Plan for busy periods and read the forecast
Chapters
A sale is coming and the rota has not heard about it yet. The Capacity page is where you tell it, and where the forecast tells you what is still short. This guide uses a food packer with ten people and two shifts as its example, so the figures belong to that workspace, not to every team.
Busy periods
Busy periods sit at the bottom of the Capacity page. Each row is a name, its dates, what it does to the headcount, and whether it is in the rota yet. A period nobody has used shows as a draft, like last year's Christmas rush in this example.
Add one
Choose Add busy period, then give it a name and its dates. Next, say what changes: busier by a percentage, extra people on each shift, or closed. The drawer saves as you go. Here the sale is thirty percent busier.
What it does to the rota
Before anything touches the rota, the drawer shows its effect shift by shift. In this example both the Early and the Late shift would need one more person on those days. Nothing has changed yet.
Put it in the rota
Choose Put in the rota and the shifts are raised for those days. The busy period now says it is in the rota. Take out of the rota puts everything back, so trying one out costs nothing.
The forecast against the rota
Below the suggestions, the forecast shows the people needed every hour of the next week, with the people on the rota drawn beside it. Pick a busy day such as Friday and the hours the rota cannot cover are boxed. A line underneath says why, and what to change.
Raise a shift the forecast says is short
When a shift's maximum is what is in the way, the forecast offers to raise it. Choose the raise and that shift's maximum goes up for those days. It stays a suggestion until you click, and Take it back, under Raised by the forecast, undoes it.
Last year's busy spells, offered again
Coming up lists public holidays and busy spells your history already knows about. Choose Add and it arrives as a draft busy period, already sized. Check it, then put it in the rota.
To see how Live ops handles the same pressure once work is arriving, read the busy morning on Live ops guide. If you want to try this on your own team, you can sign up free.
Transcriptthe full narration, 8 paragraphs
A sale is coming, and the rota has not heard about it yet. Busy periods is where you tell it. Last year's Christmas rush is listed here too, as a draft that was never used.
Add a busy period, then give it a name and its dates. Next, say what changes. Here the sale is thirty percent busier. You could also add extra people, or close the days.
Before anything touches the rota, the drawer shows what it would do. Here both shifts would need one more person on those days. Nothing has changed yet.
When it looks right, choose Put in the rota. The shifts are raised, and the busy period now says it is in the rota. If you change your mind, Take out of the rota puts everything back.
Now the forecast. For each group of shifts, it shows the people needed every hour of the next week. Beside that sit the people on the rota. Pick a busy day like Friday, and the gap is boxed, with a line below saying why.
Friday evenings run busy, and a shift's maximum can be the very thing in the way. So the forecast offers to raise it. Choose the raise, and that shift's maximum goes up for those days. Nothing changes until you click, and Take it back undoes it.
Coming up lists busy spells your history already knows about, like last year's Christmas rush. Choose Add, and it arrives as a draft busy period, already sized for you. You check it, then put it in the rota.
So the rota is ready before the busy spell arrives. Every change waits for your click. Sign up free at 5xer.com.