Level 5: The Living Roster — Admin & Roster Builder Guide

Level 5: The Living Roster is where everything comes together. You publish the roster and manage it in real-time using AI, fairness audits, and compliance checks.

What Is the Living Roster?

The living roster is the final, published roster that:

• Combines all levels (streams, vacancies, master roster, availability)
• Applies fairness algorithms to balance shifts
• Respects constraints (availability, leave, compliance rules)
• Gets updated in real-time (swaps, last-minute changes, IRIS AI adjustments)

It's called "living" because it evolves from publication until the end of the pay period.

Key Concepts

Publishing

Publishing means releasing the roster to staff. Before publication:

• Roster is draft/editable
• Staff can't see it
• Admins can make changes

After publication:

• Staff see their shifts
• Only roster builders can edit
• All changes are logged

Fairness

Fairness means balancing shift distribution. The system checks:

• Weekend distribution (everyone gets ~equal weekends)
• Consecutive days/nights (no one overworked)
• Shift type balance (everyone gets mix of morning/evening/night)
• Hours per week (within agreed limits)

Compliance

Compliance means adhering to rules:

• Rest hours between shifts (e.g., 8 hours minimum)
• Max consecutive nights (e.g., no more than 5)
• Availability respected (no one scheduled outside constraints)
• Scope requirements met (right staff for right shifts)

Creating and Publishing a Living Roster

Step 1: Go to Level 5: Living Roster

Screenshot placeholder: Level 5 Living Roster page with streams list

1. Click Level 5: The Living Roster
2. Select a stream (e.g., "ED - Day")
3. Select a pay period date range
4. Click Generate Roster

Step 2: IRIS AI Auto-Generation (Optional)

You can let IRIS AI generate the roster automatically:

1. Click Generate with IRIS
2. IRIS will:
   • Build from master roster baseline
   • Apply availability constraints
   • Balance fairness
   • Flag conflicts
3. Review the result (see Step 3)

Or manually create by:

1. Assigning staff to each shift manually
2. Using Excel-style bulk assign
3. Copying from previous rosters

Step 3: Review Fairness

Screenshot placeholder: Fairness audit report showing weekend distribution

1. Click Check Fairness
2. Review:
   • Pre-audit: Before any adjustments (baseline fairness)
   • Post-audit: After fairness balancing (IRIS adjustments)
   • Compare: Before vs. After
3. Look for problems:
   • Any staff with extreme outliers?
   • Unfair weekend distribution?
   • Excessive consecutive nights?

Step 4: Review Compliance

Screenshot placeholder: Compliance warnings panel with violations listed

1. Click Compliance Check
2. Review any warnings:
   • Staff scheduled outside availability? (Red)
   • Rest hour violation? (Yellow)
   • Scope mismatch? (Yellow)
3. Fix violations by reassigning staff

Step 5: Make Final Adjustments

Before publishing, make any last-minute changes:

1. Click on a shift
2. Change assigned staff (or leave empty if unfilled)
3. Add a comment if needed
4. Click Save

Use Excel-style multi-select for bulk edits:

• Select multiple shifts
• Assign to one person or group
• Click Apply

Step 6: Publish

Once satisfied:

1. Click Publish
2. Confirm the date range
3. Click Publish to Staff

Staff now see their shifts in the app.

Real-Time Management (After Publishing)

Move Staff

Roster builders can relocate a staff member from one shift to another without manually deleting and recreating assignments:

1. Right-click a shift on the Living Roster
2. Select Move Assignment
3. Choose the destination shift
4. Review any compliance warnings and confirm
5. The assignment is immediately relocated

Use Move when you need to reorganize shifts for coverage or fairness. See the dedicated "How to Move a Staff Member to Another Shift" guide for details.

Shift Swaps

Staff request to swap shifts. You:

1. Review swap requests in Shift Swaps
2. Approve (if compliant) or decline (with reason)

Open Shifts

If a shift becomes uncovered:

1. Broadcast as "Open" for staff to bid on
2. Review bids
3. Assign to best candidate

Last-Minute Edits

If someone calls out sick:

1. Click the shift
2. Remove the staff member
3. Mark as "Open" or assign someone else
4. Notify affected staff

IRIS Co-Pilot

IRIS can suggest solutions:

1. Click Ask IRIS
2. Describe the problem (e.g., "I need an RN for Tuesday 3pm")
3. IRIS suggests options
4. Click Apply to assign

Fairness Auditing Post-Publication

Even after publishing, you can:

1. Click Fairness History
2. Compare:
   • This week vs. last week
   • This month vs. last month
   • Individual staff trends
3. Identify patterns (e.g., "Sarah always works weekends")
4. Make adjustments or note for future rosters

Key Rules

• All constraints must be respected: No one scheduled outside availability or scope
• Fairness should be >80%: Ideally, no staff below 80% fairness score
• Compliance violations stop publication (hard blocks)
• Fairness warnings suggest adjustments (soft blocks)
• Publish with communication: Tell staff when roster is published (many systems auto-notify)

Common Mistakes

❌ Publishing without fairness check: Leads to staff complaints
❌ Ignoring compliance warnings: Creates legal/safety issues
❌ Editing published roster without logging reason: Accountability lost
❌ Not communicating roster changes: Staff miss updates
❌ Using IRIS blindly: Always review AI suggestions before approving

Tips

• Test IRIS with 1 stream first: Before auto-generating all streams, try one
• Review post-publication swaps daily: Don't let backlog build
• Archive fairness audits: Keep records for future improvement
• Communicate deadlines: "Roster published Friday; swap requests due Wednesday"
• Train roster builders early: More hands = faster conflict resolution

Next Steps

1. ✅ Prepare Level 1–4 (streams, vacancies, master, availability)
2. ✅ Generate first roster (manually or with IRIS)
3. ✅ Audit fairness and compliance
4. ✅ Publish to staff
5. ✅ Manage real-time changes (swaps, opens, edits)
6. ✅ Repeat for next pay period (often faster after first time)

See the Getting Started guide for the complete setup checklist and timeline.