How do Shifts work on Vome?
Overview
A shift is a date and a time when the work of an opportunity happens, with a set number of spots. Shifts are what people reserve, what they check in to and what their hours are counted against.
This article explains how shifts are built: the four ways to create them, why a series is the right choice for recurring work, what every field in the shift generator does, and when a shift title and a reservation restriction matter. It is for administrators. If you are new to opportunities, start with How do Opportunities work on Vome?
1. What is a shift?
A shift is one date, one time slot and a number of spots, inside one opportunity.
- It always belongs to a single opportunity. The opportunity names the work and holds the settings (Instant Book, cancellations, check-in, hour claims). The shift says when it happens and how many people it needs. Those opportunity settings, and the defaults worth checking before you publish, are covered in How do Opportunities work on Vome?
- Spots belong to the shift. Two shifts in the same opportunity can need a different number of people.
- Only people assigned to the opportunity can see and reserve its shifts, unless you narrow a shift further with a reservation restriction, or open it to anyone through a form with a Shift calendar.
2. Where do I create shifts?
In the Schedule, click Create shifts. The button itself opens the shift generator. The arrow beside it offers two choices:
- Generate a new batch, which builds shifts step by step in the generator.
- Import shifts, which creates them from a spreadsheet, one row per shift, with a different title, description and location on every row if you need it. See How do I import shifts into my schedule?
You can also create shifts from the Customize step while you build an opportunity, or later from the opportunity's schedule.
3. Which date option should I pick?
The generator offers four. The first three create standalone shifts. The fourth creates a series.
- Single date. One day. Use it for a one-off.
- Multiple dates. Several specific days you pick on the calendar, for example three Saturdays that are not evenly spaced.
- Date range. Every chosen weekday between a start and an end date. Vome describes it exactly: it "creates a finite batch of standalone shifts. Each shift is independent. Edits and attendee changes don't carry over to the others."
- Series. Recurring shifts built from one shared template. The series stays connected after you publish, so it can be managed as one thing.
The key difference is what happens after you publish. Shifts made with a single date, multiple dates or a date range are independent of each other. Changing a time, a description or the attendees later means changing each shift, or selecting the ones you want and editing them together. A series keeps the link between its shifts.
4. Why is a series the best choice for recurring shifts?
Because it does everything a date range does, and stays easy to manage for as long as the work keeps recurring.
- Edit once, in one place. When you edit a shift in a series, you choose This shift only, This shift and future shifts or All shifts in series. A change to the time, the spots or the details reaches every shift you chose, without selecting them one by one.
- No end date needed. Leave the end date off and the series keeps extending on its own, or click Add end date to stop it on a given day.
- One-offs stay possible. Users can still reserve Just this shift when they can only make one date.
- Or they join the whole thing. With Join the recurring schedule, a user commits to every upcoming shift in one action, from a start date they pick when you allow it, and for a minimum or maximum length you set.
- Admins get the same choices. When you add someone to a series shift, you pick This shift only, This shift and future shifts, All shifts in series or For a date range, so a person can cover one date, a season or the whole schedule.
- Pre-assigned people keep coming. Anyone you pre-assign in the generator is added to new shifts as the series generates them.
One rule to know: each weekday and time slot pairing becomes its own series. Tuesday mornings and Thursday evenings in one batch are two series, because committing to Tuesdays is not the same as committing to Thursdays.
The full comparison is in Date range or series? Two ways to create recurring shifts.
5. What does each field in the shift generator do?
When
- Load shift template. Start from a saved set of shift details instead of filling them in again.
- Single date, Multiple dates, Date range or Series. See question 3. A series also asks how often it repeats (every week, every two weeks or monthly) and on which days.
- Time slots. The start and end time. Add time slot creates a separate shift for each slot on every selected date, for example a 9:00 to 11:00 shift and a 13:00 to 15:00 shift.
- Max # of spots. How many people each shift needs.
What
- Shift Title. Optional. Names the role, task, position, event or group for this shift. See question 6.
- Shift description. Optional details for this shift only.
- Location. Starts as the opportunity's location. Change it when this shift happens somewhere else.
- Shift tags. Visible to admins only. They colour similar shifts on your calendar and show up in your Shift data and Reservations & hours log reports.
- Extra shift entries. Add another entry to generate a second shift, with its own title, description and location, for the same dates and time slots.
Who
- Coordinators. You, by default. Coordinators receive the shift's notifications, and attendees can see and contact them.
- Watchers. None by default. Watchers receive the same notifications behind the scenes. Attendees do not see them.
- Pre-assign attendees. People added to every shift in the batch as it is created, with an optional message to them.
- Manage advanced reservation restrictions. Narrows who can reserve. See question 7.
What users see, and what happens around the reservation
- User visibility setting. Decide if and when users see the shift title, description, location, the Attendee list and Attendee statuses, for example only after they reserve. The attendee list and statuses are hidden from users by default.
- Form submission policy. Ask for a form at a point in the reservation, for example when someone reserves, checks in, checks out or claims hours.
- Waitlist policy. Let users join a waitlist on a full shift, so a cancellation can be filled.
- Group reservation policy. Let one person reserve several spots for the guests they bring.
- Notification policy. Customize the reminders and messages attendees receive for these shifts.
How people book, cancel and claim hours on these shifts is set once on the opportunity, not per shift. See question 5 of How do Opportunities work on Vome? for the defaults worth checking.
6. Why use a shift title?
Because the shift title is what says which task happens at that date and time when the opportunity's name does not.
- When the opportunity is the task, such as Front desk reception, every shift is the same job. Leave the title empty.
- When the opportunity is broader, such as an event (Spring Gala) or a general "Events" opportunity, the title carries the job or the event: Registration desk, Kitchen prep, Setup crew, or Summer Fair. Without it, people see a list of identical time slots and cannot tell what they are signing up for.
A shift has one title. If it already holds an event name, there is no room left to name a job. See The three shapes an opportunity can take and How to Create an Event on Vome.
7. When should I restrict who can reserve a shift?
When a shift is a task only some of the opportunity's people should take. This pairs naturally with shift titles: the title names the job, and the restriction keeps it for the right group.
By default, everyone assigned to the opportunity can reserve any of its shifts. With Manage advanced reservation restrictions, a person must be assigned to the opportunity and carry at least 1, all or none of the profile tags you pick. For example, a Gala opportunity can have four shifts open to all and a "Bar service" shift only people tagged "Smart Serve certified" can see and reserve.
Summary
- A shift is one date, one time slot and a number of spots, inside one opportunity.
- Single date, Multiple dates and Date range create standalone shifts that are managed one by one after publishing.
- A series stays connected: edit this shift, future shifts or all of them at once, with or without an end date.
- A series still lets users take one shift, join the whole schedule or a portion of it, and lets admins assign the same way.
- Users can only join a series once the opportunity's Shift series reservation policy allows it. It starts at Off.
- Use a shift title whenever the opportunity's name does not already say what the task is.
- Pair a shift title with an advanced reservation restriction to keep a task for a tagged group within the opportunity.