The rota is where clinic teams check who is available, which rooms are covered, and where the week has gaps before appointments reach the diary. Reception teams use it to understand capacity, nurses and vets use it to see their working pattern, and practice managers use it to keep staffing, rooms and online booking availability aligned.

💡 In short: Open Rota to review the weekly staff or room schedule, then use the detailed calendar when you need a closer day or week view.

What the rota controls

The rota is the availability layer behind staff scheduling. It can show working shifts, unavailable time, holiday, sick leave, Break/Admin time, room coverage, and cross-location commitments for the selected week.

Area	What the rota helps with
Staff availability	See which team members are available, unavailable, on holiday, sick, or blocked for admin time.
Room coverage	Switch from staff to rooms to check which consult rooms or other resources are covered.
Appointment booking	Help the team understand whether there is suitable staff and room availability before creating appointments.
Online booking	Control when clients can request appointments, when a shift is marked as bookable online.
Multi-location planning	Show when a staff member is busy at another location, without exposing that location's full shift details.

📍 Permissions: Staff with View Rota can open and read the rota. Staff with Rota Management can create, edit, delete, copy and add notes to shifts.

Open the rota

In the apps page, click Rota.
The page opens on the current week.
Use the date picker, arrow buttons, or Today to move between weeks.

Read the weekly grid

The main grid is designed for scanning the whole week quickly.

Part of the screen	What it means
Week selector	Shows the Monday-to-Sunday week currently in view.
Staff rows	Staff are grouped by their staff role, such as Manager, Nurse or Veterinarian.
Role counts	The number beside each role shows how many visible staff are in that group.
Day cells	Each cell shows that staff member's rota entries for that day.
Default	No rota entry has been added for that person or room on that day. How uncovered time behaves depends on your rota settings.
Coloured entries	A saved rota entry, such as Available, Holiday, Sick, Unavailable or Break/Admin.
Small icons on entries	Indicators for recurring shifts, one-off overrides, multi-day shifts, notes, copied shifts, or other-store commitments.

💡 Default is not the same as a saved shift. It means Lupa has no rota entry for that cell. If your practice needs explicit coverage for bookings, create a shift instead of relying on an empty/default day.

Change what you are viewing

Click Filters to choose whether the rota is shown by Staff or Rooms. When viewing staff, you can also filter by role.

The rota filter menu with Staff, Rooms, role filters and other-store filters.

Filter	Use it when
Staff	You want to check individual team member availability.
Rooms	You want to check room coverage across the week.
Filter by role	You only need to see certain staff groups, such as nurses or vets.
Filter other stores	You are in a multi-location practice and only want to show commitments from selected locations.

When you are in the staff view, click Download to export the visible staff rota as a CSV. The export includes the visible shifts for the selected week, including start and end times, recurrence details and weekday recurrence flags.

Open the detailed rota calendar

The detailed calendar gives you a time-based view for one day or one selected staff member or room.

Click a staff member, room, or day cell in the weekly grid.
The Rota calendar opens.
Use Staff or Rooms to change the resource type.
Use the selector to choose one staff member, one room, or all resources.
Use Day or Week to change the layout.

📍 Week view needs a specific resource. If All staff members or All rooms is selected, the detailed calendar stays in day view so the schedule remains readable.

The detailed calendar shows the full day, with non-business hours displayed as a striped area. Click and drag a time range, click the all-day row, or click Create if you need to add a shift. The full shift-creation workflow is covered separately in .

The detailed rota calendar in room view.

Understand other-store commitments

For multi-location practices, the rota can show when a staff member is already scheduled at another location. Other-store entries appear as Busy or with a store indicator rather than exposing the full shift details from that location.

💡 Use other-store visibility as a planning signal: it tells you that the person is committed elsewhere, then links naturally into the cross-location scheduling workflow when you need to resolve the clash.

For the detailed multi-location behaviour, see .

What to do from the overview

If you want to...	Go here
Add a new one-off or recurring shift	Click Create, or click a day/time in the detailed calendar.
Adjust who or which room is covered	Open the shift, then update the staff or room assignment.
Check only one role	Open Filters, stay on Staff, then tick only the roles you need.
Check room coverage	Open Filters, choose Rooms, then inspect the weekly grid or detailed calendar.
Export the visible staff rota	Stay on Staff, apply any role filters, then click Download.
Review other-location commitments	Use Filter other stores or open the detailed calendar for the staff member.

Tips for a clear rota

✅ Best practices from practices that run Lupa:

Keep staff roles accurate so the role grouping is useful.
Use clear shift titles, such as Consults, Surgery, Nurse admits, or Break/Admin.
Use Rooms view before busy clinics to spot uncovered consult rooms.
Check Default cells before assuming a staff member is available.
Use the detailed calendar when time-of-day coverage matters.
Keep appointment type restrictions and staff qualifications up to date so rota availability supports booking accurately.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
I cannot open the rota	Ask an administrator to check that you have View Rota or Rota Management permission.
I can view the rota but cannot create or edit shifts	You likely have View Rota only. Creating, editing, deleting, copying and note changes require Rota Management.
A staff member is missing	Check that the staff member belongs to the current location and is set to appear in calendar/rota views.
A room is missing	Check that the room exists for the current location and is available as a calendar resource.
Week view is disabled	Select one specific staff member or one specific room. Week view is not available while viewing all resources.
A day says Default	No rota entry exists for that cell. Review your rota settings to understand whether uncovered time uses store hours fallback or is treated as unavailable.
Another location shows Busy	The staff member has a rota commitment at another store. Use the cross-location scheduling article to decide how to handle it.

Frequently asked questions

Does the rota replace the appointment calendar?

No. The rota explains staff and room availability; the appointment calendar is where appointments, blocks and patient flow are managed. The two work together.

Why do I see Default across the week?

Default means there is no saved rota entry for that staff member or room on that date. Your practice's rota settings decide whether uncovered time falls back to store hours or is treated as unavailable.

Can I plan by room instead of by staff member?

Yes. Open Filters, select Rooms, then review each room's weekly coverage or open the detailed calendar for a room-level view.

Why can I only use Day view for all staff or all rooms?

Week view is only available after selecting a specific staff member or room. This keeps the detailed calendar readable.

Does the rota affect online booking?

Yes, when shifts are configured as bookable online and match the relevant appointment types, staff and rooms. The Online Booking articles cover the client-facing booking flow in more detail.

Rota overview