Mastering Shifts and Day Splits: Impact on Reports and Dashboards
1) Overview:
Flowace structures every employee's working hours around two core settings: Shifts and Day Split. Together, these two settings define when a logical workday begins and ends, when a scheduled shift begins and ends, and how all recorded activity is attributed in reports.
This document provides a complete reference for administrators and team managers. It explains how the settings interact, walks through three real-world scheduling scenarios, and includes a sample of the Resource Utilisation Report output so readers can anticipate exactly how data will appear under each report scope.
1.1) The Three Core Settings:
When an administrator creates a shift in Flowace (Admin Settings → Shifts → Create New), three timestamps must be configured:
Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
Shift Start | The time the scheduled shift begins. Activity that occurs before Shift Start falls within the Out-of-Shift (Before) window. |
Shift End | The time the scheduled shift ends. Activity that occurs after Shift End falls within the Out-of-Shift (After) window. |
Day Split | Sets the Day Start of each logical workday. Day End is automatically calculated as one minute before the Day Split time on the following calendar day. Example: Day Split = 11:00 → Day Start = 11:00, Day End = 10:59 (next day). |
1.2) How a Logical Workday is Structured:
Every logical workday is anchored by the Day Split and divided into three zones:
Zone | Definition |
|---|---|
Out-of-Shift (Before) | From Day Start to Shift Start. Activity here is captured and visible in Full Day reports but excluded from Shift Hours Only reports. |
Shift Window | From Shift Start to Shift End. This is the period of expected, scheduled working hours. |
Out-of-Shift (After) | From Shift End to Day End. Activity here is also captured and visible in Full Day reports but excluded from Shift Hours Only reports. |
1.3) Report's Scope:
Every Flowace report can be run in one of two scopes. Column headers are identical in both views; only the hour values differ. Day Start, Day End, Shift Start, and Shift End always appear as reference columns regardless of scope so that managers can compare expected versus actual hours at a glance.
Scope | Count Hours From | Count Hours Until | Includes Out-Of-Shift Activity? |
|---|---|---|---|
Full Day | Day Start | Day End | Yes - all recorded activity within the logical workday is included. |
Shift Hours Only | Shift Start | Shift End | No - only activity that falls within the Shift Window is counted. |
2) Scenario Walkthroughs:
The two scenarios below cover the most common scheduling patterns: a standard day shift and a late-night shift that crosses midnight. Each walkthrough shows how the Day Split anchors the logical workday and why selecting the correct split time is especially important for employees who work across the midnight boundary.
Employee | Role | Day Start | Shift Window | Day End | Cross Midnight? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Priya Sharma | Marketing Manager | Mon 00:00 | 10:00 → 19:00 | Mon 23:59 | No |
Meera Nair | Data Centre Operator | Mon 20:00 | Mon 22:00 → Tue 07:00 | Tue 19:59 | Yes |
2.1) Priya's Standard Day Shift
Priya works a conventional office schedule. Her Day Split is configured at 00:00, which anchors her logical workday from just after midnight to 23:59 on the same calendar date. Her shift window (10:00–19:00) falls entirely within a single calendar day, so no special configuration considerations are required.
Setting | Time | Calendar Day |
|---|---|---|
Day Start | 00:00 | Monday, 21 April |
Shift Start | 10:00 | Monday, 21 April |
Shift End | 19:00 | Monday, 21 April |
Day End | 23:59 | Monday, 21 April |
Workday Timeline:
Reports - Scope Behaviour:
Report Scope | What is Counted |
|---|---|
Full Day | All activity Priya logged between Mon 00:00 and Mon 23:59, including any early morning or evening work outside the shift window. |
Within Shift Hours | Only activity logged between 10:00 and 19:00 on Monday is counted. Out-of-Shift activity is excluded. |
2.2) Meera's Late Night Shift:
Meera's shift begins at 22:00 Monday and ends at 07:00 Tuesday. Her Day Split is configured at 20:00 - two hours before the shift starts. This creates a short Out-of-Shift window before the shift (20:00–22:00) and a long inactive window afterward (07:00–19:59) covering the full daytime period. Any activity that takes place before 20:00 on Monday is entirely outside her logical workday.
Setting | Time | Calendar Day |
|---|---|---|
Day Start | 20:00 | Monday, 21 April |
Shift Start | 22:00 | Monday, 21 April |
Shift End | 07:00 | Tuesday, 22 April |
Day End | 19:59 | Tuesday, 22 April |
Workday Timeline:
Thumb Rule for cross-midnight shifts: set the Day Split to a time when the employee is not expected to be active. This guarantees that the full shift and its surrounding Out-of-Shift windows are captured within a single logical workday.
Reports - Scope Behaviour:
Report Scope | What is Counted |
|---|---|
Full Day | All activity Meera logged from Mon 20:00 to Tue 19:59, including the brief 2-hour Out-of-Shift window before her shift begins at 22:00. |
Shift Hours Only | Only activity logged between Mon 22:00 and Tue 07:00 is counted (9-hour shift window). Out-of-Shift activity is excluded |
3) Reporting Preview - Sample Data
The tables below show how the Resource Utilisation Report presents data for Monday, 21 April, across both example employees. All hour values are fictional but internally consistent and are provided so that administrators and managers can understand how each column is derived and how the two report scopes produce different totals from the same underlying activity.
Column relationships:
- Logged Hours = Active Hours + Away Hours + Idle Hours
- Productive Hours = Productive Hours (Active) + Productive Hours (Away)
- Unproductive Hours = Unproductive Hours (Active) + Unproductive Hours (Away)
- Neutral Hours = Neutral Hours (Active) + Neutral Hours (Away)
3.1) Scope - Within Shift Hours
The report is filtered to each employee’s Shift Window only. Activity outside scheduled hours is excluded from all hour columns, though Day Start and Day End, Shift Start and Shift End remain visible as reference.
User | Day Start | Day End | Shift Start | Shift End | Work Start | Work End | Logged Hrs | Active Hrs | Away Hrs | Productive Hrs | Unproductive Hrs | Neutral Hrs | Idle Hrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Priya Sharma | 00:00(Mon) | 23:59 (Mon) | 10:00 (Mon) | 19:00 (Mon) | 10:08 | 18:52 | 8:00 | 6:15 | 0:45 | 5:10 | 0:50 | 1:00 | 1:00 |
Meera Nair | 20:00 (Mon) | 19:59 (Tue) | 22:00 (Mon) | 07:00 (Tue) | 22:05 | 06:50 | 7:30 | 5:55 | 0:35 | 4:5 | 0:55 | 0:40 | 1:00 |
3.2) Scope - Full Day:
The report covers each employee’s complete logical workday, from Day Start to Day End. Out-of-Shift activity on either side of the shift window is included, which typically results in higher Logged Hours compared with the Shift Hours Only view.
User | Day Start | Day End | Shift Start | Shift End | Work Start | Work End | Logged Hrs | Active Hrs | Away Hrs | Productive Hrs | Unproductive Hrs | Neutral Hrs | Idle Hrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Priya Sharma | 00:00 (Mon) | 23:59 (Mon) | 10:00 (Mon) | 19:00 (Mon) | 08:30 | 19:45 | 9:30 | 7:30 | 1:00 | 6:00 | 1:10 | 1:20 | 1:00 |
Meera Nair | 20:00 (Mon) | 19:59 (Tue) | 22:00 (Mon) | 07:00 (Tue) | 21:50 | 07:10 | 8:20 | 6:35 | 0:45 | 5:20 | 1:00 | 1:00 | 1:00 |
Comparing Scope 3.1 and Scope 3.2 for the same employee shows how much activity occurs outside scheduled shift hours. A materially higher Full Day total may indicate early arrivals, late departures, or work performed in Out-of-Shift windows that warrants further review.
Updated on: 24/04/2026
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