Command Palette

Search for a command to run...

Log In
Get help
  1. Scheduling
  2. After-Hours Scheduling

After-Hours Scheduling

Overview

When you're covering shifts after hours, you're usually not at a desk. A worker rings in sick at 6:00 AM, and you need to find someone else, cancel the support, or just get hold of a phone number — all from your phone.

You don't need a laptop for this. The Astalty app has a View All Shifts option that opens a limited version of the scheduler, already signed in, so you can fill and manage supports while you're out and about.

Opening the Scheduler from the App

  1. Open the Astalty app and tap the Profile tab at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Scroll down and tap View All Shifts.

Astalty signs you in automatically and opens the All Shifts page in an in-app browser window. You won't be asked to log in again.

Finding Your Way Around

Because this opens in a browser window inside the app, navigation works a little differently to the rest of Astalty. Two things are worth knowing before you start.

Use the menu button in the top corner of the page to open the navigation drawer. On a phone this shows a shortened menu — typically Scheduling, Participants and Users, depending on your permissions — rather than the full desktop menu.

Use the browser's back arrow, not the close button. The bar at the bottom of the window has back and forward arrows — use the back arrow to step back a page. The button in the top-left corner closes the browser window entirely and drops you back into the app, losing your place.

Unassigning or Cancelling a Support

When a worker calls in sick, you have two options: take them off the shift so someone else can pick it up, or cancel the support outright.

  1. From All Shifts, tap the support you need to change. The list opens on today's shifts, which is usually what you want after hours — change the date filter if you need tomorrow morning's.
  2. On a phone, the shift cards appear at the top of the support, rather than in the sidebar you'd see on a desktop.
  3. Tap the ⋮ menu on the shift card and choose what you need:
    • Reassign Support Worker — swap straight to someone else without the shift ever going unassigned. This is usually the quickest option.
    • Unassign Support Worker — take the worker off and leave the shift open. You'll be asked to confirm and to enter a Reason for unassign. The shift then appears in Unassigned Shifts, ready to fill.

To call the support off entirely, use the Actions button on the support itself and choose Cancel Support. You'll get the same prompts as the desktop — Cancelled By, Charges and Payment, and a Cancellation Reason.

Cancelling correctly matters for billing, so it's worth knowing the options before you're doing it half asleep. See Support Cancellations for what each reason and payment choice means. The worker is notified and can see the reason in their app, so keep the details appropriate for them to read.

Filling an Unassigned Shift

Once a shift is unassigned, you need someone to cover it.

  1. Open the navigation drawer and go to Scheduling → Unassigned Shifts. This list defaults to the current week.
  2. Tap the shift you need to fill, then use the Assign action.
  3. You'll land on the shift's page with a Support Workers list. This is the useful part when you're filling a gap at short notice — each worker's row shows their Phone number alongside their Availability, Preferences, Qualifications and any Award Alerts.
  4. Filter Availability to Available to hide anyone already rostered or unavailable.
  5. Ring whoever you want to offer it to, then tap Assign on their row and confirm.

Broadcasting a Shift Instead of Ringing Around

If you don't want to call people one at a time — or you need the shift filled fast — broadcast it instead.

  1. Open the unassigned shift and select Broadcast Shift.
  2. In the Shift Details drawer, scroll to Support Workers and tick the workers you want to alert. Use Select Workers to pick All Compatible or Preferred Only in one go.
  3. Leave Notify me when a support worker expresses interest ticked so you hear back.
  4. Tap Submit.

Those workers are notified and can express interest from their own app, so you can accept someone without making a single call. See Shift Board Workflow for how broadcasts and expressions of interest work end to end.

Finding Staff and Participant Contact Details

Covering shifts after hours is often less about changing the roster and more about getting hold of someone.

  • Staff phone numbers — open the drawer and go to Users. The list itself has a Phone column you can copy straight from, so you don't need to open anyone's profile just to get a number.
  • Participant details — go to Participants and open their profile for contact details and their schedule.

This works whether or not you're changing anything, so it's useful for the "who's on tonight and what's their number?" calls too — including for the worker already rostered on, who won't appear in the lists you use to fill a shift.

Related Guides

Was this page helpful?