5 Best Drag and Drop Scheduling Software & Apps (In-Depth Look)
Businesses often turn to drag and drop scheduling software to optimize all of their scheduling needs.
Traditional scheduling methods such as Excel tend to be clunky and inefficient, whereas dedicated employee scheduling software allows you to:
- Easily use drag and drop functionality to create and publish shifts.
- Send out automatic notifications to employees regarding shift changes or when a new schedule is live.
- Allow employees more flexibility in setting their own availability and have that information readily-accessible for future schedule creation.
- Manage shift trade or cover requests without leaving the app.
- And more.
This post offers a detailed overview of Buddy Punch’s features as an effective drag and drop scheduling app, as well as a brief mention of four other drag and drop scheduling software, to assist in your research.
5 Best Drag and Drop Scheduling Software & Apps
1. Buddy Punch
The following section offers an in-depth look at some of Buddy Punch’s key scheduling features. (See the complete list here.)
Use Drag and Drop Functionality to Easily Create & Publish Schedules
Creating a new schedule is as easy as you would expect:
1. First, click on any empty cell:
2. Then, enter relevant shift details like dates, start and end times, location, department code, and so on.
3. Next, take advantage of our drag and drop functionality to effortlessly rearrange shifts to your needs.
4. Finally, release the schedule by hitting “Publish”
It really is that simple! Our customers frequently mention Buddy Punch’s ease of use in their reviews, which you can see for yourself here.
Automatic Shift Notifications
Employees are automatically notified via email and/or mobile as soon as you hit “publish” on a new schedule or make any changes to an existing one.
This reduces the amount of time you have to manually coordinate with employees.
Repeating Shifts
Buddy Punch also allows for regularly repeating shift configurations, such as:
- Every weekday
- Tuesday and Thursday of every week
- Weekly on Wednesday
- First Friday of each month
- And so on
Employee Availability
Employees have increased flexibility within Buddy Punch to set their availability.
In the image above for example, one employee indicated that he will be unavailable between 4/21 to 4/24.
This information can be easily viewed by any business owner or administrator to avoid scheduling employees on days they are unable to come into work.
Shift Trades & Covers
Shift trade or cover requests are also easily handled within Buddy Punch, and if this feature is pertinent to your business, you can read more about it here.
Shift Start Reminder
There are many scheduling notification features available to you with Buddy Punch, but for this article, we will particularly highlight “Shift Start Reminder”. (Click here for the complete list of scheduling notification features.)
So what is a “Shift Start Reminder”?
Simply put, when Buddy Punch doesn’t detect a punch in from an employee within X minutes of their shift start time, a notification (mobile and/or email) alert will be sent out to them and optionally the business owner or administrator.
Other Scheduling Features
While this article covered just a few of our key scheduling features, you can see the complete list here.
Payroll & Employee Accountability
Beyond scheduling, Buddy Punch offers features and functionality that cater to the following pain points:
1. Long and inefficient payroll process that’s prone to human error and miscalculations.
As one of our customers mentioned in their review:
“After using paper time cards for over a year, spending many frustrating hours a week reviewing, verifying, inputting, and analyzing employee punches, and then finding a place to keep the paper cards for our records, we were fed up. We looked for an affordable and easy-to-implement solution. We used the Buddy Punch trial, and within a week, we knew this was the solution we were looking for … Now the process is as simple as logging on, setting the date range, exporting a CSV, and migrating the data into an analysis template. What used to take over an hour, takes roughly 20 minutes.”
Click here to read the full review.
2. Employees being dishonest when punching in and out, resulting in time theft and revenue loss.
As one of our customers mentioned in their review:
“Being able to see when and where employees were actually clocking in and out was the main reason we started using Buddy Punch. Once employees were told I would be able to see the locations of their punches, overtime was drastically reduced — which confirmed my suspicions that the honor system involved with traditional timesheets was not working for us.”
What Others Have to Say about Buddy Punch
As of this writing, Buddy Punch has amassed 731 reviews and 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra (a widely used software review site).
Excellent customer support and ease-of-use are of central emphasis to our product philosophy, and this has not gone unnoticed with our customers:
“Most folks pick up on it right away. The system is intuitive and those who do have difficulty only need a quick tutorial and they are good to go.”
Click here to read the full review.
“The area I am most impressed with is with their support — they respond quickly, accurately and offer real solutions.”
Click here to read the full review.
“Their team is knowledgeable about my organization and the way that we use the platform — I have received many helpful suggestions to how we can best leverage the Buddy Punch platform in our sometimes complicated organizational structure. We have had very few issues, but have always received immediate resolutions when anything has come up.”
Click here to read the full review.
“The software is straightforward and well-run, and was easily understood by our team of 55+ non-technical staff of all ages.”
Click here to read the full review.
“If you do experience any issues or have questions, it’s very easy to place a support ticket and a response is usually given within 1-2 hours at the most. Customer Service definitely seems to be a priority which we appreciate. Once our trial period had concluded, it was a no-brainer to continue with this easy, intuitive solution.”
Click here to read the full review.
Click here to read more Buddy Punch reviews.
Explore Buddy Punch Through a Free Trial and/or Personalized 1:1 Demo
Explore our drag and drop scheduling software and:
- Sign up for a free trial.
- Request a personalized 1:1 demo call where we can show you how to best leverage Buddy Punch for your specific business needs.
2. Sling
As of this writing date, Sling has 115 reviews and 4.6 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
Its features include, but aren’t limited to:
- Drag & Drop Scheduling
- Communication
- Time Clock
- Labor Costs
- Task Management
- Multiple Work Locations
- Integrations
- And more
Here’s a review indicating why it’s one of the best drag and drop scheduling apps:
“Extremely positive; we were lacking an online scheduler and mobile access for about 2 to 3 years and the use of Sling made scheduling much easier (versus pen and paper) and reduced issues due to accidental missed shifts… I personally was impressed with the ease of the drag-and-drop scheduler.”
Click here to read the full review.
Click here to read more customer reviews of Sling.
3. When I Work
As of this writing date, When I Work has 965 reviews and 4.5 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
Its features include, but aren’t limited to:
Here’s a review indicating why it’s a great drag and drop schedule app:
“It has made scheduling a painless task now. The ability to drag and drop each shift to the appropriate employee is also another great thing about this app.”
Click here to read the full review.
Click here to read more customer reviews of When I Work.
4. Connecteam
As of this writing date, Connecteam has 204 reviews and 4.8 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
Its features include, but aren’t limited to:
- Drag & Drop Scheduling
- Employee Time Clock
- Employee Communication
- Employee Task Management
- Checklists & Forms
- Employee Training
- And more
Here’s a review indicating why it’s one of the best drag and drop scheduling software:
“It is our main program used for schedules and communication. Simple and easy for those employees that are technically challenged too.”
Click here to read the full review.
Click here to read more customer reviews of Connecteam.
5. Jobber
As of this writing date, Jobber has 615 reviews and 4.5 out of 5 stars on Capterra.
Its features include, but aren’t limited to:
- Employee Scheduling and Dispatching
- Drag and Drop Calendar
- GPS Location Tracking
- Time Tracking
- And more
Here’s a review indicating why it’s a great employee scheduling software with drag and drop functionality:
“The drag and drop calendar saves me another 1-2 hours per week. The GRID feature is most useful for making sure you don’t double book your employees!”
Click here to read the full review.
Click here to read more customer reviews of Jobber.
Explore Buddy Punch Through a Free Trial and/or Personalized 1:1 Demo
Explore our drag and drop scheduling app and:
- Sign up for a free trial.
- Request a personalized 1:1 demo call where we can show you how to best leverage Buddy Punch for your specific business needs.
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