Configure Your FlexSheet

Before you can start using your FlexSheet to record your start/end times you need to enter your details in its My Info tab.

Switch to the “My Info” Tab

Open your FlexSheet and click on the My Info tab at the bottom of the page to switch to it.

If you have a small screen and can’t see the My Info tab use the right-pointing arrow to the right of the tabs to scroll along and bring it into view.

Enter Your Details

Fill in the pale green boxes with your details.

The “About You” Section

  • Enter your name — This will appear in the headings on other tabs.

The “About this FlexSheet” Section

If you’re not sure of what to enter for any of these please check with your line manager or departmental administrator.

  • Enter the starting month and year of the FlexYear this FlexSheet is to be used for in the form mm/yyyy — The University’s standard FlexYear runs from October, although some departments might start their FlexYear in other months.

  • Select how many FlexPeriods per FlexYear your department uses — The University’s standard FlexYear has 4 FlexPeriods each with 3 months, and is currently the only option offered.

  • Enter the date of the first entry you’ll be making in this FlexSheet — Usually this is the first day of the FlexYear. However if you’re joining your department mid-year, or starting a new FlexSheet because you are changing your contracted hours partway through the year, put in that date instead; it will grey out the earlier dates within the FlexSheet.

  • Enter the initial FlexBalance that you’re carrying forward from a previous FlexSheet — If you have just joined your department then this will be 00:00, otherwise it is the balance shown at the end of your previous FlexSheet.

The “About Your Annual Leave” Section

Don’t worry if you can’t see this section! It’s used only by one of the Adventures for the Braver-Hearted so is normally hidden from view.

The “About Your Working Hours” Section

  • Select the FlexBands your team uses (ie, the three flexible bands during which you start, have lunch, and finish) — This pop-up menu has an entry for the University’s standard FlexBands. If you have different FlexBands choose CUSTOM and enter the start and end times of each of the three FlexBands that surround your two periods of Core Hours.

  • Select how many working patterns your work follows — For most people this will be 1 pattern. However some people are scheduled to work a number of days and times for a few weeks, before changing to another pattern of days and times and so on, eventually cycling back round to the first pattern. If this applies to you please follow the extra step described in the section below.

  • Enter how many hours and minutes there are in your standard working day throughout the week — If you work more than one working pattern you’ll need to enter these for each of your patterns.

For example, the FlexSheet is pre-populated with standard days of “7:24” (7 hours 24 minutes) Monday to Friday. This is correct for someone who is working the full-time 37 hours per week spread evenly over weekdays (37 ÷ 5 days = 7.4 hours per day = 7 hours 24 minutes).

If you only work one pattern of days and hours stop here: you’ve got everything set up and can start Using Your FlexSheet.

However if you work two or more different patterns of days and hours throughout the FlexYear you’ll need to set up your FlexSheet to understand this using the additional instructions below.

Changing your working days and/or hours partway through the FlexYear? See Changing Your Hours for help on telling your FlexSheet about this.

Additional Steps if You Work Multiple Patterns of Days/Hours

Some people have different “working patterns” throughout the year. That is, they work one pattern of hours per week for several weeks of the year, then rotate with colleagues and change to a different pattern of days and hours. Only follow these additional steps if you work two or more working patterns throughout the FlexYear.

Step 1: Set Up Your Working Patterns on the “My Info” Tab

If you have followed the instructions above you will have already done this — ie,

  • selected the number of different working patterns your schedule follows throughout the FlexYear

  • entered the number of hours you work on each day of the week for each of your working patterns

Each working pattern has a pattern number to identify it above it in the table. Make a note of each pattern number and its days and hours; you’ll be entering these into the main FlexSheet for each day of the year so it knows which pattern you are working on any given date.

Step 2: Switch to the “FlexSheet” Tab

Click on the FlexSheet tab at the bottom of the page to switch to it.

If you have a small screen and can’t see the FlexSheet tab use the left-pointing arrow to the right of the tabs to scroll along and bring it into view.

Step 3: Set Up Your Working Patterns on the “FlexSheet” Tab

The FlexSheet contains a hidden column to identify which working pattern applies to each date. By default pattern 1 is applied to every date in the FlexYear. Because you have different working patterns throughout the year you need to say which pattern applies to each date. (If you don’t know them all in advance don’t worry: you can change them later as you find them out.)

  1. Make the hidden column visible by clicking the “+” symbol at the top of the page, above column A. This will reveal the Pattern Number column.

  2. Fill in this Pattern Number column for each date of the FlexYear, putting in the id number of the working pattern which applies to that week/day.

You’re all done! Now you can start Using Your FlexSheet.

A Quick Tip

You can speed up entering your Working Pattern numbers as follows:

  1. Enter the appropriate pattern number into the first cell of a block and press Return.

  2. Click once on the cell you entered the number in to select it. A rectangle appears around the cell, with a little square at its bottom-right.

  3. Click on the little square and drag it downwards, extending the selection rectangle down the column and over the cells below that are to have the same number. When you let go it will automatically fill them in with the same number.