The escapement
A roster moves forward one state at a time. Seven states take it from the first draft to the final score, with Revise for changes after you confirm. Below is what happens in each, for you and for your people.
State 01
Draft
At your desk
Build the period: pick the nights, open the positions you need filled and set a capacity for each. Demand adds itself up as you open and close work.
On their phone
Nothing to see yet. The roster is still being built.
State 02
Requesting
At your desk
Publish, and everyone gets a private link by SMS and email, with no app, login or password. Watch the responses come in and remind the quiet ones.
On their phone
Opens the link on their phone and taps the nights and roles they want. They can change their picks until requests close.
State 03
Allocating
At your desk
All the requests are on one board. See which spots have a single requester, weigh the contested ones against reliability, and place each person once, either assigned or on standby.
On their phone
Waits to hear back. Their request is in.
State 04
Scheduled
At your desk
Confirm the roster. Everyone allocated, and everyone on standby, is told automatically, with your branding and your wording.
On their phone
Hears the result: the nights they got, or their place in reserve and what that means.
State 05
Revise
At your desk
Change a confirmed roster without starting again: move someone, fill a gap or swap a seat. Each move is logged, and only the people it affects are told.
On their phone
Hears only if their own night changed, with the new place and time.
State 06
Live
At your desk
Run the night from a phone: mark attendance, adjust hours in half-hour steps, promote a reserve when someone doesn’t show.
On their phone
Turns up and works the night they chose. Standbys get the call if a spot opens.
State 07
Completed
At your desk
Close each night, then complete the period. Hours are totalled, the reports are ready, and each person’s reliability score is updated.
On their phone
Their record goes with them the next time they ask for a night.
Then the next period starts again from Draft.
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