Building the Week on the Shifts Board
Build a week of shifts on the Shifts board: add what each site needs, book eligible workers (told at once), or copy last week as drafts and publish them.
Last checked against the product:
Before You Start
Who can do this, and where.
Before you start
- Agency console: the Coordinator preset, the Admin access level or a super admin. The Read-only preset can look at the board but cannot change it.
- Client dashboard: the Manager role (tenant_manager) or Admin role (tenant_admin) builds the rota. The Viewer role (tenant_viewer) can only look.
- At least one site under Sites > Locations, and active workers for the client.
- Optional: shift templates for your usual times (see Shift Templates and Patterns).
Open the board. Agency console: Schedule > Shifts. Client dashboard: Schedule > Shifts.
The board works in requirements. A requirement is one shift at one site on one day, with a headcount, for example "3 pickers, 06:00 to 14:00". You then book named workers onto it. A requirement a client raises from the client portal arrives on the same board, tagged Client request.
In the agency console, pick a client in the client filter first. Repeat last week and Duplicate week need a client (or a location) chosen so the copy goes to one client only. The client dashboard is always limited to your own client.
The Three Views
Switch at the top of the page.
| View | What it shows | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Site × Day | One row per site, one column per day. Each cell shows booked against needed (for example 2 / 3), the templates used and the Earliest gap. | See where you are short, then click a cell to open the day panel. |
| Calendar | A month at a glance, coloured Filled, Partial, Unfilled demand or Named bookings only. | Spot gaps weeks ahead. Click a day to jump to that week. |
| By Worker | One row per worker, one column per day, with each shift and its status. | Drag templates and workers onto the grid, or check one person's week. |
If your board only shows the worker grid, the new board has been switched off. In the agency console a super admin or Admin can switch it back on: Setup > Settings > Shifts page UI, then Enable new UI. This setting is not in the client dashboard.
Add a Requirement
Say what a site needs on a day.
Open the day
In Site × Day, click the cell for the site and day. The day panel opens on the right with the requirements already there.
Click + Add requirement
Click + Add requirement. The New requirement form opens.
Fill in the requirement
- Template (optional) fills the times and break from a saved template.
- Start and End. An end before the start is an overnight shift.
- Workers needed: the headcount, 1 to 500.
- Break minutes.
- Job role: workers with this role rank first in the picker.
- Repeat: Does not repeat, Every day, Every weekday or Every week on this day, with an Until date.
- Notes for the rota team.
Save
Click Create requirement. The cell now shows 0 / the headcount until you book people.
A repeating requirement books the headcount only, with no named workers, on each date, up to 13 weeks ahead. Book the people week by week.
To change a requirement, click the pencil on its card (Edit requirement), change it and click Save changes. Booked workers move with it, and published workers are told where messaging is set up. To remove it, click the bin (Cancel requirement). For a repeating one you choose Just this date or This and later dates.
Assign Workers
The picker shows who can work.
Open the picker
On the requirement card, click + Assign workers. The Assign workers list opens, with a counter of booked against needed.
Narrow the list
Search by name or badge. Tick Available only to see people whose availability covers the shift, or Hide not eligible to hide blocked people. Click Sort by reliability to put the highest reliability scores first.
In the agency console you can also tick Include other clients' workers to book from another client's pool. The client dashboard only shows your own workers.
Tick and assign
Tick the workers you want and click Assign (the button shows how many are selected). The list stays open so you can keep going. Click Done when the requirement is full.
A worker you assign here is booked straight away as Published, not as a draft. Where messaging is on for the client, they are told at once. Drafts come from Repeat last week, Duplicate week, Duplicate this day, + Assign all at this site, + Add Shift, dragging onto the By Worker grid, and Generate Shifts.
Eligible, Check, Not Eligible
Why someone cannot be booked.
| Badge | Meaning | Examples of the reason shown |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible | Nothing in the way. | None. |
| Check | Can be booked, but read the warning first. | Outside their availability, a pending absence request, a conditional restriction, short rest next to another shift, over their weekly hours limit, a different job role, from another client's pool. |
| Not eligible | Blocked. The reason is shown in red. | Already booked at an overlapping time; on an approved absence; marked unavailable; do not return or suspended (this site or this client). |
Dormant, inactive and pending workers are not listed in the picker at all.
A worker who is not eligible can still be booked by someone allowed to override: an Admin or super admin, or a Coordinator, in the agency console, or the Admin role (tenant_admin) in the client dashboard. Click the worker, read the reason, type a reason of at least 5 characters and click Override and book. The override and your reason go into the audit log.
Repeat and Copy
Start the week from last week.
Go to the new week
Use the arrows by the week dates to move to the week you are building. In the agency console, choose the client in the filter.
Click Repeat last week
Click Repeat last week, check the dates in the message and click Copy. Every requirement from last week, with the workers who were on it, comes into this week as drafts.
Fix the gaps
Workers who can no longer be booked (inactive, pending approval or dormant) are not copied, so their places stay open. A worker already on the exact same shift is not copied twice. If that day already has a requirement with a number of places someone set (for example a client's request from the portal), the copy fills only its free places and never raises them. Anyone left out is named in the message. The copy does not re-check restrictions, approved absences or bookings at other sites, and publishing does not check them either. Before you publish, open each day and check the copied names. Fill the open places with the picker.
To copy the week you are looking at onto a different week, click Duplicate week and enter the target week's Monday (YYYY-MM-DD). Copies are always drafts, so nothing goes to workers until you publish.
Publish
Drafts are not told until you publish.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Only staff can see it. The worker is not told. It is never counted as a no-show. |
| Published | The booking is live. It is the worker's expected clock-in and counts in attendance and exceptions. |
Check what is on screen
Publishing covers the drafts in the week and filters on screen. With no client or location filter in the agency console, it covers every client and site, and the message says so.
Click Publish All Drafts
Click Publish All Drafts (it shows the number of drafts). In the Publish week message, click Publish.
What happens next: workers get one message listing their new shifts, by email and, where the client has the SMS add-on, by text. They only get it if messaging is switched on for their client and they agreed to it. See Publishing and Notifying.
Confirmations
Who has said yes.
Rota Assistant
Optional AI help.
The Rota assistant is an AI assistant that suggests changes to the rota. Type a request in the bar above the board, for example "Fill Monday 06:00 with 5 pickers", and click Plan. In a day panel, click Ask AI. It shows a list of proposed changes. Tick the ones you want and click Apply selected (client dashboard: Apply with the count), or Refine to ask again. Nothing changes until you apply.
Everything the assistant applies takes effect at once, with no draft step (only a copied period lands as drafts), and no message goes to the worker. That covers new bookings, cancellations, workers taken off a shift, time changes and swaps. Tell the affected workers yourself, or make the change on the board, which messages them where messaging is on for the client.
The assistant only works where AI is set up on your instance. If it is not, you see "AI not configured on this server." It never sees the reason a worker is restricted or unavailable.
Limits
Worth knowing.
Troubleshooting
Common messages.
| You see | What to do |
|---|---|
| "Pick a Client (or Location) filter first so the copy targets one client." | Choose a client in the filter at the top, then try again. |
| A worker is missing from the picker | Untick Available only and Hide not eligible. Check they are active and not dormant on Workforce > Workers. |
| "Your account can view shifts but not change them. Ask an admin." | Your access is read only. Ask an admin for the Coordinator preset (agency console) or the Manager role (client dashboard). |
| "Not eligible" with no way to book | Only a user who can override can book a blocked worker. Otherwise fix the cause, for example lift a restriction (an approved absence cannot be cancelled on screen; book a returning worker with Override and book). |
| "No sites yet" | Add a site under Sites > Locations. |
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