Quinyx WFM glossary

Term

Meaning

Absence

Absence is an umbrella term which covers all types of absences from work, either planned or unplanned. For example, if someone doesn't show up to work they are absent, but they are not on leave because it was not planned or notified in advance. Read more here.

Keywords: absence, leave, unplanned/planned absence, part-time absence, absence shift, absence handling, absence schedule.

Absence opportunity

A configuration used to set a "quota" or limit on how many employees can be absent at the same time within a specific unit or group.

Absence request

An absence request is sent from the employee to the manager.

Keywords: absence request, notification logic.

Absence schedule

Sometimes an absence is entered well into the future before there is a shift for the period. In such cases, no salary-based shift is created during the absence. This means the employee will not receive any leave compensation. To counteract this, we have support for the absence schedule which, simply put, comprises weekly templates which can be selected in the absence dialogue to create salary-based replacement shifts during the absence. Read more here.

Keywords: absence, absence schedule, part-time absence, absence shift.

Absence type

Different types of absences, such as holiday, illness, parental leave, personal day, long-term illness, etc. Absence types are used during the actual absence reporting process and are visible to employees and the manager in different places in the system. The absence reason carry the absence code that must reflect what is set up in your payroll system. You can also link salary types to a absence reason in order to see the output in the Time card, but also needed if you want to use cost calculations in Quinyx.

Keywords: absence type, holiday, illness, parental leave, personal leave, sick leave, long-term illness.

Absence type category

Absence types are grouped into different categories. Each category can have different combinations of properties e.g. salary-based, sickness (illness), permission, vacation (holiday), counts as scheduled hours etc.

Keywords: absence type, absence.

Access rights

The set of permissions assigned to a user role that dictates which parts of Quinyx they can view or edit (e.g., Schedule, People, or Settings).

Account settings

The account settings page is where you do all the configuration for access rights.

Accrual driver

The specific trigger—such as hours worked or years of service—that determines how leave or vacation balances are earned by an employee.

Advanced Analytics

Advanced Analytics offers a set of dashboards for you to visualize and analyze your WFM-related data to see trends across your business. The dashboards are found under the Analytics tab within Quinyx.

Keywords: Advanced analytics, analytics

Agreement

The foundational set of rules (based on a contract or collective agreement) that governs an employee's pay, breaks, and working hour limits.

Agreement template

An agreement can be viewed as a framework defining what rules regarding working hours are applicable to the individual, for example, whether the employee is paid on a monthly or an hourly basis, the employee's working time quota, calculation period, employment level, etc. Read more about agreement templates here.

Keywords: agreement template, agreements.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence is a set of algorithms that are able to cope with unforeseen circumstances. It differs from machine learning in that it can be fed unstructured data and still function.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, AI, demand forecasting

AI Demand Forecasting

Quinyx AI Demand Forecasting is a separate AI module that looks at historical data and provides a forecast for a future period. In most cases, the forecast is generated automatically for a given period (e.g. for one week 4 weeks in advance) at a specific time granularity (e.g. weekly). You must contact your Quinyx representative to activate this module.

Keywords: AI, demand forecasting, forecasting

AI Optimisation

An advanced feature that uses AI algorithms to automatically generate the most efficient schedule based on demand, Compliance, and staff preferences.

Algorithm

An algorithm can either be a sequence of simple if → then statements or a sequence of more complex mathematical equations. The complexity of an algorithm will depend on the complexity of each individual step it needs to execute, and on the sheer number of steps the algorithm needs to execute.

Quinyx uses algorithms as a process or set of rules that are followed to generate a result, such as a forecast or a schedule. Read more about Forecast algorithms here.

Keywords: algorithm, forecast, predictions, automatic forecast predictions.

All-In-One (AIO)

Our AIO platform is the ultimate tool for both managers and employees, allowing managers to schedule, analyze, and create tasks for employees depending on what needs to be done for current or future events. Employees can easily look at their tasks assigned by the managers, avoid miscommunications, and look up their schedule, swap shifts, message others in the Quinyx platform within their organization, or praise colleagues for their good work.

Analytics tab

The module in Quinyx used for viewing and exporting data reports, KPIs, and business intelligence metrics.

API

Interfaces (SOAP and REST) allowing external partners and customers to integrate with Quinyx.

Keywords: API, SOAP, REST.

Assignment request

Request submitted by employees to take on unassigned "open" shifts that have been published to the team.

Assigned shift

A shift assigned to a specific employee.

Keywords: shift, assign, assignee, assign employee.

Attest

Approving worked hours. Read more here.

Keywords: attest, approve, approving time, time warnings, payroll actions.

Availability

Availability allows you to see if employees are available (or not available) in the Schedule view. The purpose of this feature is to provide additional help in the scheduling process to find relevant employees to schedule for a particular shift, but also to simplify scheduling employees who are shared across units. You see when employees who are shared to your unit have shifts on other units, but also be able to see when your employee is scheduled elsewhere.

Away unit

A unit other than a home unit. Read more here.

Keywords: away unit, sorting,

Balance period

The timeframe (e.g., monthly or yearly) used to calculate and reset an employee's worked hours, leave, or flextime balances.

Bank holiday

A public holiday when banks and many other businesses are closed for the day. Bank holidays vary by country. You can read more about setting up bank holidays here.

Keywords: bank holiday, special days, agreement templates, schedule view.

Bank holiday rules

Bank holidays are one-off days each year that require additional or special payout logic for an employee who logs a shift during a defined window that day, which may deviate from the standard unsocial hours or overtime hours rules that are established in your workplace

Bank ID

A secure authentication method, primarily used in Nordic countries, allowing users to log into the Quinyx mobile app or web portal.

Base schedule

A schedule template that is reusable. Read more here.

Keywords: base schedule, publish, overview, statistics, metrics.

Borrowed / lent out

Refers to an employee that is borrowed from or lent out to a different unit.

Keywords: staff sharing, share an employee, role management, borrow.

Break

A time span during a shift where employees can rest.

Break rule

Automated logic for inserting/enforcing breaks.

Budget

Labour cost targets set against actual costs.

Calculated variable

Refers to a variable that is a calculation between two other variables, either standard or input data.

Keywords: calculated variable, variable, forecast, optimization.

Collaboration groups

An organisational hierarchy of units and employees, used for the Employee Hub.

Compliance settings

The rules and alerts configured to ensure schedules follow labor laws, such as minimum rest between shifts or maximum weekly hours.

Cost center

A cost center is a type of cost bearer that can be attached to various objects in Quinyx like shifts, sections, units, districts, or employees. Read more here.

Cost driver

What triggers labour cost calculations.

Cost period

A defined timeframe used to calculate projected and actual labor costs for budgeting and reporting.

Dashboard

The dashboard provides you with status updates and visualizations for a selection of Quinyx measures and information. Read more here.

Keywords: dashboard, staffing, upcoming events, sales.

Daybreak

Daybreak means the time of the day that is considered by the system as the end of one day and the start of the next day. We have multiple daybreaks in Quinyx. Read more about daybreak here.

Keywords: daybreak, business daybreak, payroll actions, time tab, schedule view.

Demand Forecasting

An advanced Quinyx module that uses historical data to automatically generate precise workforce demand predictions. It helps organizations transition from reactive scheduling to predictive, data-driven labor optimisation.

Display options

Use Display options to configure exactly how you'd like your employees to appear in the schedule.

District

Districts are used to divide a number of units that are, for example, placed on different geographic locations.

Keywords: district, group management, organizational structure, schedule on district level.

Domain

This is the customer-level and is the highest level in the structure. The customer is created by Quinyx, and here we add general information like contact details, applicable modules, and the number of  licences the customer is entitled to.

Keywords: customer-level, domain, group management.

"Dutch vacation" configuration

A Time Tracker configuration used in the Netherlands where holiday entitlement is split into statutory vacation and non-statutory vacation.

Employee Hub

AI-powered workforce management software designed to simplify scheduling, time reporting, communication, and budgeting.

Employee rate

The specific monetary value (ex. hourly or monthly) assigned to an individual employee for labor cost calculations.

Event management

Events are any occurrences that either would result in an increase or a decrease of your forecast values, and therefore also your optimal headcount values. In Quinyx you are able to define events and make sure that your forecasts are more realistic also during these special occurrences while in turn making sure that you schedule according to the correct required headcount. Read more here.

Keywords: event management, forecast, optimal headcount.

Footfall

External data (customer traffic) imported into Quinyx to help drive more accurate demand forecasting.

Forecast

Sometimes known as a prediction. Refers to data in the future which is predicted either manually or using internal or external prediction methods. Read more here.

Keywords: forecast, configuration, algorithm, optimization, calculated variables, input data.

Forecast algorithm

An AI-driven tool that automatically generates future predictions based on historical data patterns.

Forecast configuration

Refers to a method that has been setup to generate a future prediction for a business driver / variable. Read more here.

Keywords: forecast, configuration, algorithm, optimization, calculated variables, input data.

Free day

A Quinyx concept indicating the employee is not supposed to work this day. Read more here.

Keywords: absence schedule, generate salaries on tasks, shifts, agreement templates - rules for hours.

Frontline worker

At Quinyx, we view frontline employees as workers who must be physically present at work (e.g., in retail, healthcare, food service, and warehousing) and who often perform tasks that require human-specific skills, including interacting with customers.

GDPR

GDPR is a European Union law with mandatory rules for how organizations and companies must use personal data in an integrity-friendly way. Read more here.

Keywords: data protection, personal data

Geofencing

The feature restricting mobile punches to a precise geographical radius around a unit using GPS data.

Ghost punch

A punch that cannot be deleted.

Keywords: ghost punch, punch, warning messages

GPS punching

A punch event stamped with coordinates to verify the location of remote or mobile frontline workers.

Group management

The administrative section used to organize units into logical hierarchies and assign management permissions.

Group settings

Controls administrative access levels for managers based on their specific organizational roles.

Headcount

Refers to the number of people (per shift, per day, per hour, and so forth) and is used to configure optimal headcount. Read more here.

Keywords: headcount, optimal headcount, staffing, statistics

Home unit

An employee's primary unit, i.e., the main place an employee works.

Keywords: home unit, basic scenarios, advanced scenarios, absence request notification logic.

Identity Provider (IDP)

An IDP is a system entity that creates, maintains, and manages identity information for principals and asl provides authentication services relying upon applications within a federation or distributed network such as Azure, Okta, Google

Keywords: SSO, Azure, Okta, Google

Import tools

A system that adds or updates a bulk of people in the People tab using a Microsoft Excel file.

Input Data

Data that is passed to Quinyx from an external system. Read more here.

Keywords: input data, forecast, optimization, statistics, optimal headcount, algorithm.

KPIs

Key Performance Indicators, such as labor cost percentage or schedule coverage, used to measure business performance.

Machine learning

Machine learning is a set of algorithms that are fed with structured data in order to complete a task without being programmed how to do so. A credit card fraud detection algorithm is a good example of machine learning. Have you ever received a message asking if your credit card was used in a certain country for a certain amount? Thank machine learning for that.

Keywords: Machine learning, MT, algorithms

Main unit

An employee's primary department or home location where their contract and primary schedule are managed.

Manager

An umbrella term for any user with system role above employee (i.e. login rights Neo).

Keywords: manager, group management, role management.

Meal break

A time control system for meal breaks during shifts using waivers.

Messenger

A chat functionality that allows you to chat with individual employees or a group.

Mini-jobbers

Mini-job (German: geringfügige Beschäftigung) is a German form of part time employees that work irregular hours and days per week. For these employees the employment rate and/or the nominal hours is normally zero and how much they work average per day changes continuously.

Mobile access rights

Permissions that specifically control what an employee or manager can see and do within the Quinyx mobile app.

Mother shift

The original recurring shift template from which child shifts are generated.

News

The communication module used to post announcements, documents, or surveys to specific staff categories or units.

Nominal hours

The agreed base number of hours for an employee as defined in an agreement template. Read more here.

Keywords: nominal, monthly nominal hours per year, employee metrics, working hours and periods.

The calculation of nominal hours is aligned with the first day of the week as defined in the Agreement template > Rules for hours setting.

Norwegian self-certified sick leave

A Norwegian-specific set of rules for self-certifying sick days. Read more here.

Open ID Providers

External services (like Microsoft or Google) that Quinyx connects with to allow users to log in using existing work credentials.

Open punch

If an employee has forgotten to punch in and has an ongoing shift, you can add the punch during the ongoing shift so that the employee can punch out when the shift ends. Read more here.

Optimal headcount

The ideal number of employees required for a specific time or shift to meet demand without overstaffing.

Organisation

The top level of the Quinyx account hierarchy, representing the entire company.

Outcome salary type

When you add a salary type rule, you can choose the salary outcome. Selections include No salary type, Multiple salary types, and Specified salary type. Read more here.

Keywords: Outcome salary type, salary type rules,

Overtime

Time worked in addition to normal working hours.

Keywords: overtime, OT, employee metrics, overtime methods.

Overtime levels

Overtime levels include overtime periods, worked hours, and overtime hours. Read more here.

Keywords: overtime levels, overtime periods, worked hours, overtime hours, overtime methods, minus time, additional time.

Overtime methods

Quinyx offers various calculation methods for overtime and additional time. Creating and using overtime methods allows you to granularly track and manage employees' overtime. Read more here.

Overtime periods

The timeframe (daily, weekly, or monthly) over which overtime is calculated.

People tab

The section in Quinyx for managing all employee-related data, such as contact info, agreements, and skills.

Productive hours

Scheduled hours with advanced setting "Productive hours" excluding hours covered with an absence.

Project

A cost bearer attached to objects such as shifts, employees, sections, or units, and keeps track of hours worked on a specific project.

Published schedule

A schedule made visible to employees.

Punch

A punch is a schedule object that indicates the time that the employee has worked for during a shift/task. When starting and/or ending your work day, the employee will punch in at the start of the shift, and punch out at the end of the shift. Read more here.

Keywords: punch, deviation, time warnings, attest.

Punch deviation

You can use this if an employee doesn't need to punch in and out. Quinyx goes by the employee's schedule and automatically generates punching in/out times which match the scheduled shifts' start and end times. Read more here.

Keywords: punch, deviation, time warnings, attest.

Qmail

Think of Qmails as Quinyx-specific emails. In the Qmail tab, you can find all of the Qmails that have been sent to you and that you've sent to colleagues. The Qmails you receive can be both auto-generated messages regarding shift time changes, new shifts assigned to you, or absence request updates, as well as personal Qmails sent from your manager.

Rank

A priority setting used during auto-scheduling to determine which employees are assigned to a shift first based on seniority or preference.

REST API

REST API (Representational State Transfer) is a popular API used by Developers to access data from the web or a database.

Role

A category with permissions across Quinyx

Role management

The administrative tool used to create and edit user roles and their associated system access rights

Rules for hours

You can set up rules for working time to help creating a correct schedule. If you breach any of the defined rules, Quinyx will then generate a warning, making the scheduler aware that a time rule has been violated. The warning can, however, be ignored.

Keywords: rules for hours, agreement templates - rules for hours, validation.

Salary cost

The cost data for a specific salary type.

Salary types

Salary types are codes for the hours you worked. These are matched with the codes in the payroll system, to be translated into the amount you get paid for the hours you worked. This can be basic salary like monthly or hourly, but also includes additional salaries such as overtime or extra pay for working unsocial time or on weekends and compensations for leave. 

Keywords: salary, salary types, salary type rules, payroll.

Salary type rules

These allow you to define rules for extra salary types to be generated when an employee punches time on a specific shift. These rules can be defined on individual shifts in Schedule (but not in Base Schedule) as well as on shift type. Read more here.

Keywords: salary type rules, salary.

SAML providers

Secure providers used for Single Sign-On (SSO) to allow employees to log in securely without a separate Quinyx password.

Shared employee

An employee shared between two or more units. Read more here.

Keywords: shared employee, staff sharing, role management, organization.

Schedule

A feature that manages shifts, time stamps, absences, bank holidays, and statistics related to the schedule and employee metrics.

Schedule compliance

A feature that lets users create custom notifications and warnings for scheduling.

Schedule period

The defined block of time a schedule covers.

Schedule valdiations

When creating shifts in the schedule, Quinyx will validate the shift details against agreement settings and unit settings. These validations take place any time an existing one is edited or a new one is added, be it in the Notifications panel or directly in the schedule. Read more here.

Keywords: validations, warning messages.

Schedule view

The schedule view allows you to view and manage shifts and employees. Read more here.

Keywords: schedule view, schedule.

Seasonalities

Recurring trends (like Christmas or Summer) that are factored into demand forecasting to predict future staff needs.

Section

You can create sections in order to separate different areas or departments within a unit. Sections are, like districts, an optional level in the structure. Each section can have its onw schedules. Employees can be members of one or more sections but will have one defined as "home-section". Read more about sections here.

Keywords: section, organization, group management.

Shared employee

An employee shared between two or more units.

Shift

Shift is used to set start- and end date for each working day for the employee. Read more about shifts here.

Keywords: shift, shift types, bookings, absence shift.

Shift coverage

The amount of assigned shifts vs shift demand.

Shift swaps

A feature where employees can trade shifts with colleagues, subject to manager approval and compliance checks

Shift type

A category or type of shift. Examples include Early shift, Late Shift, Reception, etc. Read more about shift types here.

Keywords: shift, shift type, interruption shift.

Shift type category

You can use shift type categories to group different type of shift types into one category. Read more here.

Shift unassignment requests

A formal request from an employee to be removed from a shift they are already scheduled to work.

Single Sign On (SSO)

SSO is an authentication method that enables users to securely authenticate with multiple applications and websites by using just one set of credentials.

Keywords: Single Sign On, SSO, authentication.

Skills

Specific qualifications, certifications, or shift-type proficiencies (e.g., training or languages) linked to employees and shifts to ensure the most suitable staff are assigned to the right work.

SOAP API

Simple Object Access Protocol

Social cost

Social cost is the percentage of both net cost and leave compensation combined. Read more here.

Keywords: social cost, agreement templates - salary, statistics in schedule/base schedule.

Split punch

Automatically split a single punch between multiple tasks and shifts.

Staff category

A group of permissions for the mobile app and staff portal.

Staff portal

A web portal for regular employees.

Standard Variable

Data which Quinyx masters and is not data from external systems or a calculation between multiple variables. Read more here.

Keywords: standard variable, variable, forecast, statistics, display groups.

Staff portal

The staff portal is the web-based interface for users with a non-manager role in Quinyx. The staff portal is available for all Quinyx users and works great on a desktop, tablet, or phone. Read more here.

Superuser

Superusers are the administrators of a Quinyx setup with the highest access rights. They will have the Account manager/Manager (role level 1) and will in many cases be the source of contact with the Quinyx Support team and their organization.

Swedish collective agreement

Logic in Quinyx designed to automatically handle the specific rules of Swedish labor unions (Kollektivavtal).

Tags

A tag is a container of properties that can be linked to shift types, individual shifts, or punches.

Tag categories

Hierarchical folders used to organize different "tags" for easier management and searching.

Task

A specific task or action to be done during a shift. Typically scheduled at a specific time during a shift.

Keywords: task, generate salary on tasks, punches, shift types, agreement templates - time.

Time card

A view that displays shift details, task details, time tracker details, salary details, and also allows users to manually edit and approve the data.

Time Tracker

A unique Quinyx term. Time Trackers can be used for tracking vacation balances, time off in lieu or flextime, for example. Read more here.

Keywords: Time Tracker, agreement templates - Time Tracker, time card, practical examples.

Unassigned shift

A shift that is not yet assigned to an employee

Unavailability

This functionality enable you to see if employees are available (or not available) in the Schedule view. The purpose of this feature is to provide additional help in the scheduling process to find relevant employees to schedule for a particular shift, but also to simplify scheduling employees who are shared across units.

Underlying shift

A scheduled shift that got replaced with an absence.

Unit

Units are under districts in the organizational structure. Units are often defined as separate physical locations in the company. Units are mandatory to set up. There must be at least one unit for each customer.

Keywords: unit, home unit, group management, organizational structure, time tab, shift bookings.

Unit groups

Unit groups allow you to select a group of units with a single selection, making it easier to manage multiple units together.

Unsocial time

Unsocial hours payments are an enhanced rate of pay (or supplement) used to reward and incentivize staff for working when others are not (e.g., night shifts, weekends, and bank holidays). Read more here.

Keywords: unsocial time, UT, Agreement templates, salary type.

Unsocial time periods

A period of time during which unsocial time salary types can be generated in shifts.

User

An umbrella term for any user of the system, regardless of their system role.

Keywords: user, user API.

Validation check

A system that checks whether the current action doesn't break any settings or rules set in Quinyx.

Variable

Refers to a specific KPI or data point related to the business's data. Either generated by Quinyx or by an external system and presented in Quinyx.

Vuosivapaa

Vuosivapaa is a type of accrual of annual leave entitlement used in Finland. This is especially common for companies working in the hospitality and retail sectors and is required by law. Read more here.

Webpunch

Quinyx' own interactive system built to function on a variety of hardware such as computers, tablet, smart devices, and point of sale systems. Read more here. Read more here.

Keywords: webpunch, agreement templates - time, system requirements.

Webservices

The APIs (REST and SOAP) that allow Quinyx to share data with other systems like payroll or HRIS.

Write access

The specific permission level that allows a user to create or edit data in a certain part of the system.

Write permission

The authorisation granted to a user role to save changes to Quinyx.

X day shift/Y day shift

X and V Days - Applies to the Finnish workforce, primarily for the Hotel and Restaurant industries. Simply put, if an employee has worked at least 5 days in one week, the employee earns two days off - called X and V day. Read more here.

Keyword: x/y day shift, group management.

8/13 rule for bank holidays

The 8/13 rule for bank holidays was created to allow our customers in retail in the Netherlands to configure a special rule so that if a bank holiday is on a Friday you have to have worked at least 8 of the previous 13 Fridays to be eligible for compensation on this bank holiday.

Keywords: 8/13 rule, bank holidays