Set up scheduling

Scheduling needs the module switched on for your organization (see Scheduling). Switching it on also sets up the timesheet form your workers use from My Shifts.

Who can use it

These are the default roles. What someone can do follows their permissions to view and manage orders. See Manage your team. Anyone without access sees "Permission Denied" instead of the board.

Set your working week and default shift

1. In the sidebar, select Settings, then General.
2. Under Operations, select Scheduling.
3. Under Working days, select the days your company works. Monday to Friday is the default, and at least one must stay selected.
4. Under Default shift times, set Start and End. The default is 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM, or 07:00 to 15:00 when your organization shows times in 24-hour format. An end time earlier than the start is an overnight shift, and the form says "Overnight — ends the next day". The start and end can't be the same ("Start and end time must differ").
5. Select Save Scheduling Settings. You see "Scheduling settings updated".

The working days are the days a new order's roles run on unless you change them, and the days the board shades as non-working. The default shift is the time a new role starts with, and the time used for a worker you place with no role. Everyone in your organization sees the same working week. Public holidays aren't set here.

The same section links to your fatigue rules (Set up fatigue rules). Hire billing, the section after it, sets the activity each part of a hire carries (on hire, mobilisation, de-mobilisation and each stand-down reason). Your Schedule of Rates then prices each activity. See Bill a dry hire.

Show times in 12-hour or 24-hour format

Times show in 12-hour format (7:00 AM–3:00 PM) unless you change it. That includes the board, orders, hires, My Shifts, printed schedules, timesheets and pay.

1. In the sidebar, select Settings, then General.
2. Under Organization, select Localization.
3. Under Time display, select 24-hour (07:00–15:00) or 12-hour (7:00 AM–3:00 PM). It saves as soon as you select it. You see "Time display updated".

The time pickers on the board and in orders follow the same format. Shift notifications sent to your workers use the organization's clock, even when you have chosen a different one for yourself.

Anyone can pick a different format for themselves without changing it for everyone else:

1. Select your name at the bottom of the sidebar, then Settings.
2. Under Time display, select 24-hour or 12-hour. It saves as soon as you select it. You see "Time display saved". Other devices you're signed in on switch over within an hour.

To follow your organization's format again, select Use my organization's setting.

Change the message workers receive

Notify workers on the scheduler sends each worker an in-app notice. When Notification method is SMS, a worker who can receive texts also gets one text.

1. In the sidebar, select Settings, then General.
2. Under Operations, select Scheduling.
3. Under Allocation notices, edit In-app allocation notice and SMS. Edit with Milo opens the assistant for the same two messages. Milo shows a preview and how many texts the sample uses, and it saves only after you confirm.
4. Select Save Scheduling Settings. You see "Scheduling settings updated".

Each message can include your organisation, the day, the start, the end, the order, and the place. The text can also include Shift link. The day, the start and the end have to stay in both messages. The text has to include the shift link, and it cannot contain another web address. If you leave a message empty, save is refused: "Write the message workers will receive."

Preview shows the message for a sample shift. Under the text it also shows how many texts that sample uses and the SMS credits for one worker. A character outside the standard text alphabet, such as an emoji, shortens one text to 70 characters, and the page says so while you type. When the sample needs more than one text, the page warns you. Save is refused only when the date, the times and the link themselves cannot fit in one text: "This SMS cannot fit in one text even after the place, the label and the organisation name are removed. Shorten the wording around the date, times and link."

An organisation that never edits these keeps the original wording. To go back to it, paste that wording in and save.

The worker's text includes a link. With Assignar Pay installed, the link opens that shift. Otherwise the page offers App Store or Play Store, and Continue in the browser. The page does not show the shift. After the worker signs in, they land on the shift. Someone who is not that worker sees the same page, with no shift details.

Before your workers file timesheets

• Each worker needs a login linked to their worker record, which happens when they accept their invite. Without one, My Shifts says "No worker profile is linked to your account. Ask your administrator to link you to a worker."
• Set up the activities your workers choose from when they file time, with a cost code for each, in the sidebar under Resources, then Activities. Include break activities as well as work activities, because workers record their breaks with them.
• Keep a default timesheet form. Switching Scheduling on creates one for you, and you can choose another on a form's Settings tab; see Build a form. If your organization has no default timesheet form, Create Timesheet in My Shifts can't be selected.
• Give workers their roles and tags so the board can suggest the right people. You can also change them from the board; see Find workers and assets.