My Schedule Software Guide (2021)

Today’s work schedules are complicated. It’s no longer about logging in at 9, out at 5, and blocking off your two-week vacation on a paper calendar. Nowadays, people have constantly shifting timetables that must balance task completion time with appointments, paid time off, administrative work, and much more. If you don’t have a way to manage it all in real time, you can easily end up overwhelmed. 

That’s where digital scheduling software comes in. Features like My Schedule from Accelo help you plan your work hours in detail and share that plan with employees and management. It’s a comprehensive schedule, hosted online, that you can see and update 24/7 — whether you’re in the office or not.

What Is My Schedule?

My Schedule is a component of Accelo’s system that tracks and organizes the projects you work on. It's uniquely designed to help service professionals manage their workload. You can create your work in-platform and enter all relevant information, including hours, start date, due date, and more. 

The system considers how long the task will take and how many hours you have available, then uses that data to create time blocks in your schedule for you to work on the task. No more spending time figuring out how to fit that new project into your workday! Also, management can drop tasks into your schedule, complete with due dates and budgeted hours. 

Who Can Use My Schedule?

My Schedule isn’t the only professional scheduling tool out there, but it’s easily one of the most versatile. Accelo serves professionals who work in accounting, project management, consulting, IT, engineering, marketing, and much more. There are no assumptions about what your schedule should look like and the platform is fully customizable.

How to Use My Schedule with Accelo

The first time you view My Schedule, located in the Schedule drop-down, you’ll see a calendar auto-populated with your work from the past eight days and the next 15. You’ll notice each day populated with color-coded tasks, as follows:

• Assigned work is green. These are tasks that the system suggests you work on based on the due date.
• Scheduled activities are yellow. These are time blocks with a defined start and end time — a meeting, for example.
• Committed work is dark blue. These are time blocks that you or your manager have reserved for a specific task.
• External appointments are purple. These get imported from a connected calendar to your Accelo account.
• Logged work is light blue. This time may or may not be related to a task. 

From there, you can edit the calendar and your tasks so that you see the date range that makes sense for you. You can also add and edit the tasks scheduled for a particular day.

Editing Your Day

Adding a task to your schedule graph is as easy as dragging a task from your schedule work list into a specific day. Then, all you have to do is enter the amount of time you want to work on that task.

If you already have a task scheduled, you can edit it just by clicking the day in schedule view and clicking either “edit time” or “remove.” The edit time function lets you change the amount of time you spend on a task. If the time you edit has been estimated automatically, the system will adjust and re-distribute the remaining time. 

Your Schedule Work List

Your Schedule Work List includes all of the tasks that you have coming up, including their start and end dates, due dates, and time remaining. Each task gets assigned to a project and client so you and your team can manage deadlines accurately. 

It’s best to edit tasks when you first add them to your Schedule Work List. You can:

• Change the start or due dates
• Defer the task by a day, week, or month, or put it off until a specific date
• Mark the task as done
• Add a new activity against the task

Activities are notes, emails, meetings, calls, and postal mail. Each one is associated with a project and client, so everything you do stays organized and linked to the right billing pattern.  

Scheduling Tool Options

No scheduling tool is alone in its class. We have put together a list of Scheduling tools businesses should consider to better manage their work in 2021. 

• Accelo
• MySchedule
• 7Shifts
• When I Work
• Branch
• Findmyshift
  

Accelo’s My Schedule

My Schedule is a unique option among scheduling tools. While others are limited to dictating when and where employees work based on manual entry, the My Schedule app lets teams use their working hours wisely. It’s easy to edit the pieces of your day and manage time frames, due dates, and more, based on project needs. 

Features

• Automatically schedule tasks based on due dates and hours budgeted
• Reserve time for team members to work on specific projects
• See at a glance what you need to work on and when
• Manually log project-related and non-project-related work
• Sync with Google Calendar and Outlook

Best For

My Schedule is ideal for companies that want to maximize their profitability and use employee time efficiently. It integrates seamlessly with the rest of the Accelo system, which powers digital agencies, engineering and architecture firms, managed service providers, and more.

Pricing

Accelo’s all-in-one package is available for $79 per user, per month for a minimum of three users. For that price, you get the My Schedule app in addition to Accelo’s full suite of software tools that help you easily tackle:

• Project management
• Invoicing
• Contract development
• Automated workflows
• Sales and quotes 
  
  

My Schedule

My Schedule is an employee scheduling and workforce management application geared toward enterprises. 

Features

• Allow employees to initiate shift swaps, pending management review
• Enable easy submission of vacation requests
• Access manager-approved employee availability
• See hour counts and overtime warnings as you build your schedule
• Filter schedules by position
• Approve and deny schedule requests via mobile device
• Load saved schedules with one click
• Communicate with employees in-app

Best For

MySchedule is designed for managers and business owners who have to manage multiple employees’ schedules. 

Pricing

Regularly $2.99 per user. There is a promotional offer of $1.99 per user that may or may not be active, depending on when you sign up. You can try the platform free for 30 days.

7Shifts

7Shifts is a restaurant scheduling and staff management app. It’s designed to help managers and owners take control of their labor costs, communicate more effectively with teams, and create schedules more efficiently.

Features

• Create templates of your most common shift patterns
• Automatically factor in availability and time off 
• Publish schedules and notify staff instantly
• Accept time off, availability changes, and shift trade requests
• Message individuals or groups in-app

Best For

7Shifts works for restaurants of all sizes and types. 

Pricing

7Shifts has four pricing tiers. All include a simple time clock as well as staff availability, scheduling, and notifications. As you move up the pricing scale, you get support for more locations and employees — plus additional features like point of sale integration, labor budget functionality, and payroll integration at the highest tier.

Your options are:

• Comp: free for one location and up to 10 employees
• Appetizer: from $19.99 per month, per location
• Entrée: from $43.99 per month, per location
• The Works: from $78.97 per month, per location

There are optional add-ons available, such as set-up help, and you can try the product for free for 60 days.

When I Work 
When I Work is an employee scheduling app designed to reduce the amount of time that managers, supervisors, and owners spend planning shifts. In 2018, it received the Category Leader award from GetApp and the Most Affordable award from Capterra. 

Features

• View schedules by position
• Auto-schedule common shifts
• Accept and review time off requests
• Review shift swaps and drops
• Send instant shift notifications to employees
• Receive overtime warnings

Best For

When I Work suits businesses that need help managing the logistics of scheduling and team messaging. 

Pricing

When I Work has three pricing tiers:

• Free: $0 per user for up to 75 users
• Basic: $1.50 per user for multiple job sites
• Pro: $2.25 per user for advanced labor management

You can also add a time clock and hiring features for an additional monthly cost.

Branch

Branch is a financial management app that businesses can offer to their employees. Its scheduling feature lets you upload your team’s schedule and see what shifts people are working.

Features

• View schedule uploads in-app
• Instantly pay tips, gratuities, and expenses the same day
• Power transfer to other accounts
• Offer fee-free checking accounts and debit cards to employees

Best For

Branch’s schedule feature is relatively simplistic, so this app is best for companies that don’t need it to be their primary schedule management tool.

Findmyshift

Findmyshift offers basic employee scheduling and team communication management. Unlike some other employee scheduling apps, it offers document sharing and a notice board for employees.

Features

• Schedule easily with drag-and-drop functionality
• Allow employees to request, cancel, and swap shifts, pending approval
• Send automated shift reminders
• Manage time-off requests and allowances
• Record employee time with a free time clock station
• Track employee hours and costs

Best For

Findmyshift works for any company that needs to manage when their employees are on-site, but not necessarily what they’re doing day-to-day.

Pricing

Findmyshift prices its services per team. There are three pricing tiers:

• Free: $0 per team, per month
• Business: $35 per team, per month
• Volunteer: $26.25 per team, per month

The free plan supports five employees or fewer and lets you schedule up to one week in advance. The paid tiers support an unlimited number of employees and unrestricted advance planning.

Next Steps in Schedule Efficiency

There are plenty of scheduling apps out there, but as you’ve seen, they don’t all have the same functionality. Most alternatives to My Schedule — Findmyshift, When I Work, 7Shifts, and MySchedule, for example — only let you assign people to hours. 

Accelo takes you to the next level, allowing you to schedule specific tasks and projects into your day. Accelo’s robust system even does the scheduling for you with information about the project and its due date. It lets you manage everything about your schedule, rather than just the basic starts and stops. 

Ready to try it out? Sign up for your free trial and find out what Accelo can do for your business.