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Rota management is for org admins and authorised managers. Members need the rota.view or rota.manage permission to see Rota management in the Admin section and open /admin/rota. Staff use the staff rota guide.

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Building and publishing a rota

From Rota in the sidebar:
  1. Click Get started (or open Rota setup from the tools menu) and name the schedule. Add people now or after saving.
  2. New rotas start as Draft, visible to editors only. An existing organisation type is selected for you. Managers with one managed department have it selected automatically.
  3. Expand Type, department and visibility to change these choices. This section opens automatically when you need to create the first type or choose between managed departments.
  4. Choose Review setup to check the name, type, department, people count, visibility and organisation timezone. Back returns to your choices without losing them. Choose Save draft, or Create published rota if you changed visibility.
  5. After saving, use People on a rota to manage membership. Use Add a shift on the schedule header or drag on the week grid to add shifts.
  6. For a week with open slots, open the tools menu (wrench) and choose Suggest assignments. Campsite proposes people from availability templates, weekly hour caps, and unavailability days. Review the preview, apply, then edit anyone on the grid before you publish.
  7. To publish an existing draft, select it under People on a rota, choose Published, review the summary, then Publish rota. Existing budget checks still apply. Assigned staff receive email and push notifications that their shifts are confirmed.
Use the intent box under the Schedule tab to type commands such as “add a shift tomorrow 9-5”. Rota settings separates Team rotas, shared Organisation defaults, Person-level scheduling rules, and Your preferences. Expand Manage organisation defaults for types, timezone, role-to-pay mappings, availability permissions and notification defaults. Personal reminders and calendar connections remain in profile settings. Contracted minimum hours and recorded weekly caps follow the person across rotas. The shift editor shows used hours, minimum and maximum for each assignee. Any visa-related working-hour cap must be recorded in the person’s contract or HR record; rota setup does not infer it from visa status. Availability, leave, calendar conflicts and adjusted duties remain separate scheduling checks. A role label describes work and maps pay, rather than proving eligibility. Draft rotas stay visible to editors only until published. Manage rota types and review all rotas under Rota settings (/rota/settings).

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Suggest assignments

Suggest assignments fills open slots in the week you are viewing. It:
  • Prefers staff marked available for that shift time
  • Prefers people under their contracted weekly minimum, then those with fewer hours already assigned
  • Skips people at weekly max, over remaining hours, double-booked, or marked unavailable that day
  • Leaves slots empty when no suitable person is found so you can assign manually
Suggestions are not published automatically. On a draft rota, assignments stay editor-only until you publish. On a published rota, assigning someone confirms the shift for that person immediately.

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Shift lifecycle

Staff cannot decline an assigned shift. They can Request swap (peer accept, then manager final approval). The requester’s line manager is notified when a swap or unassign request is submitted. Staff can review their confirmed shifts in Rota even if an email or push notification is delayed.

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Staff availability

Grant the Submit rota availability permission to roles that should set weekly availability (under Admin → Roles). Managers see availability hints when assigning shifts. Configure policy links from Rota settings (/rota/settings), including rota types, org rotas, timezone, role labels, and notification integrations.

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Admin oversight

Admin → Rota shows coverage metrics and links back to the shared /rota grid. Org timezone lives under Rota settings, and defaults to Europe/London when left empty. Shift times are entered and shown in the organisation timezone, so a shift saved as 09:00 reads as 09:00 for every manager and staff member, and in reminder emails, whatever timezone their device is set to. British Summer Time is applied automatically.

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Tips

  • Publish before reminder lead times so staff get timely alerts.
  • Align departments before multi-team rotas.
  • Review notification defaults alongside your publish cadence.