HotSchedules

Hi Ryan, Thanks for jumping in on the forum. We have looked into HotSchedules, and are looking into the integration -- cannot promise a timeline right now, but the fact that you filed a request helps drive our efforts, so we appreciate it. We'll have more to say about this in the coming weeks.

We know we have a hole to fill with respect to labor scheduling, and we're looking to solve that problem soon. We're weighing a number of different solutions right now.

Just to let you know

HotSchedules, with the latest update, is a terrific scheduling program. I know in previous email updates from Emagine that Hotschedules was going to be integrated and marked as "coming soon". I'm glad to hear it's still a coming.

I agree with Ryan. Hot Schedules is one of the better products out there. We are currently using Jolt which is OK. Their development hasn't progress in some areas in the way they promised though. I would rather see Hot Schedules than Peachworks. The folks at Peachworks have been looooooong on promises, way short on delivery and the old product had a mind of its own.

Can I ask you guys what features of Hot Schedules you use the most and are must have? They have a whole suite of stuff, I'm guessing a lot of people don't even use all of it.

My assumption is the ability to create a schedule and enforce it at the POS clockin is the #1 priority here, but are there other things that HotSchedules provides that you find you use a lot and necessary?

The whole point of integrating a scheduling program would be enforce it at the POS clock-in. Otherwise, we could just have employees punch a separate clock that works with HotSchedules but we wouldn't get the other reports associated with the employees clock-in and clock-outs from EmaginePOS.

HotSchedules is just a good scheduling program. If you are interested in the features of HotSchedules I could give you tour of it through a shared screen.

If Emagine doesn't integrate with it soon, I will be forced to have employees clock-in-out on a time clock that works with HotSchedules and use those reports. I would rather not do that.

Thanks Ryan for the feedback. That's what I figured. We can't reproduce all of HotSchedules quickly, but I think we could definitely tackle the ability to manage schedules and enforce it on the POS. I may take you up on that offer to have a call / chat and talk about how you use it. It would be useful.

You can reach me at davis @ emaginepos.com

Thanks Ryan!

Davis, I agree completely with Ryan that the number one priority is enforcement of the schedule in the POS. Beyond that I would like to see flexibility in schedule creation. We schedule based on an assumed level of sales the the positions required. We then fill the positions with personnel. Most systems start the scheduling process with a list of staff and I guess this works for many people even though I believe they think about things the way we do even if subconsciously. If what I am suggesting is unclear, please ask. Providing the flexibility to do it either way would seem simple and it would be unfortunate not to do so.

Just a brief update on this. We've talked to Hot Schedules. They won't do a full integration with a POS unless they have 5000+ locations (which we do not -- but we're growing :)

They're building an API to provide integration for mid-tier, but it won't be available until the Fall.

In the interim, I have begun work on integrating peachworks.com labor scheduling solution. I expect to have an update on that soon, and hope to have the ability to trial some people on it in the not too distant future.

If you're interested in being an alpha-tester for the peachworks labor scheduling integration or participating in a discussion on what features you'd like to see out of it, let me know.

We're also looking into some other integrations like Restaurant Magic which also provides labor scheduling solutions and other things like inventory.

Davis, I wish you would look more broadly than Peachworks or perhaps build your own. We are using Jolt. It's far from perfect but it has done the job. If you look at it and are interested I can fill you in on the pros and cons. That said, the folks at Peachworks have been long on talk and short on delivery. We used the older system for many years. It was limited, inflexible and problematic. Worse, when the database had issues they were often unable to figure out what they were. Furthermore, they were utterly unapologetic and they seriously raised their prices while delivering no additional value. I find it hard to believe that all of a sudden they have figured out how to do it right. Why don't you build a scheduler from scratch as soon as you get through online ordering. I would be happy to work with you on it. Peter

FYI: https://www.emaginepos.com/forum/feature-requests-pos/peachworks-labor-scheduling-integration

Peter, re: above, I understand your concerns. The old system had its issues. So far, I like what I've seen using Peach Schedule. It seems to work fairly well. Not surprisingly we do have a significant number of integrations piling up that people are asking for.

We seriously considered building our own -- and we may at some point, but the locale rules and regulations with respect to labor laws sort of steered me away from it, so I figured we need to get some kind of solution out there for people.

We'll look into Jolt and see what it looks like. Thanks for your feedback.

Davis, I can't say that your statement about Peach Schedule, "It seems to work fairly well." Is at all comforting. The old system did too, until it didn't. It was also grossly expensive and the team there was mostly completely unresponsive. I think we would find it hard to do business with them again. We used inventory as well and that was so plagued with issues the only thing we used it for was counts and supplier order tracking.

Hi Peter,

I understand you frustration, and perhaps you read me wrong, but my experience with the new Peachworks platform has been nothing but positive.

I'm not here to sell you on it either way, but I'll stand by our integration. Perhaps the best thing to do is wait a few weeks for some early adopters, and get feedback from them (there are quite a few queued up). I can put you in contact with them if you wish. Email me direct @ davis@emaginepos.com and I can set that up.

Update here, we are building an integration to HotSchedules now. It is in-progress. They have updated their platform to allow API access for us, and we are working on it.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!