations that establish few or no PREFER
relationships tend to produce more isolated shift scheduling.

  EPSKED will schedule a physician for as many shifts in a row as necessary
in order to avoid leaving a shift unscheduled, but only after attempting to
schedule that shift by all other means at its disposal.
 12-2
  If your secondary Shifts in a Row selection is also a maximum or high
request category shift, the secondary shifts In A Row column also allows you
to enter a <!> next to each number, indicating that the physician wants to
work as closely as possible to the requested number of secondary shifts in a
row.  Use the <!> option judiciously, as it limits schedule flexibility.
  Please realize that the <!> option is most effective when set prior to
initial computerized scheduling.  Values can be changed afterwards so that
they affect computerized schedule revisions, but are then less effective.
  If you need improved secondary shifts in a row scheduling in a schedule that
was originally created without using the <!> option, try changing to the <!>
option for the desired physicians, then ask EPSKED to perform a computerized
schedule revision (press <?> from the Skedule Revision screen).  If this does
not result in a satisfactory improvement, you may want to try rescheduling
from scratch, but using all configuration changes you may have made to the
current schedule, including any changes to the <!> option.  To do this, first
*save* and exit the current schedule, then press <S> from the scheduling Main
Menu.  From the Skedule Selection window, pick the correct schedule.  A window
will be displayed advising that you have a previously saved variant of that
schedule.  Press <Enter> to copy the configuration changes from that schedule,
then proceed with scheduling as normal, but with improved secondary shifts in
a row weighting from the start because of the copied <!> option changes.  (To
copy these instructions to your printer, first make sure your printer is
turned on, then press the <Print Screen> key now.)
13
SCHEDULING - Link Sat-Sun?
  Some physicians may want to work the whole weekend if they are working it at
all.  The "Link Sat-Sun?" entry area allows you to indicate if a physician
prefers working shifts on *both* Saturday and Sunday if he is working any
shifts on either day, or being off for the entire weekend.

  Press <Y> if the current physician wants to work for the entire weekend or
be off for the entire weekend.  Use this option only if really needed, as it
limits schedule flexibility and can prolong scheduling time.  The <Y> option
works most effectively if set prior to initial computerized scheduling.
Values can be changed afterwards so that they affect computerized schedule
revisions, but are then less effective.

  Press <N> if this in not important to the current physician (i.e., working
only one weekend day and being off for the other is acceptable).
14
SCHEDULING - Physician Information - Relation Model
  The Relation Model entry area indicates the Relation Model (of the nine that
can be configured in the Configuration - Shift Relations Entry screen) used by
the current physician.

  Displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen, immediately below
the screen title, is a numbered reference listing of the Relationship Models
you have configured for your schedule.

  To change the Relationship Model selected for the current physician, first
refer to the Relationship Models listing and find the number corresponding to
the desired Relationship Model.  Press the matching number key and the name of
the selected Relationship Model will be displayed in the current entry area.

  The Relationship Model can be changed even after a schedule has been
generated, with the physician relationships in the schedule automatically
updated for the changes.
15
SCHEDULING - Physician Information - Shift Preferences
Overview
  Some of your physicians may not be able to work all types of shifts.  For
example, physicians or physician assistants who work only in a "fast track"
area may not be able to work shifts in the main emergency department.
Likewise, there may be types of shifts an individual physician prefers working
or dislikes working.  EPSKED can be informed about these restrictions using
four Shift Preference entry areas.

Screen Description
  The four shift preference entry areas available for each physician are:
  CAN'T DO SHIFTS    PREFERRED SHIFTS    DISLIKED SHIFTS    HI PREFER SHIFTS
  Displayed in each of these entry areas is either the notation "--none--" or
a series of letters representing the shift letters of shifts for which the
physician has expressed that preference.  Use the Shift Reference listing at
the top right of the screen to interpret the letters (they are highlighted
using flashing letters whenever you are entering shift preference
information).  A "W" can also be included to indicate a physician preference
for working Weekend shifts.

  CAN'T DO SHIFTS entry is described in detail below, followed by a brief
description of the other entry areas and how they are handled by EPSKED.
 15-2
CAN'T DO SHIFTS entry
  When creating a schedule, EPSKED does not schedule a physician for any
shifts you have identified in this area as Can't Do shifts, and cautions you
with a beep and a warning message if you attempt to do so by hand.  EPSKED
initially displays the "--none--" option as the standard entry in CAN'T DO
SHIFTS position in the template.  To enter Can't Do shifts, press their
corresponding letters (refer to the blinking letters in the Shift Reference
area) then press <Enter> when done.  Press the <Spacebar> to change a listing
of "Can't Do" shifts back to "--none--".
  When should shifts be entered as Can't Do shifts?  One use is to allow
simultaneous scheduling of an emergency department and an affiliated urgent
care clinic.  For example, assume your emergency department shifts have been
lettered as A=DAYS, B=SWING, and C=NIGHT, while clinic shifts are lettered as
D=CLINIC DAY and E=CLINIC EVE (this information would be displayed in the
Shift Reference listing).  Physicians who can work only in the clinic would
have "ABC" entered in their CAN'T DO SHIFTS entry area, corresponding to the
three emergency department shifts and making them unavailable for scheduling
in the emergency department.  Physicians who work only in the emergency
department but not in the clinic would have "DE" entered in their CAN'T DO
SHIFTS column, making them unavailable for scheduling in the clinic.
Physicians who work in both areas would have "--none--" displayed.
 15-3
"CAN'T DO SHIFTS" (continued)
  The CAN'T DO SHIFTS option can also be used to allow separate scheduling of
physician assistant and physician shifts.  Simply identify all physician
assistant shifts as CAN'T DO shifts for your physicians and all physician
shifts as CAN'T DO shifts for your physician assistants.  (To simplify entry
using the template, you could first setup the CAN'T DO template values for
your physicians and enter their names, then modify the template values for the
physician assistants and enter their names.)
 15-4
Other shift preferences
  Default shift preferences other than Can't Do may also be assigned to each
configured shift for each physician.  In addition to the identification of
shifts as Can't Do shifts, individual shifts can be identified as Disliked
shifts (shifts in this category that would normally be considered as okay or
preferred by shift relations are instead regarded as disliked), Preferred
shifts (shifts in this category that would normally be considered as okay by
shift relations are instead regarded as preferred) and Hi Prefer shifts
(shifts in this category that would normally be considered as okay or disliked
by shift relations are instead regarded as preferred).
Weekend preferences
  A "W" entered in the Can't Do, Disliked, Preferred, or Hi Prefer shift
preference list applies to all weekend shifts.  For example, a "W" entered in
the Can't Do list makes a physician unavailable for computerized scheduling
for *any* weekend shifts on any schedule (though you may hand schedule a
physician for any shift, overriding all restrictions).

Resolving conflicting preferences
  Conflicting preferences may arise from your entries.  For example, if you
enter a Preferred preference for swing shifts, but a Disliked preference for
weekends, what should swing shifts on weekends be considered?  To resolve such
conflicts, Can't Do overrides Hi Prefer which overrides Disliked which
overrides Preferred entries.
 15-5
Advanced hint:
  Shift preferences can be changed even after initial computerized scheduling
has been done, and these changes affect scheduling during subsequent schedule
revisions.  Modifying shift preferences can consequently be used as a
mechanism for balancing different types of shifts in a physician's schedule
(though a better method uses Bias entries, entered from the schedule Summary
screens).  Dislike and Can't Do preferences are more effective than Preferred
and Hi Prefer preferences at achieving changes in a schedule.

  Be cautious about adding shifts to the Can't Do shift list after scheduling
has been completed, as this can result in disruption of the total hours and
total nights balance of the schedule during schedule revision.  Changes made
during computerized schedule revision resulting from modified shift
preferences are subject to the same "Mod Limit" as are Bias entries.  (Please
consult the help screens for the Bias and Limit entry screens, accessed by
pressing <B> or <L> from the Summary screen, for more information about this
whole topic.)
16
Designate Holidays
Overview of the Designate Holidays screen
  Identifying any holidays in the current schedule is the third step in
preparing EPSKED to create a new schedule:
  ╔══════════════════════[ Creating a schedule ]══════════════════════════╗
  ║ ■ What date do you want the schedule to start?                        ║
  ║ ■ Are there any changes to the normal configuration information that  ║
  ║    you want to make specifically for the schedule?                    ║
  ║ ■ Are there any holidays in the schedule?                             ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts your physicians are not available to work?     ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts specifically requested by your physicians that ║
  ║   you want to manually preschedule?                                   ║
  ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

  Holidays are designated by typing the numerical date of the day in the
schedule that you wish to identify as a holiday, entering a holiday name up to
ten characters in length, then marking the shifts in that day that are holiday
shifts.  This feature can also be used to label a day (such as a physician
meeting day) by typing the desired name (for example, "MD MEETING"), then
removing the holiday marking from all shifts.
  Information entered from this screen is used in the summary information
screens for any HOLIDAY categories you configured.  The Cumulative Summary
selection from the Scheduling - Main Menu can be used to view and print a
cumulative holiday schedule.
 16-2
Designate Holidays - Screen Description
  The display is similar to the Change Day Types screen.  The schedule days
are still shown in a calendar-like display.  The display lines below each date
represent the appropriate shifts for that day.  Shifts are represented as a
white line with a small terminating square at either end.  If your schedule
configuration requires that two shifts share a display row, each shift is
represented by a shorter line with a slash mark (/) is used to emphasize the
separation between the two shifts on the same line.
  If you already designated a day as a holiday, its date display is replaced
with the name of the holiday you entered and holiday shifts in that day are
labeled as "HOLIDAY" (or "HOLI" if the shift shares a display line).
  In addition to the calendar display, there are three other blocks of
information present, all shown in reverse video colors.  The position of these
blocks on the screen varies depending on where space is available surrounding
the calendar display:
 ■ Beneath the screen title (DESIGNATE HOLIDAYS) is written "Date:", followed
   by a flashing cursor.  This is the prompt for entry of the date of any day
   that you want to designate as a holiday day.  As you enter numbers, they
   are displayed above the cursor.
 ■ One or two menu blocks, in reverse video with a bright stripe along its
   left border, showing prompts for the available commands for this screen.
   An explanation of these commands is shown on the next Help Screen...
 16-3
Designate Holidays - Screen Commands
Date - to make holiday
  Type the numerical date of the next day which you desire to designate as a
holiday.  For single digit dates (1 - 9), press the number, then <Enter>.  For
double digit dates (10 - 31), press the two numbers without pressing <Enter>.
For instructions on actually defining a Holiday, press <Esc> now return to the
Designate Holiday program screen, type the date of the day you desire to
change, then press <F1> for further help.
<Esc> - next screen
  Press the key labeled "ESC" or "Esc" when you are done with the Designate
Holiday screen and desire to proceed to the next entry screen -- the entry of
shifts your physicians have requested off.
<Home> - prior screen
  Press the key labeled "Home" to return to the Physician Information menu.
<Alt> - View all shift names
  Press and hold down the <Alt> key.  The lines representing the shifts are
replaced with their actual names, clarifying shift names if there is some
confusion.  Release the <Alt> key to return to the normal schedule display.
17
Designate Holidays - Holiday Name Entry
  To reach the Holiday Name Entry screen, you typed in a numerical date from
the Designate Holidays screen.  You may now type a name, up to ten characters
in length, for the current holiday.  For example, if you are entering a
holiday name for January 1st, you could type "New Yr Day", then press the
<Enter> key.

  To delete a holiday, press <Ctrl+Del> (press and hold down the <Ctrl> key,
then press the <Del> key).

<Arrows> - change day
  Use this option if you want to move holiday information highlighting to
vertically or horizontally adjacent days.  If a holiday name has been entered,
EPSKED diverts the movement to first allow you to change the individual shifts
that are considered as holidays.  Press the arrow key again to continue to the
adjacent day.
18
Designate Holidays - (Modifying an individual day)
  The current program screen is automatically displayed each time you leave
the Holiday Name Entry line with a holiday name entered.
  If the holiday is newly designated, notice a change in the screen display:
all shifts in the selected day are now labeled as "HOLIDAY" (or "HOLI" if the
shift is sharing a line).  The first shift of that day is highlighted in a
flashing reverse video (red on light blue) display.
  If you want EPSKED to count all shifts in the day as holiday shifts, you are
finished entering information for this day.  Type a new date to enter another
holiday, press an arrow key to move to an adjacent day, or press <Esc> to
continue to the next scheduling screen -- the shifts your physicians request
off.
  If you want only certain shifts in the day considered as holiday shifts (for
example, you may want only your evening and night shifts on New Year's Eve
considered as holiday shifts), you may change the holiday designation for any
of the individual shifts as described below.
 18-2
   The following commands are available:
Date - to make holiday
  Type the numerical date of the next day for which you want to enter holiday
information.  EPSKED automatically moves to the newly entered date.
<Arrows> - change day
  Pressing any of the arrow keys changes the day for which availability
information is being entered from the current day to an adjacent day.
<Esc>/<Home>
  Due to space limitations, these command prompts are listed but not explained
on the program screen.  Their function is similar to that on other screens.
Press the <Esc> key twice to proceed to the next screen (Off Shift Requests).
(The first press returns to the original screen prompts displayed prior to the
first entry of a date.  Press the <Home> key to return to the Physician
Information Menu.
<Enter> - day done (not shown on the screen prompts)
  Press the <Enter> key to indicate that you are through entering holiday
information for the current day.  The screen returns to the original screen
prompts displayed prior to the first entry of a date.
<Alt> - View all shift names
  Press and hold down the <Alt> key.  The lines representing the shifts are
replaced with their actual names, clarifying shift names if there is some
confusion.  Release the <Alt> key to return to the normal schedule display.
 18-3
  The remaining two commands, <Space> and <Delete> are used to change the
holiday designation for individual shifts within a day.
<Space> - to next shift
  When you first enter a new day to make holiday shift changes, the first
shift of that day is highlighted in a flashing reverse video (red on light
blue) display.  Press the <Spacebar> to advance the highlighting to the next
shift in the day without changing the holiday status of the currently
highlighted shift.
<Delete> - alter shift
  Press the <Delete> key (the key may be labeled only as "Del" on your
keyboard) to change the holiday status for the highlighted shift.  If the
shift is currently a holiday shift (the shift is displayed as HOLIDAY), its
status is changed to a non holiday shift (the shift display is changed back to
a line).  Alternatively, if the highlighted shift is not a holiday shift, its
status is changed to HOLIDAY.  The highlighting moves to the next shift in the
day after the change is made.

  You may go back to the Physician Information screen at any time by pressing
the <Home> key, and from there return to any prior program screen by
repeatedly pressing the <Home> key.  Any holiday information you have entered
for the current schedule is saved when you exit the Designate Holiday program
screen and is not lost, even if you <Home> back to the Main Menu and exit
EPSKED without scheduling at the present time.
19
Off Shift Requests
Overview of the Off Shift Requests screen
  In addition to the number of requested hours and shifts for each of your
physicians, EPSKED needs to know which shifts in the schedule each physician
has requested not to work (i.e., will be off) due to vacations or other
obligations.  This information is entered from the "Off Shift Requests" screen
and is the fourth step in preparing EPSKED to create a new schedule:

  ╔══════════════════════[ Creating a schedule ]══════════════════════════╗
  ║ ■ What date do you want the schedule to start?                        ║
  ║ ■ Are there any changes to the normal configuration information that  ║
  ║    you want to make specifically for the schedule?                    ║
  ║ ■ Are there any holidays in the schedule?                             ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts your physicians are not available to work?     ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts specifically requested by your physicians that ║
  ║   you want to manually preschedule?                                   ║
  ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

  The shifts which a physician has requested off are referred to as "Off
Shifts" for the remainder of this Help Screen.  Please note that Off Shifts
are different from Can't Do Shifts.  Off Shifts are specific shifts in the
schedule for which the physician is not available to work due to other
obligations.  Can't Do Shifts are named shifts, such as CLINIC shifts, that
the physician cannot be scheduled for at any time in the schedule.
 19-2
Important Note:
  The "Physician Scheduling Requests" form (printed using the "<#>-Print
request sked" command from the Change Day Types screen) is recommended for
obtaining the needed Off Shifts information from each physician.  If these
forms were already distributed and returned, you should have them available at
this time.  To simplify data entry, sort the request forms alphabetically by
physician name before proceeding.

Off Shift Requests - Screen Description
  The display is similar to the Change Day Types and Designate Holidays
screens, with some changes.
  The name of the physician whose availability information is currently being
entered is shown in flashing white letters on a red background below the
flashing cursor.  If that physician is cycle scheduled as off for a day,
bright red bars (▐) are displayed on both sides of the displayed shifts.  You
do not need to enter these as off shifts from this screen -- they are
automatically off as a result of cycle scheduling.
  If the current physician has any named shifts that he cannot do (Can't Do
shifts were entered in the Shift Preference screen, the <P> option screen from
the Physician Information menu), these are marked on one side with an adjacent
bright red bar (▐).  This indicates that the physician will not be computer
scheduled for any of these shifts.  You do not need to enter these as off
shifts from this screen -- they are automatically not scheduled.
 19-3
Off Shift Requests - Screen Description (continued)
  If you "double negative biased" a physician for any Summary Category of
shifts, all affected shifts are marked with an adjacent bright down arrow ().
This indicates that the physician will not be computer scheduled for any of
these shifts.  You do not need to enter these as off shifts from this screen -
- they are automatically not scheduled because of your Bias entries.  Bias
entries are made in the Bias screen (the <B> option from the Physician
Information menu in the *configuration program*).
  If you have previously entered Off Shifts for the current physician, these
are labeled in bright red as "OFF!".

  In addition to the calendar display, there are three other blocks of
information present, all shown in reverse video colors.  The position of these
blocks on the screen varies depending on where space is available surrounding
the calendar display.

  In addition to the usual prompt information, look below the screen title
(Off Shift Requests) where "Date or Name:" is written , followed by a flashing
cursor.  This is the prompt for entry of the date of any day that the
currently physician has requested Off Shifts.  Alternatively, the two letter
Physician Name Abbreviation of the next physician for whom you wish to next
enter availability information may be typed.  Further explanation is given
below.
 19-4
 Off Shift Requests - Screen Commands
   The following commands are available (as prompted in the menu blocks):
Date - requested off
  Type the numerical date of the next day that the current physician has
requested Off Shifts.  For single digit dates (1 - 9), press the number, then
<Enter>.  For double digit dates (10 - 31), press the two numbers without
pressing <Enter>.  For instructions on actually entering Off Shifts within a
day, return to the Off Shift Requests program screen, type the date of a day
for which you desire to enter Off Shifts, then press <F1> for further help.
Doc Name - to do next
  Type the two letter Physician Name Abbreviation of the next physician for
whom you wish to next enter availability information.  (The Physician Name
Abbreviation is the two letter abbreviation you designated for each physician
on the Physician Data Modification screen.  It is usually the first two
letters of the physician's name.)  The display changes to display the current
availability of the physician you requested.
<Tab> - go to next doc
  When you press the <Tab> key, the display changes to display the
availability of the next physician alphabetically.  Use this option in
conjunction with your alphabetically sorted "Physician Scheduling Requests"
forms to sequentially enter data, which will help avoid inadvertently skipping
a physician during data entry.
 19-5
 Off Shift Requests - Screen Commands (continued)
<Shift+Tab> - go to prior doc (not shown on screen)
  Pressing <Shift+Tab> (press and hold down either shift key, then press the
<Tab> key) changes the display to show the prior physician alphabetically.
<Esc> - to next screen
  Press the <Esc> key to proceed to the next screen (Hand Scheduling).  From
that program screen you will request EPSKED to perform the actual computer
scheduling of shifts.  You're almost there!
<Home> - to prior screen
  Press the <Home> key to return to the Designate Holidays screen.
<Alt> - View all shift names
  Press the <Alt> key.  The lines representing the shifts are replaced with
their actual names, clarifying shift names if there is some confusion.
 19-6
  Here are some useful commands that are not documented on the program
screen:
<!> - off *ALL* shifts
  Press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press <1>.  The current physician
is marked off for all shifts in the schedule.  Consider using this command for
physicians who are available to work only a few shifts -- it may be easier to
go back and change availability for the few shifts that they are available.
<@> - okay *ALL* shifts
  Press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press <2>.  All "Off Shift"
entries you have made are cleared.  Can't Do, cycle off, and double negative
bias shifts are not affected.  This command is useful if you have made errors
entering off data, such as data for the wrong physician, and want to start
over again for the current physician.  (Or if you tried the <!> command and
then said, "Oops".)  (Everyone makes misteaks.)

  For instructions on actually entering Off Shifts within a day, type the
date of a day for which you desire to enter Off Shifts for the currently
displayed physician, then press <F1> for further help.
20
Off Shift Requests - (Modifying an individual day)
  To reach the current program screen, you have typed in a numerical date
since you entered the Off Shift Requests screen.  Notice a change in the
screen display: all shifts in the selected day are now labeled as OFF!  The
first shift of that day is highlighted in a flashing reverse video (red on
light blue) display.  If the current physician has requested the entire day
off, you are finished entering information for this day.  (Simple, wasn't it?)
If the physician has requested only certain shifts off in the day, you may now
change the physician's availability for any of the shifts as described below.
  NOTE:  When you were configuring EPSKED, do you recall designating shifts
that you wanted off prior to a requested day off?  In the remainder of this
screen, these shifts will be referred to as "Day Before Off" shifts.  You
would usually use this feature for night shifts.  "Day Before Off" shift
information is utilized in the following fashion: when you have finished
making changes for a day and move to another day or another doctor, if *ALL*
of the shifts in the current day are requested as off, EPSKED automatically
also makes the physician off for any Day Before Off shifts on the previous
day.  For example, a physician requesting all shifts off on a Tuesday usually
does not want to work Monday night.  If your night shifts have been designated
as Day Before Off shifts, the Monday night shift is automatically labeled as
OFF! when you finish the Tuesday entry.
 20-2
   The following commands are available:
Date - requested off
  Type the numerical date of the next day that the currently displayed
physician has requested Off Shifts.  If all shifts in the day you have just
changed are requested as off, EPSKED automatically makes the physician off for
any Day Before Off shifts on the previous day, then moves to the newly entered
date.
Doc Name - to do next
<Tab> - go to next doc
  Type the two letter Physician Name Abbreviation of the next physician for
whom you wish to next enter availability information, or press the <Tab> key
to change the next physician alphabetically.  The screen adjusts to display
the availability of the newly requested physician.
  One minor caveat that applies to the <Tab> and Doc Name commands (as well as
to the <Esc> and <Home> commands described below): if all shifts in the day
you have just changed are requested as off, EPSKED also automatically makes
that physician off for any Day Before Off shifts on the previous day.  EPSKED
then changes the display to the newly requested physician availability display
without your having seen the addition of the Off Shifts on that earlier day.
Usually this is not a problem, since the physician wanted those shifts off.
If you do not always need the Day Before Off shifts off, surprises can be
avoided by using the <Enter> command described below before moving to another
physician or screen.
 20-3
<Arrows> - change day
  Pressing any of the arrow keys changes the day for which availability
information is being entered from the current day to an adjacent day, moving
in a direction dependent upon which arrow key was pressed.  Before moving to
the new day, EPSKED automatically also makes the physician off for any Day
Before Off shifts if indicated.
  For example: A physician has requested Off the fifth through the twelfth
days of the current schedule.  To inform EPSKED of this, enter a five at the
original date prompt, then press the right arrow key to advance the
highlighting sequentially through days six through twelve, automatically
marking all shifts on those days as off.  The physician is also marked off for
any Day Before Off shifts on the fourth.
<Esc><Home>
  Due to space limitations, these command prompts are listed but not explained
on the program screen.  Their function is similar to that on other screens.
Press the <Esc> key to proceed to the next screen (Hand Scheduling).  Press
the <Home> key to return to the Designate Holidays.
<Enter> - day done (not shown on the screen prompts)
  Press the <Enter> key to indicate that you are through entering availability
information for the current day for the current physician.  Day Before Off
shifts are updated and the screen is returned to the original screen prompts
displayed prior to the first entry of a date.
 20-4
  The remaining three commands, <Space>, <Delete> and <+> are used to change
availability for individual shifts within a day.
<Space> - to next shift
  When you first enter a new day to make availability changes, the first shift
of that day is highlighted in a flashing reverse video (red on light blue)
display.  Press the <Spacebar> to advance the highlighting to the next shift
in the day without changing the physician's availability for the currently
highlighted shift.
<Delete> - alter shift
  Press the <Delete> key (the key may be labeled only as "Del" on your
keyboard) to change the physician's availability for the highlighted shift.
If the physician is currently off that shift (the shift is displayed as OFF!),
availability is changed to available (the shift display is changed back to a
line).  Alternatively, if the physician is already available for the shift,
availability is changed to OFF!.  The highlighting moves to the next shift in
the day after the change is made.
<+> - day OK
  Press the <+> key (the <F4> key will work also) to change all Off Shifts to
available in the current day.  Use this command to quickly remove unneeded Day
Before Off shifts, to correct errors in date entry, or if you find it easier
to convert available shifts in a day to Off Shifts rather than converting Off
Shifts back to available shifts as is usually done.
 20-5
  In summary, to enter availability information for the current schedule you
would:
 ■ Alphabetically arrange the individual Physician Scheduling Requests forms
   that you have obtained from each physician.
 ■ When you first display the Off Shift Requests screen, the availability
   information for the first physician alphabetically is shown.  Enter that
   physician's requested Off Shifts, then press the <Tab> key to advance the
   display to the next physician alphabetically.
 ■ Continue to enter availability information, pressing the <Tab> key when
   done with each physician, until the display again returns to the display of
   the first entered physician.  You may then wish to again <Tab> through the
   availability displays for all physicians to confirm your entries.
 ■ Press the <Esc> key to advance to the next program screen (Hand Scheduling)
   when you are through.

  You can go back to the Designate Holidays screen at any time by pressing the
<Home> key, and from there return to any prior program screen by repeatedly
pressing the <Home> key.  Any availability information you entered for the
current schedule is saved when you exit the Off Shift Requests program screen
and is not lost, even if you <Home> back to the Main Menu and exit EPSKED
without scheduling at the present time.
21
Hand Scheduling
Overview of the Hand Scheduling program screen
  You have already indicated to EPSKED the number of requested hours and
shifts for each of your physicians and which shifts in the schedule each
physician has requested not to work.  You could now request EPSKED to generate
the work schedule.  Often, however, you first want to hand schedule (manually
enter) some shifts.  This information, entered from the Hand Skeduling screen
is the fifth and last step in preparing EPSKED to create a new schedule:

  ╔══════════════════════[ Creating a schedule ]══════════════════════════╗
  ║ ■ What date do you want the schedule to start?                        ║
  ║ ■ Are there any changes to the normal configuration information that  ║
  ║    you want to make specifically for the schedule?                    ║
  ║ ■ Are there any holidays in the schedule?                             ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts your physicians are not available to work?     ║
  ║ ■ Are there any shifts specifically requested by your physicians that ║
  ║   you want to manually preschedule?                                   ║
  ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

  Shifts that you hand schedule will not be altered by EPSKED, though you may
manually revise them at any time.

 When would you want to hand schedule shifts?  An example:
 21-2
Example of hand scheduling
  Dr. Jones has a 6 p.m. surgery committee meeting to attend on the first
Tuesday of the month.  On his Physician Scheduling Request form he indicated
that he wants to be scheduled for the DAY shift on that day so that he can
attend the committee meeting after finishing work.  From the Hand Skeduling
program screen you can manually schedule him for this shift.
  After all desired hand scheduling has been finished, you will then request
EPSKED to computer schedule the remaining shifts.  All shifts that you have
scheduled from this program screen (prior to computer scheduling) are referred
to as "hand scheduled" shifts, and their scheduling will not be altered by
EPSKED.
 21-3
Hand Skeduling - Screen Description
  The display is the now familiar calendar like display, with either Sundays
or Mondays at the far left depending on your configuration selection.  For
some monthly schedules, the last one or two days of the month may be displayed
in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
  The display lines below each date represent the appropriate shifts for that
day.  Each shift available for scheduling is usually represented as a white
line with a small terminating square at either end.  If two shifts share a
display row, each shift is represented by a shorter line, terminated by a
small square on the left end only.
  If a physician is cycle scheduled for a shift, the name of the scheduled
physician is displayed (ten letters for a full line, four letters for a half
line), replacing the white line and terminating square.  A bright red tilde
(~) is displayed next to the name as a reminder to you that the shift was
cycle scheduled.
  If you have already hand scheduled any shifts, the name of the scheduled
physician is displayed with a bright red double line (║) next to the name.
This double line is a reminder to you that the shift was hand scheduled.
  In addition to the calendar display, there are three other blocks of
information present: the screen title and "Date:" prompt, the menu block, and
the "<F1> - HELP!" prompt, all shown in reverse video colors.  The position of
these blocks on the screen varies depending on where space is available
surrounding the calendar display.
 21-4
   The following command prompts are displayed:
Date - to hand skedule
  Type the numerical date of the next day containing a shift that you want
manually schedule.  For single digit dates (1 - 9), press the number, then
<Enter>.  For double digit dates (10 - 31), press the two numbers without
pressing <Enter>.  For instructions on actually hand scheduling shifts within
a day, type the date of a day for which you desire to do manual scheduling,
then press <F1> for further help.
<*> - Hilite one doctor
  Press the <*> key if you want EPSKED to display an individual physician
schedule, highlighting all of the shifts worked by that physician.
Summary and shift availability information specific to that physician are also
displayed.  Further help information is available by pressing <F1> from within
that screen.
<=> - Summary and Bias
  Press the <=> key to display the shifts and hours summary for the schedule.
The summary categories you defined in the configuration program are used to
create the display, with the information updated whenever a change is made in
the schedule.  Bias entries, which instruct EPSKED to increase or decrease
scheduling for an individual physician in a summary category, can be entered.
The bias feature helps you balance shift scheduling in summary categories
other than ones you designated in the configuration program.  See <F1> help
from within that screen for more information.
 21-5
<F3> - view `hot spots'
  Press the <F3> key to preview potential scheduling problems.  EPSKED
performs a rapid analysis of the schedule, color highlighting all unscheduled
shifts according the anticipated difficulty in scheduling them.  To remove the
highlighting, press any key.  Colors are coded as:
    -------- most difficult ----         ---- least difficult -------
      red              yellow              white            green
(Monochrome equivalents: the red shifts blink, the yellow are displayed
brighter than normal, and the white and green shifts are displayed normally.)
  Realize that the color coding is only a rough "guesstimate".  During actual
scheduling, EPSKED may not have problems with the red highlighted shifts or
may have problems with the yellow or white highlighted shifts.  (This depends
mostly upon the number of CONFLICT shift relations you configured.)
  The information provided by the "view hot spots" command is useful when
trying to schedule around imprecise physician requests.  For example:
 Imprecise request: "I need at least one weekend off during the month".
 Imprecise request with coordination of two schedules: "Make sure Dr. Smith
   and I are off at least two evenings to play tennis".
  To pick the best times to fill these requests, review the "hot spots"
information and identify pertinent shifts that EPSKED anticipates being able
to schedule easily (green or white highlighted).  Press <Home> to return to
the Off Shift Requests screen and mark the physicians as off for the
appropriate days or shifts.
 21-6
<Home> - prior screen
  Press the <Home> key to return to the Off Shift Requests screen.  Any hand
scheduled shifts you have entered for the current schedule are saved when you
exit the program screen and are not lost, even if you repeatedly press <Home>
to return to the Main Menu and exit EPSKED without scheduling at this time.
<#> - print sked as is
  Press <#> (press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press the <3> key in
the top row of the normal keyboard) to print a copy of the master schedule
containing your currently hand scheduled shifts.  Unscheduled shifts are
printed as blank lines.  Before printing, a "Skedule Printout Option Menu" is
displayed with separate help information available.
<Alt> - View all shift names
  Press the <Alt> key.  The lines representing the shifts are replaced with
their actual names, clarifying shift names if there is some confusion.
<Ctrl> - See prior day
<Ctrl+Alt> - See day after (not documented on program screen)
  Press and hold down the <Ctrl> key.  The menu display is replaced with a
display of the scheduling for the two days prior to the current schedule,
labeled with a flashing "Two Days Prior".  If, while holding down the <Ctrl>
key, you simultaneously press the <Alt> key, the display changes to show the
scheduling for the two days after the current schedule, labeled with a
flashing "Two Days After".
 21-7
<!> - start scheduling!
  Press the <!> key after you have entered all necessary hand scheduled shifts
and want EPSKED to begin computer scheduling.  The screen title changes to
"Computer Scheduling" and the menu block changes to an information block
describing the current action of the scheduling program.  As each shift is
scheduled, the name of the newly scheduled physician replaces the blank line
which had previously represented the unscheduled shift.  Depending on the
speed of your computer and the complexity of your schedule, the entire
scheduling process requires anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes.
  After computerized scheduling is complete, EPSKED sounds a brief beep and
you are returned to the "Skedule Revision" screen.  You may then review,
modify and print your schedule as desired.
22
Hand Scheduling (Modifying an individual day)
  To reach the current program screen, you typed a numerical date after
displaying the Hand Scheduling screen.  The selected date is the day on which
you want to manually schedule a shift.  You will note several changes in the
screen display:
 ■ When you first enter the program screen, the first shift of the day you
   selected is highlighted in a reverse video (black on light blue) display.
   If displayed from the Hilite One Doc screen, it is also flashing.
 ■ A "window" has appeared adjacent to (above or below) the display of the
   date that you selected, drawn overlying another portion of the schedule
   display.  This window is referred to in the remainder of this Help Screen
   as the Availability Window.  At the top left of the Availability Window is
   displayed the name of the month and the numerical date of the day you
   selected, followed by the full name of the currently highlighted shift.
   Displayed within the Availability Window are the two letter name
   abbreviations used for all of your currently active physicians, followed by
   a brief description of that physician's availability for the currently
   highlighted shift.  The availability window and its use are described
   below.
 ■ The command prompts adjacent to the flashing cursor and those displayed in
   the menu blocks have changed to show the commands used to manually schedule
   shifts in the day.  Most of these are self explanatory, but are more fully
   described later in this Help Screen.
 22-2
The Availability Window
  Displayed within the Availability Window are the two letter name
abbreviations used for all of your currently active physicians, followed by a
brief description of that physician's availability for the currently
highlighted shift.  The following are the possible availability descriptions:
  If a physician has been cycle scheduled or hand scheduled for the shift, the
words "cycle sked" or "HAND SKED!" follows the two letter abbreviation; a
reminder that this is scheduling of a specifically requested shift.
  If a given physician has requested to be off for the shift, the word "off"
follows the two letter abbreviation.  Similarly, "can't do" is displayed for
any shift that you defined as a Can't Do shift for that physician.
  If scheduling for the highlighted shift would result in the physician being
scheduled for more days in a row than his normal maximum, "max-in-row" is
displayed.  (The maximum number of days in a row is one day more than the
preferred number of days in a row you configured for the physician.)
  In the configuration program you established the relationships between a
scheduled shift and shifts within two days of the scheduled shift, using
Conflict, Dislike, Prefer, and Okay as the possible relationships.  If a
physician is already scheduled for any shifts within two days of the currently
highlighted shift (including any shifts in adjacent schedules) or has a preset
preference for the shift, the availability description may use one of these
four words to indicate the relationship of the currently highlighted shift to
the surrounding scheduled shifts.
 22-3
The Availability Window (continued)
  If a physician is currently scheduled for the shift being highlighted, his
two letter abbreviation is preceded by an arrow () to denote this.
  If a physician is already scheduled for another shift in the same day as the
shift being highlighted, his two letter abbreviation is preceded by an
asterisk (*).
  A shift has multiple relationships with surrounding shifts and therefore
multiple possible availability descriptions that could be displayed in the
Availability Window.  The availability description EPSKED selects to display
is based on a ranking of the possible descriptions in terms of their usual
importance to you when scheduling.  Hand scheduled and cycle scheduled shifts
are always displayed as such, then the ranking is done in order of decreasing
priority from left to right as:

   --------- highest priority ----        ---- lowest priority --------
       off  can't do  conflict   max-in-row   dislike   prefer   okay

In other words, the availability description displayed in the Availability
Window for the highlighted shift is the description that is the farthest to
the left in the above list of the possible descriptions for that shift.
 22-4
The Availability Window (continued)
  As a further aid to scheduling, the availability information for physicians
who can be scheduled for the currently highlighted shift is displayed in
bright green letters on a black background.  This allows you to tell at a
glance which physicians are available for the shift.  (Physicians are
considered available to work a shift if they can do that type of shift, are
not off and do not have a conflicting shift already scheduled.)  Physicians
who are not available to work a shift have availability information displayed
in red letters on a light blue background.
 22-5
  The following commands are available to you when hand scheduling:
Doc name - to hand sked
  Type the two letter abbreviation used for the physician you want to schedule
for the currently highlighted shift.  (The abbreviations for all of your
currently active physicians are shown in the Availability Window.)  The name
of the physician you select is displayed at the previously highlighted shift
site, indicating that she or he is scheduled for that shift.  A red double
line (║) is also displayed adjacent to the physician's name, indicating that
the scheduled physician is hand scheduled for that shift.  A warning beep
sounds if you attempt to manually schedule a physician for any of the
following: a shift that was requested off, a Can't Do shift, a shift that
conflicts with an already scheduled shift, or for a shift which is double
negative biased.  The menu blocks are then replaced with a warning message,
informing you of the problem and requesting further instructions.
Date - to hand skedule
  Type the numerical date of the next day for which you want to do manual
scheduling.  The Availability Window moves to an adjacent location and new
availability information is displayed for the new day and shift.
<Space> - to next shift
  When you first enter a new day to perform hand scheduling, the first shift
of that day is highlighted in a flashing reverse video display.  Press the
<Spacebar> to advance the highlighting to the next shift in the day without
changing the scheduling for the currently highlighted shift.
 22-6
  More commands available to you when hand scheduling:
<Delete> - clear shift
  Press the <Delete> or <Del> key to remove any currently scheduled physician
from a highlighted shift, returning the shift to an unscheduled status.  This
key also removes the hand scheduled status of any unscheduled shifts (see the
<+> command below).
<Enter> - day done
  Press the <Enter> key when you complete any manual scheduling of shifts for
the current day.  The Availability Menu disappears and you are returned to
your original screen and menu.  From there you may begin computer scheduling,
review the summary screen, print the schedule as is, or <Home> back to change
availability or requested target values.
<Arrows> - move day
  Pressing any of the arrow keys changes the day for which hand scheduling is
being performed to an adjacent day, moving in a direction dependent upon which
arrow key was pressed.  The first shift of the newly selected day is
highlighted, the Availability Window moves to an adjacent position and
availability information is displayed for the newly selected day and shift.
<Alt> - Clear window
  Press and hold down the <Alt> key.  The Availability Window temporarily
disappears, allowing visualization of the underlying portion of the schedule.
Release the key to redraw the Availability Window.
 22-7
  More commands available to you when hand scheduling:
<Shift> - See doc names
  Press and hold down either <Shift> key.  The Availability Window display
changes to display the full names of the available physicians adjacent to
their two letter abbreviation.  (Helpful if you have forgotten an
abbreviation.)
<=> - Summary
  Press the <=> key to display the shifts and hours summary for the schedule.
The summary categories you defined in the configuration program are used to
create the display, with the information updated whenever a change is made in
the schedule.  Bias entries, which instruct EPSKED to increase or decrease
scheduling for an individual physician in a summary category, can be entered.
<+> - no sked
  Pressing the <+> key while an unscheduled shift is highlighted to label that
shift as a hand scheduled shift.  The unscheduled shift is highlighted in red
and displayed as a question mark followed by a blank line (?________) in
addition to the display of the adjacent hand scheduling marker (║).  EPSKED
considers that shift as unavailable for computer scheduling.  This feature can
be used to deliberately leave shifts unscheduled for moonlighter signups or
for leaving unscheduled the shift most likely to be filled on a difficult to
schedule day.
  You can remove the hand scheduled status of the shift by highlighting the
shift and pressing the <Delete> or <Del> key.
23
Shifts and Hours Summary
Overview of the Summary program screen
  Once shifts are scheduled, you will want to know some summary information
about the created schedule (for example, the total hours each physician is
scheduled to work).  Do you remember that when you originally configured
EPSKED for your schedule, you defined specific categories of summary
information of interest to you?  As scheduling is performed or as a schedule
is being retrieved, EPSKED tracks the summary values scheduled in each defined
category for each physician.  This information is displayed on the Summary
program screen.  From this screen you also have the opportunity to specify
Bias entries, which instruct EPSKED to increase or decrease scheduling for an
individual physician in a summary category.
 23-2
Summary - Screen Description
  The bottom two lines of the Summary screen are used as prompt lines.  At the
far left of the first of these two lines is an abbreviated display of the name
of the current schedule.  To the right of this is displayed the screen title
(SUMMARY), followed by prompts for the program screen commands.  These
commands are explained below.
  Displayed on the remainder of the screen are several columns of information.
The far left column, titled "Physician Name", alphabetically lists the names
of the currently active physicians.  If computer scheduling has been performed
and one or more shifts are still unscheduled, an additional entry of
"unscheduled!" is be made below the name of the last physician.  On your
initial entry to the Summary screen, the bottom entry in the Physician Name
column is the word "TOTALS", displayed in reverse video.
  To the right of the Physician Name column are up to six columns of summary
information.  The actual number depends on the number of summary categories
you have configured.  The top two lines in each column display the title you
designated for each summary category.  Below the title lines are displayed the
scheduled values in that category for each physician; the values shown on the
same line and to the right of each physician's name are the values pertinent
to that physician.  Values on the bottom line to the right of the word
"TOTALS", are the total sum of all scheduled values for the schedule.
 23-3
Summary - Screen Description (continued)
  When the summary screen is first displayed, EPSKED shows the requested
(target) values for the specific categories of Total Hours and for any request
shift categories that you configured.  Values for each physician are shown to
the right of the scheduled summary values, separated by a slash mark (/).
Note that EPSKED detects the Total Hours categories no matter what you may
have named it (for example, ALL HOURS would be recognized as the total hours
summary category if you have defined it to include all shifts.)
  If a physician has been scheduled for significantly more total hours or
shifts than requested, the scheduled value is displayed in bright red with a
preceding plus sign (+).  If a physician has been scheduled for significantly
fewer hours or shifts than requested, the scheduled value is displayed in
bright green with a preceding minus sign (-).  This color highlighting is done
to bring to your attention overscheduling (red with a plus sign) or
underscheduling (green with a minus sign) of a physician.  The displayed +/-
signs also blink after computerized scheduling has been completed if the
scheduled hours are still further off from target values.  Criteria for
highlighting vary depending on the priority for an exact match in the number
of shifts, whether maximum (), high (!) or medium (≈).
 23-4
    The following command prompts are displayed on the Summary screen:
<M>od display
  The display can be modified to show shifts/hours, percentages, percentages
and shifts/hours, or shifts/hours actually scheduled compared to requested
values, depending on which display you find most facilitates your review of
the schedule.  Press the <M> key repeatedly until the desired display is
reached.  Percentage values can be somewhat confusing.  A detailed explanation
of percentage is given below in the last help screen.

<Tab> - Other screens
  A total of thirty summary categories can be defined, though only six can be
displayed at any one time.  Press the <Tab> key to sequentially display a
different six summary categories up to the number you defined for your
schedule.  (The <O> key also works.)

<B>ias entry (may be <B>ias)
  Bias entries can assist you in the task of balancing physician scheduling in
summary categories other than total hours and total night shifts.  For
example, you may want your physicians to work balanced numbers of day and
evening shifts, weekend shifts, or of clinic and emergency department shifts.
To make bias entries, press the <B> key.  Further help screens are available
from that program screen.
 23-5
    Other command prompts displayed on the Summary screen:
<Alt> - View skedule
  Press and hold down the <Alt> key to temporarily view the underlying
schedule screen, whether Hilite One Doc or Skedule Revision.  Release the key
to return to the summary display.

<L>imit
  This command is available only after computerized scheduling has been done.
Press <L> to display a data entry column where you may enter limits to the
number of "changes" EPSKED is permitted to make during the Resolving Conflicts
and Improving Preferences modes of automated schedule revision.  The limit
feature is added to prevent changes in bias values or physician shift
preference from changing a schedule too far in an unwanted direction, as can
occur during revision of flexible schedules.  After pressing <L>, press <F1>
for more help information.

<Esc>
  When you are through reviewing the summary information, press the <Esc> key
to leave the Summary screen and return to the schedule display.

<&> - Overtime entry screen (not shown)
  Press <&> to go directly to the Overtime entry screen where you may enter
the overtime information used in the Overtime summary display screen.
 23-6
    Another command prompt displayed on the Summary screen:
<#> - Print
  Press the <#> key (press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press the <3>
key at the top of the regular keyboard) to print a copy of the displayed
summary information.  The current display option (hours, hours and requested
values, percentages, or percentages and hours) are used for the printout.  If
you print a copy of the summary information for distribution to your scheduled
physicians, you may wish to have only the scheduled hours values (no target or
percentage values) displayed and printed, since this printout has a less
cluttered appearance and is easier to read.
  A Print Options screen is displayed before actual printing is performed,
allowing you to print either the displayed summary screen only, or all summary
screens, in addition to several other options.  Separate help information is
available from that screen.

  The remainder of this help screen contains an explanation of the
percentage values displayed in the summary screen.
  If you pressed the <M> key to modify the summary display to show percentage
values, you may initially find the displayed values somewhat confusing.
Percentage values in all categories, except OFF categories, indicate the
percentage of shifts in the summary category that the physician is scheduled
for as a portion of the total shifts for which he is scheduled.  (Read that
again.)  For example...
 23-7
  ... a 10% value in a NIGHT SHIFT category indicates that 10% of that
physician's *scheduled* shifts are night shifts.

  OFF category percentages show the total percentage of shifts requested off
in the category to which the OFF category is linked.  For example, a 10% value
in the OFF NIGHTS category indicates that the physician has requested off for
10% of the nights in the schedule.

  Percentage values are truncated, not rounded (e.g., if the actual percentage
is 65.8%, this is displayed as 65%, not 66%).

  When percentages are displayed, a "Nominal%" value is also shown on the
bottom line of each summary category (before computerized scheduling is done,
this is labeled as "Hand Sked%").  This represents the percentage that the
shifts or hours in a summary category comprise out of all the shifts or hours
in the schedule.  It is therefore the percentage of shifts physicians would be
scheduled in a category if shifts are equitably distributed.  You may find the
"percentage only" display useful when making bias entries, since it emphasizes
disproportionate overscheduling or underscheduling of a physician in a summary
category even if your physicians work different numbers of total hours.  (This
assumes that all physicians can work all shifts.)
24
Hilite One Doc
Overview of the Hilite One Doc program screen
  The Hilite One Doc program screen facilitates review of individual physician
schedules.  The screen contains a large amount of color coded and symbol coded
information.  An explanation of the codes is given below under the Screen
Description section.  An abbreviated symbol and color key to remind you of the
codes is displayed by pressing the <Alt> key from within the program screen.
  Scheduled shifts for a physician are highlighted in reverse video so that
you can easily observe their distribution throughout the schedule.  The
background color of the highlighting is an indication of the desirability of
the physician working the scheduled shift (see explanation below).
  The availability of the physician for every shift for which the physician is
not scheduled is indicated by a symbol displayed next to the shift.  This
information can be used to tell at a glance which shifts the physician is
still available to work.

  (In the Screen Description section that follows, reference is made to
"tacked" shifts.  An explanation of tacking if you are not yet familiar with
this concept: After computer scheduling has been performed, you have the
option of "tacking" in place the physician currently scheduled for a shift,
making that shift unavailable for rescheduling by EPSKED.  A full description
of "tacking" is given in the explanation of the <+> command, available after
scheduling has been accomplished and while revising an individual day.)
 24-2
Hilite One Doc - Screen Description
  On entry to the Hilite One Doc screen, scheduled shifts for your first
physician alphabetically are highlighted so that you may observe their
distribution throughout the schedule.  You may choose to highlight the
schedule of each individual physician, as described below.
  The background color of the highlighting is an indication of the
desirability of the highlighted physician working the scheduled shift.  (The
desirability is determined by the surrounding scheduled shifts, according to
the relationships you defined in the configuration program, and by any preset
shift preferences.)  Shifts the physician prefers to work (or which are hand
scheduled or tacked) are displayed with a green background, shifts that are
okay to work have a light blue background, and shifts the physician dislikes
working have a yellow background.  (Some monitors have difficulty displaying a
yellow color -- try adjusting the monitor's contrast control to attain an
acceptable color.)  Any scheduled conflicting, can't do, or off shifts are
displayed with a red background.  EPSKED does not schedule a physician for
conflicting, off, or Can't Do shifts; this will happen only if you have
manually scheduled the physician for any of these shifts.
  If the highlighted physician is scheduled for two or more shifts in a row
beyond the preferred number of shifts in a row, all shifts in the series are
displayed with a purple background.  EPSKED schedules in excess of the maximum
days in a row only to avoid leaving a shift unscheduled, though you may
manually schedule any physician for any shift.
 24-3
Hilite One Doc - Screen Description (continued)
  In addition to the highlighting of scheduled shifts, notice symbols
displayed next to shifts for which the physician is not scheduled.  These
symbols indicate the availability of the physician for working that shift.  If
no symbol is displayed next to a shift, the physician is scheduled for a
conflicting shift and for this reason is not available to work the shift.  (No
availability symbols are displayed for manually entered schedules.)
  A bright red double line (║) or tack (|) displayed next to a shift indicates
that the shift is hand scheduled or tacked for another physician, and the
currently highlighted physician is therefore not able to work the shift.
(This convention is unchanged from the regular schedule display.)  Shifts for
which the currently highlighted physician is hand scheduled are bordered with
a flashing solid green double line, tacked shifts with a flashing tack, cycle
scheduled shifts with a bright green tilde (~).
  A bright red solid line (▐ ) displayed next to a shift indicates that the
shift is one that the selected physician has requested off or is one the
physician Can't Do, and for this reason he is not available to work the shift.
This line is flashing if the physician is only temporarily off for the day.
  A bright purple "x" is displayed next to shifts that the physician is
available to work, but scheduling him for the shift would result in exceeding
his maximum number of days in a row.
  If you have difficulty remembering these colors and symbols, press the <Alt>
key from the program screen to display a Symbol and Color Key to assist you.
 24-4
Hilite One Doc - Screen Description (continued)
  A shift can have different relationships with the multiple scheduled shifts
surrounding it.  Therefore, multiple possible availability descriptions could
be used to select the background color used to display the background colors
for scheduled shifts and the availability markers shown next to unscheduled
shifts.  The description EPSKED selects for the display is based on a ranking
of the possible descriptions in terms of their usual importance to you when
scheduling.  Hand scheduled, tacked and cycle scheduled shifts are always
displayed as such; ranking is then performed in order of decreasing priority
from left to right as:
   -------- highest priority ----        ---- lowest priority --------
     can't do   off   conflict   max-in-row   dislike   prefer   okay

In other words, the availability description selected for the background
colors or for availability markers is the description that is the farthest to
the left in the above list of the possible descriptions for that shift.
Note to monochrome monitor users:
  If you are using a monochrome monitor, the color coded background described
above is not available.  EPSKED modifies the presentation and displays an
availability marker next to each scheduled shift so that this information is
still available to you.  The Symbol and Color Key is also modified to reflect
this change.
 24-5
  In addition to the calendar display, there are three other blocks of
information present: the screen title and "Name or Date:" prompt, the menu
block, and another area containing the name of the currently highlighted
physician and some associated data.  The position of these blocks on the
screen varies depending on where space is available surrounding the calendar
display.
  Below the physician's name is displayed the abbreviation "Hrs" for Hours,
followed by two numbers separated by a slash (/).  The first of these two
numbers is the total number of scheduled hours for the highlighted physician.
The second is the target value (requested value) for the total number of hours
for the schedule for that physician.
  Next below this listing is the abbreviated name of your maximum priority
request category, followed by two numbers separated by a slash.  These numbers
represent the number scheduled shifts and target values for your maximum
priority request category for the highlighted physician.
  Below this is the word "Shifts", followed by a single number indicating the
total number of shifts for which the physician is scheduled.  (If the
physician is scheduled for a BACKUP shift, this shift is not included in the
scheduled shift total.  BACKUP is a special shift name, explained in detail in
the Shift Names and Hours screen of the configuration program.)
 24-6
Command Summary
  The following commands are available from the Hilite One Doc program screen:
Doc name - to hilite
  Type the two letter abbreviation for the name of the physician whose
schedule you desire to have highlighted.
Date - to hand skedule / hand revise
  Type the numerical date of the next day containing a shift that you want to
manually schedule.  For single digit dates (1 - 9), press the number, then
<Enter>.  For double digit dates (10 - 31), press the two numbers without
pressing <Enter>.  For instructions on manually scheduling shifts within a
day, type the date of a day for which you desire to do manual scheduling, then
press <F1> for further help.
<Alt> - View symbol key
  Press and hold down the <Alt> key.  The menu block is replaced by a "Key"
chart which reminds you of the meaning of the color coded and symbol coded
information on the program screen.  Release the <Alt> key to return to the
normal menu block display.
<=> - Summary
  Press the <=> key to go directly to the Summary Screen.
<Tab> - Hilite next doc
  Press the <Tab> key to display and highlight the schedule of the next
physician alphabetically.  Use this feature to review all of your physician
schedules (repeatedly <Tab> to sequentially display each physician schedule).
 24-7
  More commands available from the Hilite One Doc program screen:
<Shift+Tab> - Hilite prior doc (not documented on program screen)
  Press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press the <Tab> key.  The display
changes to highlight the schedule of the prior physician alphabetically.
<Esc> - Clear hilite
  Press the <Esc> key (the <Home> key also works) to return to the scheduling
screen displayed prior to entering the Hilite One Doc screen.
<+>/<-> - Add/Remove all tacks (not documented on program screen)
  Press the <+> key (the <F4> key also works) to tack *every* scheduled shift
(except those already hand scheduled) in the schedule of the currently
highlighted physician.  A bright red tack (|) will be displayed next to each
shift.  This command can be used to freeze a physician's schedule that you do
not want changed during automated schedule revision by EPSKED.
  Press the <-> key (the <F5> key also works) to remove *all* tacks from the
schedule of the currently highlighted physician.
<F2> - force monochrome display / color display
  If you are using a monochrome monitor with a color graphics card, such as a
laptop computer with a VGA monochrome display, and you did not start EPSKED
using its monochrome option (load the program by typing "EPSKED M" to start
out in the monochrome mode) your display may appear washed out and difficult
to read from the Hilite One Doc program screen.  To correct this, press the
<F2> key to toggle between a color display and a monochrome (black and white)
display.
25
Computer Scheduling and Revision
Overview
  During Computer Scheduling and Revision, the menu block changes to an
information block describing the current action of the scheduling program.  A
rotating "stick" is displayed in the information block to show you that EPSKED
has not gone to sleep when it needs to spend some time searching for a
solution to a scheduling problem.

  "First Pass" is displayed during the initial scheduling performed directly
from the Hand Scheduling screen.  During First Pass scheduling, all shifts and
physician requests are first analyzed and assigned priorities according to
their expected difficulty for scheduling.  EPSKED then works step wise through
the schedule, assigning shifts and physicians according to these priorities,
continually reevaluating priorities as shifts are scheduled.

During First Pass scheduling, EPSKED cannot be interrupted.

  In order to improve clustering of shifts, EPSKED initially attempts to
schedule shift in groups of up to three in a row.  As each shift is scheduled,
the name of the newly scheduled physician replaces the blank line which had
previously represented the unscheduled shift.

  The result of First Pass scheduling is a rough but flexible schedule that is
then further refined during computerized Skedule Revision.
 25-2
Overview (continued)
  Computerized Skedule Revision is performed immediately after First Pass
scheduling, or when you request it from the Skedule Revision screen.  EPSKED
initially attempts to fill any unscheduled shifts and revise any conflicting
shifts that you may have created while manually revising a schedule.  It then
searches the schedule for shift exchanges that will improve the match between
requested values and scheduled values for hours, shifts, shifts in a row and
shift preferences and relationships.
  Depending on the speed of your computer and the complexity of your schedule,
the entire scheduling process requires anywhere from a few seconds to several
minutes to complete.
  EPSKED's priorities vary during different stages of schedule revision.
Scheduling time can be markedly prolonged if you have created high priority
but conflicting constraints.  For example, suppose your maximum priority shift
category is Night Shifts.  If you request ten night shifts but request that
only eight total hours be scheduled for a physician, the program first
attempts to schedule the night shifts, but then again removes them in order to
meet the requested hours requirement (the highest priority at the end of the
schedule revision cycle).
 25-3
  During computerized Skedule Revision, two commands are available:

<+> - toggle turbo mode
  In the space above the program screen prompt for this command is displayed
the current Turbo status.  When Turbo is on, schedule revision bypasses some
deep searches for shift swaps and decreases the number of passes through the
revision routines.  This shortens the time required for schedule revision, but
with some possible loss of schedule quality.  Experience with your own
schedule will dictate when and whether or not you decide to use this feature.
  If Turbo is currently Off, press the <+> key to turn Turbo to On.  If Turbo
is currently On, press the <+> key to turn Turbo Off.  EPSKED completes its
current scheduling activity before changing Turbo modes, so a brief delay may
occur between the time the <+> key is pressed and the time the current Turbo
mode display changes to acknowledge your request.

<Esc> - abort revision
  Press <Esc> to cancel further computerized revision.  You are returned to
the manual Skedule Revision screen.
  Because EPSKED's priorities vary during different stages of schedule
revision, interrupted revision may result in your schedule being worse in
terms of the distribution of hours than when schedule revision was requested.
To correct this, press <?> from Skedule Revision screen to restart
computerized revision and allow it to continue to completion.
26
Schedule Revision Aborted


  You have pressed <Esc> to abort the current computerized Skedule Revision
session.

  Because EPSKED's priorities vary during different stages of schedule
revision your schedule may now be worse in terms of the distribution of
hours than when schedule revision was requested.  To correct this, press <?>
from the next screen to restart computerized revision and allow it to
continue to completion.
27
Editing the Schedule Key
  During the configuration of EPSKED, you entered a Schedule Key for printing
as a key or guide to your schedule.  You may now further edit the key
specifically for the current schedule.  Changes made here are used and saved
only for the current schedule.  To permanently change the Schedule Key for all
future schedules, you need to make changes from the configuration program.
  The same editing commands originally used to develop the Schedule Key are
still used:
  The right and left arrow keys move the position of the cursor (the small
flashing "_" which indicates where the next character you type will be
placed).
  The <Delete> (or <Del>) key deletes the character overlying the cursor.
  The <Backspace> key deletes the character one to the left of the current
cursor position and moves the cursor one position to the left.  This key may
be labeled only as "-" on some keyboards.
  The <Home> key moves the cursor to the beginning and <End> key moves the
cursor to the end of the current line.
  The <Insert> key toggles between the insert and overtype editing modes.
While in the overtype mode, the cursor is displayed larger than normal.
  Prompts for some other commands are shown at the bottom of the screen.
28
Skedule Revision
Overview Skedule Revision
  The Skedule Revision program screen is displayed after you have completed
computerized scheduling or have retrieved a previously saved schedule.  You
may now review, modify, or print the schedule as desired.
  You have several options available to assist you with any needed manual
revisions of the schedule.  You can:
 ■ Highlight an individual physician's schedule, including the display of his
   or her status for all shifts in the schedule
 ■ Simultaneously display the availability status of all physicians for a
   single shift (using the Availability Window)
 ■ Display the summary statistics for the schedule and enter bias values in
   summary categories in which you desire to adjust scheduling
 ■ Manually revise any shift on the schedule and protect it (tack it) to
   prevent it from being rescheduled by EPSKED
 ■ Backtrack to the Physician Data Modification program screen to adjust
   target (requested) values

  When you have created a satisfactory schedule, you can print both a master
schedule showing all scheduled shifts and individualized schedules for each
physician.  When work is completed on the current schedule, you can return to
the scheduling Main Menu and exit EPSKED from there.
 28-2
Overview of the Skedule Revision program screen (continued)
  In the following help screens, reference if made to "tacked" shifts.  If you
are not familiar with this concept, exit the help screen, type the date of a
day in the schedule, then press <F1> for further information under explanation
of the <+> command.

  Why would you want to manually revise the schedule generated by EPSKED?  One
important possible reason: computer scheduling may have been unable to
schedule a shift.  Before leaving a shift unscheduled, EPSKED tries a large
number of rearrangements of the schedule, scheduling physicians for as many
days in a row as is necessary or for disliked sequences of shifts, but it will
not schedule physicians for conflicting shifts, shifts they Can't Do, or
shifts they have requested off.  For this reason, when you fill an unscheduled
shift you will need to schedule a physician for a conflicting shift sequence,
or for a shift they have requested off, using your knowledge of which
physicians would find this most acceptable.
 28-3
Overview of the Skedule Revision program screen (continued)
  Another reason to manually revise a schedule: EPSKED does not place a high
priority on distributing a physician's scheduled shifts evenly throughout the
schedule.  Generally the distribution is acceptably scheduled, though with
flexible schedules you may want to make alterations.
  EXAMPLE: Dr. Friedman's scheduled shifts are primarily clustered at the
beginning and at the end of the schedule, leaving several days in the middle
of the schedule that he is available to work but is not scheduled for any
shifts.  If this is not acceptable because he prefers to have his shifts
distributed as evenly as possible throughout the schedule, you could:
Strategies for distributing shifts more evenly throughout the schedule
 ■ "Tack" extra shifts into the unscheduled period, then have EPSKED revise
   the schedule to return requested hours and shifts to their desired values.
 ■ Make Dr. Friedman temporarily off for the dates of one or more of his
   currently scheduled shifts, then have EPSKED revise the schedule, forcing
   it to schedule shifts in the unscheduled period in order to return
   scheduled hours and shifts to their desired values.  (To make a physician
   temporarily off, type the date of a day in the schedule then press <F1> for
   further information under explanation of the </> command.)
 ■ Try returning to the Physician Data Modification screen, lower Dr.
   Friedman's Desired In Row value, return to the Skedule Revision screen and
   then have EPSKED revise the schedule.
Experience will dictate which of these strategies works best for you.
 28-4
Overview of the Skedule Revision program screen (continued)
  For assistance with equalizing scheduled shifts in summary categories other
than total hours and the requested shift categories, use the Bias entry area
available from the Summary screen.  (To get there, press <=> then <B> from the
current program screen, then consult the help screen.)
  After you modify the schedule, change requested values or make Bias entries
you may then request EPSKED to revise the schedule, balancing the scheduled
and requested values and adjusting the schedule for any bias entries.  Any
protected (tacked) shifts are left untouched.
  Interim schedules variants can be saved and retrieved if needed, as
described below.
 28-5
Skedule Revision - Screen Description
  The display is the familiar calendar-like display.  For some monthly
schedules the last one or two days of the month may be displayed in the upper
left-hand corner due to space limitations on the monitor screen.
  The display lines below each date represent the scheduled shifts for that
day.  Each scheduled shift is represented by the display of the name of the
scheduled physician (nine letters only).  A bright red double line (║), a
tilde (~) or a bright red tack (|) may be displayed next to some names.  These
symbols are a reminder to you that the shift was hand scheduled (║), cycle
scheduled (~) or tacked (|).  Any unscheduled shifts are now highlighted in
red and displayed as a question mark followed by a blank line (?________).
  (If your schedule configuration required two shifts to share a display row,
each shift is represented by display of only the first four letters of the
physician's name.  A slash mark (/) is used to emphasize the separation
between the two shifts on the same line.)

  In addition to the calendar display, there are three other blocks of
information present: the screen title (Skedule Revision) and "Date:" prompt,
and two menu blocks, shown in reverse video colors and marked with a bright
bordering stripe.  The position of these blocks on the screen will vary
depending on where space is available surrounding the calendar display.
 28-6
     The following commands are displayed:
Date - to hand revise
  Type the date of a day that you desire to manually revise or review.  For
single digit dates (1 - 9), press the number, then <Enter>.  For double digit
dates (10 - 31), press the two numbers without pressing <Enter>.  If any
shifts are left unscheduled you will want to use this option to review the
reasons for this, making use of the Availability Window which is displayed
whenever you are manually revising a day.  For instructions on actually
revising shifts within a day, return to the Skedule Revision program screen,
type the date of a day that you desire to manually revise, then press <F1> for
further help.
<*> - Hilite one doctor
  Press the <*> key if you want EPSKED to display an individual physician
schedule, highlighting all of the shifts worked by that physician.  Summary
and shift availability information specific to that physician are also
displayed.  Information used for the display is updated whenever a change is
made in a scheduled shift or target value.  Further help information is
available by pressing <F1> from within that screen.
 28-7
  Skedule Revision command prompts (continued)
<=> - Summary & Bias
  Press the <=> key if you want EPSKED to display the shifts and hours summary
for the schedule.  The summary categories you defined in the configuration
program are used to create the display, with information updated whenever a
shift is scheduled.  Bias entries, used to help adjust the balance of shift
scheduling between physicians, are also made from that screen.  Further help
information is available by pressing <F1> from within the Shifts and Hours
Summary program screen.
<#> - Print skedule
  Press <#> (press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press the <3> key in
the top row of the normal keyboard) if you desire to print a copy of the
master or individual physician schedules.  A Skedule Printout Option Menu is
displayed with separate help information available.
<End> - DONE! (with current schedule)
  Press the <End> key after you have finished all required revisions and
printed the schedule, if desired.  If changes have been made since the last
time the schedule was saved, you will be prompted to enter a description of
the schedule (see the <$> command) before you are returned to the scheduling
Main Menu.  Consult that screen's help screen for more information.
 28-8
  Skedule Revision command prompts (continued)
<$> - Save
  Press <$> to save the current schedule.  Ten different variants of each
schedule can be saved and retrieved.  You can enter a description of each
schedule variant before it is saved.  (When you retrieve a saved schedule, you
will select from a list of the descriptions you entered for each schedule
variant.)  We suggest you save your schedule before making major changes that
may cause a worsening of the schedule (such as deleting multiple physicians
from shifts or using double negative biasing.)
  One additional point about all saved schedules:  When you retrieve a
schedule, the schedule is reconstructed using the shift relations and summary
data that are configured *at the time the schedule is retrieved*.  EXAMPLE:
You desire to obtain schedule summary data using categories other than those
currently configured.  To do this, press <$> to save the schedule and exit to
the scheduling Main Menu, load the configuration program, modify the summary
data categories, then return to the scheduling program and retrieve the
previously saved schedule.  The Hour and Shift Summary screen displays revised
summary information, based on the newly configured summary data categories.
 28-9
   Skedule Revision command prompts (continued)
<&> - Overtime
  Press <&> (press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press the <3> in the
top row of keys of the normal keyboard) to display the Overtime entry screen.
This screen allows entry of any overtime or undertime adjustments to the
schedule.  Adjustments can be partial hour entries (e.g., 0.25 hours).
Printing of the overtime entries and overtime summary can be done from that
screen.  (Suggestion: when your physicians have completed working a schedule,
revise the schedule in EPSKED to match any schedule changes (such as swapped
shifts), then enter overtime/undertime hours. The resultant overtime printout
is an exact summary of hours worked for each physician.)

<Ctrl> - See prior day & hilite conflicts
  Press and hold down the <Ctrl> key.  The menu display is replaced with a
display of the scheduling for the two days prior to the current schedule,
labeled with a flashing "Two Days Prior".  (If, while holding down the <Ctrl>
key, you simultaneously press the <Alt> key, the display changes to show the
scheduling for the two days after the current schedule, labeled with a
flashing "Two Days After".)  Additionally, any shifts for which physicians are
scheduled that they can't do, they requested off, or which conflict with
another shift they work, are highlighted and marked to indicate the problem
(can't do shifts are marked with an adjacent "╬", off shifts with an "φ", and
conflicting shifts with an "".
 28-10
   Another available command is:
<Home> - Docs
  Press the <Home> key to the Physician Data Modification Screen.  From that
screen you may modify any of the scheduling configuration values -- requested
hours and shifts, shifts in a row, relation model and shift preference entries
-- for any of the physicians.
  Why would you want to modify these target values?  An example...
 EXAMPLE:  Dr. Smith has requested off a large number of days in the schedule
you are currently scheduling.  You had hoped that he would still be able to
work his usual 17O hours,, but once the initial scheduling is done, you
realize that he will only be able to work 140 hours.  During computer
scheduling, the remaining 3O hours (17O minus 14O) that he would usually have
worked were automatically distributed by EPSKED as evenly as possible among
the remaining physicians.  You may accept this distribution or redistribute
the hours in any way you desire, decreasing Dr. Smith's target hours to 14O
hours and adding hours to other specific physicians.  Alternatively, if you
know Dr. Smith really wants to work as close to 17O hours as possible, you may
want to increase his Desired In Row (preferred number of days in a row) value
beyond its usual value.  If this restriction had previously limited him from
working some shifts, he will now be available to work these.  When you return
to the Skedule Revision screen, you can then request EPSKED to perform a
computerized revision of the schedule to match the altered target values.
 28-11
  The command to request automatic revision of the schedule is:
<?> - Computer revise sked
  The automatic revision of the schedule is most often used after you have
altered target, preference or bias values, or manually modified the schedule.
These changes usually require further modifications of the schedule to match
the revisions.  Press the <?> key and EPSKED revises the schedule as
necessary, attempting to schedule any unscheduled shifts, match target
(requested) and scheduled values, and rearrange shift assignments as necessary
to maximize the number of Prefer shift sequences and positive bias shifts, and
minimize the number of Dislike shift sequences and negative bias shifts.  If
you have scheduled a physician for conflicting shifts, EPSKED resolves these
conflicts if it can do so without leaving a shift unscheduled.  All tacked
shifts and any shifts hand or cycle scheduled prior to computer scheduling are
left unaltered.  (If you are unfamiliar with tacked shifts, type the date of a
day in the schedule then press <F1> for further information under explanation
of the <+> command.)
  Remember that you have the option of saving the current schedule variant
(press <$>) before revising it.  After computerized revision is completed,
EPSKED sounds a brief beep and you are returned to the Skedule Revision
screen.
<Alt> - View all shift names (not shown)
  Press the <Alt> key.  The lines representing the shifts are replaced with
their actual names, clarifying shift names if there is some confusion.
29
Skedule Revision / Hilite One Doc (Modify an individual day)
  To reach the current program screen, you have typed a numerical date from
either the Skedule Revision program screen or the Hilite One Doc program and
are ready to modify the scheduling of shifts in the day.  You will note
several changes in the screen display:
 ■ When you first enter the program screen, the first shift of the day you
   selected is highlighted in a flashing reverse video (black on light blue)
   display.
 ■ A "window" has appeared adjacent to (above and/or below) the display of the
   date that you selected, drawn overlying another portion of the schedule
   display.  This window is referred to in the remainder of this Help Screen
   as the Availability Window.  At the top left of the Availability Window is
   displayed the name of the month and the numerical date of the day you
   selected, followed by the name of the currently highlighted shift.
   Displayed within the Availability Window are the two letter name
   abbreviations used for all of your currently active physicians, followed by
   a brief description of that physician's availability for the currently
   highlighted shift.  The Availability Window and its use are described
   below.
 ■ The command prompts adjacent to the flashing cursor and those displayed in
   the menu blocks (reverse video rectangles with the bright stripe along the
   left border) have changed to show the commands used for the revising the
   scheduling of shifts in the current day.
 29-2
The Availability Window
  Displayed within the Availability Window are the two letter name
abbreviations used for all of your currently active physicians, followed by a
brief description of that physician's availability for the currently
highlighted shift.  The following are the possible availability descriptions:
  If a physician has been cycle scheduled or hand scheduled for the shift, the
words "cycle sked" or "HAND SKED!" follows the two letter abbreviation, a
reminder that this is scheduling of a specifically requested shift.
  If a given physician has requested to be off for the shift, the word "off"
follows the two letter abbreviation.  Similarly, "can't do" is displayed for
any shift that you defined as a Can't Do shift for that physician.
  If being scheduled for the highlighted shift would result in the physician
being scheduled for more days in a row than his normal maximum, "max-in-row"
is displayed.  (The maximum number of days in a row is arbitrarily set at one
day more than the preferred number of days in a row.)
  In the configuration program you established the relationships between a
scheduled shift and shifts within two days of the scheduled shift, using
Conflict, Dislike, Prefer, and Okay as the possible relationships.  If a
physician is already scheduled for any shifts within two days of the currently
highlighted shift (including shifts in an adjacent schedule) or has a preset
preference for the shift, the availability description may use one of these
four words to indicate the relationship of the currently highlighted shift to
the surrounding scheduled shifts.
 29-3
The Availability Window (continued)
  Another possible availability description is "tacked", meaning the physician
has been scheduled and tacked for the currently highlighted shift.  (An
explanation of tacking: After computer scheduling has been performed you have
the option of "tacking" the currently scheduled physician in place, making
that shift unavailable for rescheduling by EPSKED.  A full description of
"tacking" is given below in the explanation of the <+> command.)
  If a physician is currently scheduled for the shift being highlighted, his
two letter abbreviation is preceded by an arrow ().
  If a physician is already scheduled for another shift in the same day as the
shift being highlighted, his two letter abbreviation is preceded by an
asterisk (*).
 29-4
  A shift has multiple relationships with surrounding shifts and therefore
multiple possible availability descriptions that could be displayed in the
Availability Window.  The availability description EPSKED selects for display
is based on a ranking of the possible descriptions in terms of their usual
importance to you when scheduling.  Hand scheduled, cycle scheduled and tacked
shifts are always described as such, then ranking in order of decreasing
priority from left to right is:

   -------- highest priority ----        ---- lowest priority --------
     off   can't do   conflict   max-in-row   dislike   prefer   okay

In other words, the availability description displayed in the Availability
Window for the highlighted shift is the description that is the farthest to
the left in the above list of the possible descriptions for that shift.
  As a further aid, the availability information for all physicians who can be
scheduled for the currently highlighted shift is displayed in bright green
letters on a black background.  This allows you to tell at a glance which
physicians are immediately available to work each shift.  (Physicians are
considered available to work a shift if they can do that type of shift, are
not off, do not have a conflicting shift and are not already scheduled for a
shift that same day.)  Physicians who are not available to work a shift have
availability information displayed in red letters on a light blue background,
blending into the light blue background color of the Availability Window.
 29-5
  The following commands are available to you during schedule revision:
Doc name - to hand sked
  Type the two letter abbreviation used for the physician you want to schedule
for the currently highlighted shift.  (Abbreviations for all of your currently
active physicians are shown in the Availability Window.  If you have forgotten
whom an abbreviation stands for, press <Shift> to view the full names.)  The
name of any previously scheduled physician is replaced by the name of the
physician you entered with all summary and availability information
immediately updated.
  If you attempt to schedule a physician for a shift he has requested off, a
shift type he Can't Do, a conflicting shift, a double negative bias shift, or
for a shift which is already hand scheduled, cycle scheduled or tacked, a beep
sounds.  The menu will be replaced with a warning message, informing you of
the problem and prompting for further instructions.  [Note: Overriding an
"off" shift does not remove its "off" status: EPSKED will try to remove the
physician during the next computerized revision.  Tack (see the <+> command
below) the physician in place to remove the "off" status.  Overriding "cycle
off" shifts converts all shifts in the day to regular "off" shifts.]
Date - to hand skedule
  Type the numerical date of the next day you want to revise or review.  The
first shift of the selected day will be highlighted.  The Availability Window
moves to an adjacent location and availability information is displayed for
the new day and shift.
 29-6
<Arrows> - move day (this command is not displayed on the program screen)
  Press any of the arrow keys to change the day for which schedule revision is
being performed from the current day to an adjacent day, moving in a direction
dependent upon which arrow key was pressed.
<Space> - to next shift
  When you first enter a new day to perform a schedule revision, the first
shift of that day is highlighted in a flashing reverse video display.  Press
the <Spacebar> to advance the highlighting to the next shift in the day
without changing the scheduling for the currently highlighted shift.
<Delete> - clear shift
  Press the <Delete> or <Del> key to remove any currently scheduled physician
from a shift, returning the shift to an unscheduled status.  If you attempt to
clear a hand scheduled, cycle scheduled or tacked shift, a beep will sound,
and the menu blocks is replaced with a warning message, informing you of the
concern and requesting further instructions.
An important comment about the <Delete> command:
  If you delete a physician from a scheduled shift and then use the <?>
command to request computerized revision of the schedule, EPSKED will
purposefully attempt to rearrange the surrounding shifts to fill the
unscheduled shift rather than simply rescheduling the deleted physician for
the shift.  (This helps vary the schedule, though later revision steps may
return you to the original schedule if it offered better shift relationships
or hours values.)  See also the more powerful "</> - temp off" command below.
 29-7
<Enter> - day done
  When you have completed any desired schedule revisions, press the <Enter>
key.  The Availability Menu disappears and you are returned to the original
Skedule Revision screen and menu.  From there you may print the schedule,
request computerized revision of the schedule, or review the summary screen or
individual physician schedules (Hilite One Doc) to observe the effect of the
changes.  Press <Home> to go back to change requested target values.
<F3> - mod day
  The Day Type used on an individual day may be altered even after
computerized scheduling.  Enter the date of the day you wish to modify, then
press the <F3> key.  Help instructions are available from that screen.
</> - temp off
  This feature deletes an individual physician from a shift and makes him
temporarily off for the entire day.  It can be used to remove isolated shifts
in a physician's schedule or force EPSKED to more evenly distribute scheduled
shifts.  Enter the date of the day from which you want the physician deleted,
then press the <Spacebar> to highlight the shift for which he is scheduled in
the day, then press the </> key.  The physician is deleted as if you had
pressed the <Delete> key, but also has his status changed to "temp off"
(temporarily off) for all shifts in the day.  During the next computerized
schedule revision, the shift is filled (if possible) with another physician,
and the schedule revised as needed to again balance the requested hours.
After computerized revision, the physician is again available for the day.
 29-8
  More commands available to you during schedule revision:
<Alt> - Clear window
  Press and hold down the <Alt> key.  The Availability Window temporarily
disappears, allowing visualization of the underlying portion of the schedule.
Release the key to redraw the Availability Window.
<Shift> - See doc names
  Press and hold down either <Shift> key.  The Availability Window display
changes to display the full names of the available physicians adjacent to
their two letter abbreviation.  (Helpful if you have forgotten an
abbreviation.)
<=> - Summary
  Press the <=> key to display the shifts and hours summary for the schedule.
The summary categories you defined in the configuration program are used to
create the display, with the information updated whenever a change is made in
the schedule.  Bias entries, which instruct EPSKED to increase or decrease
scheduling for an individual physician in a summary category, can be entered.
<Tab> - Hilite next doc (not displayed on the program screen)
  This command is available only if you are modifying an individual day from
the Hilite One Doc program screen   Press the <Tab> key to highlight the
schedule of the next physician alphabetically, while still maintaining the
display of the Availability Window.
 29-9
<F2> - force monochrome display (not displayed on the program screen)
  Press <F2> to toggle between color and monochrome display.
<+> - add tack
  Press the <+> key (the <F4> key also works) to make the currently
highlighted shift unavailable for rescheduling by EPSKED.  A bright red tack
(|) is displayed next to the shift to remind you that the shift is "tacked in
place".  Tacked shifts are similar to Hand Skeduled shifts in that EPSKED does
not reschedule either type of shift when it is performing a computerized
schedule revision.  Unscheduled shifts can be tacked so that EPSKED leaves
them unscheduled.  This can be used to leave unscheduled shifts for
moonlighter signups or for leaving open the shift most likely to be filled on
a difficult to schedule day.
  The tacking of shifts is an important part of schedule modification,
allowing you to take advantage of EPSKED's computerized schedule revision
function to automatically match scheduled and target values and optimize shift
relationships and biasing while still maintaining the flexibility to meet
unusual scheduling requests.
<-> - remove tack
  Press the <-> key (the <F5> key also works) to remove a tack from the
currently highlighted shift.  (You can also use this command to remove the
hand sked and cycle sked attributes from a shift.  You will be asked to
confirm the change prior to it being accomplished.)
  Some EXAMPLES of tacking:
 29-10
 EXAMPLE of tacking:  Dr. Barr wants to work only twenty-four hour shifts
while the rest of your group prefers twelve hour shifts.  You configured your
schedule with a twelve hour Day and a twelve hour Night shift (rather than a
single 24 hour shift) to reflect this majority opinion, and set Dr. Barr's
shift relations model to indicate that he prefers working both shifts each
day.  Computerized scheduling does not, however, force working both shifts, so
he may still be scheduled for some single twelve hour shifts.  To correct this
situation, manually schedule and tack down Dr. Barr for as many of the back to
back shifts as is needed to meet his target hours.  When this is completed,
press the <Enter> key to return to the initial Skedule Revision screen, then
press <?> to request computerized schedule revision.  The extra single shifts
that Dr. Barr is scheduled for will be automatically rescheduled (if possible)
in order to bring target and scheduled values back into agreement.  The
tacked, double scheduled shifts are left unaltered.
 EXAMPLE of tacking:  While EPSKED already tends to group a physician's
scheduled shifts to a degree that is satisfactory for the majority of
schedules, it's not good enough for Dr. McCoy.  He desires to always cluster
his shifts (schedule them on sequential days) as often as is possible.  To do
this, you can either hand schedule clusters initially or revise a completed
schedule and then tack the desired clusters in place.  When finished, press
<?> to request computerized schedule revision.  See also the </> command
above, useful in removing isolated shifts from a physician's schedule.
 29-11
  Be cautious about tacking or hand scheduling too many shifts as this limits
EPSKED's flexibility when revising a schedule.

  One final comment.  Schedule revision is a skill that you will become more
proficient at with practice.  If you have been manually creating work
schedules prior to using EPSKED, some of the skills you gained are applicable
to the revision process, though greatly facilitated by EPSKED's ability to
instantly update and display summary data, individual schedules and
availability information.
30
Skedule Printout
Overview of the Skedule Printout Option Menu window
  You selected the <#> command to elect to print a schedule or summary
information.  Displayed on the left-hand side of the screen is a window
accommodating six printer option areas.  These areas are labeled:

          What to Print    Active printer    Line drawing
          Paper size       Font size         Manual feed?

  Each area contains two alternative options.  Except for the added "What to
Print" area, these are identical to the selections you encountered in the
configuration program Printer Options screen.
  Depending on where you were in the program when you selected the print
option, you have different choices listed under the "What to Print" heading at
the top of the print options window at the left of the screen.
  On the right side of the screen are the screen title and several prompts.
When you are ready to print, you may print either to paper or to a disk file
(allowing the printout to be edited and printed by most word processing
programs).
  Select options by pressing a single key, as described on the following
screen.  Bright white arrows (-) point to the current selections of what to
print, active printer, line drawing, paper size, font size, and manual feed.
The following Help Screens contain brief descriptions of each of these options
areas.
 30-2
  The following options are available:
What to Print
  The options displayed in this area change depending upon where you were in
the program when you selected the print command.

"What to Print" *schedule* print options *prior to* computerized scheduling
  <M> Master skedule as is
  Press the <M> key if you want EPSKED to print the current schedule "as is".
Any unfilled shifts are printed as a blank lines on the schedule.  If you
selected the print option from the Change Day Types screen, the schedule
contains only blank lines.  If you are printing from the Hand Scheduling
screen, all holidays and hand scheduled physicians are also printed.
  <D> 'Days Off' Request form
  Press the <D> key to print a convenient "Physician Scheduling Requests" form
that can be used by your physicians to indicate to you the shifts they need
off for vacation or other obligations.  The printed form appears as a
calendar, with the name you gave each shift printed on the days that it needs
to be scheduled.  Included on the form are lines for writing the name of the
physician filling out the form and the requested number of hours for the
schedule, and printed instructions for filling out the form.  (Note: The
standard instructions can be modified if desired, but only from the
configuration program -- select <F> from the *configuration* Main Menu, then
<G> from the configuration Format Menu, then press <F3>.)
 30-3
"What to Print" *schedule* print options *after* computerized scheduling
  <M> Master skedule (or may be Master holiday skedule)
  Press the <M> key if you want EPSKED to print the entire current schedule.
(The Master holiday skedule is an option from the cumulative summary screen.)
 <I> Individual physician skedules (or may be Individual holiday skedule)
  Press the <I> key if you want EPSKED to print individual schedules for each
physician.  At the bottom of the printed individual physician schedule is a
large physician information area.  Any standard information to be printed in
this area, such as telephone numbers, was entered from the Personal Physician
Information Entry area (reached by pressing <T> from the *configuration*
Physician Information menu which is option <P> from the configuration Main
Menu).  Modifications specific to the current schedule can now be made before
printing (see the <E> option below).
 <Ctrl+B>-print backup schedule (prompt on right side of the screen)
  Press and hold down the <Ctrl> key, then press the <B> key if you want
EPSKED to create and print a backup schedule.  The backup schedule may or may
not be prove useful to you, but can be used to quickly determine who might be
available to fill a shift for a physician who has called in sick.  Basically,
at each shift location in the schedule is printed a series of two letter name
abbreviations, with the abbreviations of physicians available to work the
shift printed in capital letters and the abbreviations of physicians who have
specifically requested that shift off printed in lowercase letters.
 30-4
"What to Print" *summary* print options
  <D> Displayed summary screen only
  Press the <D> key to print only the summary screen that was displayed when
you selected the "<#>-Print option".
  <A> All summary screens
  Press the <A> key to sequentially print all summary screens, including the
overtime screen.

"What to Print" *overtime* print options
  When printing overtime summary information, there are no other "What to
Print" print options.


  Other options available no matter what you are printing:
Active printer
  EPSKED can be configured for use with two separate printers. Press the <1>
key to select printer #1; press the <2> key to select printer #2.  The current
printer selected is the printer affected by all other commands.
  (The choice of two printers is provided because some users never install
EPSKED on a hard drive, but instead run EPSKED directly from a floppy disk
which they transport between home and work where they may have different
printers.)
 30-5
Line drawing
  Two options are shown under "Line drawing" in the Printer Option window --
press <G> to select IBM Graphics characters, press <U> to select Universal
printer characters.
  The "IBM Graphics characters" refers to a set of special characters that can
be reproduced by some printers.  Their use gives your printed schedule a
somewhat more finished appearance, though the alternative universal (draft)
printer option allows printout on virtually all commonly used printers (dot
matrix or laser) while still providing a quite acceptable appearance.  Here
are comparison sample printouts for a day:

                 IBM Graphics             Universal printer
                ═╪══════════╪═             =|==========|=
                 │  - 11 -  │               |  - 11 -  |
                 │COOPER    │               |COOPER    |
                 │SMITH     │               |SMITH     |
                 │JONES     │               |JONES     |
                 │  .....   │               |  .....   |
                 │clarke    │               |clarke    |
                 │samuelson │               |samuelson |
                ═╪══════════╪═             =|==========|=
 30-6
Paper size
  The "Paper size" option is shown near the middle of the Printer Option
window.  It allows you to indicate whether you want to print your schedule on
legal size or regular (letter) size paper.  Depending upon the number of
shifts you use each day and the printer options you selected, EPSKED may
require that you use legal size paper.  Should this occur, explanatory
messages are displayed.
  If you press <R> to select regular (letter) size paper, EPSKED expects to
print your schedule on letter sized (8½ by 11 inch) paper.  The paper should
be inserted into the printer with its long axis oriented vertically (like a
portrait).
  The legal sized paper option is required when printing shifts below line
six, unless you use the condensed font (see below).  Using the legal sized
paper option usually guarantees that you have at least one blank line at the
bottom of each day of the calendar to make additional notes on the schedule
about other events of the day (meetings?).
  If your schedule is formatted to print on only the first four lines, you
will probably want to press the <R> key to select the letter sized paper
(unless you need lots of room to write).  (More meetings?)
 30-7
Font size
  Press <S> if you want your schedule printed in the standard font (character
pitch of ten characters per inch, vertical line spacing of six lines per inch,
no proportional printing).
  Press <C> if you want your schedule printed in a condensed font.  This
smaller printing is required if you are printing the name of your shifts to
the left of the names of the scheduled physicians or if you schedule a large
number of shifts each day.  (EPSKED will advise you if this is necessary.)

Manual feed?
  Usually leave this option as "<N> No - manual feed is NOT required".
  This option is required if you are printing to a printer that uses different
sized paper trays, but you do not have the correct size paper tray for the
paper you are using.  For example, suppose you have a letter size paper tray
in you laser printer but are trying to print your schedule on legal size
paper.  You could switch to a legal size paper tray, if available.
Alternatively, press <Y> to select the "<Y> Yes - manual feed is required"
option.  You may then insert legal size paper into the manual feed slot of the
letter size paper tray, and your schedule will print correctly.
 30-8
  Other commands from the Skedule Printout Option Menu are:
<P> - print (select # of copies)
  Press the <P> key when you are ready to print the schedule or summary.  If
you are printing individual schedules, you will be offered the opportunity to
select which physician schedules you desire to print.  If you are printing a
summary or master schedule, a window is displayed for entering the number of
copies of the schedule you wish to print.
<E> - Edit Schedule Key (or Edit the comment block)
  This option is available only if you are printing a schedule (not a
summary).  Press the <E> key to display and edit the current Schedule Key (if
you have selected the <M> option) or to edit the comment block (if you have
selected the <I> option).  The current Schedule Key or comment block will be
displayed so that you can review it and make any desired changes.  Any changes
made will be saved when you save the current schedule.
<Esc> - cancel printing
  Press the <Esc> key to return to the Skedule Revision screen without
printing the schedule.  You may also press the <Esc> key during printing to
interrupt (stop) the printout and return to the Skedule Revision screen.
 30-9
  Another command from the Skedule Printout Option Menu is:
<X> - export as a DOS text file
  This command will probably be useful only to experienced computer users!
  Press <X> to direct EPSKED to print the current schedule or summary to your
disk as an ASCII document (DOS text) file, rather than printing it directly on
to paper.  The <F> option is offered to allow you to save your schedule or
summary in a form which can be imported into most word processing programs.
You may then utilize the editing capabilities of that program to further
customize the final printed product.  (For example, you can print important
meeting reminders, or bold sections of the schedule.)  Additionally, if you
are using EPSKED on a network that is unable to use EPSKED's print functions,
the document files can be printed after being imported into the network
compatible word processing program.
  The name of the disk files used to save the schedules is composed of the
first three letters of the scheduled month (followed by the two digits of the
first day of the schedule for 4/6 week schedules) followed by the last two
numbers of the year followed by a file extension.  ".MAS" is used as the file
extension for printing the master schedule, ".DOC" for individual physician
schedules, ".SUM" for summaries, ".CUM" for cumulative summaries, ".REQ" for
request forms and printing "as is" schedules, ".OVR" for overtime summaries,
and ".BAK" for backup schedules.  (EXAMPLE: The master monthly schedule for
January 1996 is exported as a file named "JAN96.MAS"). These are NOT the same
files that EPSKED uses to save a schedule for its own purposes.
 30-10
<X> - export as a DOS text file (continued)
  The size of a ".DOC" file containing all individual physician schedules can
easily exceed 50KB, so you may want to delete it or other disk print files
after they have been printed.  An easy way to do this is available from the
scheduling Main Menu screen.  When you return to that screen after completing
work on your schedule, select the <U>tility menu option from the Main Menu,
then the <D>elete Unneeded Files command from that screen.

  Word processing programs vary on how they import ASCII text files -- consult
the manual for your program.  Hints for retrieving and printing that may or
may not be needed for your program:
 ■ A nonproportional font must be used in order to maintain line alignment:
   suggested are the Courier 10 font for most laser printers and the Pica font
   for dot matrix printers.
 ■ Use a retrieve option that converts carriage return/line feed (CR/LF) to
   hard return.
 ■ Set top, bottom and left margins to zero.
 ■ Set right margin to 0 (or line length to 80, 8 inches, or greater).
 ■ WordPerfect 5.0 and 5.1 both have acknowledged problems when importing
   ASCII files and then printing them in a nonproportional font to some laser
   printers.  If you experience problems with defective spacing in the
   schedule printout from an imported file in WordPerfect, try printing to the
   Standard Printer rather than using your specific printer.
31
Enter Old Skedule
Overview of the Enter Old Skedule program screen
  The Enter Old Skedule current program screen is displayed when you are
manually entering an entire schedule, usually one that you previously
scheduled by hand.  This option can be used to enter schedules that you
created prior to use of the EPSKED program.  Once entered and saved, these
schedules can be used in cumulative summaries or for ensuring that no
scheduling conflicts exist between the end of one (manually entered) schedule
and the beginning of another (computer generated) schedule.
  If you are manually entering a schedule only so that it is taken into
account while creating the current schedule, you do not have to enter the
entire schedule unless you are also interested in seeing its complete summary
data.  For scheduling purposes, only the scheduling information for the final
days of the schedule needs to be entered.  The last two days need to be
entered in order to avoid having a physician scheduled for conflicting shifts
(as you defined with your entries in the Shift Relations portion of the
configuration program).  In order to ensure that a physician is not scheduled
for more than the allowed number of shifts in a row, the final days of the
schedule up to the largest number of days in a row worked by any physician
should be entered.  For example, suppose you are currently scheduling December
but do not have the November schedule in the computer.  If the maximum days in
a row worked by any physician is six, you should manually enter the schedule
for November 25 - November 30.
 31-2
Screen description
  The display is the now familiar calendar-like display.  In addition to the
calendar display, there are three other blocks of information present: the
screen title and "Date:" prompt, and the menu block, all shown in reverse
video colors.  The position of these blocks on the screen will vary depending
on where space is available surrounding the calendar display.
 31-3
Commands for Enter Old Skedule
  The following command prompts are displayed in the menu block:
Date - to hand skedule
  Type the numerical date of the next day for which you want to do manual
scheduling.  For single digit dates (1 - 9), press the number, then <Enter>.
For double digit dates (10 - 31), press the two numbers without pressing
<Enter>.  For instructions on actually hand scheduling shifts within a day,
type the date of a day for which you desire to do manual scheduling, then
press <F1> for further help.
<*> - Hilite one doctor
  Press the <*> key if you want EPSKED to display an individual physician
schedule, highlighting all of the shifts worked by that physician.  Further
help information is available by pressing <F1> from within that screen.
<=> - Summary & Bias
  Press the <=> key if you want EPSKED to display the shifts and hours summary
for the schedule.  Help information is available from within that screen.
<Home> - mod Day Types
  Press the <Home> key to return to the Change Day Types screen.
<End> - DONE! (with current schedule)
  Press the <End> key after you have finished all desired scheduling.  The
schedule will be saved and you will be returned to the scheduling Main Menu.
<Alt> - View all shift names (not shown on screen)
  Press <Alt> to display the shift name for each shift in the schedule.
32
Enter Old Skedule (Modifying an individual day)
  To reach the current program screen, you have typed a numerical date after
entering the Enter Old Skedule program screen and are ready to enter the
shifts scheduled in the day.
  Note several changes in the screen display:
 ■ When you first enter the program screen, the first shift of the day you
   selected is highlighted in reverse video (black on light blue) display.
 ■ A "window" has appeared adjacent to (above and/or below) the display of the
   date that you selected, drawn overlying another portion of the schedule
   display.  This window is referred to in the remainder of this Help Screen
   as the Physician Reference window.  At the top left of the Physician
   Reference window is displayed the name of the month and the numerical date
   of the day you selected, followed by the name of the currently highlighted
   shift.  Displayed within the Physician Reference window are the two letter
   name abbreviations used for all of your currently active physicians,
   followed by the full name of each physician.  This is used as a reminder of
   the physicians available for scheduling.
 ■ The command prompts adjacent to the flashing cursor and those displayed in
   the menu blocks (reverse video rectangles with the bright stripe along the
   left border) have changed to show the commands used for the entry of shifts
   in the current day.
 32-2
  The following commands are available to you when you are entering an old
schedule:
Doc name - to hand sked
  Type the two letter abbreviation used for the physician you want to schedule
for the currently highlighted shift.  (The abbreviations for all of your
currently active physicians are shown in the Physician Reference window.)  The
name of the physician you entered will be displayed and the highlighting
advances to the next shift.  If you have just entered the last shift in the
day, a brief beep sounds and the highlighting advances to the first shift of
the next day.  This feature is designed to help you to copying shifts from an
old schedule without having to watch both the schedule you are copying from
and the program screen.  If the beep sounds when you have not finished
entering a day or fails to beep when you have, you need to compare the two
schedules to see where the discrepancy lies.  Otherwise, entry of the old
schedule requires only sequentially entering the two letter name abbreviations
for the scheduled physicians directly from a copy of the schedule.
  If you attempt to manually schedule a physician for a shift type he Can't Do
or for conflicting shifts a beep will sound.  The menu blocks are replaced
with a warning message, informing you of the problem and requesting further
instructions.
 32-3
<Space> - to next shift
  When you first enter a new day to perform scheduling, the first shift of
that day is highlighted in a reverse video display.  Press the <Spacebar> to
advance the highlighting to the next shift in the day without changing
scheduling for the currently highlighted shift.
Date - to hand skedule
  Type the numerical date of the next day you want to schedule.  For single
digit dates (1 - 9), press the number, then <Enter>.  For double digit dates
(10 - 31), press the two numbers without pressing <Enter>.  The first shift of
the newly selected day will be highlighted in reverse video (black on light
blue) display, ready to be manually scheduled.
<Arrows> - move day
  Pressing any of the arrow keys changes the day for which schedule entry is
being performed from the current day to an adjacent day, moving in a direction
dependent upon which arrow key was pressed.
<Delete> - clear shift
  Press the <Delete> or <Del> key to remove any currently scheduled physician
from a shift, returning the shift to an unscheduled status.
<Enter> - day done
  When you have completed any desired schedule entries, press the <Enter> key;
you will be returned to the original Enter Old Skedule screen and menu.
From there you may press the <End> key to indicate you have completed entry of
the schedule.
33
Print Scheduling Request Form - Entry of due date
  From the Change Day Types screen you have pressed <#> to select the "Print
request form" command.  This option is selected when you want EPSKED to print
a convenient "Physician Scheduling Requests" form, complete with instructions,
that can be used by your physicians to indicate to you their days off for
vacation or other obligations for the schedule.
  The program screen is now displaying a Printout Option Menu window which
prompts you to enter a due date by which you want the scheduling request forms
to be returned.  Depending on how far in advance you distribute your schedule
and how much time you need for preparation of the schedule, enter an
appropriate month and day.
  EXAMPLE:  You are preparing to schedule the month of December.  You usually
distribute the physician schedule for your emergency department by the tenth
of the previous month.  To allow for late requests and preparation time, you
want the scheduling request forms returned to you by November 5.  The window
is displaying a prompt of:
             PLEASE RETURN REQUESTS BY ██████████████
  Type "NOVEMBER 5" (the letters in the name of the month will be
automatically capitalized as you type them), then press the <Enter> key to
continue to the next printout option window where you request EPSKED to
perform the actual printing.  The date you enter is printed as part of the
request form instructions.
  Press the <Esc> key at any time to cancel the "Print request form" command,
erase the Printout Option window, and return to the Change Day Types screen.
34
Select Skedule to Retrieve (for monthly schedules)
Overview of the Select Skedule to Retrieve program screen
  Every time you save a schedule variant from the Skedule Revision screen, a
copy of the schedule stored on your computer disk.  At some later time you may
want to review or modify these schedules.  The "Select Skedule to Retrieve"
program screen allows you to select the schedule you desire to retrieve from a
listing of all previously stored schedules.  The selected schedule may then be
reviewed, printed, or modified as desired.
  When a schedule is retrieved from disk storage, all physician target data,
bias entries and cycle scheduled, hand scheduled and tacked shifts are also
preserved with values unchanged from those set at the time the schedule was
stored.
  Summary data and shift relationship information, however, will be
reconstructed using the summary data categories and shift relations values
that are configured at the time the schedule is retrieved.
  (An example of when this might be useful: You are working on a schedule and
desire to obtain schedule summary data using other categories than those
currently configured.  To do this you would exit to the scheduling Main Menu,
press <L> to load the configuration program, press <S> at the configuration
Main Menu to modify the summary data categories, then return to the scheduling
program and retrieve the previously saved schedule using the <R> selection.
The Hour and Shift Summary screen will display revised summary information,
based on the newly configured summary data categories.)
34-2
Screen description
  Displayed along the top of the Select Skedule to Retrieve program screen are
twelve column headings, sequentially representing the twelve months of the
year, each containing the first three letters of a month's name.  Below each
of these column headings are displayed the years for which a month's schedule
has been stored.  The year currently selected for retrieval is highlighted,
preceded by a flashing bar.  (EXAMPLE: If "1995" is highlighted in the "JAN"
column, the schedule selected for retrieval would be JANUARY 1995.)
  In the lower half of the screen is a window, displaying the full month name
and year of the current selection.  Below this is indicated the number of
months for which schedules are currently available for retrieval, followed by
an abbreviated display of the instructions for retrieving a previously stored
schedule.
Screen commands
  If you decide not to retrieve a schedule, press the <Home> key to return to
the scheduling Main Menu screen.
  To retrieve a schedule, move the reverse video highlight to the date of the
desired schedule using the cursor control keys <Arrows>, then press the
<Enter> key.  If you have saved more than one schedule variant for a month, a
second screen is then displayed from which you may select the variant you wish
to retrieve.  After a brief delay as EPSKED reconstructs the selected
schedule, you are returned to the Skedule Revision screen as it appeared when
you last finished work on the schedule.
35
Select Skedule to Retrieve (for 4/6 week schedules)
Overview of the Select Skedule to Retrieve program screen
  Every time you save a schedule variant from the Skedule Revision screen, a
copy of the schedule is stored on your computer disk.  At some later time you
may want to review or modify these schedules.  The "Select Skedule to
Retrieve" program screen allows you to select the schedule you desire to
retrieve from a listing of all previously stored schedules.  The selected
schedule may then be reviewed, printed, or modified as desired.
  When a schedule is retrieved from disk storage, all physician target data,
bias entries and cycle scheduled, hand scheduled and tacked shifts are also
preserved with values unchanged from those set at the time the schedule was
stored.
  Summary data and shift relationship information, however, will be
reconstructed using the summary data categories and shift relations values
that are configured at the time the schedule is retrieved.
  (An example of when might this be useful: You are working on a schedule and
desire to obtain schedule summary data using other categories than those
currently configured.  To do this you would exit to the scheduling Main Menu,
press <L> to load the configuration program, press <S> at the configuration
Main Menu to modify the summary data categories, then return to the scheduling
program and retrieve the previously saved schedule using the <R> selection.
The Hour and Shift Summary screen will display revised summary information,
based on the newly configured summary data categories.)
34-2
Screen description
  Displayed along the left margin are the numerical values of up to six years
(the past four years, the current year, and the upcoming year).  Only years
for which schedules are available are displayed.  On the line immediately
below each year are sites for display of all of the possible schedules that
start in that year.  If a schedule is available for recall, the site displays
the first three letters of the month followed by the two digits in the date of
the first day of the schedule (for example, DEC05 would indicate the schedule
starting on December 5).  If no schedule is available, the site displays a
line bordered by a small terminating square at either end (■──■).
  In the lower half of the screen is a window, displaying the full month name,
date and year of the starting date of the current selection.  Below this is
indicated the number of schedules which are currently available for retrieval,
followed by an abbreviated display of the instructions for retrieving a
previously stored schedule.
34-3
Screen commands
  If you decide not to retrieve a schedule, press the <Home> key to return to
the scheduling Main Menu screen.
  To retrieve a schedule, move the reverse video highlight to the date of the
desired schedule using the cursor control keys <Arrows>, then press the
<Enter> key.  If you have saved more than one variant for the schedule, a
second screen is then displayed from which you may select the variant you wish
to retrieve.  After a brief delay as EPSKED reconstructs the selected
schedule, you are returned to the Skedule Revision screen as it appeared when
you last finished work on the schedule.
36
No Skedule Found To Retrieve
  You have requested EPSKED to retrieve a previously stored schedule, but
EPSKED did not find any schedules available for retrieval in the current
subdirectory.

  If you have not done any previous scheduling, there are no schedules that
can be retrieved.  Press the <Spacebar> to return to the Main Menu screen to
select another scheduling option.

  If you are creating four or six week schedules and used the configuration
program to change the sample start date of your schedule to a new value that
is out of sequence with a previous schedule start date, schedules created with
the previous start date will not be shown.

  If you have previously created a schedule and expected to retrieve that
schedule, you have made an error loading EPSKED, either at the present time or
(if you are using floppy disk drives to run EPSKED) at the time the previously
schedule was stored.

  If you are using a hard disk, return to the Main Menu and press <X> to exit
to DOS.  Change to the root directory of your disk drive, then reload EPSKED
as directed in your Using EPSKED Version 3.0 manual.
37
Select Cumulative Summary Boundaries
Overview of the Select Cumulative Summary Boundaries program screen
  After you have already saved two or more schedules you may like to view a
cumulative summary for all shifts and hours summary categories covering a
selected period of time.  The current screen displays the range of schedules
you have saved and allows you to select the beginning and ending boundary
schedules for which you want the cumulative summary to be calculated.
  Cumulative summaries will be calculated and displayed for all of the current
summary categories you have defined in the configuration program.  For
example, if you have defined a TOTAL HOURS category, selecting a cumulative
summary of all schedules between January 1995 and December 1995 results in the
TOTAL HOURS category displaying the total number of hours worked during that
time period for each of your active physicians.
  When more than one schedule variant has been saved, the most recently saved
variant is used to construct the cumulative summary.
37-2
Screen description
  The upper portion of the Select Cumulative Summary Boundaries program screen
is identical to the Select Skedule to Retrieve screen.  The schedule currently
offered to be selected for use as a boundary schedule for retrieval is
displayed in reverse video, preceded by a flashing bar.
  In the lower half of the screen is a window, displaying the full month names
and years of the currently selected boundary schedule and an abbreviated
display of the instructions for selecting a boundary schedule.
  When the first boundary schedule to include in the cumulative summary has
been selected, it is marked with a bright, flashing "»".  The reverse video
highlighting can then be moved to select the second boundary schedule.
37-3
Screen Commands
  To select the schedules that you want to use as the boundaries for the
cumulative summary, move the reverse video highlight to the date of the
desired schedule using the cursor control keys <Arrows>, then press the
<Enter> key.  Boundary schedules can be selected in either order (earliest
schedule first, then latest, or vice versa).
  If there are any schedules missing in the selected range of schedules, you
will be offered the option of selecting new boundary months or continuing with
the cumulative summary anyway (but with the missing schedules not included).
  If you have selected the first boundary schedule and decide to change it,
press the <Esc> key to clear the selection and start again.
  If you decide you do not want to create a cumulative summary, press the
<Home> key to return to the scheduling Main Menu screen.
  Press the <Spacebar> to remove the currently highlighted schedule from being
included in the cumulative summary.  (The purpose of this option may not be
immediately obvious.  The explanation: as EPSKED retrieves the schedules in
the range of schedules you selected to summarize, it also creates a Holiday
Summary schedule consisting of the holidays within the cumulative summary
period.  Similar to the normal schedule, the Holiday Summary schedule can be
printed as either a master or an individual schedule.  If you want to print a
Holiday Summary schedule that includes only holidays worked during November,
December and January, use the <Spacebar> to remove all schedules not in those
months from inclusion in the summary.)
38
Cumulative Summary Display
Overview of the Cumulative Summary program screen
  After you have created and saved one or more schedules, either by manual
entry of old schedules or by computerized scheduling, you have requested
EPSKED to calculate a cumulative summary of those schedules.  Recall that when
you originally configured EPSKED for your schedule, you defined specific
categories of summary information of interest to you.  EPSKED has totalled the
summary values in each defined category for each physician for all of the
schedules in the range of schedules you selected to summarize and is now
displaying this cumulative information on the Cumulative Summary program
screen.
  In addition to reviewing cumulative summary information, you also have the
opportunity to specify long term Bias entries, which instruct EPSKED to
increase or decrease scheduling for an individual physician in a summary
category during any future schedule creation and revision.
 38-2
Cumulative Summary - Screen Description
  The bottom two lines of the Cumulative Summary screen are used as prompt
lines.  At the far left of the first of these two lines is an abbreviated
display of the names (dates) of the two boundary schedules you selected to
determine the range of schedules you wanted summarized.  If all schedules in
the range of schedules you selected were found, the word COMPLETE is displayed
to the right of the boundary dates.  If any schedules were missing, the word
INCOMPLETE is displayed.  This is followed by prompts for the program screen
commands.  These commands are explained below.
  Displayed on the remainder of the screen are several columns of information.
The far left column, titled "Physician Name", alphabetically lists the names
of the currently active physicians.  If one or more shifts were unscheduled in
any of the schedules, they are summarized to the right of the additional entry
of "unskeduled", shown below the name of the last physician.  If any of the
physicians scheduled for shifts in the schedules summarized are currently
inactive, their shifts are summarized in the line labeled "inactive".
 38-3
Cumulative Summary - Screen Description (continued)
  To the right of the Physician Name column are up to six columns of summary
information.  The actual number depends on the number of summary categories
you configured.  The top two lines in each column display the title you
designated for each summary category.  Below the title lines are displayed the
cumulative scheduled values in that category for each physician; the values
shown on the same line and to the right of each physician's name are the
values pertinent to that physician.  Values on the bottom line to the right of
the word "TOTALS" are the sum of all values for the schedules in the range of
schedules you selected for the cumulative summary.
  The display can be modified to show shifts/hours, percentages, percentages
and shifts/hours, or shifts/hours actually scheduled compared to requested
values.  A red color on the display indicates overscheduling, a green color
indicates underscheduling relative to target values.  Additionally, when space
is available, the entries are marked with a <+> for overscheduling, or a <->
for underscheduling.  The markers also blink if actual scheduling is
considerably disparate from target values.  Criteria for highlighting vary
depending on the priority for an exact match in the number of shifts, whether
maximum (), high (!) or medium (≈).
 38-4
Cumulative Summary - commands
  The following prompts are displayed on the cumulative summary screen:
<Tab> - Other screens
  A total of thirty summary categories can be defined, though only six can be
displayed at any one time.  Press the <Tab> key (the <O> key also works) to
sequentially display a different six summary categories up to the number you
defined for your schedule.  A cumulative overtime summary is also displayed.
<M>od display
  The display can be modified to show shifts/hours, percentages, percentages
and shifts/hours, or shifts/hours actually scheduled compared to requested
values, depending on which display you find most facilitates your review of
the summary information.  Press the <M> key repeatedly until the desired
display is reached.  Percentage values can be somewhat confusing.  A detailed
explanation of percentages is given below in the final help screen.
<B>ias
  Bias entries made from this screen create long term bias values which
instruct EPSKED to increase or decrease scheduling for an individual physician
in a summary category during *any* future schedule creation and revision.
This allows automatic adjustments in the long term balance of physician
scheduling so that cumulative summaries of shifts worked equalize over periods
as long as several years.  To make bias entries, press the <B> key.  Further
help screens are available from that program screen.
 38-5
    Other prompts displayed on the cumulative summary screen:
<#> - Print
  Press the <#> key (press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press the <3>
key at the top of the regular keyboard) to print a copy of the displayed
cumulative summary information.  The current display option (shifts/hours,
shift/hours and requested values, percentages, or shifts/hours and
percentages) are used for the printout.  If you print a copy of the cumulative
summary information for distribution to your scheduled physicians, you may
wish to have only the scheduled shifts/hours values (no target or percentage
values) displayed and printed, since this printout has a less cluttered
appearance and is easier to read.  If any schedules were missing in the range
of schedules you selected, these will be itemized at the end of the printout.
  A print options screen is displayed before actual printing is performed,
allowing you to print either the displayed summary screen only, or all summary
screens, in addition to several other options.  Separate help information is
available from that screen.
<Esc>
  When you are through reviewing the cumulative summary information, press the
<Esc> key to leave the cumulative summary screen and return to the previous
screen.

  The remainder of this help screen contains an explanation of the
percentage values displayed in the cumulative summary screen.
 38-6
Explanation of percentage values
  If you pressed the <M> key to modify the summary display to show percentage
values, you may initially find the displayed values somewhat confusing.
Percentage values in all categories except OFF categories indicate the
percentage of shifts in the summary category that the physician is scheduled
for as a portion of the total shifts for which he is scheduled.  (Read that
again.)  For example, a 10% value in a NIGHT SHIFT category indicates that 10%
of that physician's scheduled shifts are night shifts.
  OFF category percentages show the total percentage of shifts requested off
in the category to which the OFF category is linked.  For example, a 10% value
in the OFF NIGHTS category indicates that the physician has requested off for
10% of the nights in the schedules in the cumulative summary range.
  Percentage values are truncated, not rounded (e.g., if the actual percentage
is 65.8%, this is displayed as 65%, not 66%).
  You may find the "percentage only" display useful when making bias entries,
since it emphasizes disproportionate overscheduling or underscheduling of a
physician in a summary category even if your physicians work different numbers
of total hours.  (This assumes that all physicians can work all shifts.)
39
Enter A Skedule Variant Description
  Ten different variants of each schedule can be saved and retrieved.  You are
now being given the opportunity to enter a brief description of the current
schedule variant that you are saving.

  When you retrieve a saved schedule you will select from a list of the
descriptions you entered for each schedule variant.  Schedules saved by
previous versions of EPSKED and manually entered schedules are also displayed
in the retrieval list, appropriately labeled.

  Enter a description for the current schedule variant you are saving, then
press <Enter> to save it.  Press <Esc> if you want to return to the Skedule
Revision screen without saving the schedule at this time.

  If you have already saved the maximum ten schedule variants, you need to
delete one of the previously saved variants before saving the current
schedule.  To delete a variant, highlight it using the <Up/Down> arrow keys,
then press the <F2> key.  Alternatively, highlight a schedule variant that you
want the current schedule to replace, then press the <Enter> key.  You will be
requested to confirm that it is okay to lose the previous schedule variant
prior to the new schedule being saved.
40
Select Skedule Variant to Retrieve
  As you develop schedules, EPSKED allows you to save up to ten different
variants of each schedule.  The schedule you have selected to retrieve has
more that one schedule variant saved.  From the Select Skedule Variant to
Retrieve screen you are being given the opportunity to select from a list of
the descriptions entered for each schedule variant.

  The previously saved schedule variants are displayed in order from newest to
oldest, with the description of the most recently saved schedule variants at
the top, the description of the oldest variant at the bottom.
  To retrieve a schedule, use the <Up Arrow> and <Down Arrow> keys to select
the desired variant then, press <Enter>.
  Press <Esc> or <Home> if you decide not to retrieve a schedule at this time.
You will be returned to the Select Skedule to Retrieve screen.
41
Select Which Physician Data To Use This Schedule
  The current program screen is displayed if you have requested computer
scheduling and EPSKED finds a previously saved schedule for the same schedule
period you are scheduling.  You have the option of either copying any
modifications you may have made to the standard physician configuration data
during your previous scheduling (<Y> option) or using the normal physician
configuration data (<N> option).

  Press <N> if you used the configuration program to add new physicians or
shift request categories that you want to use in the current schedule.  If
you press <Y>, only the physicians you had configured at the time the
highlighted schedule was created will be used!

   Select <Y> if you have made changes to physician data (hours or nights
requests, shift preferences, desired in row, cycle scheduling and bias values)
specific for the schedule and you want to schedule "from scratch" but without
having to reenter the changes.  For example, suppose you know one of your
physicians can only work fewer hours than usual in the current schedule and
have already generated a schedule with reduced hours requested for him.  If
you decide to commence scheduling from the start (rather than revising the
already existing schedule), selecting the <Y> option from this screen allows
you to automatically copy the reduced hours request from the previously
created schedule without having to reenter it.
42
Summary Category Bias Entry
Overview of Summary Category Bias Entry
  From the Summary screen you have pressed <B> to select the Bias entry
option, or pressed a left or right arrow from the <L>imit entry column.  Bias
entries are designed to help you adjust the balance of physician scheduling in
summary categories other than total hours.  Bias values are either positive or
negative.  When possible, the quantity of shifts scheduled in positive biased
categories are increased in number and the quantity of shifts scheduled in
negative biased categories are decreased in number when EPSKED performs
computerized schedule revision.

  For example, suppose your emergency department requires daily scheduling of
DAY, SWING and NIGHT shifts and your physicians also cover a single urgent
care CLINIC shift each day.  For your three shift request categories you
configured NIGHT SHIFTS, WEEKEND SHIFTS!, and SWING SHIFTS~.  Customarily,
all of the physicians also work approximately the same number of CLINIC shifts
in each schedule.  EPSKED has generated a schedule in which Dr. Smith is
working six CLINIC shifts, more than his fair share.  (You would readily see
this when you review the Summary screen if you have included CLINIC SHIFTS as
a summary category.)  To help equalize his CLINIC SHIFTS in the schedule, you
could negative bias the CLINIC SHIFT category for Dr. Smith, then perform
computerized schedule revision.
 42-2
Summary Category Bias Entry - Screen Description
  The Bias Entry screen is identical to the Summary screen with two
exceptions: the menu line at the bottom of the screen has been changed to
reflect the new commands available, and a single numerical value within the
summary display has been highlighted in reverse video.  This highlighted value
is the current data entry site where a bias value can be entered.  Use the
arrow keys to highlight individual summary values that you wish to bias.
  Two recommendations before you enter bias values:
 ■ Modify the data display until percentages only are being displayed.  Use of
   the percentages-only display facilitates comparisons between physicians who
   are working different numbers of total hours, though bias entry can be made
   from any of the four summary display formats.  For example, suppose Dr.
   Smith is working 160 hours in a schedule and Dr. Friedman is working 80
   hours.  They are each scheduled for four, ten-hour swing shifts.  The swing
   shifts, however, comprise 25% of Dr. Smith's total hours but 50% of Dr.
   Friedman's hours.  This type of disproportional scheduling is easier to
   detect using the percentages-only display, assuming both physicians can
   work the same types of shifts.  To modify the display, press <Esc> to
   return to the Summary screen, press the <%> key, then press <B> to again
   select the Bias option.
 ■ We strongly advise you to *briefly* skim through the following descriptions
   on making bias entries, then return to the program screen and experiment
   with them before coming back to read the help screens in more detail.
 42-3
Summary Category Bias Entry - Screen Commands
<+>=more or <->=fewer shifts
  Increase (positive) bias entries are made by pressing the <+> key when
highlighting a summary category in which you want to increase a physician's
scheduled shifts or hours.  Decrease (negative) bias entries are made by
pressing the <-> key when highlighting a summary category in which you want to
decrease a physician's scheduled shifts or hours.  Entries are marked by
display of an up arrow (positive bias) or down arrow (negative bias).
  Two levels of positive biasing are available -- single positive and double
positive.  Positive biased shifts are preferentially scheduled during
computerized schedule revision for the associated physician in the selected
summary category.  Single positive biasing may result in more okay (fewer
preferred) shift sequences as defined by your shift relations entries.  Double
positive biasing also preferentially increases shifts scheduled for that
physician in the selected summary category, though this may result in more
disliked shift sequences.  Double positive bias entries are made by pressing
the <+> key -- press once for single positive biasing (regular up arrow) or
twice for double positive biasing (bright up arrow).
  Similarly, there are two levels of negative biasing -- press the <-> key
once (regular down arrow) for single negative biasing, or twice (bright down
arrow) for double negative biasing.  Pressing the <+> or <-> keys adds or
subtract from the current bias setting.  (For example, to go from double
positive bias to single positive bias, press the <-> key.)
 42-4
Summary Category Bias Entry - Screen Commands (continued)
<Del>-clear (the <Spacebar> key will also work)
  Clear a single highlighted bias value.
<Ctrl+Del>
  Press and hold down the <Ctrl> key, then press the <Del> key.  This will
clear *all* bias information for *all* physicians for the schedule!
<Arrow keys> (not documented on the program screen)
  Use the arrow keys to move the highlighting to the individual summary values
that you wish to bias.
<letter keys> - direct to doc name
  Press the first letter of the physician's name that you wish to bias.  The
highlighting moves to the appropriate line.
<Esc> - bias done
  Once you have completed your bias entries, press <Esc> to return to the
Summary Screen, then <Esc> again to return to the Skedule Revision screen.
From that screen press <?> to request EPSKED to revise your schedule, taking
into account your bias entries.  During computerized schedule revision EPSKED
attempts to modify the physicians' scheduled totals in the biased categories.
When possible, the number of shifts scheduled in positively biased categories
are increased in number, the number of shifts scheduled in negatively biased
categories are decreased in number.
42-5
Some comments about double negative biasing
  Double negative biasing is a powerful command for decreasing the number of
shifts or hours in a summary category, but unlike positive biasing and single
negative biasing, it *can* disrupt the scheduled hours and nights balance in
the schedule.  EPSKED considers shifts affected by double negative biasing
equivalent to conflicting shifts and attempts to decrease their scheduling
during the Resolving Conflicts mode of automated schedule revision.
  You should restrict the number of changes that can result from double
negative biasing (or changed Can't Do preferences) by using the <L>imit
option.  We suggest entering a one or two (1 or 2) in the CHANGES - MAX column
for physicians who have double negative biasing, then repeatedly performing
computerized schedule revision, checking the summary screen after each
revision to note its effects.  (Consult the help screen that explains the
Limit option by highlighting the TOTAL HOURS column during bias entry or by
pressing <L> from the Summary screen, then press <F1>.)
 42-6
Some comments about using shift bias entries:
 ■ Using the Limit entry column effectively will take some practice and
   experience with your schedule.  When a physician's schedule is close to
   optimal, a low limit value (0 or 1) should be entered to avoid any major
   changes in his or her schedule.
 ■ Due to the algorithms used by EPSKED, negative biasing is much more
   effective than positive biasing for changing a schedule.
 ■ Creating schedules with bias entries already in place usually alters the
   shift balance more effectively than can be done by biasing during schedule
   revision, when an initial schedule has already been created.  Use this fact
   to assist you if the balance of shifts in a schedule is still unacceptable
   even after revisions have been made with bias entries.  Try saving the
   schedule and exiting back to the scheduling Main Menu.  Select the <S>
   option to begin creating a new schedule.  You will be given the option of
   copying any physician data modifications (including bias entries) you made
   to the previously saved schedule.  Select this option and proceed with
   scheduling.
 ■ If you have a physician whose schedule you do not want changed during
   automated schedule revision, you can prevent EPSKED from making changes by
   tacking that physician's entire schedule.  (From the Skedule Revision
   screen, press <*> and highlight the schedule of that physician, then press
   <+> to tack *all* of his scheduled shifts.)
 42-7

  Summary category biasing is one of the most useful features of EPSKED 3.0,
but also one of the more difficult to use well.  Do not be frustrated with
your initial attempts at learning the "art".
43
Change Day Types (after scheduling)
Change Day Types (after scheduling) - Overview and Screen Description
  To reach the current program screen, you either selected the
                       <F3> - mod day
command from the Skedule Revision screen while highlighting an individual day,
or attempted to change a blank day (a day on which no shifts are previously
available for scheduling).  You may now change the Day Type of that day to any
of the Day Types you currently have designated in your configuration program
with one exception: you cannot use Day Types that contain shifts configured
*after* the current schedule was configured.

Note several changes in the screen display:
 ■ All of the shifts in the selected day are now displayed in reverse video in
   order to highlight that day.
 ■ Beneath the new screen title (Change Day Types), the name of the Day Type
   currently used for the chosen date is shown in flashing reverse video.
   (The Day Type used may have changed from what was originally used for that
   day to a new Day Type.)
 ■ A "Skedule Totals" block is shown, displaying the total number of hours,
   and selected shifts in the schedule.
 ■ Command prompts displayed in the menu block (the reverse video rectangle
   with a bright stripe along its left border) have changed.  These new
   commands are explained on the next screen.
 43-2
<Space> - alter Day Type
  To make a change in the Day Type of the selected day, press the <Spacebar>.
The flashing name of the Day Type used for the day changes to a different Day
Type.  The shifts displayed on the day change to the shifts used on that new
Day Type.  Continue pressing the <Spacebar> until the desired Day Type is
displayed.  The Skedule Totals values are updated as changes are made.
<=> - keep original day
  Press the <=> key to restore the highlighted day to the original Day Type
and original schedule that was present when the Change Day Types screen was
entered, returning to the Skedule Revision screen with an unaltered schedule.
<Enter> - changes done
  Press the <Enter> key if you desire to accept the new Day Type for the day
and return to the Skedule Revision program screen with the altered schedule.
Summary data and shift relations values are automatically updated.  If
changing to the new Day Type would result in the loss of any cycle scheduled
or hand scheduled shifts, a warning sounds and you are given an opportunity to
cancel the changes before they are permanently made.
44
Editing Individual Skedule Information Memo Block
  During the configuration of EPSKED, you entered information you wanted to
print on the individual physician schedules.  You can edit this information
specifically for the current schedule.  Changes made here are used and saved
only for this schedule.  To permanently change the information for all future
schedules, you need to go back to the configuration program.
  Automatic formatting is available for telephone numbers, but does not need
to be used (press the <Alt> key to erase the telephone number entry display).
Telephone numbers can be entered only from the *configuration* program.
  The information entered is printed only on the individual physician
schedules, not on the master schedule.
  The same editing commands originally used to enter the information are still
used:
  The right and left arrow keys move the position of the cursor (the small
flashing "_" which indicates where the next character you type will be
placed).
  The <Delete> (or <Del>) key deletes the character overlying the cursor.
  The <Backspace> key deletes the character one to the left of the current
cursor position and moves the cursor one position to the left.  This key may
be labeled only as "-" on some keyboards.
  The <Home> key moves the cursor to the beginning and <End> key moves the
cursor to the end of the current line.
  The <Insert> key toggles between the insert and overtype editing modes.
While in the overtype mode, the cursor is displayed larger than normal.
45
Select Physician Skedules To Print
Select Physician Skedules To Print - Overview and Screen Description
  You have selected the "Individual physician skedules" option from the
Skedule Printout Option Menu.  Before actually printing the schedules, EPSKED
has interposed the current program screen allowing you to request printing of
some or all of the individual schedules for your physicians.
  One or two window are displayed, depending upon the number of configured
physicians, with each window containing three columns of information.
  Starting from the left, the first column is labeled "PHYSICIAN" and
alphabetically lists the names of the active physicians for the current
schedule.  Contained in the column is the physician abbreviation (surrounded
in brackets < > and displayed in a bright yellow color) separated from the
associated physician's name only by an equals sign (=).  Instructions for
using these abbreviations are given on the next screen.
  The second column, labeled "HOURS", lists the number of hours scheduled for
each listed physician.
  The last column, labeled "PRINT?", contains each physician's current print
status.  On initial entry to the Select Physician Skedules To Print screen,
all physicians are automatically set to be printed (all contain a "YES" in the
"PRINT?" column).  These entries may be changed as described on the following
screens.
 45-2
Select Physician Skedules To Print - Commands
  The following commands are available from the Select Physician Skedules To
Print program screen:

<!> - start printing
  Press the <!> key when you are ready to begin printing of the individual
physician schedules.  Pressing this key immediately after entry to the screen
results in all individual physician's schedules being printed.  (Once printing
starts, you can interrupt it at any time by pressing the <Esc> key.)

<-> - choose none
  Press the <-> to change all physicians to a non printing status (all will
contain a "NO!" in the print status column).  Use this option if you want to
print only a few of the physician schedules, which you will change back to a
printed status using the <2 letter abbreviation> command described below.

<+> - choose all
  Press the <+> to change all physicians to a printing status (all will
contain a "YES" in the print status column).  This clears any "NO!" entries
you have made in the "PRINT?" column.
 45-3
Select Physician Skedules To Print - Commands (commands)
  Additional commands are:

<#> - choose only docs with hours skeduled
  Press the <#> key to set physicians who are not scheduled to work to a
nonprinting status, so that a blank schedule will not be printed for them.
(Use this option for moonlighters who do not always work every schedule.)

<2 letter abbreviation> - toggle physician
  Type the two letter abbreviation corresponding to the physician whose print
status you want to change.  For example, if physician <SM> is the abbreviation
for Dr. Smith, typing <S> then <M> toggles his print status to "NO!" if it was
previously "YES", or to "YES" if it was previously "NO!".

<Esc> - back to print menu
  Press the <Esc> key to return to the Skedule Printout Option Menu.  From
that screen you may change print options, or return to the Skedule Revision
screen without having performed any printing.
46
Mod Limit (Limit Modifications Option)
Mod Limit (Limit Modifications Option) - Overview
  EPSKED is displaying a data entry column where you may enter a limit to the
number of revisions EPSKED is permitted to make to an individual physician
schedule during the Resolving Conflicts modes of automated schedule revision.
The limit feature prevents double negative bias values and/or newly added
physician shift "CAN'T DO" preferences from altering a schedule too far in an
unwanted direction.  (This can occur during revision of flexible schedules.)

Mod Limit (Limit Modifications Option) - Screen Description & Commands
  The Limit Modifications entry screen is identical to the Summary screen with
two exceptions: the menu line at the bottom of the screen has been changed to
reflect the new commands available, and the TOTAL HOURS column in the display
has been replaced by two columns, with the column on the left labeled as
CHANGES - MAX and the column on right labeled as CHANGES - LAST.
  A numerical value within the CHANGES - MAX column has been highlighted with
a blinking cursor underlying it.  This highlighted value is the current data
entry site where the <Max #> of allowed revisions for a doctor is entered by
pressing any single number key.  Press the <=> key to copy the value currently
at the cursor to all other entry sites in the CHANGES - MAX column.
  Numbers in the CHANGES - LAST column reflect the changes made to the
corresponding physician's schedule during the Resolving Conflicts mode of the
most recent computerized schedule revision.  (For newly retrieved schedules,
this value is zero.)
 46-2
  Some explanation of what is meant by "changes" is needed (read this if the
limit entries are not behaving the way you think they should):
 ■ Changes (if any) up to the entered limit value are allowed in the Resolving
   Conflicts mode of computerized schedule revision.  Changes made during the
   Resolving Conflicts revision mode are usually the result of double negative
   bias entries or new Can't Do shift preference entries.  (See the warning
   notes in the Bias entry and Physician Data help screens.)
 ■ The number in the CHANGES - LAST column indicates how may revisions
   occurred in the Resolving Conflicts mode of the most recent schedule
   revision and may not equal the actual number of revisions made to a
   physician schedule.

  You can prevent any changes from being made to a physician schedule by
tacking that physician's entire schedule.  (From the Skedule Revision screen
press <*>, type the physician's two letter abbreviation, then press the <+>
key to tack all of the highlighted physician's scheduled shifts.)
 46-3
Mod Limit (Limit Modifications Option) - Commands
  The following commands are available from the Mod Limit screen:
<Max #> of revisions this doc
  Press any number from 0 to 9.  This number represents the maximum number of
changes EPSKED is allowed to make to the physician's schedule during the next
Resolving Conflicts mode of computerized schedule revision.
<=> - set all
  Press the <=> key to set *all* physicians' limit values to the same value as
the currently highlighted limit value.  (You may want to use this option when
your schedule is close to being done.  Enter a <0> as a limit value and copy
this limit to all physicians by pressing the <=> key.  Then enter a <1> or <2>
as a limit value for physicians whose schedules still need minor changes.)
<Esc>
  Press <Esc> to return to the Summary display screen.
<-->
  Pressing the <Up Arrow> or <Down Arrow> key moves the data entry area to the
prior / next physician alphabetically.  Pressing the <Right Arrow> or <Left
Arrow> moves the highlighting to an adjacent bias entry column.
<letter> - (not documented on screen)
  Pressing a letter key (A through Z) moves the data entry area to the first
physician whose name begins with the entered letter.
47
EPSKED Scheduling - Utilities Menu
Overview of the EPSKED Scheduling - Utilities Menu
  Your current program screen is the Utilities Menu for the EPSKED Scheduling
program.  This menu is displayed after you have selected the <U> option from
the Main Menu screen.
  Options available from the Utilities Menu are:
<P> Print a 'Days Off' request form
  Select this option if you want EPSKED to print a convenient form, complete
with instructions, that can be used by your physicians to indicate their
availability for a specific schedule.  The information obtained includes
specific days and shifts the physician needs off and is therefore not
available for scheduling, as well as any special requests for assured
scheduling of certain shifts.  The printed request form has the appearance of
a calendar, with the names you assigned to each of the shifts printed on the
days they are used.
<M> Manually enter an old skedule
  Select this option to manually enter an entire schedule.  This option is
first used to input the last previous schedule that you had to create prior to
use of the EPSKED program.  Once entered and saved, that schedule is available
to EPSKED to ensure that no scheduling conflicts exist between the end of the
last manually created scheduled and the beginning of the first EPSKED created
schedule.  Manually entered schedules are available to the cumulative summary
calculator.  If you want a cumulative summary to include schedules prior to
your use of EPSKED, these must be manually entered.
 47-2
  Another command available from the Utilities Menu is:
<D> - Delete unneeded skedules
  Unneeded files occupy disk space, and can be deleted to make available more
space on your disk drive.  These files come from two sources: schedule
variants (EPSKED allows you to save up to ten variants for each schedule, each
schedule variant occupying a minimum of 4K of disk space) and "printing to
disk" of schedules or summaries usually printed to paper (done to allow import
into a word processing program).  Press <D> to select this option.  Further
prompts and explanations are displayed before any information is deleted!.
<A> - Add a scheduling directory
  If you are creating only one printed schedule for each scheduling period,
even if it includes different facilities, you do not need more than one
scheduling directory and do not need to use this command.  If you want to use
EPSKED to create separate schedules for multiple facilities, or for separate
schedules to be used at one facility (such as resident and staff physician
schedules), press the <A> key to display the Multiple Skedule Selection
screen, then <F1> for more information.
<B> - Backup skedules to a floppy disk
  Press <B> to run a separate program, COPYSKED, which copies configuration
and scheduling information files from your hard disk drive to a floppy disk.
The copied files on the floppy disk can then be used as a backup to your hard
disk files or sent to us to help us better understand any comments or
questions that apply specifically to your schedule.
48
No Unneeded Skedule Found To Delete
  You have selected the "<D> - Delete Unneeded Files" option from the
Utilities Menu.  EPSKED has searched your schedule files and was unable to
locate any *past* schedules with more than one schedule variant saved.  There
are therefore no unneeded schedule variants to delete.  A message window is
displayed in the middle of the screen to inform you of this.

  As a safety feature to avoid deleting variants of schedules on which you
may still be working, EPSKED displays and deletes schedule variants only of
schedules prior to the date of the current calendar month.

  If you expected to find schedule variants listed, please be sure that your
computer's internal calendar is set to the correct date.  (Type "DATE", then
press <Enter> from the DOS command prompt to check and change the date.)
  To exit this screen, press any key, and EPSKED will begin a search for any
"print to disk" files.  If any are found, they will be displayed and you will
be given the opportunity to delete or protect them as desired.  If no "print
to disk files" are found, you will be returned directly to the Scheduling -
Main Menu program screen.
49
Remove Unneeded Skedule Variants
Screen overview
  You have selected the "<D> - Delete Unneeded Files" option from the
Utilities Menu.  EPSKED has searched your schedule files, located any *past*
schedules with more than one schedule variant saved, and displayed these on
the screen.  EPSKED allows you to save up to ten variants for each schedule,
each schedule variant occupying at least 4K of disk space.  These can be
deleted to make available more space on your disk drive.
  If you decide to delete schedule variants from this screen, all but the most
recently saved schedule variant for each of the displayed schedules will be
deleted.  As a safety feature to avoid deleting variants of schedules on which
you may still be working, EPSKED only displays and deletes schedule variants
for schedules prior to the date of the current calendar month as obtained from
your computer's operating system.  If you do not find all the schedules listed
that you expected, please be sure that your computer's internal calendar is
set to the correct date.  (Use the DATE command from the DOS command prompt.)
  In addition to current and future schedule variants being protected from
deletion, any other schedules variants can be protected as explained below.
 49-2
Screen description
  The display is similar to the Select Schedule To Retrieve screen, with the
background color changed from blue to red to emphasize the difference in
function.  Any displayed schedule can be protected from deletion of its
unneeded variants.  The schedule currently selected for entry of protection
(see the <Spacebar> command) is highlighted, preceded by a flashing bar.
  In the lower half of the screen is a window, displaying the full name of the
current schedule selection, and followed by an abbreviated display of the
instructions for deleting and protecting variants of the displayed schedules.
 49-3
Screen commands
Home - Return to Main Menu
  If you decide not to delete the unneeded schedule variants, press the <Home>
key to return to the scheduling Main Menu screen.

<Spacebar> - protect the currently highlighted schedule from deletion
  To protect a displayed schedule from deletion of its variants, highlight it
using the arrow keys, then press the <Spacebar>.  The schedule is removed from
the display and the display adjusted appropriately.

<!> - begin deletion
  To delete the unneeded schedule variants for all displayed schedules, press
the <!> key.  The reverse video highlight marker moves through all the
displayed schedules, erasing them from the screen as their unneeded variants
are deleted.  You are then given a new screen display of "disk print" files to
delete (if you have any), or returned directly to the Scheduling - Main Menu
if you do not.
50
Remove Unneeded Disk Print Files
Screen overview
  You have selected the "<D> - Delete Unneeded Files" option from the
Utilities Menu.  If you had any unneeded schedule variants for any past
schedules, you have already been given the opportunity to delete these.
  One of the features of EPSKED is the ability to redirect the output of
schedule and summary printouts that would normally have been printed on paper
to disk files.  This allows their import into a word processing program where
they can be modified and printed as needed.  EPSKED has searched your files,
located any past schedules for which you have a "print to disk" file saved,
and displayed these schedules on the screen.
  These files are usually not needed once they have been printed and can be
easily regenerated if needed from the scheduling program.  Some of these files
can occupy more than 60K of disk memory.  These can be deleted from the
current program screen to make available more space on your disk drive.
  As a safety feature to avoid deleting files which you may still want to
print, EPSKED only displays and deletes disk print schedule files from months
prior to the date of the current calendar month as obtained from your
computer's operating system.  If you do not find all the schedules listed that
you expected, please be sure that your computer's internal calendar is set to
the correct date.  (Use the DATE command from the DOS command prompt.)
  In addition to current and future disk print schedule files being protected
from deletion, any other schedule files can be protected as explained below.
 50-2
Screen description
  The display is similar to the Select Skedule To Retrieve screen, with the
background color changed from blue to red (identical in appearance to the
Remove Unneeded Skedule Variants) to emphasize the difference in function.
  Any displayed schedule can be protected from deletion of its disk print
files.  The schedule currently selected for entry of protection (see the
<Spacebar> command) is highlighted, preceded by a flashing bar.
  In the lower half of the screen is a window, displaying the full name of the
current selection and followed by an abbreviated display of the instructions
for deleting and protecting disk print files of the displayed schedules.
 50-3
Screen commands
Home - Return to Main Menu
  If you decide not to delete the displayed disk print files, press the <Home>
key to return to the scheduling Main Menu screen.

<Spacebar> - protect the currently highlighted shift from deletion
  To protect a displayed schedule from deletion of its disk print files,
highlight it using the arrow keys, then press the <Spacebar>.  The schedule is
removed from the display and the display adjusted appropriately.

<!> - begin deletion
  To delete the unneeded disk print files for all schedules listed on the
display, press the <!> key.  The reverse video highlight marker moves through
all the displayed schedules, erasing them from the screen as their associated
disk files are deleted.  You will then be returned directly to the Scheduling
- Main Menu.
51
Problem with retrieving a hand scheduled shift
  EPSKED is currently trying to retrieve and schedule a shift that you have
previously hand scheduled.  A problem has arisen, either because the physician
previously scheduled has now requested that shift off, or because the shift is
a type that he now can't do.  (EPSKED automatically overrides a cycle off day
to schedule a hand scheduled shift without requesting confirmation, since you
would have already verified that you wanted it scheduled when you originally
entered it by hand.  EPSKED does not schedule a previously hand scheduled
shift and does not request confirmation if you have changed the Day Type of
the day to one that does not use the shift.)
  Advise EPSKED what it should do by pressing the appropriate key:
<!> - hand skedule him anyway
  Press the <!> key if you want to override the off or can't do status of the
shift.  EPSKED schedules the shift, labels it as hand scheduled, and continues
with any further hand scheduling.
<Home> - go back to the Off Shift Requests screen
  Press the <Home> key if you want to go back to the Off Shift Requests screen
to review or change your entries for the physician's availability.  If you
want to review or change the shifts he can't do, press the <Home> key again to
return to the Physician Data Modification screen.
<any other key> -  continue hand scheduling
  Press any other key to instruct EPSKED to not schedule the physician for the
questioned shift, but to continue retrieving scheduling any further hand
scheduled shifts that you previously entered.
52
Multiple Skedule Selection
Overview
  EPSKED can be used to create and access separate schedules for multiple
facilities, or for separate schedules to be used at one facility (such as
resident and staff physician schedules).  The information relating to each
separate schedule is stored in a separate subdirectory.
  EPSKED initially creates a subdirectory named SCHEDULE.  If you create
additional subdirectories, EPSKED interposes the current Multiple Skedule
Selection program screen each time you load EPSKED from the DOS command line
and each time you exit from the scheduling program back to DOS.  You can
either choose which scheduling subdirectory you want to use for scheduling, or
rename a subdirectory, add a new subdirectory, or exit directly to DOS.

IMPORTANT:  Each separately printed schedule is independent of all other
printed schedules!

  EPSKED does not know, for example, if the Dr. Smith working on one schedule
is the same physician as the Dr. Smith working on another schedule.  EPSKED
can simultaneously schedule more than one emergency department or clinic,
coordinating the schedules of physicians who work at more than one facility.
This can be done, however, only if all scheduled shifts are printed on a
single schedule (limited to a maximum of twelve scheduled shifts a day).
 52-2
Screen description
  Displayed in the center of the screen is a window which alphabetically lists
the names of the scheduling subdirectories (fifty-two maximum) that you have
created.  To the left of each subdirectory name is a corresponding letter,
used to select that subdirectory.
  The lower three lines of the program screen display prompts, as follows.

Screen commands
<letter>
  To work in a scheduling directory, press the key corresponding to the letter
of the facility or group you desire to schedule.  (If you create more than
twenty-six scheduling subdirectories, note whether the letter corresponding to
the selected subdirectory is UPPERCASE or lowercase, and use the <Shift> key
accordingly.)

<+> - Create a new directory
  For each additional separately printed schedule you want to create (up to
the maximum of fifty-two) you need to create a separate scheduling
subdirectory.  Press the <+> key.  A name entry area appears where you may
enter a subdirectory name, maximum eight letters long.  Type a name that is
easy to remember, such as STELSE for "Saint Elsewhere Medical Center", then
press <Enter>.
 52-3
Screen commands (continued)
<Ctrl+letter> - rename a directory
  To rename a subdirectory, press and hold down the <Ctrl> key, then press the
key corresponding to the subdirectory you want to rename.  (If you created
more than twenty-six scheduling subdirectories, note whether the letter
corresponding to the selected subdirectory is UPPERCASE or lowercase, and use
the <Shift> key in addition to the <Ctrl+letter> keys accordingly.)  A name
entry area appears where you may enter a new subdirectory name, maximum eight
letters long.
<F2> - monochrome display / color display
  EPSKED can detect the presence of a monochrome or color graphics card in
your computer and automatically adjust the display colors.  The program
cannot, however, detect if you are using a monochrome monitor with a color
graphics card, such as with a laptop computer with a VGA monochrome display.
Your display would then appear washed out and difficult to read from some of
the program screens.  To correct this, press the <F2> key to toggle between a
color display and a monochrome (black and white) display.  (Alternatively,
load the program by typing "EPSKED M" to start out in the monochrome mode.)
<X> - Exit EPSKED to DOS
  Press <X> to exit from EPSKED back to DOS.  You are returned to DOS in the
EPSKED3 subdirectory. (The <X> prompt is changed to <F3> in the event that you
create more than twenty-three scheduling subdirectories, since <X> would then
take you to the X (twenty-fourth) subdirectory.)
53
Exclude cumulative summary OFF categories?
Overview

  You have selected schedules that you want to use as the boundaries for the
cumulative summary.  EPSKED is asking if you want to exclude OFF categories
from the cumulative summary+.

  OFF category summary values summarize shifts requested off in the category
to which the OFF category is linked.  Calculation of OFF category values can
prolong the amount of time needed by EPSKED to produce the cumulative summary.
Usually the additional time is not that great, but if you are in a hurry and
the off category information is not needed, the <Y> option can save you some
time.
 53-2
Screen commands
<Y> - Yes (this is the fastest)
  Press <Y> if you *do not* want EPSKED to calculate OFF category cumulative
summary information.  Select this option if you are in a hurry and have a slow
computer and hard disk, are calculating a cumulative summary that includes
many schedules, your physicians request numerous shifts off, or you are in a
big hurry to view the cumulative summary results.  EPSKED omits calculation of
the cumulative summary values for all OFF categories.

<N> - No (this may take a little longer)
  Press <N> if you *do* want EPSKED to calculate OFF category cumulative
summary information.  If you have a fast computer and hard disk, are
calculating a cumulative summary that includes relatively few schedules, your
physicians request relatively few shifts off, or you are not in a big hurry to
view the cumulative summary results, press <N>.  EPSKED calculates cumulative
summary values for all OFF categories, in addition to the other cumulative
summary values.

<Esc> - Cancel request
  Press the <Esc> key to return to the Select Cumulative Summary Boundaries
screen.  From there you may either select a new range of schedules to include
in the cumulative summary, or return to the scheduling Main Menu.
54
Overtime Summary Entry
Overview
  EPSKED automatically summarizes the number of hours *scheduled* for each
physician.  The number of hours *worked* by your physicians may differ from
the number of scheduled hours if a physician stays late, leaves early, or if
physicians split a shift.  Knowing the exact number of hours worked by each
physician may be important, especially if your physicians are paid according
to the number of hours actually worked.

  The Overtime summary screen allows you to enter overtime or undertime
adjustments to the worked hours for each physician.  Adjustments can be made
as partial hour entries to the nearest one-hundredth of an hour (e.g., entries
of 0.25 or 0.33 hours can be made).

  The Overtime summary, including a listing of all entries made for the
current schedule, can be printed on paper for distribution to your physicians.

  Suggestion: when your physicians have completed working a schedule, revise
the schedule saved in EPSKED to match any schedule changes (such as swapped
shifts), then enter overtime / undertime hours.  The resultant overtime
printout is an exact summary of hours worked for each physician.

  A *cumulative* Overtime summary can be viewed and printed from the
cumulative summary screens.
 54-2
Screen description
  The left side of the screen displays four columns of information.  The first
left column, titled PHYSICIAN NAME, lists the names of your active physicians.
If the schedule includes any unscheduled shifts, the additional entries of
"unscheduled" is listed below the names of the active physicians.
  In the three adjacent columns on the same line to the right of each
physician's name are displayed their scheduled hours, their totals for
overtime / undertime hours that have been entered, and their total number of
worked hours (sum of the scheduled hours and the overtime/undertime hours).
The bottom line of each columns lists schedule totals for scheduled hours,
overtime / undertime hours entries, and worked hours.
  The top right side of the screen (separated from the left by a white
vertical bar) displays the name (date) of the current schedule followed by the
word OVERTIME.  Immediately below this are headings for three columns of
information titled "name", "date" and "+/- hours".  As you make overtime
entries, the individual entries are listed below these headings, sorted
alphabetically by physician, and then by date for each physician.  Totals are
simultaneously updated on the left side of the screen as they are entered.
  Overtime values are entered in the bottom right hand portion of the screen
at the flashing cursor.  Detailed instructions and an example given below.
 54-3
Screen commands
Entering an overtime value
  Overtime entries require three pieces of information: the name of the
physician requiring an adjustment to his scheduled hours, the date on which
the adjustment occurred, and the amount of time worked over or under the
scheduled value.
 ■ name
  When the flashing cursor is under the "name" entry site at the bottom right
hand corner of the screen, indicate the name of the physician for whom you
want to make an overtime / undertime entry by typing the two letter name
abbreviation for that doctor.  (If you need a reminder of the abbreviations,
press the <Alt> key to temporarily display a listing of the abbreviations.)
 ■ date
  When the flashing cursor is under the "date" entry site at the bottom right
hand corner of the screen, type the numerical date of the day in the schedule
on which the hours adjustment occurred.  For single digit dates (1 - 9), press
the number, then <Enter>.  For double digit dates (10 - 31), press the two
numbers without pressing <Enter>.
 ■ +/- hours
    When the flashing cursor is under the "+/- hours" entry site at the bottom
right hand corner of the screen, enter the number of hours worked over or
under the scheduled number of hours.  Press the <-> key to change the number
to a negative number for undertime hours, the <+> key for overtime hours.
 54-4
Entering an overtime value (continued)
  For example, if Dr. Smith was called in a half hour early for his shift on
July 4th because the emergency department was extremely busy, you would credit
him for the one half hour of extra time that he worked by:
   Type <S><M> (his two letter abbreviation)
   Type <4><Enter> (to display JUL 4 as the date entry)
   Type <.><5><Enter> (to record the one half (0.5) hour of overtime)
Important notes about overtime entries:
  All three entries -- name, date, and +/- hours -- must be made before the
overtime entry is saved.
  If you note a mistake in an overtime entry you have already made, simply
make a new entry containing the correct value for the same physician for the
same day.  The new entry overwrites the previous incorrect entry.
  To erase a previously entered value, make a new entry containing a zero in
the "+/- hours" for the same physician for the same day.
  If two physicians split a shift, schedule one of the physicians for the
shift, then record the correct value for worked hours by entering an undertime
value for the scheduled physician and an overtime value for the unscheduled
physician.  (Note: The Worked Hours shown on the Overtime screen will be
correct for both physicians, but the normal summary screen will not include
the unscheduled physician.  If your physicians split shifts on a regular basis
consider creating additional shifts and Day Types in the configuration program
to reflect the alternative scheduling.)
 54-5
Screen commands (continued)
  Additional commands from the Overtime summary screen:
<Alt> - name prompts (displayed only during "name" entry)
  If you need help remembering the two letter abbreviation for a physician,
press and hold down the <Alt> key to display a reference window listing the
two letter abbreviations for all of your physicians.

<Esc> - exit screen (or clear entry)
  Press <Esc> to exit the Overtime summary screen and return to the Skedule
Revision screen after you have completed all desired overtime entries.  If you
press <Esc> with an incompletely entered Overtime value displayed, that value
is first cleared and you remain at the Overtime summary screen.  (Press <Esc>
a second time to then exit the screen.)

<#> - print
  Press <#> to print a copy of the Overtime summary information on paper.  A
Printout Options screen is first displayed that allows selection of various
print options.
55
Cumulative Overtime Summary
Overview
  After you have created and saved one or more schedules, either by manual
entry of old schedules or by computerized scheduling, you have requested
EPSKED to calculate a cumulative summary of those schedules.  When you
originally created those schedules you had the opportunity to enter Overtime
summary values.

  EPSKED has totalled the Overtime summary values from all schedules in the
range of schedules you selected to summarize and is now displaying this
cumulative information on the Cumulative Overtime Summary program screen.

  (The Cumulative Overtime Summary screen is a summary display screen only.
Entries cannot be made or changed.  Overtime entries are made from the
Overtime summary screen for the individual schedule in which the Overtime was
worked.  To reach the schedule's Overtime summary screen, first retrieve the
specific schedule for which you want to make overtime entries, then use the
"<&>-Overtime" command from the Skedule Revision screen.)
 55-2
Screen description
  The left side of the screen displays four columns of information.  The first
left column, titled PHYSICIAN NAME, lists the names of your active physicians.
If the cumulative summary includes any unscheduled shifts or shifts worked by
physicians who are no longer active, the additional entries of "unscheduled"
and "inactive" are listed below the names of the active physicians.
  In the three adjacent columns on the same line to the right of each
physician's name are displayed their scheduled hours, their totals for
overtime / undertime hours that have been entered, and their total number of
worked hours (sum of the scheduled hours and the overtime/undertime hours).
The bottom line of each columns lists cumulative totals for scheduled hours,
overtime / undertime hours entries, and worked hours.
 55-3
Screen commands
  The following prompts are displayed on the cumulative Overtime summary
screen:
<Tab> - Other screens
  In addition to the cumulative overtime summary screen, a total of thirty
summary categories can be defined, though only six can be displayed at any one
time.  Press the <Tab> key (the <O> key also works) to sequentially display a
different set of six summary categories up to the number you defined for your
schedule.
<#> - Print
  Press the <#> key (press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press the <3>
key at the top of the regular keyboard) to print a copy of the displayed
cumulative Overtime summary information.  A print options screen is displayed
before actual printing is performed, allowing you to print either the Overtime
summary screen only, or all summary screens, in addition to several other
options.  Separate help information is available from that screen.
56
Cumulative Holiday Schedule
Overview
  After you have created and saved one or more schedules, either by manual
entry of old schedules or by computerized scheduling, you have requested
EPSKED to calculate a cumulative summary of those schedules.  When you
originally created those schedules you had the opportunity to indicate which
days and shifts in the schedule you wanted considered as Holidays.

  As EPSKED retrieved the Overtime summary values from each schedule in the
range of schedules you selected to summarize, it also created a schedule
consisting of the holidays within the cumulative summary period.  This
cumulative summary of the holidays is now displayed as a schedule on the
Holiday Summary screen, in a format similar to that used for your normal
schedule.  Similar to the normal schedule, the Holiday Summary schedule can be
printed as either a master or an individual schedule.
56-2
Screen description
  The Holiday Summary schedule is displayed in a calendar-like fashion.  The
first entry at the top left-hand side of the screen is a year marker (for
example, 1995 >>>> ), indicating the year in the cumulative summary range in
which the first holiday occurred.  That first holiday is then displayed as the
entry immediately to the right of the year marker.  Subsequent holidays are
displayed sequentially, moving from left to right and top to bottom across the
screen.  Whenever a holiday occurs in a different year, a new year marker is
first inserted to clarify the year in which the subsequent holidays occur.
  The display lines within each day of the schedule are filled with the names
of the physicians scheduled for the shifts you designated as holiday shifts on
each holiday day.  Shifts on holiday days that you did not designate as
holiday shifts are left blank.  If the holiday day includes any unscheduled
holiday shifts or holiday shifts worked by physicians who are no longer
active, the entries of "unscheduled" and "inactive" are used.
  (The *current* configuration information for placement of shifts on the
displayed and printed schedules is used, which may cause some confusion if you
have changed the placement of your shifts since a schedule was created.)
  On the right margin displayed the date range of holidays contained in the
currently displayed cumulative Holiday Summary schedule.  In addition to the
calendar display are shown the screen title (Holiday Summary) and the menu
block showing prompts for the available commands for this screen.  An
explanation of these commands is shown on the next Help Screen...
 56-3
Screen commands
<*> - hilite one doctor
  Press the <*> key if you want EPSKED to highlight all of the holiday shifts
worked by that physician.  No context sensitive help information is available
from that screen, but prompts are shown and the screen is similar to the
Hilite One Doc screen in the normal schedule.
<#> - Print this skedule
  Press the <#> key (press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press the <3>
key at the top of the regular keyboard) to print a copy of the displayed
cumulative Holiday summary schedule.  A print options screen is displayed
before actual printing is performed, allowing you to print either the entire
holiday schedule or individual holiday schedules.  Separate help information
is available from that screen.
<Esc> - done
  Press the <Esc> key when you are done with the Holiday Summary screen.  You
are returned to a selection window where you can choose to either display the
summary tables or return to the schedule selection screen.
57
Overtime Summary Display
Overview
  If you have entered any Overtime summary values for the current schedule,
EPSKED includes a display of these entries as one of the normal summary
screens.  The Overtime Summary display screen is used for display only.
Entries cannot be made or changed.

  (Overtime entries are made from the Overtime Summary entry screen.  To reach
the schedule's Overtime summary screen, press <Esc> to return to the Skedule
Revision screen then use the "<&>-Overtime" command to display the Overtime
Summary entry screen.)
 57-2
Screen description
  The left side of the screen displays four columns of information.  The first
left column, titled PHYSICIAN NAME, lists the names of your active physicians.
If the summary includes any unscheduled shifts the additional entry of
"unscheduled" is listed below the names of the active physicians.
  In the three adjacent columns on the same line to the right of each
physician's name are displayed their physician's scheduled hours, their totals
for overtime / undertime hours that have been entered, and their total number
of worked hours (sum of the scheduled hours and the overtime/undertime hours).
The bottom line of each column lists totals for scheduled hours, overtime /
undertime hours entries, and worked hours.
 57-3
Screen commands
  The following prompts are displayed on the Overtime summary display screen:
<Tab> - Other screens
  In addition to the Overtime summary screen, a total of thirty summary
categories can be defined, with six displayed at any one time.  Press the
<Tab> key (the <O> key also works) to sequentially display a different six
summary categories up to the number you defined for your schedule.
<#> - Print
  Press the <#> key (press and hold down the <Shift> key, then press the <3>
key at the top of the regular keyboard) to print a copy of the displayed
Overtime summary information.  A print options screen is displayed before
actual printing is performed, allowing you to print either the Overtime
summary screen only, or all summary screens, in addition to several other
options.  Separate help information is available from that screen.
<Alt> - View skedule
  Press and hold down the <Alt> key to temporarily view the underlying
schedule screen, whether Hilite One Doc or Skedule Revision.  Release the key
to return to the summary display.
<&> - Overtime entry screen (not shown)
  Press <&> to go directly to the Overtime entry screen where you may enter
the overtime information used in the Overtime summary display screen.
 57-4
Screen commands (continued)
<L>imit
  This command is available only after computerized scheduling has been done.
Press <L> to display a data entry column where you may enter limits to the
number of "changes" EPSKED is permitted to make during the Resolving Conflicts
and Improving Preferences modes of automated schedule revision.  The limit
feature is added to prevent changes in bias values or physician shift
preference from changing a schedule too far in an unwanted direction, as can
occur during revision of flexible schedules.  After pressing <L>, press <F1>
for more help information.

<Esc> - prior screen
  When you are through reviewing the summary information, press the <Esc> key
to leave the Summary screen and return to the schedule display.
58
Long Term Bias Entry
Overview
  From the Cumulative Summary screen you have pressed <B> to select the Bias
entry option.  The long term bias entries entered on this screen are designed
to automate adjustments in the long term balance of physician scheduling so
that shifts worked equalize exactly for your physicians over periods as long
as several years.  Unlike bias entries made from normal Summary screen (which
apply only to the specific schedule in which they are entered), long term bias
entries made from the Cumulative Summary screen are applied to *all* future
new and retrieved schedules.  Bias values are either positive or negative and
are assigned to individual physicians in selected summary categories.

  When possible, the quantity of shifts scheduled for a physician in
positively biased categories are increased in number and the quantity of
shifts scheduled in negatively biased categories are decreased in number for
*all* new and retrieved schedules that you create or revise in the future.

  For example, suppose you note on the Cumulative Summary screen that Dr. Barr
has worked more than his share of weekend shifts.  To help correct this
inequity you would negative bias the WEEKEND SHIFT category for Dr. Barr.  The
next time you create a schedule, EPSKED tries to schedule Dr. Barr for fewer
weekend shifts than it normally would, bringing his Cumulative Summary of
shifts worked back into balance.
 58-2
Long Term Bias Entry - Screen Description
  The Long Term Bias entry screen is identical to the Cumulative Summary
screen with two exceptions: the menu line at the bottom of the screen has been
changed to reflect the new commands available, and a single numerical value
within the summary display has been highlighted in reverse video.  This
highlighted value is the current entry site where a bias entry can be made.
Use the arrow keys to highlight individual summary values you wish to bias.
  Two recommendations before you enter bias values:
 ■ Modify the data display until percentages only are being displayed.  Use of
   the percentages-only display facilitates comparisons between physicians who
   are working different numbers of total hours, though bias entry can be made
   from any of the four summary display formats.  For example, suppose Dr.
   Smith has worked 1600 cumulative hours and Dr. Friedman has worked 800
   cumulative hours.  They have each worked forty, ten-hour weekend shifts.
   The weekend shifts, however, comprise 25% of Dr. Smith's total hours but
   50% of Dr. Friedman's hours.  This type of disproportional scheduling is
   easier to detect using the percentages-only display, assuming both
   physicians can work the same types of shifts.  To modify the display, press
   <Esc> to return to the Cumulative Summary screen, press the <%> key, then
   press <B> to again select the Bias option.
 ■ We strongly advise you to *briefly* skim through the following descriptions
   on making bias entries, then return to the program screen and experiment
   with them before coming back to read the help screens in more detail.
 58-3
Long Term Bias - Screen Commands
<+>=more or <->=fewer shifts
  Increase (positive) bias entries are made by pressing the <+> key when
highlighting a summary category in which you want to increase a physician's
scheduled shifts or hours.  Decrease (negative) bias entries are made by
pressing the <-> key when highlighting a summary category in which you want to
decrease a physician's scheduled shifts or hours.  Entries are marked by
display of an up arrow (positive bias) or down arrow (negative bias).
  Two levels of positive biasing are available -- single positive and double
positive.  Positive biased shifts are preferentially scheduled during
computerized schedule revision for the associated physician in the selected
summary category.  Single positive biasing may result in more okay (fewer
preferred) shift sequences as defined by your shift relations entries.  Double
positive biasing also preferentially increases shifts scheduled for that
physician in the selected summary category, though this may result in more
disliked shift sequences.  Double positive bias entries are made by pressing
the <+> key -- press once for single positive biasing (regular up arrow) or
twice for double positive biasing (bright up arrow).
  Similarly, there are two levels of negative biasing -- press the <-> key
once (regular down arrow) for single negative biasing, or twice (bright down
arrow) for double negative biasing.  Pressing the <+> or <-> keys will add or
subtract from the current bias setting.  (For example, to go from double
positive bias to single positive bias, press the <-> key.)
 58-4
Summary Category Bias Entry - Screen Commands (continued)
<Del> - Clear one (the <Spacebar> key will also work)
   Clears a single highlighted bias value.
<Ctrl+Del> - Clear all
   Press and hold down the <Ctrl> key, then press the <Del> key.  This clears
   *all* bias information for *all* physicians.  (Since you may have double
   negative biased a physician in the configuration program to prevent him
   from being scheduled for a certain category of shifts, you are warned
   before double negative bias shifts are cleared.  If you need to keep these
   double negative bias values, either reenter them after you have used the
   "Clear all" command or clear all other bias values individually.)
<letter> - direct to doc name
   Press the first letter of the physician's name that you wish to bias.  The
   highlighting moves to the appropriate line.
<Esc> - bias done
   Once you have completed your bias entries, press <Esc> to return to the
   normal Cumulative Summary screen
<Arrow> - move hilite (not shown on the screen prompts)
   Use the arrow keys to move the highlighting to the individual cumulative
   summary values that you wish to bias.
<Tab> - other bias screens (not shown on the screen prompts)
   If you have created more than six summary categories, press <Tab> to view
   the other undisplayed cumulative summary categories.
 58-5
Some comments about Long Term biasing
 ■ Long term bias entries made from this screen are applied to *all* new and
   retrieved schedules that you work on in the future.  The long term bias
   entries made here can be altered from the configuration program, and
   temporary changes made for individual schedules during biasing from the
   normal Summary screen.
 ■ If maintaining an exact cumulative balance of shifts for your physicians is
   important, consider displaying a cumulative summary and entering long term
   bias values before creating each new schedule.
 ■ Due to random factors, the cumulative totals even in requested shift
   summary categories may not equalize over a period of several schedules.
   For this reason, long term bias entries can be entered for all summary
   categories (except for TOTAL HOURS).  (Categories for which your physicians
   request certain numbers of shifts each schedule are balanced as closely as
   possible by EPSKED, but only for each individual schedule.)
 ■ Some emergency departments (especially residency training programs) may
   create an entire year of schedules which are distributed at the beginning
   of the year.  If the cumulative summary for the year of created schedules
   is initially unbalanced, you could enter corrective long term bias values,
   then retrieve individual schedules and perform automated schedule revision.
   EPSKED will make changes reflecting the added bias values, bringing the
   cumulative summary values back into balance. (Confirm this by running a new
   cumulative summary after each schedule revision.)
 58-6
Some comments about double negative biasing
  Double negative biasing is a powerful command for decreasing the number of
shifts or hours in a summary category, but unlike positive biasing and single
negative biasing, it *can* disrupt the scheduled hours and nights balance in
the schedule.  A reminder is displayed whenever a double negative bias value
is entered.  EPSKED considers shifts affected by double negative biasing
equivalent to conflicting shifts and does not schedule them during initial
computerized scheduling and attempts to decrease their scheduling during the
Resolving Conflicts mode of automated schedule revision.
59
Potential memory problem
 **  Warning: You may not have enough free memory to complete scheduling! **

  Press <Alt> now to see the amount of free conventional memory you had
available when you started the EPSKED program, then review the following
screens for advice.  If you need to free up more computer memory to run
EPSKED, don't despair!  To make a printed reference copy of any help screen,
turn on your printer, then press the <Print Screen> key on your computer
keyboard.

  EPSKED can run the most complex schedule -- six weeks, forty physicians,
twelve shifts each day, multiple Shift Relationship Models and Day Types
configured -- using approximately 500K (512000 bytes) of free conventional
memory, though many schedules can run on as little as 470K (481280 bytes).
  If EPSKED runs out of needed memory while working on your schedule, an error
message appears stating that your computer has either insufficient memory, is
out of memory, or is out of string space, and EPSKED will exit to DOS **with
the loss of any unsaved schedule changes**.
  If your schedule is modest and you are in the middle or high end of the 470K
to 500K range, you may want to disregard this warning screen and continue
scheduling, though at the risk of losing information that has not been saved
if EPSKED does run out of memory.
 59-2
  Even if you are not an experienced computer user, you can make more memory
available to run EPSKED by utilizing the following simple procedure:
  An easy way to start your computer with a "totally clean" system, free of
all memory resident programs, is to boot from a floppy disk containing only
the necessary startup files.  To create this "boot" disk, place a *blank*
floppy disk in the  A  disk drive of your computer.  From the DOS prompt type:
      FORMAT A: /S
and press the <Enter> key.  (Be sure to use the "/", not the "\" key.)
  After formatting is complete and you are returned to the DOS prompt, leave
the newly formatted disk in the  A  drive, turn off your computer, then turn
it on again.  For most systems, the computer will start up from the floppy
disk in the  A  disk drive and have sufficient memory to run EPSKED.  Consult
your MS-DOS manual (look in the index under "Boot (startup) disk, creating" or
similar reference, or under the "FORMAT" command) for more details if needed.
  Each time you want to use EPSKED, you will need to start your computer
with the formatted disk you created in the  A  disk drive, so label the disk
as "EPSKED Boot Disk" and keep it in a safe place for future use.
  To run EPSKED after booting from the floppy disk, log onto the drive on
which EPSKED is installed (e.g., type   C:  , then press <Enter>), then type:
      CD \EPSKED3
and press <Enter>, then type:
      EPSKED
and press <Enter> to start the program.
 59-3
  If you are using MS-DOS version 6.0 or later, some alternative ways to make
available more free conventional memory:

Requiring limited expertise:
  Type:
      MEMMAKER
at the DOS prompt, then press <Enter> and follow the directions.

Requiring more expertise:
  Increase conventional memory by selectively not loading some of your memory
resident programs.  As your computer starts, the message "Starting MS-DOS..."
is displayed.  While this text is on the screen, press and release the <F8>
key.  MS-DOS will then display each line of your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
files, allowing you to bypass the loading of any program or device driver that
you do not need when running EPSKED.  EPSKED neither uses nor requires
extended or expanded memory drivers, mouse drivers, or Windows files.
  If this procedure works, you should create an alternate startup
configuration so that you do not have to go through the same procedure every
time you want to use EPSKED.  See your MS-DOS manual, looking in the index
under CONFIG.SYS file, "bypassing" and "multiple configurations, creating" or
similar listings for more information.
 59-4

  If your computer's free conventional memory is less than 500K, the preceding
help screens are automatically displayed each time you enter the program, even
though you may know that EPSKED does have sufficient memory for your schedule.

  To tell EPSKED to ignore the possible insufficient memory and not display
these warning help screens, load EPSKED by typing:

     EPSKED I

then press the <Enter> key.
60
Do you want to make changes to a recalled schedule?

  You have requested EPSKED to retrieve a previously created schedule.  For
that schedule, you are now being given the opportunity to:
 ■ add active physicians,
 ■ make changes to the shifts your physicians have requested off for the
   schedule, or
 ■ change the holidays you have previously configured for the schedule.

  This screen should be straightforward.  If you want to make changes to any
of the listed items, press <Y>.  If you do not want change any of the listed
items, press <N>.  If you want to retrieve a different schedule, press <Home>.

  Two comments:
 ■ Active physicians will be added only to the schedule variant you are
   retrieving.  Off shifts and holidays you designate are added to all
   schedule variants of the retrieved schedule.
 ■ You can only add physicians who have already been identified in the
   configuration program, and you must have fewer than forty active
   physicians already working the schedule in order to add more physicians.
61
Add Active Physician to Current Skedule

  You have already requested EPSKED to retrieve a previously created schedule.
You also selected the option of making changes to the physicians working the
schedule, to off shifts, and to holidays.

  EPSKED has found active physicians you identified in the configuration
program which are not included in the current schedule variant you are
retrieving.  The names of these physicians, up to a maximum of fifteen, are
listed on this screen.  Each physician name is preceded by a letter.  Press
the letter associated with the physician you want to add and that name is
automatically added to the active physicians working the schedule.  The name
is automatically removed from the displayed list of physicians you can still
add and the list is relabeled (for example, *repeatedly* pressing the  <A>
key would add all of the listed physicians).

  If you make a mistake while adding physicians, simply press <Home> to return
to the schedule selection screen and reselect the schedule.

  Please see the next page for more important information, especially if you
are using EPSKED's cycle scheduling feature.
 61-2

Important Notes about adding physicians to previous schedules
 ■ The added physicians are permanently saved with the schedule only if other
   changes are made to the schedule!
 ■ Cycle scheduling may be inaccurate if the added physician's work cycle
   was created after the cycle information for the current schedule was
   created.  If you are using EPSKED's cycle scheduling feature, be sure to
   check cycle scheduling if you receive any warning messages.
   (Explanation: EPSKED saves compressed Work Cycle information for all
   physicians with each schedule variant.  Added physicians can accurately
   use this information only if their configured Work Cycles are the same
   as work cycles of physicians previously working the schedule.)

The bottom line: If you have made changes to your physicians' configured
Work Cycles after a schedule has already been created, you are probably
better off starting fresh, creating a new schedule rather modifying a
previously saved schedule!
62
Attempting to add physicians (from EPS30.EXE)

  *** You cannot add physicians to this schedule from this screen ***

  You must inform EPSKED about *new* physicians using the configuration
program.

  If you have added new physicians in the configuration program and want to
add them to this schedule, you must do so before the schedule is fully
retrieved.  You should now exit this schedule (press <End> from the Skedule
Revision screen), saving any changes.  From the Main Menu, press <R> to
"Retrieve / modify a skedule", then reselect the saved schedule.  A menu will
ask if you "wish to add physicians ... [to the schedule]."  Press <Y> to
display a list of available physicians, if any, that you can then add.
63
(End of help marker)
             **** This Help File is Copyright 1995 by ByteBloc Software ****