Using the Occupancy Planner

The Occupancy Planner is a powerful tool that allows you to monitor and manage occupancy levels, staff coverage, and ratios throughout the week. This comprehensive system helps ensure compliance with regulatory requirements while optimizing resource allocation and maintaining safe child-to-staff ratios.

Overview

The Occupancy Planner provides real-time visualization of your nursery’s occupancy patterns, combining child attendance data with staff schedules to present a complete picture of your operational capacity. The system automatically calculates ratios and highlights potential issues, helping you make informed decisions about staffing and capacity management.

1. Room and Date Selection

The occupancy planner allows you to filter and view data for specific rooms and time periods, giving you precise control over what information you’re analyzing.

Room Selection

In the top-right corner of the interface, you’ll find a dropdown labeled “Room” that allows you to:

• All Rooms: View combined data across all rooms in your nursery
• Specific Room: Filter to show data for a particular room only

When you select a specific room:

• The heatmap will only display children and staff assigned to that room
• Target ratios will automatically switch to room-specific settings (if configured)
• The children and staff lists will be filtered to show only those associated with the selected room

Week Selection

The week selector allows you to navigate between different weeks to plan ahead or review historical data:

• Current Week: Click the current week button to return to the present week
• Previous/Next Week: Use the arrow buttons to navigate between weeks
• Date Picker: Click on the displayed date range to open a calendar picker for quick navigation to any week

2. The Occupancy Heatmap

The occupancy heatmap is the central visualization tool that displays occupancy data across the week in an easy-to-read format. The heatmap shows 5-minute time intervals from 7:00 AM to 6:55 PM for Monday through Friday.

View Modes

The heatmap supports three different view modes, each providing different insights:

Children View

• Purpose: Shows the number of children present at each time slot
• Color Coding: Darker colors indicate higher numbers of children
• Hover Information: Displays detailed breakdown of children by age when hovering over time slots

Staff View

• Purpose: Shows the number of staff members scheduled at each time slot
• Color Coding: Darker colors indicate higher numbers of staff
• Hover Information: Shows staff count and scheduling details

Occupancy % View

• Purpose: Shows capacity utilization as a percentage based on target ratios
• Calculation: (Number of Children ÷ (Number of Staff × Target Ratio)) × 100

3. Target Ratios

Target ratios define the maximum number of children that should be assigned to each staff member during different time periods. These ratios are crucial for maintaining safety and compliance.

Understanding Target Ratios

Target ratios can be configured at two levels:

Global Ratios

• Apply to all rooms when no room-specific ratio is set
• Typically set based on regulatory requirements
• Default ratio is usually 8:1 (8 children per staff member)

Room-Specific Ratios

• Override global ratios for specific rooms
• Allow for different ratios based on age groups or room types
• Baby rooms typically have lower ratios (e.g., 3:1 or 4:1)

Configuring Target Ratios

To access the target ratio configuration:

1. Click the “Target Ratios” button in the heatmap controls
2. The ratio panel will open showing current ratio settings
3. You can modify existing ratios or create new time-based ratios

Adding New Ratio Periods

To create different ratios for different times of day:

1. Click “Click to split” to split an existing time period
2. Pigeonhole will create a new ratio period at the midpoint
3. Adjust the times and ratios as needed
4. Save your changes

Editing Ratio Boundaries

You can adjust when ratio changes occur by:

1. Dragging the boundary lines between ratio periods
2. Pigeonhole will automatically update both adjacent periods
3. Changes are reflected immediately in the heatmap
4. Save your changes

Removing Ratio Periods

To remove a ratio period:

1. Click the “Remove” button next to the ratio
2. Pigeonhole will merge the period with an adjacent one
3. At least one ratio period must remain at all times
4. Save your changes

Saving Ratio Changes

After making changes to target ratios:

1. Click “Save” icon in the top right of the heatmap to apply changes
2. Pigeonhole will update both room-specific and global ratios as appropriate

4. Children List View

The children tab provides a detailed view of all children’s schedules and allows you to modify attendance patterns directly.

Children Schedule Overview

The children list shows all available sessions for the specific weeks. If a session ends and a new one starts on that week, both will be shown:

• Child Name: Full name and age
• Session Pattern: Visual representation of their weekly schedule
• Daily Hours: Total hours per day
• Room Assignment: Current room allocation
• Session Status: Active, upcoming, or ended sessions

Updating a Child’s Schedule

To modify a child’s attendance schedule:

1. Locate the Child: Use the search function or scroll through the list
2. Click Edit: Click the edit button next to the child’s name
3. Modify Schedule: The session edit dialog will open

Session Edit Dialog Options

The session edit dialog provides comprehensive control over attendance:

• Session Type: Choose from pre-configured session types
• Start/End Dates: Set the active period for the session
• Daily Schedule: Configure start and end times for each day
• Room Assignment: Select which room the child will be in
• Days of Week: Toggle which days the session applies to
• Funded Hours: Specify funded hours for each day if applicable

Making Changes

When editing a session:

1. Adjust Times: Use the time pickers to set attendance hours
2. Select Days: Toggle the days of the week the session applies to
3. Change Room: Select a different room if needed
4. Set Dates: Ensure the session dates cover the required period

Saving Child Schedule Changes

Pigeonhole allows you to make multiple child schedule changes before saving each one. This allows you to easily find the optimum occupancy for your setting:

1. Edit Multiple Staff: Make changes to several children
2. Track Changes: The system tracks all modified schedules
3. Save: Click “Save” to save each child change
4. Cancel: Click “Cancel” to revert all updates on a child.

5. Staff List View

The staff tab provides comprehensive management of staff schedules and allows you to adjust work patterns to optimize coverage.

Staff Schedule Overview

The staff list displays:

• Staff Name: Full name and role
• Weekly Pattern: Visual representation of their work schedule
• Daily Hours: Scheduled hours for each day
• Room Assignment: Which room(s) they’re assigned to
• Schedule Status: Current, upcoming, or historical schedules

Updating Staff Work Schedules

To modify a staff member’s work schedule:

1. Find Staff Member: Use search or browse the staff list
2. Click Edit: Click the edit button next to their name
3. Modify Schedule: The staff schedule edit dialog opens

Staff Schedule Edit Options

The staff schedule editor provides:

• Session Periods: Configure different work periods
• Start/End Dates: Set when the schedule is active
• Daily Hours: Specify start and end times for each day
• Room Assignment: Select which room the staff member covers
• Days of Week: Choose which days they work
• Break Times: Configure breaks and non-contact time

Making Schedule Changes

When editing staff schedules:

1. Adjust Work Hours: Set appropriate start and end times
2. Select Work Days: Choose which days of the week apply
3. Room Assignment: Ensure staff are assigned to appropriate rooms
4. Date Ranges: Set the period when the schedule is active

Saving Staff Changes

Pigeonhole allows you to make multiple staff schedule changes before saving each one. This allows you to easily find the optimum occupancy for your setting:

1. Edit Multiple Staff: Make changes to several staff members
2. Track Changes: The system tracks all modified schedules
3. Save: Click “Save” to save each staff members changes
4. Cancel: Click “Cancel” to revert all updates on a staff member.