Intelligent Roster® — IRIS
How IRIS Works
Your in-app AI assistant — built for healthcare rostering. It understands your streams, craft groups, rules, and staff. Plain English in; smart, explainable answers out.
Structure First, Then Shifts
IRIS does not just fill empty cells. Before it places anyone on a roster, it already understands your department from four angles — the better your setup, the better every suggestion.
Who You're Rostering
Roles, craft groups, and scope of practice — so every shift has the right person, not just a warm body.
RN · EN · Doctor · Specialty scope
Where They Work
Departments (streams) and services — so coverage matches your operational reality, not a generic template.
ED · Fast Track · Resus · ICU
How Demand Behaves
Patterns across the week — Monday ≠ Friday, Fast Track ≠ Resus. IRIS knows the difference.
AM · PM · Night · Long Day · Weekends
What Must Be Protected
Fatigue, training, leave, and contracts — so flexibility does not turn into chaos or compliance risk.
Rest rules · Leave · Consecutive days · Scope
The Five Levels
IRIS works through five distinct layers. Keep Levels 1–4 in good shape and Level 5 — the living roster — is where IRIS helps you build, fill, and validate.
| Level | Purpose | Your Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Streams & Shift Patterns | Which shifts can exist — by department and shift type (AM, PM, Night, Long Day). | Define your streams and the shift patterns that belong to each one. |
| 2 Vacancy Planning | How many staff are needed per shift — by craft group, scope, and mandatory skills. | Set required roles and mandatory qualifications per shift and day. |
| 3 Master Roster | Repeatable baseline patterns and core coverage — your sensible starting point. | Maintain templates so IRIS has a reliable foundation for suggestions. |
| 4 Staff Availability | When people can and prefer to work. Set via My Availability. Highest priority input. | Encourage staff to keep availability up to date — it directly improves suggestions. |
| 5 The Living Roster ✦ | The actual roster: who is assigned to what, when. This is where IRIS works with you. | Use IRIS here to generate, fill gaps, validate, and publish. |
Hard Rules vs Soft Rules
IRIS never breaks a hard rule — ever. Soft rules are optimised when possible, and when they flex, you always see why.
Hard Rules — Never Broken
IRIS will not suggest any assignment that violates a hard rule. These are absolute. No exceptions.
- ●Minimum rest between shifts (e.g. 10 hours)
- ●Maximum consecutive days or nights
- ●Scope of practice — right role, right shift
- ●Approved leave blocks all assignment
- ●Regulatory and contractual constraints
Soft Rules — Optimised When Possible
IRIS optimises soft rules when it can. If it needs to flex one, it shows you the reason clearly.
- ●Preferred shift types (e.g. prefer mornings)
- ●Ideal weekend balance across the team
- ●Night shift distribution
- ●Personal patterns and preferences
- ●Fairness targets across 7 dimensions
What You Can Ask IRIS
coverage
- • Who's on nights next week?
- • Show me coverage gaps for Emergency.
- • Fill all gaps for ED next fortnight.
- • Generate a roster for Emergency for the next two weeks.
- • Are we fully covered next week?
fairness
- • Who has the most weekend shifts?
- • Run a fairness audit for January.
- • Any rule violations in the current roster?
- • Suggest swaps for Dr Smith.
- • How many hours has Dr Patel worked this month?
assignments
- • Assign Dr Patel to AM shift on Monday in Emergency.
- • Remove the Night shift for Nurse Kim on Friday.
- • Swap Dr Lee and Dr Wong on Tuesday night.
howto
- • How do I publish the roster?
- • How do I approve a shift swap?
- • How do I set up a new stream?
- • How do I add a new staff member?
IRIS Assists. You Decide.
IRIS never publishes or approves anything on your behalf. Every decision stays with you.
IRIS Can
- Generate a complete, optimised roster in under 30 seconds
- Suggest individual assignments and gap fills
- Flag rule violations, conflicts, and coverage gaps
- Run fairness audits across 7 dimensions
- Explain every suggestion with its reasoning
- Answer questions about the roster in plain English
- Guide you through how to use any part of the platform
You Keep
- Final review and approval of every suggestion
- The decision to publish the roster
- The right to override with your own reasoning
- Control over how much to rely on AI — full generation, gap-fill only, or validation only
- Clinical and operational judgement IRIS cannot have
- All governance and accountability
IRIS Is Here for You
Your Shifts & Roster
Ask what you are working, when your next day off is, or who you are working with — IRIS reads your live roster.
Your Hours & Fairness
Check hours, nights, or weekends worked this month — pulled straight from your real data.
Your Leave
See upcoming leave, days used, or ask how to submit a new leave request step by step.
Swaps & Availability
Check pending swaps, see your availability, or ask IRIS to walk you through requesting a swap.
Five Simple Steps
- 1
Open IRIS
Find the IRIS chat icon on your Dashboard or in the app sidebar.
- 2
Type Naturally
Ask in plain English — no special commands needed.
- 3
Get a Real Answer
IRIS answers using your live data — actual shifts, leave, and availability.
- 4
Ask How-To
For how-to questions, IRIS gives step-by-step instructions that match the real app.
- 5
Check the Screen
If something does not look right, go to My Shifts or Leave Planner to verify.
Quick Reference
| I want to… | Who | Where to start |
|---|---|---|
| Generate or fill a roster | Roster Builder | The Living Roster → Generate with IRIS, or ask IRIS in chat. |
| Check coverage or fairness | Roster Builder | Ask IRIS or use Fairness Intelligence. |
| See my shifts / hours / leave | Staff | Ask IRIS or go to My Shifts, Leave Planner. |
| Learn how to do something | Both | Ask IRIS — "How do I…?" — step by step. |
| Request leave or a shift swap | Staff | Leave Planner or Shift Deck. |
| Approve leave or swaps | Roster Builder | Leave Planner, Shift Deck. |
| Validate before publishing | Roster Builder | Ask IRIS "any rule violations?" or use Roster Health. |
| Sync roster to phone calendar | Staff | Ask IRIS "How do I sync to Google Calendar?" |
Ready to see IRIS in action?
Start a free trial, try the live demo, or book a guided walkthrough with our team.
Or email us at office@intelligentroster.com