Understand the outcome

A good schedule depends on accurate seats, certifications, availability, hour caps, and time off.

Scheduling runs the staffing period: collect availability, generate shifts from rotations, fill seats with best-fit suggestions or the auto-builder, check role and certification rules, and publish. After publishing, members trade, pick up open shifts, request time off, and report callouts that managers fill by escalating through tiers of qualified members.

What this procedure is for

This guide focuses specifically on “Build and publish a certification-aware schedule.” Complete it from an account with the appropriate Scheduling access, verify it from the affected member or operational view, and preserve existing records rather than repurposing historical configuration.

Before you begin

Make the decision before changing the screen. Record the current configuration when the department already uses this feature, and use a test record or test account when the change can affect active members.

Set up positions and seat requirements.
Link member certifications to Certification Hub types.
Lock availability.

If a control is missing

Do not work around it from another member’s account. Confirm that Scheduling is enabled, its dependencies are active, and your role grants the exact management action required for this task.

Where to work and what access you need

Start from the portal destination named in the procedure. Administrators normally need permission to view Scheduling plus the specific create, edit, manage, approve, report, or all-record action used by the task. Visibility alone does not grant management access.

Department Schedule/modules/scheduling/schedule
My Schedule/modules/scheduling/schedule?scope=mine
My Availability/modules/scheduling/availability
Schedule Workspace/modules/scheduling/workspace
Schedule builder/modules/scheduling/focus
Open Shifts/modules/scheduling/open-shifts
Request Queue/modules/scheduling/requests-queue
My Requests/modules/scheduling/my-requests
Trades/modules/scheduling/trades
Time Off/modules/scheduling/time-off
Templates/modules/scheduling/templates
Analytics/modules/scheduling/analytics
Reports/modules/scheduling/reports
Settings/modules/scheduling/settings
Setup/modules/scheduling/setup

Required foundation

Core must be enabled and correctly configured before this workflow can operate reliably.

If your department uses custom roles, test the procedure with that role—not only with a full administrator account. This confirms the people responsible for daily operations can complete the workflow without receiving unrelated access.

Complete the task

Step 1Generate shifts
Use templates and rotations such as 24/48, 48/96, 24/72, Kelly, or 12-hour.
Step 2Open the builder
Use the full-screen builder from the Build tab.
Step 3Fill seats
Assign manually, use best-fit suggestions, or run the auto-builder with your chosen priority.
Step 4Resolve publish checks
Fix role, certification, hour-cap, and time-off problems, or use an authorized override.
Step 5Review
Check every station, date, and open seat.
Step 6Publish
Publish from the Publish tab and confirm members see My Schedule.

Operational safeguards

Apply these module-level controls while completing the procedure. They prevent a technically saved configuration from becoming an operational or access problem later.

Control point
Link personnel certifications to Certification Hub types before using certification seat rules.
Control point
Choose a period cadence and availability deadline members can meet.
Control point
Configure positions, seats, hour caps, and override permissions.
Control point
Decide whether trades and pickups need manager approval.
Control point
Agree who escalates callouts; tiers are advanced by a manager, not on a timer.
Control point
Compare a finished period with Time Clock before relying on planned-versus-actual analytics.

Verify the result

Do not consider the setup complete merely because the save action succeeded. Confirm the behavior from the user-facing or operational view, then retain evidence of the test when department policy requires it.

Required seats are filled or intentionally open.
Publish checks are resolved.
Members see the published schedule.

If any verification fails, return to the source configuration and correct it there. Do not edit a report or downstream record to conceal an incorrect setup.

Troubleshooting

A qualified member isn’t suggested

Check their certification is linked to the exact type the seat requires, and their availability.

Publish is missing

Building and publishing are separate permissions.

A member sees an old schedule

Confirm the latest version was published.

Related Scheduling capabilities

This task sits inside a larger module workflow. These related capabilities may affect the result or provide the next administrative step:

Availability painting with reusable patterns, deadlines, late-edit approvals, and lock/reopen
Rotations including 24/48, 48/96, 24/72, Kelly, 12-hour, and custom cycles
Best-fit suggestions and an auto-builder with selectable priorities
Positions and seats with role and certification requirements
Weekly and monthly hour caps
Trades a colleague must accept, open-shift pickups, and drops, each with optional manager approval
Time off with leave types and balances
Callout board where a manager escalates tier by tier; the first qualified member to accept is assigned
My Actions on My Schedule, with a sidebar badge, collecting schedule acknowledgements, cover offers, and trade offers that are waiting on the member
Shift reminders 24 hours and 2 hours before a shift by default
Fairness, coverage, and Time Clock comparison analytics with PDF/CSV exports

Use the module hub to open the dedicated procedure associated with any capability listed here.

Connected modules and downstream effects

A change here can alter what members see, what data appears in reports, or how another module completes its workflow. Review the connected areas below before making a department-wide change.

Time ClockPortal and kiosk clock-in with password, PIN, or face, plus corrections and reports.
TrainingEvents, attendance, hours and CE, certificates, self-logged training, and compliance.
PayrollFire/EMS pay records, gross-to-net, run approvals, statements, and exports.
Station BoardStation TV boards with live widgets, rotating slides, and protected launch links.

After deployment, test one complete workflow from the originating module through every connected destination your department uses. Document the final configuration so another administrator can audit or reproduce it later.

Continue in Scheduling

Return to the Scheduling module guide for connected workflows, dependencies, portal destinations, and additional procedures.