Technical Guide
Inside IRIS
A technical guide for roster builders and staff — how IRIS is structured, how it makes decisions, what it can do, and what stays with you.
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. |
Deep dive: Five-level system guide · Roster Health modal
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