Build your first schedule

Schedules is where you plan who works when. This page gets your first week on the grid. The rules behind each step are in Building the week.

Before you start#

• People and places. A person can only be scheduled at a location they are assigned to. See Invite your team.
• The module. A new company has Scheduling switched on. If you switched it off, turn it back on under Settings, Modules.

Add your first shifts#

1. 1

   Open the week

   Select Schedules in the sidebar and stay in the Week view. Move to the week you want with the arrows. Nobody can add a shift on a day before today.

   

2. 2

   Choose what new shifts become

   The toolbar has a switch: Published or Draft. It starts on Published.

   • Published: a shift is live at once and the person is told.
   • Draft: a shift stays hidden from the person until you publish the week. Adding or changing a draft sends no notification.

   For a first week, Draft lets you try things out without anyone being told.

3. 3

   Pick a person and a day

   In the first week nobody has a shift yet, so everyone is listed under Not on this week at the bottom of the grid. Select a day in a person's row. The shift form opens with that person and day filled in.

   You can also select Add Schedule in the toolbar. In draft mode it reads Add draft.

4. 4

   Fill in the shift and save

   Check the dates and times, then Location and Employee. Role (the shift's area, see Areas), Break Minutes and Notes are optional. Select Save (in draft mode, Add draft).

   A shift that overlaps another shift of the same person is refused.

5. 5

   Repeat, then publish if you worked in drafts

   Add the other shifts the same way. In draft mode a bar above the grid counts the drafts. Select its publish button and confirm: every draft in the week on screen is published, and each person gets one message that groups all their new shifts.

What publishing sends, and which drafts it holds back, is in Drafts and publishing.

If plans change#

• Edit. In the week view, select a shift to open it. Changing a published shift tells the person only when its start, end, person, location or status really changed.
• Remove a draft. Open it and select Discard draft. Nobody is told.
• Cancel a published shift. It cannot be deleted. Open it, set Status to Cancelled and save. Cancellation reason is optional and is sent to the person with the cancellation.

Faster ways to fill a week#

• Auto Schedule proposes a week from each location's shifts and the number of people each shift needs. You set those for a location on its Scheduling tab, and for a single week under Schedules, Shifts. See Opening hours and people needed and Auto-schedule a week.
• Copy prev week copies the published shifts of the week before the one on screen into the week on screen. It is useful from your second week on. See Copy last week.

In draft mode both buttons create drafts.

On the phone#

Open More, then Manage Schedule. Under New shifts you choose published or Draft, as on the web. Tap + on a day to add a shift, and tap a shift to edit it. Shifts cannot be dragged on the phone: touch and hold a shift for Duplicate and, on a draft, Discard draft. To publish drafts, tap the publish button on the draft bar and confirm with Publish.

What happens next#

People see their published shifts in the app. Once they start clocking in, go on to Approve your first timesheets. Missing a button? See I can't see a button or page someone else has.