Product & Courseware Notifications

Welcome to our Scheduling newsletter, featuring selected updates, resources, and announcements from across HealthStream’s Scheduling product family. If you're not subscribed, sign up here.

This Month’s Focus

Keep ShiftWizard Clean, Secure, and Optimized: A System Administrator Health Check
One recommended best practice is to establish a routine health-check cadence for your ShiftWizard environment. Regular reviews can help protect user access, keep scheduling activity current, support reliable interface data, and ensure staffing assumptions still reflect how your organization operates. They can also make it easier to identify inactive accounts, overlapping permissions, unused departments, and outdated configuration before they affect day-to-day scheduling.

Use the following suggested checklist as a starting point, adjusting the cadence as needed to fit your organization’s policies and workflows.

Review Quarterly

• Review elevated login types. Go to Superuser > System Configuration > User Access Level, export the results to Excel, and confirm that each user still needs the assigned Administrator, SuperUser, SuperUserPlus, Approver, or other elevated login type.
• Review department-level access. Confirm that Manager, Team Leader, and other department assignments are still appropriate. Remove unnecessary overlapping assignments that could prevent users from seeing the correct departments or functions.
• Review active users. Go to Reports > Enterprise Reports > Staff Management > Active Users. Sort Days Since Last Login in descending order to identify accounts that may no longer need to remain active.
• Review active schedules. Go to Reports > Enterprise Reports > Scheduling > Active Schedules. Filter the Active Schedule column to No and review the Last Week Approved value to identify departments that may not be building or approving schedules in ShiftWizard.
• Verify department charge codes. Review Superuser > Interface Tools > Interface Config or Superuser > System Settings > Departments. Confirm that each interfaced department has the correct charge code and that Send Schedule, Send Pay Codes, and Send On-Call settings match your workflow.

Review Daily or Weekly

• Confirm census and ADT data are flowing. Go to Superuser > Interface Tools > Interface ADT Report and check the most recent data received. Compare unexpected gaps or values with the ERM Dashboard and Staffing Worksheet. Open a Support case when data is missing or appears incorrect.

Review Annually

• Revisit staffing plans after the budgeting cycle. Confirm that productivity targets, hours per patient day, and other staffing assumptions still reflect current operational and financial expectations.

Maintain as Configuration Changes

• Standardize shift types across departments where possible. Use a unique sort order so shifts display in a logical time sequence in ShiftClick, and use consistent naming conventions for education, meeting, on-call, and nonstandard break shifts.
• Review shift visibility settings. Confirm that Needs List and self-scheduling settings are enabled for the shift types employees should be able to see or request.

Watch the full administrator health check for additional explanation and examples: Quarterly ShiftWizard Health Check for System Administrators

What’s New and Noteworthy

Review ShiftWizard Messages in one searchable enterprise report
The new Application Messages enterprise report combines information previously found in the Text Message Report and Employee Messages Report. Managers, Administrators, and SuperUsers can search messages by date range and review sender and recipient details, department and location context, delivery method, read receipt, and electronic signature information from one report. 
Availability: ShiftWizard Reports > Enterprise Reports > Staff Management > Application Messages

Apply contract-based scheduling rules more consistently
A new Enable Staffing Plan Dates enterprise setting adds contracted-shift fields to Scheduling Rules and allows SuperUsers to create reusable Scheduling Rules Templates. Templates can define contracted shift counts, contract duration and start date, weekday requirements, shift categories, and required break time across selected locations and departments. Managers and above can then assign a template to multiple employees at once and choose whether to preserve existing rules. 
Availability: ShiftWizard Staff > Scheduling Rules and Superuser > System Settings > Scheduling Rules Templates
Enablement: HealthStream Support enablement required

Compare over and under Par Levels by Position
The new O / U Par Levels By Position report helps Managers and above compare required and scheduled staffing by position. Users can create reusable views, select locations and departments, include zero-par shifts, filter by position, open related Open Shifts or Flex Log views, and export the results to Excel. 
Availability: ShiftWizard Reports > Staffing Levels > O / U Par Levels By Position

Focus ERM Dashboard Staff Counts on selected staffing periods
When the ERM Dashboard is used in Department mode, Show Staff Counts now reflects the staffing periods selected in the filter instead of displaying every period. This helps reduce visual clutter and lets managers focus on the time periods most relevant to the current review. 
Availability: ShiftWizard Dashboards > ERM Dashboard 

Access the full list of release notes here.

Product and Application Highlights

Additional fixes this month improve schedule maintenance, interface defaults, reporting accuracy, and Team Leader workflows.

Activity Log now includes position details for removed staff
Records for staff removed from a shift now populate the Position column in the Activity Log, providing clearer context when reviewing schedule changes. [WI 10484]
Availability: ShiftWizard Reports > Scheduling > Activity Log, or a staff member's Activity Log tab

Schedule Templates right-click Add Shift has been restored
Users can again right-click a day cell on the Schedule Templates screen and use Add Shift to place a shift on a staff member's template. [WI 14103]
Availability: ShiftWizard Templates > Schedule Templates

HR interface imports now select Send Schedules by default
The Send Schedules setting is now selected by default for employee profiles imported through an HR interface, helping ensure schedule information is sent as expected. [WI 12239]
Availability: ShiftWizard Superuser > Interface Tools > Interface Employees

Schedule Status rollout error has been corrected
The error that could display when Rollout Next Schedule was selected on the Schedule Status screen has been fixed. [WI 12486]
Availability: ShiftWizard Templates > Schedule Status

Team Leaders can add permitted icons from My Calendar
Team Leaders can now add icons on My Calendar according to the configured Team Leader permissions. The TL Add setting controls whether Team Leaders can add an icon for other staff members in their department, while Emp Add controls whether employees can add the icon to their own calendars. [WI 13869]
Availability: ShiftWizard Schedule > My Calendar and Quick Links > Manage Icons

Important Dates / Watch List

August 6: Q3 ShiftWizard Product Update
Register for the ShiftWizard Q3 Product Update Webinar on August 6th to hear the latest product updates and preview what’s ahead. The webinar is currently scheduled to cover enhancements related to insights, push notifications, account security, ERM Dashboard staffing visibility, Hover to Discover, and the Department Message Center.

Product update webinar
Register for the next Scheduling product update webinar to hear the latest product news, release highlights, and previews. Register for ANSOS or ShiftWizard.

Industry conferences: Upcoming events and webinars
View upcoming healthcare workforce, staffing, and scheduling-related conferences and events where HealthStream will be participating.

Helpful Resources

New Video: Logging In With hStream ID
The new Logging In With hStream ID video provides a quick walkthrough of the ShiftWizard login process. Share it with users who need help getting started or a refresher on accessing ShiftWizard with hStream ID.

Watch Here: Logging In With hStream ID

Community Update

A Better Way to Navigate the HealthStream Community
As the HealthStream Community continues to grow, an updated top navigation menu is being introduced to make it easier to find the resources, tools, and information you need.

The new navigation provides quicker access to product-specific resources, educational content, discussions, and more - helping you accomplish what you need with fewer clicks and a more intuitive experience.

The updated navigation will be available to all Community users beginning August 7th. No action is required.

Not in Community yet? Join the HealthStream Community today to access events, resources, and product conversations built for your team.

This month's resources can help system administrators turn routine maintenance into a repeatable practice while new reports and scheduling tools provide clearer visibility into communication, contracted scheduling rules, staffing levels, and day-to-day schedule activity. Use the health check to establish a review cadence, share the hStream ID video with users who need it, and explore the updated Community navigation beginning August 7th.