Shift schedules

Before you start

A shift schedule needs a free account and a list of people, because the list is the team. If some shifts need somebody who can do a particular thing, like running the sound desk, add that as a role on the list and check off who can do it. The reminders go to the email address a person had on the list when they took the shift.

Making one

Under "Shift schedules" on your pages, "Start one" asks:

• "What is it?" The name everybody sees.
• "Start from": an empty week, or a starter that fills one in for you to change: a Sunday service, weekday afternoons, an overnight desk, or a conference day.
• "Which list of people?" and "What kind of thing is it?"
• "Time zone": every shift's start and end are in this zone, through the clocks changing.
• "How far ahead to publish": how many weeks of shifts to keep up, rolling forward each night. Up to 4 on the free plan and 52 on a paid one.
• "Who fills the places?" "People sign themselves up", "You put people down", or, on a paid plan, "Suggest a fair split for you to review".
• "Can people see who else is on?" "Yes, the whole team's shifts" or "No, only their own". Either way, you see who's on everything.

You can change most of these later, from the schedule's page (more below).

We read a schedule's name, and the names of the roles it asks for, the way we read the words on any page. If one mentions something we check by hand, like a payment or an account detail, we pause the schedule for a quick look: the people on it see that it's paused, it can't be changed meanwhile, and somebody gets to it within a day.

What happens each week

Add each shift: which day, what time it starts, how long it is in minutes, and who it needs. "Who does it need?" takes a number for "Anyone" and one for each role, so a Sunday service might need one on sound, two greeters and one leading. Press "Add this one" and it repeats every week.

A shift can run past midnight, and it says "the next day" where it ends. To change one, remove it and add it again. The line at the top adds up everything published, such as "8 shifts, 20 places to fill", and the dates it runs between.

Publishing

"Publish it" puts up the shifts for as many weeks ahead as you chose, up to 200 shifts at a time; a busy schedule stops there, and the page says so. From then on it rolls forward by itself each night.

On a running schedule, each change goes out as soon as you add or remove a shift. Shifts people are already on are left alone, and future shifts nobody has taken, which the week no longer has, come down right away.

Publishing doesn't email anybody. People see the shifts when they open their own link.

Everybody's own link

"Make links for anybody without one" makes one link for each person on the list, each starting whenabouts.link/s/. There's no account or password; the link is how we know who they are.

You'll only see the links this once, so copy them before you leave the page and send each person theirs however you usually reach them. We don't email them, and we only keep a scrambled copy that can't be turned back into the link. If somebody loses theirs, or it gets passed on, "Turn this link off" stops it at once; press the button again for a new one.

Somebody can also keep their link in an account of their own, so it's there on any device they sign in on. Each schedule is kept from its own link, so a new schedule isn't added to their account by itself, even if they've kept their place on your list.

What people see on their link

The page says who they are and which roles they do. Then:

• "What you're on": their shifts, each with a way to offer it to somebody else or give it up.
• "Coming up": the next couple of months. On a schedule where people sign themselves up, every place they can take is a button. They can only take places that ask for anyone, or for a role they do.
• "Up for grabs": shifts somebody else can't do, to take on.
• "When you're away": dates they can't do. When you put people down, copy last week forward or get a fair split, nobody is given a shift on a date they're away.

Each shift also has a page of its own, which the reminder emails link to. It shows what's on and how full it is, and nothing can be changed from it; everything happens on each person's own link.

Swaps, and giving a shift up

"Offer it to the team" puts a shift under "Up for grabs" for the people who could cover it. Where people can see who else is on, "Or ask somebody by name" offers it to one person, and only they see it. Either way it stays theirs until somebody takes it, and the offer runs out after a week, or when the shift starts. Swaps don't email the people involved; the page shows when somebody has taken it.

"Give it up" hands it straight back, and you get an email within the hour saying a place has opened.

To take somebody off a shift yourself, use the week view (more below).

Seeing the week, and filling gaps

The schedule's page shows one week at a time, with links to the others. Each shift says "Covered", "Short" or "More than needed", how many places are filled, and who's on.

"What's short this week" lists every open place, with a "Choose somebody" menu of the people who can do it. People away that day are greyed out. Pick somebody and press "Add", and they'll see it on their own link. They aren't emailed.

"Copy last week forward" puts the people from the week before on the same shifts in the week you're looking at, wherever there's room, leaving out anybody who's away.

"Who's on this week" lists everybody on a shift still to come, with "Remove" beside each name. It asks before doing anything. Say yes, and the place opens up for somebody else, anything they'd offered to the team goes, and we email them to say so if we have an address for them. If we don't, the page tells you, so you can let them know yourself. Shifts that have already started can't be changed.

A fair split

On a paid plan, a schedule made with "Suggest a fair split for you to review" gets "A fair split" beside the week. "Suggest a split for this week" proposes who does each open place, evening out who has done the most, and says why for each one. Nothing goes out until you press "Publish these", and "Throw them away" drops them all.

Every shift somebody is on counts toward who has done the most, however they got it: taking it themselves, being added by you (copying last week forward included), a suggestion you published, or a swap. If they give it up, or you take them off before it starts, it stops counting.

On the same plans, "Who could cover this" under each short shift says who's free then, for people who keep their usual week in an account and have chosen to share it with you. Anybody away that day shows as "Busy then", and everybody else as "Hasn't shared their availability".

Changing the settings

"Settings" on the schedule's page has the choices "Start one" asked, starting from what's set now. Press "Save the settings", and shifts nobody has taken follow the new settings right away. Shifts people are on stay as they are.

• The name and the kind of thing it is change on every shift the schedule has made, past ones included. Emails already sent keep the old name.
• The list can change until anybody has their own link or has taken a shift. After that, it's their schedule too, so to use a different list, make a new schedule.
• The time zone can change while nobody is on a shift still to come. Shifts nobody has taken move to the new zone's times. Once somebody is on one, take them off it or ask them to give it up first, so nobody's shift moves without them knowing.
• How far ahead: fewer weeks takes down shifts nobody has taken past the new end. More puts them up, as far as your plan goes.
• Who fills the places: switching away from a fair split throws away any suggestions you haven't published. Switching to one needs a paid plan.
• Who can see who else is on: switching to the whole team shows everybody's names to the whole team right away, including people who took shifts while names were hidden.

The emails

• Two days before a shift, everybody on it who had an address on the list gets a reminder. It says to give it up from their own link if they can't make it any more.
• When somebody gives a shift up, you hear within the hour.
• When you take somebody off a shift, they get an email saying so.
• Every Sunday at 6 pm, in the schedule's time zone, you get what's still short in the week ahead, Monday to Sunday, with a link to that week on the schedule. A week with no shifts in it doesn't get one.

Shifts don't get the end-of-day email other pages send, so a busy day on the schedule doesn't fill your inbox.

Your emails go to the address you sign in with. Every one has "Stop these emails" at the bottom, which stops all our reminders and updates to that address, not just these.

Deleting a schedule

"Delete this schedule" tells you first what goes. The pattern goes, and so do everybody's own links, which stop working. Shifts nobody is on go too. Shifts somebody has already taken stay, so nobody turns up to something that isn't there.

What's free, and what isn't

A free account can run 1 schedule, published up to 4 weeks ahead, with up to 15 people holding their own link to it. Roles count across your whole account, 5 in all, shared with your lists. Putting people down, signing themselves up and swaps work on every plan.

Paid plans take those limits off, publish up to 52 weeks ahead (raise "How far ahead" in a schedule's settings after upgrading), and add the fair split and "Who could cover this". If a paid plan ends, the schedule keeps running: links already given out keep working, and empty shifts more than 4 weeks ahead are taken down that night. What's on each plan has the rest.