The Kronos User Spotlight program recognizes the people who use Kronos regularly in their day-to-day jobs. Not only do the articles introduce you to real Kronos end-users, but they also help you learn about features, resources, and solution strategies you might not have known about before.
Please meet Meaghan Connelly! Here’s what she has to share about her experience using Workforce Central®.
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Meet Meaghan
| Name: | Meaghan Connelly |
| Company: | UMass Memorial Healthcare |
| Role: | Sr. System Analyst — Kronos Workforce Scheduler |
| Product: | Workforce Central |
| Experience with Kronos: | 4 years |
| Kronos Community Name: | meaghan.connelly59184 |
Product Features and Functionality: What Meaghan is most excited about
My favorite features are the ones that most actively engage the end-user. Much of my focus has been on customizing and rolling out employee self-service features and workflows, along with reciprocal managerial functions. Over the years, we have developed a scheduling process utilizing preferred scheduling (legacy/checkbox method), open shift requests, shift swap requests, and requests to cover that allow staff to actively participate in the scheduling process. Working directly with staff has helped me better understand their needs and configure relevant tools.
This has also presented me with the opportunity to be responsive to manager feedback, and I’m very excited to be rolling out our new Workforce Scheduler™ Manager display profile. This features a side-by-side view of the Request Manager and Schedule Planner as a home workspace and it’s supported by a side-by-side GoTo Workspace partnering the timecard with a second schedule planner. The manager can further customize their profile to their own needs using preferences. I’m very much looking forward to our pending 8.1 upgrade, where we can take advantage of grouping in the request manager widget and a week-by-week breakdown of scheduled hours.
Resources: What Meaghan can’t live without
My network — The Kronos resource that I can’t live without has got to be my network. KronosWorks has been a great place to mingle and learn from others’ experiences. Boston Children’s Hospital put on a great presentation last year, and I went to a report writing class that made writing code look like fun! I’ve also learned so much from my implementation teams, both at the initial implementation and throughout the upgrade process, and the optimization team during our Optimization Assessment. The collaborative atmosphere highlights everyone’s strengths and is a fantastic learning environment.
Kronos Community — I love having the flexibility of reading through the Community site for potential solutions to a problem.
Tips and Tricks: Advice from Meaghan
My best advice for Kronos users is that if you have a DEV (test) environment, use it! Not only is it great for testing your next steps, it’s also a safe place to innovate. DEV is my playground, where I can develop solutions that address a wishlist request [or] pain point, and prepare for my next go-live without impacting daily operations. It’s extremely helpful to be able to demo my theoretical solutions to the customer in a tangible space when garnering support for any change that I’d like to make or a process that I’d like to implement.
Just for Fun: More About Meaghan
I very much enjoy the testing aspect of upgrades and implementations and tend to be excruciatingly thorough. During one of my self-service testing sessions years ago, I decided to thoroughly test the scheduling process, including opening/closing signups, posting, unposting, and approving a BUNCH of different requests. Well, they all worked — a fact that was confirmed by multiple users who wanted to know where all the emails came from and what they meant. Moral of the story: Always make sure that email notifications are disabled in test and only turn them on when you are intentionally testing a notification. :)
Thank you, Meaghan, for sharing your wisdom! To you, the reader, it’s your turn! If you’re interested in stepping into the spotlight, complete our short online interview form and provide the information we need to feature you here.
To follow up with Meaghan, please feel free to connect with her via private message in Kronos Community.