Coverage Targets

Overview

Coverage Targets help you ensure adequate staffing levels across your organization. By defining minimum staff requirements for specific locations, days, and time blocks, you can visualize coverage gaps directly in the scheduler and validate schedules before publishing.

The Coverage Targets feature provides:

• Minimum staffing rules per location/subarea, day of week, and time range
• Visual heatmap overlay in the shift scheduler showing under/over staffing
• Publish validation to prevent schedules with coverage gaps from going live
• Real-time gap detection with actionable warnings

Setting Coverage Targets

Coverage rules are managed from Settings > Coverage Rules. Only administrators can create and modify coverage rules.

Creating a Coverage Rule

1. Navigate to Settings > Coverage Rules
2. Click Add Rule in the top-right corner
3. Fill in the rule details:
   • Location / Subarea: Select the specific work area this rule applies to
   • Day of Week: Choose which day (Monday through Sunday) this rule covers
   • Start Time: When the coverage requirement begins (e.g., 09:00)
   • End Time: When the coverage requirement ends (e.g., 17:00)
   • Minimum Staff Count: The minimum number of employees required during this time block (1-100)
4. Click Create to save the rule

Example Configuration

For a retail store that needs:

• 3 staff on weekday mornings (09:00-13:00)
• 5 staff on weekday afternoons (13:00-18:00)
• 4 staff on weekends all day (10:00-18:00)

You would create separate rules for each combination of day and time block.

Editing and Deleting Rules

Rules are displayed grouped by location/subarea. For each rule, you can:

• Click the pencil icon to edit the rule
• Click the trash icon to delete the rule (requires confirmation)

Scheduler Heatmap

When viewing the shift scheduler, managers can toggle a coverage heatmap overlay that visualizes staffing levels against defined targets.

Enabling the Heatmap

1. Open the Scheduler view
2. Click the Coverage button in the toolbar
3. The heatmap overlay will display on the calendar

Understanding the Colors

The heatmap uses a three-color system:

Day Indicators

Each day in the scheduler shows an indicator reflecting the worst coverage status for that day:

• Warning triangle (red): At least one time block is understaffed
• Checkmark (green): All time blocks meet requirements
• Trending up arrow (blue): Some time blocks are overstaffed, none are understaffed

Hover over the day indicator to see:

• Overall status summary
• Total gap count (number of staff shortages)
• Utilization percentage
• Per-location breakdown (if multiple subareas)

Coverage Summary Bar

When the heatmap is enabled, a summary bar appears above the scheduler showing:

• Number of understaffed time slots (with total gap count)
• Number of adequate time slots
• Number of overstaffed time slots

Shift Validation

Coverage targets integrate with the schedule publishing workflow to prevent understaffed schedules from going live.

Publish Warnings

When attempting to publish shifts:

1. The system checks all shifts against coverage rules
2. If gaps exist, the Publish button shows a warning indicator
3. Managers see a summary of coverage gaps before confirming

Publishing Settings

Administrators can control publishing behavior in Settings > Coverage Rules:

Allow publishing with coverage gaps

• Enabled (default): Managers can publish schedules even when understaffed, with a warning
• Disabled: Schedules with coverage gaps cannot be published until resolved

To change this setting:

1. Navigate to Settings > Coverage Rules
2. Find the Publishing Settings card
3. Toggle the Allow publishing with coverage gaps switch

Best Practices

Designing Effective Coverage Rules

1. Break the day into logical blocks: Match your business patterns (morning rush, lunch peak, evening close)
2. Account for breaks: If staff take staggered breaks, you may need higher minimums during peak hours
3. Consider seasonal variations: You may need to adjust rules during busy seasons
4. Start conservative: Begin with minimum viable staffing and adjust based on actual needs

Managing Multiple Locations

• Create rules for each subarea that has distinct staffing needs
• Use consistent time blocks across similar locations for easier comparison
• Review the location breakdown in day tooltips to identify problem areas

Using the Heatmap Effectively

• Enable the heatmap during schedule planning, not just for review
• Address red (understaffed) slots first when building schedules
• Blue (overstaffed) slots may indicate opportunities for cost savings
• Use the summary bar to track progress as you add shifts

Publish Workflow

• Review coverage before publishing, even if gaps are allowed
• Document why you're publishing with gaps (e.g., no available staff)
• Consider disabling gap publishing during critical periods

Troubleshooting

Heatmap Not Showing Data

Symptoms: The coverage toggle button appears but no colors show on the calendar.

Solutions:

1. Verify coverage rules exist for the visible date range
2. Check that rules exist for the displayed subareas
3. Ensure you have manager or admin permissions

Rules Not Applying to Expected Days

Symptoms: Coverage appears correct on some days but not others.

Solutions:

1. Verify the Day of Week setting on each rule
2. Check that time ranges don't have gaps (e.g., 09:00-12:00 and 13:00-17:00 leaves 12:00-13:00 uncovered)
3. Confirm the correct subarea is selected

Cannot Publish Due to Coverage Gaps

Symptoms: The publish button is disabled or shows an error about coverage.

Solutions:

1. Enable the heatmap to identify gap locations
2. Add shifts to cover understaffed time blocks
3. If gaps are acceptable, ask an administrator to enable Allow publishing with coverage gaps

Unexpected Understaffing Warnings

Symptoms: Day shows as understaffed even though enough staff are scheduled.

Solutions:

1. Verify shift times overlap with rule time blocks
2. Check that shifts are assigned to the correct subarea
3. Confirm shifts are in draft or published status (not cancelled)