Field Schedule Shift Configuration Options

⚙️ Field Schedule Shift Configuration Options (Full Breakdown)
 

📘 Article Purpose

This article explains every available field, setting, and toggle when creating a shift in the Field Schedule—what each one does, when to use it, and how it impacts scheduling behavior.

🧱 Shift vs. Event: What's the Difference?

When creating an item, the first option is:

• Shift → Used to schedule labor that workers will clock in/out of
• Event → Used to mark important dates, reminders, or required forms without time tracking

✅ Required Fields (Shifts)

To create a valid shift, you must provide:

• Title
• Division (if your account has multiple divisions)
• Date or Date + Time
  • Optional: check "All Day" to remove time requirement

🛠️ Optional Configuration Fields (Shifts)

Here’s a full list of available configuration options, along with their purpose and usage tips:

🕓 Repeats

Click the “Doesn’t Repeat” link to open recurrence settings.

Supported recurrence types:

• Daily
• Weekly on [Day]
• Biweekly on [Day]
• Monthly on date (e.g. 17th)
• Monthly on weekday (e.g. 3rd Tuesday)
• Every weekday (Mon–Fri)
• Annually on [Date]

🔁 Useful for regular jobs, meetings, inspections, etc.

⏰ Internal & External Reminders

Send reminders before the shift.

Options for both internal and external:

• At time of shift
• 5, 10, 15, 30 mins before
• 1 or 2 hours before
• 1 or 2 days before

Internal = Team members

External = Customers (via email)

✉️ For external reminders, you can:

• Auto-select customer/project emails
• Or enter email addresses manually

🏗️ Project, Phase, and Cost Code (Optional)

Helps pre-fill tracking fields for accurate job costing.

• Selecting these ensures workers clock into the correct job and cost bucket.
• Optional toggle: Lock Clock-In Details
  • Prevents workers from editing project/phase/cost code on the shift.

🎨 Color

Control how the shift appears visually:

• If no color is selected, the shift uses the user's default color
• You can manually choose a color or enter a hex code

🎯 Use color for job type separation (e.g., blue = service, red = construction)

👥 Teams & Assigned Users

Option 1: Assign by Team

• Select a saved team from Staff > Manage Teams
• Click View Team to:
  • Add all members
  • Remove individuals

Option 2: Assign Specific Users

• Select users manually using a dropdown
• Use filters to narrow by label (e.g. Carpenter, First Aid)
• Use the User Schedule button to see who's already scheduled for that day

📍 Address-Based Assignment

If you've added user addresses in Staff > Manage Users, Ontraccr will:

• Show distance (in km) between each user and the project site
• Sort users by proximity, with closest shown at the top

📌 Helps reduce travel time and improve dispatching efficiency

👷 Expected User Groups

Use this if you're not sure who to assign yet.

• Define how many people you need by label or role
• Example: “Need 2 Carpenters and 1 First Aid Attendant”
• The system shows whether your shift has enough assigned users to meet expectations

🔐 Related permission:

Only users with “View draft shifts by role/label” can see and apply to shifts that match their skill group.

🗂️ Category

If you’ve created custom shift categories in:

Settings > Customization > Schedule Categories, you can:

• Tag shifts as High Priority, Low Priority, Do Not Change, etc.
• Categories also apply in the Unassigned Shift Queue

📝 Description

A plain-text field used to give context or instructions.

Visible on the mobile app when field workers open the shift.

📎 Attachments

Add any:

• Documents
• PDFs
• Job drawings
• Photos

📱 These are accessible to workers via mobile or tablet

📄 Assigned Form Template

Attach a form to the shift:

• The worker will see this form directly in the shift
• They can open and fill it out without having to search

🧾 Common forms: Timesheets, Work Orders, Safety Checklists

💡 Drafts vs. Published Shifts

• Draft Shifts = Transparent color
  • Can accept applications from users (if expected group is defined)
  • Show a “Pending Users” list for approval
• Published Shifts = Solid color
  • Fully assigned and live