Planner

Shift rota planner: the week, the month and the year on one screen

The shift rota planner in InShift starts with shift types, set once; then the weekly rota is built from the menu of a cell. A draft is yours alone; the team gets the rota in the app after the “Publish” button. Week, month, year and list, several locations together, from a laptop or a phone.

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How a shift rota is built in InShift

The rota lives in “Planner” in the admin panel. People sit in rows by department, the days of the week are columns, and a cell holds a shift: its type, time and colour. First the location gets its shift types, for example “Morning · 08:00–16:00” or “Evening · 13:00–21:00”, each with its days of the week and, for those paid by the shift, a “Shift price”. Then the manager clicks an empty cell, picks a type from the menu, and the shift is in.

While the rota is being built it is a draft: only whoever works in the panel can see it, and the panel says so, “Drafts (N) are visible only to you, publish to show your team”. The “Publish” button shows how many shifts go out, and after it every person sees their shifts in the InShift app and their phone gets a push. Every step below is shown on real frames of the panel and the app from the demo organisation.

The cell

A shift is placed from the menu of a cell

An empty cell opens the menu with the location’s shift types. One click places a shift; a click on the shift opens the edit: another time, a “Custom shift” with any time, or removal. The hours of everyone for the week sit next to their names.

  • The location’s shift types right in the menu: “Morning”, “Midday”, “Evening” or your own names
  • “Custom shift” with any time for a day that does not fit the pattern
  • A time clash is flagged at once: “Time conflict: already working 13:00–21:00 (Evening)”
  • Hours per week next to every name, so an overload is visible before publishing
  • “Publish (N)” with the number of drafts: the team sees the rota only after it
Build the first rota

Shift types

Shift types are set once for a location

The location card holds “Shift types” under “General shifts”: a name, days, a start and an end, a colour and a “Shift price”. A shift through midnight, say 22:00–06:00, is one shift, and its night hours are picked up by the “Night hours” premium in “Payroll”.

  • Days for every type: “Morning” on weekdays only, “Evening” every day
  • “+ different time for other days” when Saturday starts later than Monday
  • A time through midnight, for example 22:00–06:00, in one shift
  • “Shift price” for those paid by the shift
  • Own types for every location: the cafe and the warehouse of one chain run on different shifts
Create a location and its shift types

Views

Week, month, year and list

Shifts are placed in the week, hours and load are read in the month, holidays are planned in the year, and the list reads day by day. A chain opens every location together.

  • Month: everyone’s shifts by day, with hours and pay for the period next to them.
  • Year: twelve months on one screen for holidays and long plans.
  • List: day by day, who is on the morning, the midday and the evening shift.
  • “All locations together”: the chain on one screen, each site in its own block.

The repeating week

“Copy last week” instead of forty clicks

In most teams a week looks like the previous one. The button above the rota copies every shift of last week into this one as drafts: the panel says how many shifts it will copy, you fix only the differences and publish.

  • Shifts are copied as drafts: the team sees nothing until you publish
  • The number is visible before you confirm, for example “Copy (39)”
  • After the copy you edit point by point: a holiday, a swap, a new starter
  • An empty last week is not copied, and the panel says so
How to copy a week

Open shift

A shift without a name, and the team asks for it

When a person is needed but it is not yet clear who, an open shift is created: “Open shift for the team” with a position, a shift type, days and “How many people needed”. With “Offer to the team” ticked, the team sees it in the app after publishing, volunteers press “I want it”, and you pick who gets it.

  • “Any position” or a specific one: barista, cashier, security officer
  • Several days at once: one open shift for the whole week with the number of people needed
  • “Offer to the team”: visible in the app as soon as the rota is published
  • Requests gather under “Open shifts” in “Requests”, and the chosen person lands in the rota
How open shifts work

From a phone

The manager places shifts from a phone

The planner is in the manager’s app too: the same week, the same shift types, the same publish button. Handy for fixing the rota on the road or on the floor when the laptop stayed in the office.

  • A cell opens the menu of shift types, as in the panel
  • Drafts and “Publish” work the same on every device
  • Swaps, requests and the day’s summary are next to it in the same app
About the team app

For the team

The team sees the rota in the app the same minute

After publishing every person sees their shifts on the “Rota” tab: the next shift on the home screen, the month as a list, colleagues’ shifts by location. A new or moved shift arrives as a push notification.

  • Own shifts on a month calendar and the next shift on the home screen
  • Push about published and changed shifts, quiet hours at night
  • A calendar subscription: shifts in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook
  • The rota printed by location for the wall, if someone has no phone
What the employee sees

Events

Team holidays and events next to the rota

Birthdays, work anniversaries, team days and training live on the “Events” tab and show up in the feed, and the team gets a reminder. The manager sees who to congratulate today while building the week.

  • Birthdays and anniversaries counted from the person’s card
  • Own events under “Team Holidays”: a team day, a stocktake, training
  • Reminders “One day before”, “Three days before” or “A week before”, to “Managers” or the “Whole team”
Team events

The first rota in one evening

The order new organisations start with in InShift.

  1. 1

    A location and its shift types

    The name of the site, its work days, the shift types with a time and a colour. Done once.

  2. 2

    People and positions

    A card for everyone: name, position, location. The person enters the invite code in the app themselves.

  3. 3

    The week in the planner

    Cell by cell, or “Copy last week”. Everyone’s hours sit next to their name.

  4. 4

    “Publish”

    The team sees the rota in the app, the phones get a push. Next week is copied from this one.

A rota in Excel and a rota in InShift

A spreadsheet honestly works while the team is small and nothing changes. After that the difference is who tells the team and who counts the hours.

Who learns about a shift

A spreadsheet or a group chat
Whoever opened the file or read the chat
The InShift planner
Everyone sees their shifts in the app, the phone gets a push

Clashes

A spreadsheet or a group chat
Noticed when two people turn up for one shift
The InShift planner
A time conflict is flagged in the cell before publishing

Next week

A spreadsheet or a group chat
Copy the sheet and edit by hand
The InShift planner
“Copy last week” and edits point by point

Hours and pay

A spreadsheet or a group chat
A separate sheet with formulas
The InShift planner
Hours come from the rota, pay from shifts sits next to it

Several locations

A spreadsheet or a group chat
Several files that never agree
The InShift planner
“All locations together” on one screen, access per site

Frequently asked questions

Can I plan the rota a month or a year ahead?▾

Yes, on the Basic plan. The “Month” view shows everyone’s shifts by day with the hours total, the “Year” view twelve months on one screen. Shifts go into any day ahead, and publishing can be done in parts: next week today, the rest of the month later.

How do I set night shifts or shifts through midnight?▾

A shift type with a time through midnight, for example 22:00–06:00, is created in the location card like a day one. Its night hours are counted by the “Night hours” premium in “Payroll”, where you set the window and the percentage, so the type itself needs nothing extra.

Does InShift check for clashes in the rota?▾

Yes. If the person is already on a shift at that time, the cell shows “Time conflict” with the name and time of that shift. Everyone’s hours for the week sit next to their name, so an overload is visible before publishing.

What does the team see while I am building the rota?▾

Nothing new. Every placed shift stays a draft, visible only to you in the panel. After the “Publish” button the shifts appear in everyone’s app and the phones get a push. A copied week arrives as drafts too.

Can I build the rota from a phone?▾

Yes. The planner is in the manager’s app: the same shift types, drafts and publishing. The admin panel in a phone browser works too, but the app is handier for edits on the move.

How does the rota work for several locations?▾

Every location has its own shift types, its own people and its own rota. The “All locations together” view shows the chain on one screen. Access is set per location: a site manager sees and edits only their own, the director the whole chain.

What if someone falls ill after the rota is published?▾

A colleague is placed on the shift in the “Substitution” row without rewriting the rota, or an open shift is created and the team asks for it from the app. Both are described on the page about swaps and requests.

Can I print the rota?▾

Yes. The “Print” menu prepares the rota of one location or of all locations for print or PDF, and “Download Excel” gives the same week as a spreadsheet. A team with phones does not need it: everyone sees the rota in the app.

Build the first rota tonight

A location, its shift types and the first week take one evening, with the whole team on board.

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