For security firms

Security rota software: every post covered, every officer on the right site

A security rota has no empty cells: a post is either covered or the contract is in trouble. InShift keeps every client site as a location on one planner with the count of who is on today, runs twelve hour days and nights on four on, four off with a night that counts as one shift, moves officers between sites, and tracks the radios, keys and uniform each officer holds.

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A post is a promise, and the rota is where it is kept

A static post on a client site is 168 hours a week of one officer, sometimes two. On twelve hour shifts that is four officers on four on, four off: two on days, two on nights, and the pattern walks through the calendar without ever landing on the same weekday twice. Add a second site, a mobile patrol, a control room and a relief officer who covers holidays and sickness, and the rota is a dozen people whose weeks never line up. A spreadsheet holds it until the first swap; then two people think they are on the same night and one post is empty.

The second thing is money. Nights are paid with a premium, bank holidays at a multiplier, and an officer who did five nights and a day at two different sites has a payslip that takes an hour to check by hand. The third is kit. Radios, keys, torches, body cams, the uniform: every one of them has been issued to someone, and when that someone leaves, the firm needs to know what is in their car.

Below is how a firm of twenty officers on three sites looks in InShift: every post on one screen, the four on, four off pattern as it really lands, the kit against each name, and an officer who sees only their own post and their own hours.

Posts and sites

Every client site on one planner, with who is on today

Each client site is a location in InShift with its own address, its own shift types and its own officers. The “All locations” view of the planner shows every site as a block, the people in rows, and the count of who is on shift today at each. An empty cell on a post is visible on Monday for the whole week ahead, and the client’s site manager can be given a role that sees that one site and nothing else.

  • A week, a month, a year or a list view; “Print all locations” for the control room, one site for its manager
  • Shift types per site: “Days 07:00–19:00” and “Nights 19:00–07:00”, the night counting as one shift on the date it starts
  • An officer can belong to several sites; “Available for substitution” makes them a candidate everywhere
  • The “Open shift” row inside the week for the post you still have to fill; the team sees it in the app and volunteers
The admin panel screen by screen

Four on, four off across two posts, eight days

Two static posts on twelve hour shifts, eight officers, a relief officer for the ninth row. The second post runs two days behind the first, so the relief is never needed at both on the same day.

Officer12345678
Site A · 1DDDD····
Site A · 2····DDDD
Site A · 3NNNN····
Site A · 4····NNNN
Site B · 1··DDDD··
Site B · 2DD····DD
Site B · 3··NNNN··
Site B · 4NN····NN
Relief········

Every day has one officer on days and one on nights at each post. Four on, four off gives each officer 42 hours a week on average, 48 in the four day week and 36 in the three day week. The relief officer takes any D or N that opens up and is on days at the control room otherwise.

Kit

Radios, keys, torches and uniform, against the name of the officer who holds them

“Equipment tracking” is a module of the Basic plan in InShift: a catalogue of what the firm owns, numbered items inside it, and a holder against each. Issuing a radio to an officer sends it to their phone, where they confirm “Received” or say “Not with me”, so the history shows who actually took it. Handing it over at the end of a night is “Pass to a colleague” in the app. When an officer leaves, their card lists what is still out.

  • “Items”, “Catalog” and “History”: how many are held, available and overdue, and every issue and return with a date and a name
  • A return date on an item, and an overdue list when the date has passed
  • A presence check every so many days: the app asks the holder whether they still have it
  • The module is switched on in “Modules” and comes with Basic at no extra charge

On the officer’s phone

Today’s post, the kit to confirm, and nothing that is not theirs

The home screen of the app shows the officer today’s shift with its time and its site, the kit that has just been issued to confirm, and the shortcuts that matter on a post: a day off request and the open shifts on other sites. The “Rota” tab has their own month, “Who else is working” names the colleague on the other post, and “Stats” adds up their shifts and hours for the period at their own rate, nights included.

  • A push before the shift, a push when the rota changes, and “Quiet hours” after a night
  • A swap through “Substitute”: a colleague with the same position takes the shift, the manager approves
  • The rota in the phone’s own calendar through “My schedule in the phone calendar”
  • Rates and other people’s rotas are not shown; what a role sees is set on “Access rights”
The app screen by screen

Moving a security firm onto InShift

An afternoon for a firm of twenty officers on three sites, the team joining included.

  1. 1

    Sign up and the sites

    Email or Google. Each client site is a location with its address; a group of locations per client keeps a portfolio tidy. The control room is a location too.

  2. 2

    Positions and shift types

    Security officer, supervisor, controller, relief. Shift types per site: “Days 07:00–19:00”, “Nights 19:00–07:00”, a “Patrol 20:00–04:00” for the mobile round.

  3. 3

    The team, the rates, the kit

    “Add multiple” pastes the names with a position, a site and an hourly rate; “Night hours” and “Holiday work” on “Premiums”. With “Equipment tracking” on, the radios and keys are issued from the catalogue.

  4. 4

    The first eight days and publish

    Days and nights at each post by the pattern, the relief on the control room, then “Publish”. The month view shows where the pattern lands next.

Frequently asked questions

Can I see at a glance that every post is covered?▾

Each site is a location, and the “All locations” view of the planner shows every site as a block with the count of who is on today and the number of shifts under each day of the week. There is no automatic alarm for an empty post yet; the gap shows as an empty cell, and the “Open shift” row inside the week is where you fill it.

How does four on, four off work in InShift?▾

As two shift types, “Days 07:00–19:00” and “Nights 19:00–07:00”, placed by the pattern; the night counts as one twelve hour shift on the date it starts. Because the pattern does not follow the week, “Copy last week” is a starting point rather than the answer: the month view is where the pattern is laid out and checked. The 4 on 4 off calculator on this site tells you which dates each team lands on.

Can an officer work on more than one site?▾

Yes. A person has a primary location and can be added to more, and “Available for substitution” on their card makes them a candidate for swaps and open shifts on sites where they do not normally work. Their hours from every site add up in one place, at their own rate.

Does it track radios, keys and uniform?▾

With the “Equipment tracking” module. Items are numbered in a catalogue, issued to a person, confirmed by them in the app with “Received”, handed over with “Pass to a colleague” and taken back with “Take back”. Every item has a history, an optional return date and an overdue list, and the module can ask holders from time to time whether they still have the item.

Does it do patrol reports, incident logs or licence expiry dates?▾

No. InShift is the rota, the requests, the hours and pay, and the kit. Patrol and incident reporting stay in the system you use for them, and licence dates in your HR records. If you want the rota inside that system, “Integrations” issues API keys and webhooks, and the documentation is at inshift.app/api/.

What does it cost for a firm of twenty officers?▾

Free for one location and up to 10 people. Beyond that it is a subscription per active person on the “Employees” list, with locations, payroll and the team app included; “Equipment tracking” comes with Basic at no extra charge. The numbers are on the pricing page.

Get the whole firm on one rota

Sites, shift types and the first eight days take an afternoon, and every officer sees their own post in the app the same day.

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