Introducing Shift Scheduling & Roster Management

Release: v1.0.20 · Date: 2025-07-14

We're releasing a fully integrated Shift Scheduling and Roster Management module. Whether you're running a 24/7 operation, managing seasonal demand spikes, or simply trying to eliminate the spreadsheet-and-email scheduling cycle, this feature set brings everything into one place.

What's Included

Drag-and-Drop Shift Calendar

The scheduling calendar is the central hub for building and managing rosters. Managers can:

Create new shifts by clicking any open slot on the calendar
Move shifts between employees or time slots by dragging
Resize a shift block to adjust start and end times
Switch between daily, weekly, and monthly views
Filter the calendar by team, department, or location

Roster Management

Rosters are structured groupings of employees for a defined schedule cycle. You can:

Create multiple rosters (e.g. per site, department, or shift pattern)
Assign employees to a roster and manage their recurring schedules
Clone a roster to the next period as a starting template
Export rosters to PDF or CSV for payroll and compliance purposes

Managing Shift Operations

Shift Swaps

Employees can initiate a shift swap request directly from their schedule view. The workflow is:

Employee selects a shift and requests a swap, optionally nominating a colleague.
If a colleague is nominated, they receive a notification to accept or decline.
The manager receives the final swap request for approval.
On approval, both employees' schedules are updated automatically.

Availability Preferences

Employees can submit their availability — including preferred working hours, days they are unavailable, and any recurring constraints. This information is:

Visible to managers on a per-employee basis when building schedules
Used by the auto-scheduler to avoid conflicts
Versioned so historical preferences are retained

Overtime Rules

Overtime rules can be configured at the organisation, department, or individual contract level. You can define:

Daily overtime threshold — hours per day before overtime rates apply
Weekly overtime threshold — hours per week before overtime rates apply
Hard cap enforcement — optionally prevent scheduling beyond a set limit
Warnings — flag assignments that approach or exceed thresholds without blocking them

Overtime flags are visible on both the calendar and in the roster summary view.

AI-Powered Auto-Scheduling

The auto-scheduler removes the manual effort of building rosters from scratch by combining three inputs:

Input	Description
Demand Forecasts	Historical and projected demand data (e.g. footfall, ticket volume, orders) determines required headcount per period.
Employee Skills	Each employee's skill profile is matched against shift requirements to ensure appropriate coverage.
Availability & Rules	Employee availability preferences and overtime rules are respected during generation.

Generating a Roster Automatically

Navigate to Scheduling → Auto-Schedule.
Select the roster, date range, and any additional constraints.
Click Generate. The system produces a draft roster.
Review the proposed schedule on the calendar. Conflicts and warnings are highlighted.
Make any manual adjustments using drag-and-drop.
Click Publish to make the schedule visible to employees.

Note: Auto-generated rosters are always drafts until explicitly published. Employees are notified when their schedule is published or updated.

Permissions

Role	Capabilities
Employee	View own schedule, submit availability, request shift swaps
Team Lead	All employee actions + create/edit shifts for their team
Manager	All team lead actions + approve swaps, configure overtime rules, publish rosters
HR Admin	Full access including auto-scheduling, roster cloning, and exports

Related Features

Payroll & Compensation — Published schedules feed into payroll for automatic overtime and hours calculation.
Employee Profiles — Skill profiles used by the auto-scheduler are managed in employee records.
AI Agents & Automation — Demand forecasting powering auto-schedule is generated by the platform's AI layer.