Rosters
Plan who works when at each site on a drag-and-drop roster, repeat it with patterns and rotations, and publish it to staff, who see their shifts in Agoo Workspace and hear once when they change.
Agoo is in early access. This page describes the feature as it ships to early-access organisations; screens are illustrative.
A roster says who works which shift, on which day, at a site. In Agoo you plan it on a grid in the Console, let repeating patterns fill it in weeks ahead, and publish it when it's ready. Until you publish, only the people who plan it can see it. Once it's published, each person sees their shifts in the Agoo Workspace app and is told once about what changed.
The published roster is what Agoo measures the day against: who is late, who isn't in yet, who was absent once their shift ended, who left early, and which break each shift has. Rosters come with Growth, Pro and Enterprise.
Key terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Template | A shift you run at a site, with its name, times, grace period, break, colour and an optional label, such as "Day ward" |
| Roster shift | One person's shift on one day, made from a template. You can move it or change its times and it keeps its template |
| Pattern | A cycle of 1 to 56 days from a start date, each day a template or a day off, such as 2 days, 2 nights and 4 off |
| Rotation | Several people on one pattern, each starting at a different day of the cycle, so every day is covered |
| Draft | A shift or a change that isn't published yet. Only the people who plan the roster see it |
| Publish | Send everything waiting to staff, at one site, in one go |
Open the planner
Go to Console → Attendance → Rosters and choose the site. The planner has people down the side and days across, for a week, a fortnight or four weeks, with arrows to move through time.
- Shifts are coloured blocks with their name, times and label. A shift that isn't published yet is hatched; a published shift with a change waiting is marked as changed, and one you've taken off as removing, until you publish.
- Leave and public holidays show on the days they fall, and a weekly fixed shift (see Weekly fixed shifts) shows where it still applies.
- Warnings sit on the shift: Overlaps another of their shifts, They're on leave that day, A holiday or closed day, or that the person no longer works at this site or isn't on attendance. Warnings don't stop you, except an overlap, which can't be published.
Anyone who can see everyone's attendance at the site can open the roster. People with Manage shifts, corrections and leave at the site plan it: Owners, Admins, HR, and Site admins at their own sites. See Roles and permissions.
Plan with drag and drop
- Add a shift: drag a template from the palette onto a person's day.
- Move a shift: drag it to another day, or to another person.
- Copy a shift: hold Alt (Option on a Mac) while you drag, or tick Dragging copies above the roster.
- Change its times: drag the start or end edge of the block.
- Edit it: select the shift to change its times, break or template, add a note for the person, or remove it.
Every change is saved as you make it, as a draft. Undo takes back your last changes, and discarding the drafts takes the roster back to what staff can see.
Publish
When the roster is ready, choose Publish. Agoo shows what will change before anything goes, such as "14 new shifts, 3 changed and 1 removed", and how many people it affects.
Check the summary
Publish covers everything waiting at this site: new shifts, changes and removals. Agoo refuses to publish while two of someone's shifts would overlap, at this site or another.
Add a note if it's short notice
A change to a published shift that starts within the next 48 hours needs a short note to the people it changes, such as "Covering for Ama, who is on a course". You can add a note to any publish.
Publish
Everyone whose shifts still to come have changed is told once, however many shifts changed: a notification in Agoo Workspace, or an email if they don't have the app, listing their next five shifts and your note. The roster stops being hatched, and Today, the timesheet and shift reminders use it at once.
A shift you remove after publishing is shown to the person as removed, so they know it's gone rather than wondering. Each publish, and who made it, is recorded in the audit trail.
Shift templates
Under Shift templates, add each shift you run at the site:
| Setting | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Name | What people see, such as "Day ward" or "Night gate" |
| Starts, ends | The shift's times. An end before the start runs overnight, such as 20:00 to 08:00 |
| Grace | Minutes after the start before someone counts as late |
| Break | Your standard day's break, or the shift's own: none, paid or unpaid, its length, and when it usually starts (breaks) |
| Colour | One of eight, so the roster reads at a glance |
| Label | Optional, up to 40 characters, such as "Ward 3" or "Gate 2" |
Changing a template's times affects the shifts made from it from then on; shifts already on the roster keep theirs, and the days its patterns make are made again as changes to publish. A name, colour or label change shows on future shifts at once. You can archive a template once no pattern and no weekly fixed shift uses it.
Patterns and rotations
Under Patterns, a pattern repeats a cycle of days from a start date: each day is a template or a day off. Start from a ready-made one or build your own, up to 56 days (eight weeks):
- Monday to Friday
- 6 days a week
- 2 days, 2 nights, 4 off
- 4 on, 4 off
- 2-2-3, over two weeks
- Day and night weeks
Put people on it from a date, and to a date if it ends. For a rotation, put several people on the same pattern, each at a different day of the cycle (its phase), so the days and nights are always covered: four nurses on 2 days, 2 nights, 4 off, two days apart, cover every day and every night. A person is on one pattern at a time.
Agoo fills the roster from your patterns eight weeks ahead, and keeps it eight weeks ahead as time passes:
- Days you changed by hand stay as you left them. A pattern never undoes a shift you moved, resized or removed.
- Once you've published a pattern's shifts, the new days it makes as time passes are published as they're made, so staff always see eight weeks ahead. If you've changed the pattern since you last published, its new days wait as drafts until you publish again.
- Changing a pattern or who's on it makes its future days again, as changes to publish.
Weekly fixed shifts
If your people already have a fixed weekly shift, such as Monday to Friday on the day shift, it keeps working: Agoo measures their days against it as before.
Once a day is on someone's published roster, the roster decides that day. Their weekly shift doesn't apply on it, and a rostered day with no shift is a rest day, never an absence. You can move people to the roster site by site, at your own pace.
Set up rosters
The setup wizard's Staff time step asks Do you roster shifts?, and Home's Set up staff time checklist has Your first roster (Growth and above). It's ticked when you publish your first roster, or when you answer No. See Attendance rules and setup.
What staff see
- In Agoo Workspace, on iPhone, iPad and Android, Your shifts shows their published shifts for this month and next, with the site, times, label, break and any note. New and changed shifts are highlighted until they've seen them, and a removed shift says so. It works offline. See the Workspace app.
- The Next shift widget on their Home Screen shows their next shift at a glance.
- One notification per publish: "Your new shifts are out" or "Your shifts have changed", with what changed and from when. Without the app, the same news comes by email.
- Shift reminders come before rostered shifts as they do before fixed ones, if your organisation has them on. See Shifts and overtime.
Staff see only their own published shifts, never drafts, never a change you haven't published, and never anyone else's roster.
Export a roster
Export the site's roster for a period of up to three months as CSV, Excel or PDF: each shift with the person, day, times, break and label. Each export is recorded in the audit trail.
Plans and data
- Plans: rosters are part of shifts and overtime, on Growth, Pro and Enterprise. On Free and Starter, Rosters shows a preview and which plan adds it.
- Moving to a lower plan deletes nothing. Your rosters stay readable; you can't change or publish them, and patterns stop filling the roster ahead until you're back on Growth or above.
- How long rosters are kept: as long as your attendance records, and a legal hold keeps them. The full organisation export includes your templates, patterns, the people on them, roster shifts and each publish.
Coming next
Being built next:
- Import a roster from a spreadsheet, one row per shift, arriving as a draft to check and publish (Growth and above).
- Open shifts that staff with the right site and label claim in Agoo Workspace, with your approval or straight away, as you choose.
- Swaps: someone offers a shift to a colleague or to anyone who can work it, the colleague accepts and a manager approves.
- Rest and consent warnings from the Labour Act: less than 12 hours between shifts (s.41), no 48 hours' rest in seven days (s.42), and night work or overtime that needs a new mother's consent (s.55). Warnings, never blocks.
- A printable week for the notice board, A4 landscape with your logo.
- Rosters in the public API and webhooks, and Your shift today on the kiosk's confirmation screen.