The Admin page, accessible to site administrators, is now more powerful and designed to make it easier to manage many rosters, and more complex roster, more easily.
Many of the settings that used to be within a specific roster are moved here. Although you can still define settings roster by roster, such as reminders, you can now also easily manage rules and settings to be site-wide or applicable to every roster in a roster group.
There is now also a search function to quickly find the settings you need (A), e.g. type 'reminders' and the Admin page will filter those settings to just show the ones that allow you to set reminders.
Site settings (B)
Many of the elements you can change in site settings were previously only possible by contacting HosPortal. You can now review and edit these yourself.
Site details: rename your site, review the time zone (this can only be set once, when your site is set up) and determine if you users need to use multi-factor authentication, like an SMS code or other one-time password to log in.
Site holidays: Add and remove holidays applicable to your site.
Contact settings: Define additional contact types, such as pager or home phone number, that users can enter into their profile.
Dashboard settings: define what to show on every user's home page regarding the rosters of today: which once to show, their order, and what details to include.
Communication history logs: allow an administrator to see the system messages sent to each user over any time frame since this new version of HosPortal was launched. It might be used for auditing if a user saw a reminder. It can also count the number of SMS messages sent, for those customers who pay for SMS messages.
Permissions (C)
HosPortal now considerably simplifies permissions. Each user is now part of a 'permission group' that you can define that simply and consistently defines the permissions of people in that group. The permission groups can be applied to roles so that, for instance, all Consultant doctors get a consistent permission. You can still add permissions to individuals or move individuals between permission groups.
Site administrators: quickly assign and change individuals who have site administration permissions, to do and edit anything a HosPortal user can do. You need to have at least one site administrator at all times.
Permission groups: create and copy permission groups; change the permissions associated with a permission group; assign the permission groups to roles or individuals. There is a 'Default' permission group that will automatically apply to anyone that is not otherwise given a permission group.
Search permissions: allows you to find permission groups or individuals who have specific permissions.
Users (D)
Teams: HosPortal now allows you to define optional teams, and assign people to these teams for a period. Teams can consist of people across multiple roles or areas of HosPortal. Teams have a hierarchy, such that you can define the Neurology Team to be a subset of the Medical Subspecialty team, which is a subset of the Medicine team. Once you define the team structure here, you can assign an individual to a team in their profile. People can be assigned to teams for specific periods, for instance 1 Jan to 30 June.
Roles: Roles are still the foundation user grouping in HosPortal. You can create new roles, rename them or archive them. You can now also assign colours and icons to roles, to assist identify people in a particular role on the roster.
Role tags: allow you to group and filter roles, particularly if you have many of them.
Skills: HosPortal has had Skills for a while, where people in particular roles (e.g. Consultants) can be given an optional skill or qualification (e.g. Paediatrics). They are now more prominent in HosPortal, and can now have start and end dates, for instance for skills that need to be re-qualified each year. The skills are defined here. Applying a skill to an individual is done under each user's profile.
Profile information settings: Create and edit data fields that are attached to each user's profile, such as qualifications or hobbies. These can be made available to specific roles, and can be made visible only to administrators if preferred.
Rosters (E)
Roster groups: what used to be called Call and Allocations is now a more flexible structure called roster groups. You can define as many roster groups as you like. Each roster group will appear with its own icon in the main menu.
Roster locations: HosPortal allows you to maintain a master list of rostering locations, which can optionally be applied to shifts in any roster group.
Roster tags: used to group, filter and easily find rosters. The tags are defined here, and applied to rosters within each roster admin screen.
Roster reminder settings: this consolidates all reminders to one location, for instance to send SMS and email reminders to users before their shifts. Reminders were previously only available to Call rosters. They can now be set for any roster individually, or across multiple rosters or roster groups at the same time. If reminders need acknowledgement, you can specify who the acknowledgements get sent to.
Roster rates: set shift payment rates for rosters where users are allowed to invoice.
Roster reports: generate analytical and statistical reports for each roster group. Name and save the report types.
Shift alerts: this consolidates all alerts about rosters, such as letting administrators know if there has been a change to the roster, or alerting someone if there is a vacancy in the roster. Alerts were previously only available to Call rosters. They can now be set for each roster, or across multiple rosters or roster groups at the same time.
Shift market rules: this defined which users can use the market for which rosters. Previously this was set within each Call roster. This is now available to all roster groups.
Shift rules: determine which users and which rosters are eligible to use HosPortal's invoicing functions.
Shift change request rules: Define whether people can swap and transfer shifts. This was a feature that was previously only available to Call rosters. Now, in addition, you can define approval rules that allow users to request changes, for a roster administrator to approve.
Shift separation rules: Define the interaction between shifts and different rosters, for instance so that a user cannot do a clinical allocation the day after a night shift. Previously this was defined for each Call roster. It can now be used across all roster groups, and can be set for multiple rosters at within the one rule. Over time the rules will get more varied.
Leave (F) and Events (G)
Leave types: manage types of leave, such as Annual Leave or Sick Leave, and who is allowed to apply for each type.
Leave alerts: manage who gets notified when leave is requested and approved. This can remind leave approvers to log in to approve leave.
Leave request rules: HosPortal now allows you to define complex rules to assist manage leave. In addition to whether users can apply for leave at all, you can define 'auto-approve' rules for leave that will be approved automatically, and 'auto-decline' rules that stops people applying for some types of leave. Rules can be based on complex mixes of the applicant's role, the dates requested, the type of leave, the duration of the leave, and how close the leave is. So it is now possible to set rules that, for instance, stop people for applying for leave over the New Year holidays, or automatically approve leave if it is sick leave booked 3 months in advance.
Event locations: Like clinical locations, you can manage a master list of locations that events occur in, like meeting rooms.
Event templates: create and manage repeating events.
Event tags: create and manage tags to allow you to better manage many events and event types.
Phone book (H) and Scheduled exports (I)
HosPortal now allows a managed list of contact that do not have a HosPortal login. Many customers send email messages or exported files to people who do not have a HosPortal login, like the HR or Finance department. Or need to add contacts for alerts, for instance if there are gaps in the roster.
Phone book profiles: manage the names and contact details in the phone book, and define where those contact can be used.
Phone book tags: create and manage tags to make it easier to filter and sort many phone book entries.
Scheduled exports: these are what used to be included in HosPortal's 'Notifications' function. It defines copies of the rosters to be sent on a schedule. You can define the format, the sending schedule, and the recipients.