Creating shifts: from draft to published

A shift is one block of scheduled work: a job, a time window and the people doing it. Shifts start as drafts, which the field never sees, and reach the team only when you publish.

Creating a shift

Choose New shift on the Schedule. The form runs top to bottom:

• Workstream — chips that narrow the job list (shown when you have more than one workstream).
• Job — the job this shift works on. It is the one required choice; without it the form says "Pick a job."
• Shift title — a short label, e.g. Morning blockage clear.
• Team — Add people to put one or more people on it.
• Site — a saved site belonging to the job's client, or Use an address for a one-off address. A job with no client offers no saved sites. See Sites and locations.
• When — opens Date & time (below). If your workspace has shift times, they sit under the field as chips: pick one and its hours fill in. The workspace's time zone is shown under the field.
• Assignment options — tick Open for staff to claim to let field staff claim spots themselves, set Available spots, and tick Require my approval for each claim if you want the final say.
• Notes for the team — anything the field staff should know.
• Attachments — if the job has files, tick the ones this team should see (From job · 2 selected).
• Tasks — a short checklist for the shift (Add task).

Date & time

When opens Date & time. Your workspace's shift times are chips along the top: pick Night 18:00–04:00, say, and both times fill in, with the end on the next morning. Otherwise, under Shift window, set the Start and End dates and times. An end time at or before the start time ends the next day by itself, with a Next day badge, so you only pick an end date for work that runs over several days. Moving the start date moves the end with it. Switch on All day for a whole day, or Ongoing for work with no fixed end. A new shift can also Repeat (see Repeating a shift below). The Summary line shows the span and its length before you choose Apply.

Repeating a shift

To make the same shift on several dates, switch on Repeat in Date & time. Each repeat is an ordinary shift on the same job, with its own crew, confirmations, clock-ins and visit outcome. Repeat and Ongoing can't both be on: switching one on switches the other off. All day works with either.

• Repeats: Weekly, Monthly or Yearly, and Every how many weeks (1 to 52), months (1 to 24) or years (1 or 2).
• On: for weekly, tick the days; the start date's day is ticked to begin with. For monthly, the same day of the month (Day 15) or the same weekday (The third Thursday, or The last Thursday when the start date is in the month's last seven days). A monthly repeat on the 29th, 30th or 31st falls on the last day of shorter months. Yearly repeats on the start date's day and month.
• Ends: After a number of shifts, or On a date. The last shift is the last date on or before it.
• Skip public holidays: ticked to begin with, using your workspace's own public holidays. A skipped date doesn't count towards After, so After 5 still makes 5 shifts. The box only appears when your workspace has public holidays listed.

If the start date's day isn't ticked, the repeat starts on the next ticked day. A night shift repeats by the day it starts, and 08:00 stays 08:00 when the clocks change. The calendar marks every date a shift will land on, and the Summary says what will be made, for example Weekly on Mon to Fri, 5 shifts, Thu 15 Oct to Wed 21 Oct and 08:00 to 17:00 each, 9 hours, with the public holidays it skips.

A repeat always ends: it makes 2 to 260 shifts, and the last must start within 2 years of the first, so a yearly repeat makes at most 3. The reason shows under the field to change, for example "That makes 312 shifts. A repeat can make at most 260."

Save draft and Publish shift first check every date the way a single shift is checked: double-booking, approved leave, and what the work requires of each person on that date, including a card that runs out partway through. If any date has a problem you see one list, for example "2 of 15 shifts need a look", with each date and what is wrong. Keep or Drop each date, then choose Save anyway (or Publish anyway). A date somebody can't be put on can be kept only by someone with Override eligibility, and it asks why; the override is recorded against that date's shift. Publish shift publishes the whole repeat at once.

On the Schedule each shift in a repeat carries a small repeat mark, and its detail says, for example, Repeats weekly on Mon to Fri · shift 2 of 5.

Changing a repeat

Saving a change to a shift in a repeat asks Just this shift or This and following. This and following makes the same change (the times, the people, the title, notes, place, tasks, files and claim settings) to this shift and every later one that hasn't started, and says first how many that is and how many were changed on their own and will be overwritten. Each shift keeps its own day. Everyone on them hears once, however many changed.

To move a repeat to other days, or change how often it repeats, open Date & time on one of its shifts and choose Change repeat…. It opens on the repeat's rule. Apply a new one and Maliru says what it will do from that shift on: keep the dates in both rules (moved to the new times), cancel the dates only in the old one, and add the dates only in the new one, as drafts or published like the rest of the repeat. Earlier shifts stay as they are.

A shift that has started (someone clocked in, its outcome was given, or its start time has passed) is never changed by any of this, and nor is a cancelled one.

Cancelling a shift in a repeat asks This shift or This and following, with the usual few seconds to undo. When a job is set to done or cancelled with visits from a repeat still ahead, Maliru asks whether to cancel them, and cancels nothing unless you say so. A visit outcome that moves the job to review doesn't ask; closing the job later does.

A repeat makes more visits on the same job. When the work is a new job each period, such as servicing for a client, use planned maintenance instead.

Where a new shift starts

A new shift starts on the hours of the job's last published visit, because the next visit to a job is usually booked like the last. With no visit yet, it starts on the usual shift of the first person you add (set on their work pattern), then on your first shift time, then 08:00–17:00. Once you set the hours yourself, nothing changes them, and editing a shift keeps its own.

Clashes and requirements

If someone on the team already has work at that time, a warning appears above the buttons before you save: "Worker overlap · {name} has another shift 13:00–17:00", with View shift. It is a warning, not a block. See Clashes, leave and who cannot go.

When you save — draft or publish — Maliru also checks each person against what the work requires. A requirement that bites as soon as someone is put on the job refuses the save with the reason. Publishing also checks requirements set for when the roster is published; if one fails, the shift is kept as a draft — "Saved as a draft, not published: …".

If a supervisor may allow it and you hold Override eligibility, Assign anyway (or Publish anyway) appears beside the buttons. It asks Why, then goes ahead, recorded as an override against your name. A requirement nobody can allow ends "This cannot be overridden.", with no button. See Clashes, leave and who cannot go.

Draft or publish?

• Save draft — the shift appears on your schedule under Drafts. Nobody is told, and workers can't see drafts at all.
• Publish shift — the shift goes live. Everyone on it is notified — "New shift: {job}", "Starts {when}. Confirm in Today." — and it moves to Published.

After saving, a line at the top of the Schedule sums up anything flagged — "Published — 2 schedule conflicts … flagged." — including any credential the job requires that someone on the team is missing.

You can build several drafts over a planning session and publish them together with Publish {n} drafts in the header, or publish one from its detail with Publish. A draft someone on it isn't allowed to work is kept back as a draft, and the Schedule says which and why.

After publishing

Open any shift to see When, Where, Team, Notes for the team, tasks and files. Next to each person you'll see where they stand — confirmed, declined or not confirmed yet — and, if a background check has found a problem, Not eligible or Needs attention. See Confirmations, declines and automatic reminders.

Editing a published shift has one button, Save changes. The team is told what changed: people added get "New shift", people removed get "Removed from shift", and everyone kept gets "Shift updated" when something they will see changed (the time, place, notes, tasks or files) — and if the time moved, they are asked to confirm again.

To cancel, open the shift's ⋯ menu and choose Cancel shift. The shift disappears at once, but nothing is sent for 15 seconds: Undo in the bar at the foot of the screen puts it back. After that the team is told "Shift cancelled". See Cancelled by mistake? Undo within 15 seconds.

What follows the job

The site or one-off address chosen here is recorded on the job too. Files you tick can be opened from the worker's shift or job view; on a phone they open in the device's file viewer. The job's notes and any fields shared with field staff are there as well.

For a crew working through many jobs together, use Allocating routes to a worker or crew. For many separate shifts at once, use Adding many shifts at once.

Tip: the dashboard's Unconfirmed shifts and Overdue shifts cards open the Schedule on those shifts, so you can chase silence before it becomes a no-show.