# After-Hours Scheduling

Source: https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/after-hours-scheduling

> Use Astalty from your phone after hours - fill or cancel a support, reassign a worker, broadcast a shift and find staff or Participant contact details.

Scheduling add-on - This feature requires the Scheduling add-on, which is available on Astalty Premium. See How to enable 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.

> **Use it to fill and fix, not to build a roster**
>
> This is a deliberately limited interface. It's designed for **filling a support, reassigning a worker, cancelling a support and finding contact details** when you're away from your computer.
>
> Avoid **creating** shifts here. It's possible, but the full shift form is awkward on a phone screen - build your roster on the desktop scheduler instead.

Video walkthrough: After-hours scheduling walkthrough.

## 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](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/viewing-the-schedule#all-shifts-view) page in an in-app browser window. You won't be asked to log in again.

> **Can't see View All Shifts?**
>
> **View All Shifts** only appears for users whose role allows them to edit shifts. If you're covering shifts after hours and it's missing, ask an Admin to check your role.

## 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** - 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.

> **If you do get kicked out**
>
> Nothing is lost - you haven't lost any saved changes. Go back to **Profile → View All Shifts** and you'll land on All Shifts again.

## 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. It works the same way on the desktop scheduler - see [Reassigning a Support Worker](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/unassigned-shift#reassigning-a-support-worker).
   - **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](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/unassigned-shift), 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**.

> **Cancel the support, not the shift**
>
> There's no "cancel" on the shift card - the only destructive option there is **Delete Shift**, which removes it from the roster without recording a cancellation. If a support isn't going ahead, always use **Actions → Cancel Support** so the cancellation reason and charge/pay treatment are recorded properly.

Cancelling correctly matters for billing, so it's worth knowing the options before you're doing it half asleep. See [Support Cancellations](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/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.

> **The phone number is right there**
>
> You don't need to go looking up numbers in another screen to fill a shift - the **Support Workers** list shows each worker's phone number next to whether they're available, so you can work down it and call from the same page.

## 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 - see [Selecting Workers in Bulk](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/shift-board-workflow#selecting-workers-in-bulk) for exactly who each option picks up.
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](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/shift-board-workflow) for how broadcasts and expressions of interest work end to end.

> **When Broadcast Shift isn't available**
>
> **Broadcast Shift** only appears for a shift that is **unassigned**, **in the future**, not cancelled, and not already broadcast. If a worker is still assigned, unassign them first.
>
> You also select **individual workers** - there's no option to broadcast to a whole team or group.

## 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.
- **Who is on call** - where your organisation uses the [On-Call Roster](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/on-call-roster#reading-the-roster), it shows who is on call now and who is next.

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.

> **Managers: read the number off the list rather than tapping through**
>
> Only Admins can open a **Support Worker's** profile, and this can't be granted to a Manager, so for a Manager the rows in **Users** aren't clickable.
>
> That doesn't get in your way here: the **Phone** column is on the list itself, so you can still copy any worker's number - whether or not they're currently assigned to a shift - without opening a profile.

## Related Guides

- [Unassigned Shifts](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/unassigned-shift) - filling roster gaps on the desktop
- [Shift Board Workflow](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/shift-board-workflow) - broadcasts and expressions of interest
- [Support Cancellations](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-cancellations) - cancellation reasons and charge/pay rules
- [Creating a Sleepover or Active Overnight Support](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/adding-shifts/creating-a-sleepover-or-active-overnight-support) - rostering overnight work
- [On-Call Roster](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/on-call-roster) - rostering who is on call, and paying the calls they take
- [Support Worker App Overview](https://docs.astalty.com.au/guide/scheduling/support-worker-app/support-worker-app-overview) - what workers see in their app