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Create a shift
Fill the Add shift form and create an unassigned shift.
Last updated · 10 November 2026
You need Scheduling Add permission. Before starting, add the participant and check their service location. If invoicing is enabled, prepare the active agreement, funding and support selections for the delivery date. If you want to assign a worker immediately from a Planner row, first approve their availability for the entire interval.
A shift is one block of support: a type, a participant, a time and a place. You create it first, then assign the worker afterwards.
For example, to book Mavis for a one-hour visit next Thursday, choose Direct Support, select Mavis, enter 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM, and use Participant address if the visit starts at her recorded home. Choose Required acceptance if the worker must confirm the booking. Creating this shift reserves the participant’s time; publishing the worker assignment is a separate step.
Note
Using Add shift creates an unassigned shift. Starting from a worker row on the Planner can carry a proposed worker into the form. Check the Will be assigned to chip and remove it if required. There is no worker picker or NDIS support-code picker on this form. You add the worker and choose the support code later in Assign a worker.
Open the create drawer
Go to Schedule›Scheduling and select Add shift at the top right. The form opens in a side drawer titled Add shift.
Complete the form
Fields marked with a red asterisk are required.
Shift details
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Reference | Auto | Read-only. Shows the prefix until you save, then receives a reference such as SH-2026-0001. Use the saved reference to find this booking again. |
| Type | Yes | Direct Support, Group Support or Intensive Support. Defaults to Direct Support. See Shift types. |
| Acceptance | No | Automatic (default) or Required. Required means the assigned worker must accept the shift in their app before they can clock in. See Assign a worker. |
| Participant | Yes | Open the picker, search by name and select the person receiving support. Direct and Intensive allow one; Group allows several. Recheck this choice before entering locations or assigning workers. |
| Share with support worker | No | Select Phone, Goals, Preferences, Risks or Key contacts when the worker needs that information for this shift. Review the selected pills rather than assuming everything is shared. Inherited Docs, Incidents and Notes appear as locked choices when that information is shared from the participant profile. Change those inherited choices on the participant profile. |
| Geofencing | Auto | Read-only. On or Off. Check the starting location as well as this setting. |
| Clock-in window | Auto | Read-only. N min before start (N is your workspace’s setting, 5 on a new workspace), or Off. |
| Travel terms | Auto | Read-only badges drawn from participant agreements; hidden when no travel terms are available. See Travel on a shift. |
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This unsaved Direct Support visit is for Mavis. Required acceptance will ask the assigned worker to confirm after publication.
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Swipe across the enlarged image to read each part of the screen.
This separate unsaved example selects Goals and Risks. The other listed information is not selected; sharing changes apply when the shift is saved.
Time
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | Yes | A date, plus a time you can type (for example 9, 930 or 2:30) with its own AM / PM toggle beside it, or pick from the 15-minute suggestions. Saving fails with New shifts must start at least one minute in the future. if it is too soon. |
| Ends at | Yes | The same date-and-time field. Must be after the start, or you see Shift end must be after shift start. |
| Repeat | No | Tick to make a series spanning up to 120 calendar days, including the first date. See Recurring shifts and copying. |
Location
For Direct or Intensive Support, the Location section is one row:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Address type | Yes | Participant address, Other address or Unknown address. |
| Address | Depends | Participant address shows the recorded participant address and is read-only here. Correct a wrong home address on the participant profile. With Other address, search and select the actual starting place. Unknown address records that the starting place is not yet known. Changing Address type clears the previous address, so recheck the result. |
The Participant column on a Direct or Intensive location row shows the selected participant, using their initials. It is locked to that person; this is a location link, not the worker assignment picker.
Creating a shift with no location raises an alert in the drawer itself: The shift needs a location. Choose an address type in the Location section.
For Group Support, the Location section instead lists a pickup row per address: Address type, Address, and which of the selected participants are picked up there. It opens with one blank Other address row. Select Add another location for more pickup points (greyed out once every participant has one), and use the remove button to drop a row. Below the pickup rows sits a fixed Destination row: a Yes/No toggle for whether the shift has a drop-off address, on by default, with the address editable when it is Yes.
For a group outing, put Mavis and Elliot on the pickup row for their shared starting address, then choose the activity venue as Destination. Use another pickup row only when someone starts elsewhere. Every selected participant needs a pickup allocation. These rows describe the route; they do not allocate participants to workers. Do that in Manage assignments after saving.
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This separate saved Group example collects all participants at the same address and deliberately has Destination set to No. Pickup allocation describes the route, separately from each worker’s assignment.
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Check dates and AM/PM together. This unsaved visit uses the participant’s saved starting address.
Details
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Notes for worker | No | Tick to open the text box. Give practical instructions such as which entrance to use or what to bring. The assigned worker can read these notes. Unticking clears the entered text. |
| Internal notes | No | Tick to open a separate office-only text box, for example a scheduling follow-up. The worker does not see it. Unticking clears the entered text. |
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Worker instructions and office-only notes are separate. This example has not been created yet.
Create the shift
Before saving, check the participant, support type, AM/PM, end date, starting address, acceptance choice and information shared with the worker. For an overnight shift, put the finish on the following date.
Select Create shift at the bottom of the drawer. Wait for confirmation before creating another. The shift appears as Booked when unassigned, or Worker selected when a valid proposed worker was carried from the Planner. Neither state publishes it to the worker. Open it and select Manage assignments to complete the next step. If you enabled Repeat, use the creation results to check each date.
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Swipe across the enlarged image to read each part of the screen.
The saved shift keeps Required acceptance but is still Booked and unassigned. Manage assignments is the next step.
Check the starting location and clock-in gates
Geofencing and Clock-in window show the workspace settings. They cannot be changed for one shift. Under Account > Features > Scheduling, the workspace owner can change the workspace choices.
With geofencing on, the worker’s initial location is checked against a mapped starting address using a 200 m radius and a location-accuracy allowance. For Group Support, the start is the first pickup, not the destination. Unknown address has no mapped starting place for a location check. Choose it deliberately and give the worker clear directions when the location becomes known.
A phone that cannot obtain an initial location can continue clock-in and retry the location capture afterwards. A captured location outside the permitted area can still block clock-in. Clock-in window separately controls how early the worker can start. Neither setting replaces Required acceptance.
Tip
Group support has an extra rule: every participant on the shift must share the same pricing region, checked as you select them. Next, assign a worker.
Correct a booking after creation
Open the saved shift from the roster to see Edit Shift. Before work starts, an authorised editor can correct its planned fields and select Save changes. Recheck assignments after changing dates, times, participants or location: availability and conflicts may need another check, and a published Required assignment can need a new worker response. Do not make a second shift merely to fix the first. Once work has started, planned details lock; use the assignment’s review and correction controls for delivered work.
If the shift does not save
Read the validation beside the field or in the message, correct it and save again. Check the participant, start and finish, location choice and any overlapping participant booking. A worker carried from the Planner also needs approved availability and no conflicting booking. A disabled control can reflect your permissions or a workspace feature.
If a save reports an incomplete attempt, check the roster before starting again. Start new attempt opens a blank form and keeps any drafts already saved. Closing a form does not remove those drafts.