Which should I use, a Derived or a Defined Shift Pattern?

Simply put, it depends upon what you are trying to do.

For those employees who do not work set shift patterns, customers will generally put them on a defined shift pattern where every day is a work day.

When an employee requests a holiday, it’s up to the Timegate Web user to determine how many days they would have worked in a week.

A derived shift pattern is more accurate. Generally, when an employee requests a week’s holiday, a diary event will be created covering the whole week. They may only, however, be due to work three days in that week, but the derived shift pattern will “know” this and only pay them for those days.

Note: It is possible to use the Absence module without creating an employee shift pattern, but this can lead to unexpected results. It is recommended that a shift pattern be created for any employee who is to be paid absence.