Duty planning software for practices and small businesses
Plan the day in activities rather than attendances: who is in consultation, who is in the lab, who is at reception. With time tracking and holiday in the same system, from 5 € per person a month.
No credit card required · Cancel monthly
- A day grid to your own rhythm, from 5 minutes
- Staffing rules tie activities to qualifications
- Planned and recorded time in the same system
Lena H.
Tobias K.
Aylin D.
Mehmet Y.
Sophie B.
Mara W.Leave, 3 daysAylin Demir · 28–30 OctTraining, 1 dayTobias Krüger · 22 Oct
Leave, 3 daysNadia Schulz · 22–24 DecReview
Month endSeptember · Krämer payroll officeDone- Made in GermanyDeveloped and hosted in Germany
- Certified data centreISO 27001, located in Germany
- Web, app and terminalBrowser, iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows
- GDPR compliantServers in Nuremberg and Falkenstein
What duty planning is needed for
As soon as several activities run side by side on one day and not everybody can take on each of them, an attendance list is no longer enough. Duty planning divides the day into a time grid and fills every lane with an activity and a person. What becomes visible is not only who is in, but whether the staffing holds for the day.
That applies to practices with consultation, lab and reception, to pharmacies with dispensary and compounding, to therapy businesses working to a treatment rhythm and to law firms with cases and administration. In hospitality or retail the question is usually who works when; for that there is rota software.
What duty planning in MetronHR can do
All of it included in the Professional plan, with no extra module and no surcharge.
- Grid
A day grid to your own rhythm
You set the day window and the grid interval yourself.
A practice with 30-minute consultations plans differently from a therapy business on a 20-minute rhythm. Both work: the grid follows your day and not the other way round.
- Activities
Your own activities with colour and short code
The plan reads from two metres away.
Every activity gets a colour and a short code, so the notice works without a legend. The codes come from the name automatically and can be changed.
- Staffing
Staffing rules with qualifications
A gap in the staffing shows up while you plan, not on the day itself.
Rules tie activities to qualification groups, to several at once if needed, and couple roles to each other, a vet and a veterinary nurse for example.
- Employee protection
Checked while you plan, not afterwards
Rest period, daily and weekly maximum are checked in the plan.
Plus the tighter limits of the Young Persons Employment Act for apprentices under 18 and of the Maternity Protection Act. It warns; it blocks nothing lawful.
- Absence
A gap goes to the pool
The request goes to the group, not across the manager's desk.
If somebody drops out, the cover request goes to the people with the right qualification. Whoever takes it on appears in the plan.
- Templates
Industry templates to start from
Qualifications, activities, the grid and the rules are prepared.
For doctors', dental and veterinary practices, pharmacies and physiotherapy. You change what is different at your place instead of creating everything.
- Reconciliation
Target, planned and the difference on the sheet
You see in the plan whether the hours add up.
For each person the target time stands next to what has been planned. The difference shows where somebody is over- or under-scheduled, before the month runs.
- Time tracking
Planned and recorded side by side
No second program for the actual time.
People clock in through the app, in the browser or with a card at the terminal. Plan and record are reconciled in the same system.
What that costs a practice with twelve people
Duty planning belongs to the Professional plan. It is billed per person and month, with no base fee, no setup fee and cancellable monthly. An example at three sizes:
| Team | Professional a month | What is included in it |
|---|---|---|
| 6 people | 60 € | duty planning, time tracking, absences, overtime, personnel file |
| 12 people | 120 € | plus reports, workflows, allowances |
| 25 people | 250 € | the same scope, no tiering and no volume discount |
6 people
- Professional a month
- 60 €
- What is included in it
- duty planning, time tracking, absences, overtime, personnel file
12 people
- Professional a month
- 120 €
- What is included in it
- plus reports, workflows, allowances
25 people
- Professional a month
- 250 €
- What is included in it
- the same scope, no tiering and no volume discount
The number of sites makes no difference. Providers that bill per site quickly become more expensive for businesses with several small branches than for one large business under a single roof.
Related
Where to go from here, and what waits for you there.
- Instead of Excel
From the spreadsheet to time tracking, without a break
For anyone still planning with a spreadsheet and a printout: what happens when you switch, and when a spreadsheet is still enough.
See Instead of Excel Duty planning in the product
Step by step with pictures.
Viewrota software
When it is about shifts over weeks rather than activities within the day.
ViewTime tracking for a doctors' practice
With the template for consultation hours, lab and reception.
View
Frequent questions about duty planning software
What businesses ask most often before choosing.
Question not answered here? Every step is explained in the help centre.
Send us a messageWhat does duty planning cost for twelve people?
Duty planning belongs to the Professional plan, so 10 € per person a month. Twelve people come to 120 € a month, cancellable monthly, with no base fee and no setup fee. Time tracking, absences and the overtime account are part of it and cost nothing extra.
What is the difference between duty planning and rota planning?
A rota says who works when, usually across weeks. A duty plan also says what that person does in that time, within the grid of a day: consultation, lab, reception, home visit. Anyone planning shift work needs the first. Anyone dividing a day into activities needs the second. MetronHR does both.
Can we start from a template?
Yes. Templates are ready for doctors' practices, dental practices, veterinary practices, pharmacies and physiotherapy: the usual qualification groups, a set of activities with colours and short codes, a fitting grid interval and the staffing rules. You take the template and change what is different at your place, instead of starting from nothing.
Does the plan check whether the staffing adds up?
Yes. Staffing rules tie activities to qualifications, to several at once if needed, for example "consultation requires a qualified assistant" or "reception at least one person during opening hours". If one is missing you see it in the plan and not on the morning of the day.
Does the planning warn about breaches of the Working Hours Act?
While you plan it checks: eleven hours of rest between two working days, the daily and the weekly maximum, plus the tighter limits of the Young Persons Employment Act for apprentices under 18 and of the Maternity Protection Act. The warning comes in the plan, not in a report at the month end. MetronHR does not block a lawful plan and gives no legal advice.
Can people see their plan on their phone?
Yes, through the app for iOS and Android, plus a printout for the noticeboard. Anyone who wants can subscribe to the plan as a calendar feed and see it in Outlook or Google Calendar.
Do we need a second piece of software for time tracking?
No, and that is exactly the difference from pure planning tools. Planned and actually recorded time live in the same system, so the gap shows up by itself. At the end of the month the closing figures are simply there, instead of being collected from two programs.
Set the day plan up once, and it runs from then on.
Try it free for 14 days, no credit card. You take the industry template on while setting up.
- No credit card required
- Ready quickly
- Cancel monthly
- Full access to every feature
No credit card, cancel any time