IRIS Auto-Approve — What Staff Should Expect
Some organisations enable IRIS Auto-Approve — a paid add-on that can approve open shift claims, accepted shift swaps, and swap with open shift claims (you take an open shift and release one of yours) automatically when they pass strict eligibility checks. Leave requests are never auto-approved.
Your roster builder or admin configures whether this is on for your organisation.
When your open shift claim may auto-approve
After you click Claim on an open shift:
| Outcome | What you see |
|---|---|
| Instant approval | The shift is assigned — you may get a notification immediately, or it may appear as a DRAFT shift until the roster is published (org setting) |
| Still pending | Your claim waits in the manager's approval queue — common when there are eligibility conflicts, leave on that date, or the shift is outside configured time windows |
Strict-clean means IRIS only auto-approves when there are no compliance warnings — rest, hours, craft, scope, overlap, or leave issues all send the claim to manual review.
When your swap may auto-complete
After both parties accept (or the poster selects your offer on an open swap):
- If strict-clean checks pass and your org has swap auto-approve on, the swap may complete without waiting in Shift Deck → Approvals
- If anything fails the checks, your roster builder must approve manually — same as before
Swap minimum notice (when you first request a swap) is separate from when IRIS may auto-approve an already-accepted swap.
When swap with open shift may auto-complete
If you claim an open shift and choose one of your own shifts to release:
- If your org has Auto-approve swap with open shift on and checks pass, you are assigned to the claimed shift as CONFIRMED (you are notified), your released shift is cancelled, and it is posted as a new open shift
- If that setting is off, or any check fails, a manager reviews the claim as usual
Why your request might stay manual
Common reasons IRIS does not auto-approve:
- You have leave (pending or approved) on that date
- A rest, hours, or overlap issue would appear on the Live Eligibility card
- You don't hold a required craft group or scope
- The shift is too soon or too far ahead for your org's auto-approve window
- Your stream, craft group, employment type, or your name is on an exclusions list (some exclusions only apply for a date window)
- Swap with open shift (releasing one of your shifts to take the open one) auto-completes only if your org has that setting on — it is always a live roster change (CONFIRMED). Otherwise a manager reviews it.
- Another person claimed the same single-slot shift first (queue order)
None of these mean your request was rejected — it just needs a human review.
IRIS Auto-Approved badge
When IRIS auto-approves, assignments may show an IRIS badge on My Shifts and the Living Roster after publish. Managers can still see the full audit trail.
What to ask IRIS
You can ask IRIS in chat:
- "Why is my open shift claim still pending?"
- "How do open shifts work?"
- "How do shift swaps get approved?"
IRIS will walk you through the steps for your role. It cannot change approval settings — contact your roster builder or admin if you think auto-approve should be enabled.
Related guides
For roster builders: Swap Auto-Approval Rules. For admins: IRIS Auto-Approve setup.