# Plan, publish, and change a rota

For managers scheduling the team. **Console: Team → Rotas.** Confirm the working
location. Choose **Upcoming**, **All**, or **Past** to find the week; check its
dates before editing.

## Check the week and view

Open the intended week and read its dates. Current/next-week shortcuts resolve
to a dated week; an old or unreadable link can send you to the current week, so
confirm the header before editing. A new-week shortcut selects the next week and
does not itself save a new rota.

The planner can open on **Schedule**, **Analytics**, **Attendance**, or
**Requests**, with a staff/shift view and area/role filters. Check these choices
when a shared link looks different. Seeing a week in view mode does not grant
editing permission. See [Request decisions](/staff/requests) for their effects
and [Time tracking](/staff/time-tracking) for attendance records.

## Prepare and plan

1. Use **Settings** to set up
   [shift templates and staffing guides](/staff/rota-settings) if the location
   is new.
2. Select **Plan next week**, or open the intended existing week and choose
   **Edit rota** when available.
3. Add shifts to the appropriate person's day. Check start, end, breaks, service
   area, and coverage. Review time-off and overlapping assignments.
4. Use **Copy last week** only after checking who, times, and demand still fit.
   Review [Autopilot drafts](/staff/rota-autopilot) if using the draft
   assistant.
5. Select **Save draft**. Saving retains the plan; it does not publish it to
   staff.

## Understand the week state

| State                            | Meaning                                                     |
| -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| New week, not saved              | The week still needs a saved draft                          |
| Unsaved changes                  | The current edits have not been saved                       |
| Draft, not published             | Saved plan awaiting publication                             |
| Published                        | Published version is available to the team                  |
| Published · people changed since | Saved changes still need publication                        |
| Changed elsewhere                | Another edit changed the week; resolve it before publishing |

When **Changed elsewhere** appears, preserve the changes you intended, compare
with the latest plan, and coordinate with the other manager. **Discard and load
latest** drops the current unsaved edit. Do not overwrite another manager's week
merely to clear the conflict.

## Review and publish

Select **Publish**, **Publish changes**, or **Save and publish** as offered. The
publish review shows staff, hours, cost, labour percentage, rule findings, and
notification recipients. Missing pay rates produce an incomplete estimate;
missing mobile numbers mean those staff will not be texted.

Check every finding and the restaurant's staffing requirements. Configured
checks and presets are planning aids, not proof of legal compliance. The
**Publish anyway** acknowledgement is a decision to publish despite flagged
breaches; do not use it without the responsible manager reviewing them.

Under **Tell your team**, choose whether to notify staff. Texting is a separate,
charged action. Check recipients and any billing restriction, then confirm
**Publish**. Verify the week is published and which changes were included. A
published rota does not prove every person received or read a notification.

## Requests and changes

Open **Requests** and review the employee, dates, reason, and affected shifts.
For a swap, the target employee must accept before the manager can approve it.
Add review notes where useful, then **Approve** or **Reject** as appropriate.
Verify the request decision and resulting rota rather than assuming the change
was reflected everywhere.

After changing an already published week, save and publish the changes so staff
see the revised version. Check recipients before sending another notification.
Deleting a draft rota removes that draft's planned shifts and cannot be undone.

## If a step fails

Reopen the same week and inspect saved and published states before retrying. Do
not create a duplicate rota or repeatedly send texts after a timeout. If rule,
cost, or access information is missing, resolve it with the manager. Escalate
with location, week, affected shifts, intended change, current state, and exact
error, keeping staff personal data out of public screenshots.