The Fortnight Impact Bar — Live Coverage, Fairness, Hours, and Cost
The Fortnight Impact Bar
Above the Living Roster grid sits an Intelligence Bar showing live metrics for the visible period. These update as you assign, so you see the impact of every change in real time.
What it shows
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Coverage % | Assigned cells vs demanded cells for the visible period |
| Fairness flags | Count of staff currently outside fairness thresholds (e.g. weekend ratio > 3× peers) |
| Hours impact | For the staff member whose row you're hovering, projected hours for the fortnight |
| Cost projection | Total roster cost for the period (if Cost Monitoring is enabled) |
Why it matters
The Fortnight Impact Bar is the difference between rostering by feel and rostering by data. Drag a staff member onto a cell and watch:
- Coverage % tick up
- Fairness flags drop or rise
- That person's projected hours move within (or beyond) their band
- Cost projection adjust by the marginal hourly rate
Common workflows
- Filling gaps: Aim to push Coverage % toward 100% without adding fairness flags.
- Reassigning: Hover the source person, note their hours; drag the assignment, hover the target, confirm their hours stay within their band.
- Cost-conscious periods: Watch the cost projection as you fill — if it's tracking over budget, prefer base-rate staff over OT or agency.
Tips
- Keep the Intelligence Bar visible. The temptation to collapse it for grid space is strong — resist it.
- Hovering a row gives per-person hours; not hovering shows the period totals.
- Coverage % counts only demanded cells. A 100% coverage on a stream with under-set vacancies is misleading — confirm Vacancy Planning is right first.