The Drafting Bench is designed to assist with the planning and building of your Rotas. The concept is simple. Add your staffing requirements into the Drafting Bench before allocating the shifts to your employees. The Drafting Bench shows which shifts have already been added to the Rota and how many more there are left to allocate.

This guide will look at:

• Displaying the Drafting Bench
• Adding staffing requirements to the Drafting Bench‍
• ‍Allocating shifts from the Drafting Bench to the Rota
• Making changes to allocated shifts
  
  

Displaying the Drafting Bench

1. In the Rota, select ‘Options, Filters & Preferences’.
2. In the ‘Main Rota Grid’ section, tick ‘Drafting Bench’.

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Unticking ‘Drafting Bench’ has no effect on the Rota itself. Any requirements that you may have added to the Drafting Bench whilst it was displayed will be saved should you untick it.

Adding staffing requirements to the Drafting Bench

Adding Daily Rules within the Drafting Bench

1. In the Drafting Bench, select the cell on the required day. The ‘Bench Shifts’ sidebar will appear on the right of the screen.
2. From the menu, select the Shift Rule that you wish to add to the Drafting Bench.
3. In the ‘Required’ box, input the number of shifts needed.
4. If you need to add further Shift Rules, select ‘Add Shift to Bench’ (found at the bottom of the sidebar) and repeat Steps 2-4.

At Step 2, where a Shift Rule is not appropriate, you can add manually inputted ‘Times’ instead.

The Drafting Bench automatically updates itself as you enter each requirement. You can close the sidebar at any time by selecting ‘Close’ (found at the bottom of the sidebar).

Duplicate shifts

If you mistakenly add a Shift Rule that is already a requirement on the same day, it will be highlighted in blue as a ‘Duplicate rule’ and will not be added to the Drafting Bench should you attempt to save it.

Allocating shifts from the Drafting Bench to the Rota

It’s now time to allocate your shifts. Each requirement in the Drafting Bench shows the following:

Required - the number of shifts that need to be allocated.

Count - the number of shifts currently in the Rota.

As you allocate shifts to the Rota, the count will increase. Once the count equals the required amount, the requirement will turn paler in colour and be accompanied by a green tick.

Dragging & Dropping from the Drafting Bench (recommended method)

1. In the Drafting Bench, grab the required shift by the ‘grab bar’.
2. Drag and drop it into the required cell on the Rota. You can only drag and drop a shift within the same day. You are prevented from dropping it on a different day.
3. Repeat until all shifts have been allocated.

Making changes to allocated shifts

Moving a single shift within the daily Rota

1. Grab the required shift by the ‘grab bar’.
2. Drag and drop it to another cell within the same day.
   
   

Removing a single shift from the Rota

1. Grab the required shift by the ‘grab bar’.
2. Drag and drop it back into the Drafting Bench.

Alternatively,

1. Right-click on the required shift.
2. Select ‘Clear Schedule’.

Please note, you cannot use ‘Clear Schedule’ if ‘Restrict to Drafting Bench’ is on (see Additional Information).

Removing all shifts from the daily Rota

1. In the Drafting Bench, select the menu header cell (three dots) on the required day.
2. Select ‘Remove Allocated Shifts’ from the Menu.
3. A warning message will appear asking if you wish to proceed. Select ‘OK’.

All the allocated shifts will be removed from the Rota and the Drafting Bench updated.

Removing all shifts from the daily Rota and clearing the Drafting Bench

1. In the Drafting Bench, select the menu header cell (three dots) on the required day.
2. Select ‘Clear Day’.
3. A warning message will appear asking if you wish to proceed. Select ‘OK’.

All allocations in the Rota and all requirements in the Drafting Bench for that day will be removed. This is useful if you wish to start over again.

Removing an entire week from the Rota

1. Above the words ‘Drafting Bench’, select the menu header cell (three dots).
2. Select either ‘Remove Allocated Shifts’ or ‘Clear Week’, depending on what you are trying to achieve.
3. A warning message will appear asking if you wish to proceed. Select ‘OK’.

Additional information

Restrict to Drafting Bench*

This restricts the adding of shifts to the Rota from anywhere other than the Drafting Bench. Shifts can only be dragged from the Drafting Bench into the Rota and vice versa. 

*Located in Options, Filters & Preferences.

Without this restriction, you can add Shift Rules to the Rota from outside of the Drafting Bench. However, adding a Rule to the Rota that is not a current requirement in the Drafting Bench will only appear as a count but not a requirement. A red exclamation mark warns you that this may be an unwanted requirement.

Whether you have ‘Restrict to Drafting Bench’ turned on or not, it is best practice to load all of your requirements into the Drafting Bench first before allocating them using the recommended method.

Match Required to Count

By selecting ‘ Match Required to Count’, the Drafting Bench will update its requirements to mirror whatever shifts are currently allocated in the Rota. All other requirements will be deleted from the Drafting Bench.

This can also be achieved by selecting the ‘Match Required to Count’ button at the bottom of the ‘Bench Shifts’ sidebar, when you are inputting your requirements.

Moveable Drafting Bench

The Drafting Bench can be moved up and down your Rota by grabbing the white bar directly above it and dragging it.

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