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# Scheduling Periods

You use the Change periods button, to the right of the Create Schedule button, to define the time periods used in the schedule.

When you click Change periods, the Change Scheduling Periods form appears, which contains the Scheduling start date field and the Period definitions data grid. You can use the Period definitions data grid to define the number, start and end dates, and time unit of the periods.

The periods defined for the schedule are displayed in the Time line below the Change periods button.

Tip: You can also use the Time line to filter the periods that are displayed in the Dashboard charts.

### Fields on the Change Scheduling Periods Form

Field | Description
--- | ---
Scheduling start date | The date on which the first scheduling period begins. You can use the Calendar button to choose the start date from a calendar. Note: You can type a time string into this field, after the date, if you want to start the schedule at a particular time during the day. Using time strings is not recommended unless you are short-term scheduling, and your scheduling periods are defined as shifts of a fixed number of hours.
Time line | Displays periods as defined in the Period definitions data grid. This display is a quick reference to see if the period definition is correct. If you have defined different period length for different parts of the schedule in multiple rows of the Period definitions data grid, when you select a row in the data grid the corresponding section of the time line is highlighted.
Period definitions data grid | The data grid in which you define the periods for the schedule.

### Columns in the Period Definitions Data Grid

You can define different period lengths for periods of time between specified dates in the schedule. For example, you can use different periods for short-term, medium-term, and long-term planning.

To define a different period length, click Insert to add a row, and define the new period length and the date range for which you want the period length to apply.

Column | Description
--- | ---
Time unit | The unit of time for a period length. Options are: Hour Day Week Month Year
Multiple | The number of hours, days, weeks, months, or years in a single period. For example, to define a period as an 8 hour shift the Time unit would be Hours and the Multiple would be 8; to define quarterly periods the Time unit would be Months and the Multiple would be 3.
Number of periods | The number of periods, of the defined period length, that you want to use between two specified dates. The number of periods required depends on the single period length you have defined and the period of time between the specified start and end dates. For example, if you want to create a schedule that spans 5 years of mining in one month periods,you can use 60 for the number of periods (60 is the number of months in 5 years). If you want to create a schedule that spans 5 years in quarterly periods, you can use 20 for the number of periods (20 is the number of quarters in 5 years).
Starts on | The start date. This date is the Scheduling start date for the first row of the data grid. For all subsequent rows, the Starts on date is the Ends just before date of the previous row, which is calculated using the Starts on date of that row, the period length, and number of periods defined for the row.
Ends just before | The day after the last period defined is complete. The Ends just before date is the first day on which a subsequent scheduling period definition can start.

### See also

- Schedule
- Dashboard

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