Step 1 of 5
Post the open shift
A manager posts a shift: the role, the time window, and which credential it requires (a certification date, a district, a building). Nothing is assigned yet -- the shift is just described.
How it works · Shiftly
A proposed name is only the beginning of coverage.
Follow a shift from the manager's brief to a response and, if necessary, a replacement proposal. The examples explain the intended workflow and the reused matching rules. They are not a live roster demonstration: Shiftly's board and substitute-coverage skin remain early access.
How it works
From a posted shift to a covered shift
The same five-step mechanism covers a routine open shift and a K-12 substitute callout -- only the credential requirement on the shift changes.
Step 2 of 5
Match against availability, eligibility, and credential
The same constraint gate that already runs credential-gated assignments elsewhere in the fleet checks every staff member's own availability window, role eligibility, and credential expiry against the shift, and proposes who can actually take it.
Step 3 of 5
A person accepts
The matched staff member accepts (or the manager assigns directly). The board shows the shift as covered, not assumed covered -- an accepted shift and a proposed one are never shown the same way.
Step 4 of 5
A callout triggers self-heal
If a covered shift falls through, the same self-healing reassignment logic that already proposes minimal-cascade reschedules elsewhere in the fleet proposes a ranked list of eligible replacements for that one shift -- not a rebuild of the whole week's roster.
Step 5 of 5
K-12 sub-coverage rides the same shift
A teacher absence is modeled as the same shift object with a school-specific credential requirement (a substitute-teaching credential, a building assignment). Coverage is matched from a pool of eligible substitutes the same way any other open shift is matched -- no separate sub-coverage engine to keep in sync.
Write the shift so the next decision is possible
Start with the role, location and whole time window. A candidate who can cover the last two hours has not covered a four-hour shift. A person who works in another building may not meet this building's requirement. Put those differences in the brief instead of assuming that the manager who answers the callout already knows them. The output of this step is an open requirement, not a promise that a suitable person exists.
Separate requirements from preferences. A credential expiry or scope is a condition to examine against the supplied record. A preference for someone familiar with a team is a different conversation. If a preference is presented as a hard rule, the candidate pool can disappear for reasons nobody intended. If a required credential is treated as a preference, a convenient name can look suitable when it is not. Ask which information the current walkthrough can represent before relying on it.
Read the candidate list as a decision aid
The matching story uses three separate facts: availability, eligibility for the role and the required credential record. A person can satisfy one and fail another. Review the reason before changing the shift. A date mismatch calls for checking the window or the underlying record; it does not call for repeatedly offering the same unsuitable person. The credential check compares supplied dates and scope. It does not establish authenticity or replace the authority that issued the credential.
An empty list is information. Keep the shift visibly unresolved while the manager investigates the requirement, checks for a recording mistake or looks for another qualified option. Do not translate an empty result into an invented acceptance. Ask to see that case during a walkthrough. The most useful explanation is often why a familiar person was not proposed, because that shows whether the team understands the input rules well enough to use them under pressure.
Keep the response separate from the recommendation
A suggestion says that a person appears to meet the scheduling requirements. Acceptance says someone has agreed to cover the shift. Those statements do different work. The board described on this site is meant to distinguish them, so a manager does not stop looking just because a ranked name appeared. In an evaluation, trace one example from the candidate review through the person's response and ask what the manager should do while that response is still outstanding.
Direct assignment is also an operator action, not proof that a person has seen a message. Establish the practical handoff for your team: who makes the decision, how the person learns about it and who notices an unresolved response. This page does not send an offer or confirmation. A link to contact us opens your email application; it does not execute any stage of the scheduling workflow illustrated here.
Change the coverage problem without rebuilding the week
When accepted coverage falls through, the replacement proposal starts from that shift. The reused self-heal idea is to rank changes with limited knock-on effects, so the manager can review a small set of alternatives. A ranking is not a guarantee that an acceptable replacement exists. It is also not a promise to silently rearrange other people's commitments. Ask which facts are reconsidered and which proposed changes would need an explicit human decision.
For a walkthrough, use one ordinary callout and one for which no eligible alternative remains. Compare the outputs: a reviewable replacement proposal in the first case, an honestly unresolved shift in the second. Keep the original requirement visible in both. The feature guide separates the rules behind those outcomes; getting started explains how to prepare a small evaluation without treating early access as a live operational service.
The credential-gate
A shift that requires a credential checks the assignee’s credential expiry and scope against the shift’s requirement before the assignment is offered — the same hard-constraint gate reused from shipped work elsewhere in this fleet.
What it does not do: it does not certify, license, issue, or verify the authenticity of a credential. It checks an expiry date and a scope against a record the school or business already supplies. That determination stays with whatever authority issued the credential in the first place.