How to Apply the Master Roster (Level 3) and Re-Apply Safely
Applying the Master Roster (Level 3)
"Apply" is the one-click action that takes your Master Roster (the template) and creates dated shifts for a specific period (the reality). After Apply, the same data is visible in the Living Roster (Level 5) where you operate it day-to-day.
Apply runs the same eligibility checks as Generate with IRIS — staff on leave, blocked availability, craft group or scope mismatches, inactive periods, and vacancy limits cause skips, not silent force-assignments. The master template is advisory; the engine only writes assignments for staff who still qualify on the target dates.
Where to find it
Not a separate sidebar item. From Master Roster, click Apply at the top-right.
You can also apply from The Living Roster via the Intelligence Bar Apply Master Roster button — this supports multi-stream selection with an aggregated preview across all selected streams.
Step-by-step
- Open Master Roster for the Stream.
- Click Apply.
- The Apply modal opens:
- Period start date — defaults to the next un-applied roster period start (Monday)
- Number of fortnights — usually 1; can apply multiple if you build well in advance
- Streams — defaults to the current Stream; multi-select to apply several at once
- Review the Preview — counts of shifts to be created per Stream and per Craft Group, plus staff who will be skipped (leave, conflicts, inactive periods, vacancy limits).
- Review Apply options (see below) — especially Override compliance rules if you expect overridable rule breaches.
- Click Confirm Apply.
A success toast shows the count of shifts created and a link straight to the Living Roster for the new period. The results panel lists every skip category and any shifts created via compliance override.
Apply options
Before confirming, you can tune how Apply behaves:
| Option | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Skip staff on approved leave | On | Does not create shifts for staff on leave |
| Skip if already assigned | On | Avoids double-booking when a cell already has someone |
| Validate compliance rules | On | Checks overridable safety standards before creating |
| Override compliance rules | On (when validation on) | Creates assignments even when they breach overridable rules (e.g. max consecutive days). Override reason is recorded on each shift for audit |
| Smart matching — limit to vacancy count | Off | Caps assignments to Level 2 vacancy counts per craft group |
Override vs Living Roster cell override: Apply-time Override compliance rules is a bulk action during Master Roster Apply. It is separate from overriding a single cell on the Living Roster — see Compliance Overrides on the Living Roster.
Understanding apply results
After Apply completes, the results summary shows:
- Created — new assignments written to the Living Roster
- Created via compliance override — subset created despite overridable rule violations (each stamped with override reason)
- Skipped (leave) — staff on approved leave
- Skipped (conflict) — staff already assigned on that date/shift
- Skipped (inactive period) — staff outside their active employment window
- Skipped (no vacancy) — craft group not required in Level 2 for that slot
- Skipped (rule violation) — hard rule blocked the assignment (not overridden)
- Skipped (vacancy full) — vacancy slot already at capacity
Read the skip buckets before publishing — a high rule violation or no vacancy count often means Level 2 or Master Roster needs adjustment, not another blind re-apply.
⚠️ Re-applying — what happens to existing changes
Re-apply will overwrite Level 5 changes for the dates you re-apply.
If you've already moved staff around on the Living Roster for next Tuesday and then re-apply the Master Roster covering that week, your Tuesday changes are blown away. The system warns you with a list of dates that have manual edits — read it carefully before clicking Confirm.
Tips & common mistakes
- Read back the dates aloud before confirming. This is the easiest "oh no" in the whole product — applying to the wrong period blows away changes people have already made.
- Apply per-Stream, not all at once, until you trust the workflow. Multi-Stream apply is powerful but mistakes are wider.
- If you forgot to apply, just apply now. Late is fine; staff will be notified at publish.
Recovering from "I applied to the wrong period"
- If the period is in the past or already published: don't re-apply blindly. Check the dates and re-apply only the wrong dates.
- If you applied to a future period that you didn't mean to: open Living Roster for that period, multi-select all cells, Delete — or use Bulk Delete Assignments.