User Guide — ShiftPlanning

1. Quick start

Go to Templates and download a starter .xlsx file.
Open it in Excel or Google Sheets. Edit the sheets to match your team.
Open the ShiftPlanning tool and click Load config.
Click Schedule → Generate.
Review the calendar grid, adjust manually, then go to Export to download.

2. Config file format (.xlsx)

Your config file contains these sheets:

Sheet	Purpose
employees	id, name, skill_ids (comma-separated), preferred_shift_ids, preferred_days, max_weight_per_day, is_active
skills	id, name, weight (1–3), people_required, is_active
shift_types	id, name, start_time (HH:MM), end_time (HH:MM), skill_ids, color (hex)
month_config	year, month (1–12)
leave_requests	employee_id, day_number
carry_overs	employee_id, value (positive = under-assigned last month)
settings	key/value pairs: max_consecutive_days, max_people_per_day, rebalance_iterations
schedule	Optional. Restored on load to continue editing a saved schedule.

3. Shift types (DAY / EVE / NIGHT)

If you leave the shift_types sheet empty, ShiftPlanning runs in single-shift mode (like a traditional roster).

Add shift types (e.g., DAY 08:00–16:00, EVE 16:00–00:00, NIGHT 00:00–08:00) to enable multi-shift scheduling. The algorithm automatically prevents an employee from being assigned to two overlapping shifts on the same day.

Overnight shifts: If end_time < start_time the shift crosses midnight. The overlap detector handles this correctly.

4. Algorithm constraints

Hard constraints (never violated):

H1: Employee must have the required skill
H2: Employee cannot work on a leave day
H3: Total skill-weight per day cannot exceed max_weight_per_day
H5: Employee cannot work two overlapping shifts on the same day
H6: Locked assignments cannot be moved
H7: Max people per day cap (0 = unlimited)

Soft constraints (optimised but not guaranteed):

S1: Fair shift distribution (equity)
S2: Avoid too many consecutive days (penalised at limit)
S3: Respect preferred work days
S4: Respect preferred shift types
S5: Balance skill-weight across employees
S6: Skill variety (avoid same skill too many days in a row)
S8: Shift-type variety (avoid same shift type 3+ consecutive days)

5. Manual editing

After generating, click any assigned cell in the Schedule tab to replace, remove, or lock it. Use Swap mode to exchange two employees between slots. Locked slots (shown with a padlock) are preserved when you regenerate.

Undo / Redo (up to 50 levels) is available in the toolbar.

6. Export

Go to the Export tab to download your schedule as PDF or Excel, or to save your full config .xlsx for next month.