Hard Rules vs Soft Rules — How IRIS Uses Them

Hard Rules vs Soft Rules

When configuring AI Rules for your organization, every rule falls into one of two categories:

Hard Rules — Non-Negotiable

Clinical safety standards, EBA requirements, or regulatory constraints that IRIS will never violate.

Examples:

Minimum 10 hours rest between consecutive shifts
No clinician works more than 12 hours without a mandated break
At least one ANUM or above on each Resus shift
Maximum consecutive night shifts

IRIS behaviour: If breaking a hard rule is the only way to fill a gap, IRIS flags the gap instead of breaking the rule.

Soft Rules — Preferences and Fairness Targets

Goals that IRIS tries to honour, but can override when coverage is critical.

Examples:

Distribute night shifts equitably across the team
Respect a clinician's preference to avoid back-to-back Resus shifts
Balance weekend shifts fairly

IRIS behaviour: IRIS will try hard to honour soft rules, but in Tactical Mode (when coverage is critical), it can override a soft rule. It always tells you when it does.

Saved but not enforced

Some rule categories cannot be evaluated by the current compliance engine. When you save a rule in an unsupported category:

An amber banner appears at the top of the AI Rules tab listing rules that are saved but not enforced
A toast warning appears when you create or update such a rule

These rules are stored for future use but have no effect on IRIS generation until the category is supported. Review the banner periodically and adjust or remove rules that cannot be enforced.

What IRIS always applies

Regardless of rule configuration:

Availability and fairness are always considered during Generate and Fill Gaps — there are no toggles to disable them
Maximum clinical hours remain hard — IRIS will not exceed them except in rare tolerated-over-max cases visible in Roster Health

Configuration

Go to AI Rules (Sidebar → Staff Management → AI Rules) to view and manage your organization's rules. Each rule shows:

Name and description
Hard or Soft designation (badge/label)
Threshold values where applicable
Template library with pre-built examples

Practical advice

Be precise about what is truly non-negotiable — too many hard rules and IRIS can't fill gaps
Too many soft rules and staff may work unsustainable patterns
Hard rules protect your team; soft rules make the experience fair
Check the saved but not enforced banner — unsupported rules give a false sense of protection