Creating and Publishing Schedules

Learn how to create, validate, and publish employee schedules in the Shifts platform to ensure proper coverage, communicate work expectations, and maintain operational efficiency.

Overview

Creating and publishing schedules is a core function for managers in the Shifts platform. This process involves creating shifts, assigning employees, validating coverage requirements, and making schedules visible to your team. This article explains how to create effective schedules and ensure your team receives proper notifications.

The Schedule Creation Process

The Shifts platform follows a streamlined approach to schedule creation and publication:

1. Create Shifts: Define shifts with specific dates, times, and requirements
2. Validate Requirements: Ensure shifts meet staffing and skill requirements
3. Assign Employees: Add employees to shifts based on availability and skills
4. Publish: When shifts are created and assigned, they automatically become visible to the assigned employees

Unlike some scheduling systems, there is no separate “draft” and “publish” mode. Shifts are visible to assigned employees as soon as they are created, though you can use certain strategies described in this article to stage your schedule releases.

Creating Individual Shifts

To create a single shift:

1. Navigate to Schedules > Shifts in your dashboard
2. Click the Create Shift button
3. Fill in the shift details:
   • Location: Where the shift will take place
   • Date: When the shift will occur
   • Start Time: When the shift begins
   • End Time: When the shift ends
   • Role Requirements: Specify how many employees with each role are needed
   • Notes: Any special instructions for this shift
4. Click Save to create the shift

Once created, the shift will appear on your schedule management dashboard with status “Scheduled” but with no employees assigned.

Creating Multiple Shifts at Once

For faster schedule creation:

1. Navigate to Schedules > Bulk Create in your dashboard
2. Use the form to define multiple shifts:
   • Select Date Range for when shifts should be created
   • Choose Days of Week that should include shifts
   • Set Shift Time patterns that apply to those days
   • Configure Role Requirements for the shifts
3. Click Preview to see the shifts that will be created
4. Review the preview carefully
5. Click Create Shifts to generate all the shifts at once

This method is ideal for creating a week’s or month’s worth of shifts in a single operation.

Creating Recurring Shifts

For regular, repeating schedules:

1. Navigate to Schedules > Recurring Shifts in your dashboard
2. Click Create Recurring Pattern
3. Configure the pattern:
   • Frequency: Daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly
   • Days: Which days of week the shifts occur
   • Time Range: Start and end times
   • Role Requirements: Staff needed for each role
4. Set Start Date and optionally an End Date
5. Click Create to generate the recurring pattern

Recurring shifts automatically populate your schedule based on the pattern you define, saving time for regular scheduling needs.

Copying Schedules

To reuse successful schedules:

1. Navigate to Schedules > Shifts in your dashboard
2. Click Copy Schedule in the actions menu
3. Choose what to copy:
   • Copy Day: Duplicate a specific day’s shifts to another date
   • Copy Week: Duplicate an entire week to another week
   • Copy with Assignments: Option to include the same employee assignments
4. Select source and destination dates
5. Click Copy to duplicate the shifts

This feature allows you to quickly replicate proven schedules rather than creating new ones from scratch.

Validating Schedule Requirements

Before assigning employees, verify that your schedule meets business requirements:

1. Navigate to Schedules > Validation in your dashboard
2. The system will check for:
   • Coverage Issues: Shifts with inadequate role coverage
   • Location Conflicts: Employees scheduled at multiple locations simultaneously
   • Scheduling Conflicts: Rest period violations or overlapping shifts
   • Skill Gaps: Missing required skills for specialized shifts
3. Review any flagged issues
4. Make necessary adjustments to resolve validation problems

Proper validation ensures your schedule is operationally sound before employees are notified.

Assigning Employees to Shifts

To assign employees to shifts:

1. Navigate to Schedules > Shifts in your dashboard
2. Click on a shift to view its details
3. Click the Assign Employees button
4. You’ll see a list of employees with:
   • Availability status (Available, Partially Available, Unavailable)
   • Skill match indicators
   • Recommended employees highlighted based on availability and skills
5. Select employees to fill each role requirement
6. Click Save Assignments to confirm

As soon as assignments are saved, employees will receive notifications about their new shifts.

Bulk Assignment

For faster scheduling:

1. Navigate to Schedules > Shifts and filter to the desired time period
2. Check the boxes next to multiple shifts
3. Click Bulk Assign in the actions menu
4. A dialog will appear showing all shifts and available employees
5. Assign employees to each shift
6. Click Save All Assignments to confirm

Bulk assignment helps you quickly staff multiple shifts while maintaining a comprehensive view of your schedule.

How Employees Are Notified

When shifts are created and assigned, the system automatically:

1. Sends a notification to each assigned employee
2. Updates the employee’s personal schedule in their dashboard
3. Sends optional email notifications based on notification settings
4. Adds the shift to any calendar integrations the employee has configured

Employees have immediate visibility to their new assignments without requiring additional steps from managers.

Editing Published Schedules

To make changes to existing schedules:

1. Navigate to Schedules > Shifts in your dashboard
2. Find the shift you need to modify
3. Click the Edit icon
4. Make your changes to time, location, or requirements
5. Click Save to confirm changes

When a shift is modified, all assigned employees will receive notifications about the changes.

Cancelling Shifts

If you need to cancel a scheduled shift:

1. Navigate to Schedules > Shifts in your dashboard
2. Find the shift you need to cancel
3. Click Actions > Cancel Shift
4. Provide a reason for the cancellation (optional)
5. Confirm the cancellation

Cancelling a shift automatically notifies all assigned employees and removes the shift from their schedules.

Schedule Visibility Controls

Control who can see your schedules:

1. Schedules are automatically filtered by business and location
2. Employees can only see shifts for locations they’re assigned to
3. Managers can see all shifts within their management scope
4. Super admins have visibility across all locations

This tiered visibility ensures employees only see relevant scheduling information.

Schedule Publication Strategies

Though the system doesn’t have a formal “publish” button, managers can control the release of schedules using these strategies:

1. Staged Creation: Create shifts without assignments, then add assignments when ready to notify employees
2. Targeted Releases: Create and assign shifts for one department or location at a time
3. Time-Based Creation: Create future schedules with adequate advance notice
4. Communication: Send a separate announcement when a new schedule period is fully published

These strategies give managers control over when employees are notified about new schedules.

Best Practices

For optimal results when creating and publishing schedules:

1. Plan Ahead: Create schedules at least two weeks in advance
2. Use Templates: Leverage recurring patterns for consistent scheduling
3. Consider Preferences: Account for employee availability and preferences
4. Validate Thoroughly: Resolve all validation issues before assigning employees
5. Communicate Changes: Add notes to shifts when making significant changes
6. Be Consistent: Release schedules on a regular, predictable cadence
7. Check Coverage: Ensure all shifts have adequate staffing across all required roles
8. Monitor Conflicts: Resolve scheduling conflicts before they affect operations

Related Resources

• Auto Scheduling
• Custom Reports
• Schedule Conflicts
• Shift Rule Templates

This article should be updated when:

1. The shift creation interface changes
2. New bulk scheduling features are added
3. Changes to the notification system are implemented
4. Additional validation checks are added
5. Schedule visibility controls are modified