Creating Your First Schedule

ShiftAI makes schedule creation as simple as typing a message. This guide covers everything you need to know about creating effective schedules.

Understanding ShiftAI's Approach

Unlike traditional scheduling software where you drag and drop shifts manually, ShiftAI uses artificial intelligence to:

1. Understand your needs - Process natural language requests
2. Analyze constraints - Consider availability, skills, and preferences
3. Optimize assignments - Balance workload fairly across employees
4. Prevent conflicts - Automatically avoid double-booking and overtime issues

Natural Language Commands

The core of ShiftAI is its ability to understand plain English (or Chinese) commands.

Basic Commands

| What You Want | What to Type | |---------------|--------------| | Weekly schedule | "Create a schedule for next week" | | Specific coverage | "I need 2 cashiers every morning" | | Individual assignment | "Schedule Maria for Friday evening" | | Time off | "Alice is on vacation next Monday" |

Advanced Commands

"Create a schedule for Dec 1-7 with:
- 2 servers for lunch (11am-3pm)
- 3 servers for dinner (5pm-10pm)
- 1 manager on every shift"

Step-by-Step Schedule Creation

1. Navigate to Schedules

From your dashboard, click Schedules in the left sidebar, then click New Schedule.

2. Set the Date Range

Choose your schedule period:

• This week - Current week (Mon-Sun)
• Next week - Upcoming week
• Custom range - Select specific start and end dates

3. Enter Your Requirements

In the command box, describe what you need:

"I need:
- Morning shift (6am-2pm): 2 baristas, 1 cashier
- Afternoon shift (2pm-10pm): 2 baristas, 1 cashier
- Weekend shifts need 3 baristas each"

4. Review Constraints (Optional)

Before generating, you can set additional constraints:

• Maximum consecutive days - Prevent burnout
• Minimum rest between shifts - Ensure adequate break time
• Skill requirements - Match employees to appropriate roles
• Budget limits - Set maximum labor hours

5. Generate the Schedule

Click Generate and wait a few seconds. ShiftAI will:

1. Parse your requirements
2. Check all employee availability
3. Apply constraints and preferences
4. Create an optimized schedule
5. Highlight any potential issues

Understanding the Schedule View

After generation, you'll see:

Calendar View

A visual grid showing:

• Columns = Days of the week
• Rows = Time slots or employees
• Colored blocks = Assigned shifts

Conflict Panel

Any issues appear in the right panel:

• 🔴 Critical - Must be resolved (e.g., double booking)
• 🟡 Warning - Should review (e.g., overtime approaching)
• 🔵 Info - Suggestions for improvement

Statistics Bar

Quick overview of:

• Total hours scheduled
• Number of employees assigned
• Coverage percentage
• Estimated labor cost

Making Adjustments

Drag and Drop

Click and drag any shift block to:

• Move to a different time
• Reassign to another employee
• Extend or shorten duration

Quick Edit

Click on a shift to open the edit panel:

• Change assigned employee
• Modify start/end times
• Add shift notes
• Set break times

Bulk Operations

Select multiple shifts to:

• Delete selected
• Copy to another day
• Assign to same employee

Best Practices

Do's

• ✅ Set employee availability before creating schedules
• ✅ Use specific requirements ("2 servers 5pm-10pm")
• ✅ Review and adjust AI suggestions before publishing
• ✅ Communicate changes to affected employees promptly

Don'ts

• ❌ Schedule employees without checking availability first
• ❌ Ignore warning flags about overtime or conflicts
• ❌ Publish schedules without review
• ❌ Make last-minute changes without notification

Handling Common Scenarios

Understaffed Days

If ShiftAI can't fill all positions:

1. Review which employees are unavailable
2. Consider asking for volunteers
3. Adjust shift requirements if possible
4. Use the "Need Coverage" feature to request help

Overtime Concerns

When approaching overtime limits:

1. Check the statistics bar for hours breakdown
2. Redistribute shifts to employees with fewer hours
3. Consider splitting shifts between multiple employees
4. Review if all scheduled shifts are necessary

Last-Minute Changes

For urgent schedule changes:

1. Use the quick edit feature
2. The system will notify affected employees
3. Consider using the cover request feature for shift swaps

Templates and Recurring Schedules

Saving Templates

If you use similar schedules regularly:

1. Create and optimize a schedule
2. Click Save as Template
3. Name your template (e.g., "Summer Weekend Schedule")
4. Use it to quickly generate future schedules

Recurring Schedules

For consistent weekly patterns:

1. Create your ideal schedule
2. Enable Recurring in schedule settings
3. Set the recurrence pattern
4. ShiftAI will auto-generate future schedules

Troubleshooting

"Cannot satisfy all constraints"

Cause: Conflicting requirements or insufficient staff

Solutions:

• Reduce required coverage
• Add more available employees
• Relax constraint settings
• Review which constraint is blocking

Schedule is unbalanced

Cause: Some employees have many more hours than others

Solutions:

• Enable "Fair distribution" in settings
• Set maximum weekly hours per employee
• Manually redistribute after generation

Missing employees in suggestions

Cause: Employees may be filtered out

Check:

• Employee status is "Active"
• Availability is set for the schedule period
• Employee has required skills for the role

What's Next?

• AI Scheduler Features - Master advanced commands
• Managing Availability - Optimize availability data
• Shift Swapping - Let employees manage changes