Use shift schedules to show when staff members or rooms are available, unavailable, on holiday, in admin time, or following a repeating rota pattern. A well-maintained rota helps reception, vets, nurses, and practice managers see coverage for the week before appointments are booked into the diary.
💡 In short: Open Rota Management, choose the week, create a shift, set who or what it applies to, then save it as either a one-off shift or a recurring pattern.
Before You Begin
📍 Permissions required: You can view the rota if your role includes rota viewing access. You need rota editing access to create, edit, copy, or delete shifts.
Before creating shifts, check that the relevant staff members and rooms are already set up for the location. If you are making bookable availability, the staff member should also have the right appointment types assigned to their profile. This article focuses on creating shifts in the rota. For broader navigation, multi-location visibility, conflict behaviour, and rota settings, use the related articles at the bottom rather than repeating that setup here.
What A Shift Controls
Staff member or room: the person or resource shown on the rota grid.
Date and time: the period covered by the shift. All-day shifts use the location's business hours for that date.
Status: whether the period is available, unavailable, holiday, sick leave, or admin/break time.
Appointment types: optional restrictions for available shifts, so only relevant appointment categories can be booked into that time.
Bookable online: whether eligible online booking requests can use this availability.
Recurrence: whether the shift happens once or repeats daily or weekly across a date range.
Create A Shift Schedule
1. Open Rota Management
Go to Rota Management and use the week picker to move to the week you want to plan. The rota opens in Staff view by default, grouped by role. Use Filters if you need to switch between Staff and Rooms, limit the visible roles, or narrow other-store overlays.
💡 Keep this page for planning the schedule itself. If you need to explain the whole rota screen or cross-location overlays, link to the rota overview or cross-location scheduling articles instead.
2. Start A New Shift
Select Create in the top-right of the rota. Lupa opens Add a new shift with two steps: Shift Details and Recurrence. You can also create from a specific day or resource context. When the dialog opens from a selected staff member, room, or date, Lupa pre-fills that context so you only need to finish the shift details.
3. Choose The Store And Primary Resource
In Shift Details, confirm the Store, then choose the staff member or room the shift belongs to. Use Assign to staff members for vets, nurses, receptionists, and other team members. Use Assign to room(s) for room availability, room closures, or room-only time. For a working shift that also occupies rooms, choose the staff member first, then add rooms lower down when the status is Available.
📍 Changing the store clears staff, room, and appointment-type selections because those options are specific to each location.
4. Set The Date, Time, And Status
Use All day event when the shift should follow the store's business hours for that day. Turn it off when you need exact start and end times. Then complete the shift's working details:
Title: add a short label such as "Morning consultations", "Surgery", "Admin", or "Holiday"
Hint: It can be useful to include the clinician name/initials and Room in the title.
Status: use Available for bookable clinical time. Use Unavailable, Holiday, Sick, or Break/Admin when the resource should not be booked.
Appointment types: optional for available shifts. Select these when the shift should only accept certain appointment categories.
Bookable online: enable only when customers should be able to request online bookings during that available shift.
Notes: add operational context for the team, such as handover notes or why the time is blocked.
Colour: pick the colour that makes the rota easier to scan.
Rooms: for available staff shifts, assign one or more rooms if you want room coverage shown with the staff member.
⚠️ Appointment types depend on the selected staff. If the selected staff member has no appointment types, or multiple selected staff have no appointment type in common, Lupa warns you before you use that shift for bookable availability.
5. Configure Recurrence
Select Next to move to Recurrence. Leave Is this a recurring shift? turned off for a one-off shift. Turn it on when the same pattern should repeat. When recurrence is enabled, set:
Start Date: the first date the repeating pattern can apply from.
End Date: the last date covered by the pattern.
Repeat every: the interval, such as every 1 week or every 2 weeks.
Select days: the days of the week included in the pattern.
💡 Use recurrence for predictable patterns, such as a nurse every Tuesday morning or a consulting room blocked every Friday afternoon. Use one-off shifts for exceptions, cover, leave, or ad hoc changes.
6. Save The Shift
Select Save. If Lupa detects a potential problem, such as a room already being used, a staff member scheduled elsewhere, or a shift outside store hours, it shows a warning before saving. Review the warning. If it is expected, choose Save anyway or Create anyway. If it is not expected, cancel and adjust the shift details. Once saved, the shift appears back on the rota grid for the selected dates.
Editing Existing Shifts
Select an existing shift on the rota to edit it. For recurring shifts, Lupa asks how much of the pattern you want to change.
Single occurrence: only this date should change, such as one staff member covering a different room today.
From this date forward: the pattern changes from a specific date, while earlier dates stay as they were.
All occurrences: the whole recurring pattern needs updating. You can also delete a shift from the same dialog. For recurring shifts, choose whether to delete the whole pattern, just one occurrence, or the future part of the pattern.
Tips For Reliable Rotas
✅ Best practices from practices that run Lupa:
Build recurring patterns first, then add one-off changes for holidays, sickness, and cover.
Use short, consistent titles so the week view stays easy to scan.
Use Available only for time you are happy to book into.
Add appointment types when a shift should support only certain work, such as consults or surgery.
Assign rooms for available clinical shifts when room scheduling matters at your practice.
Review warnings before saving, especially when scheduling across multiple locations.
Troubleshooting
Create Is Disabled
You may not have rota editing permission, or there may be no visible staff or rooms in the current view.
A Staff Member Is Missing
Check the role filters, the selected store, and whether the staff member is set to show in the calendar.
Appointment Types Cannot Be Selected
The store may not have appointment types configured, or the selected staff member may not be assigned to any matching appointment types.
Lupa Warns About Another Room Or Staff Shift
The new shift overlaps with existing rota coverage. Cancel and adjust the time, room, or staff member unless the overlap is intentional.
Lupa Warns About Store Hours
The shift sits outside the location's normal opening hours. Adjust the time or save only if the exception is planned.
A Recurring Shift Did Not Create The Expected Days
Check the recurrence start date, end date, interval, and selected weekdays before saving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Create A Shift Without Making It Bookable Online?
Yes. Leave Bookable online switched off. The shift can still help the team understand coverage without allowing customer booking requests for that time.
Can I Schedule Multiple Staff Members At Once?
Yes. Select multiple staff members in Assign to staff members. If the shift is available and uses appointment types, Lupa checks the appointment types that those staff members have in common.
What Happens When I Use All Day Event?
Lupa uses the store's business hours for that day. This keeps all-day rota entries aligned to the location's opening times instead of forcing you to type exact start and end times.
Can I Create Room-Only Availability?
Yes. Switch to room planning or select rooms in the shift dialog. Room-only shifts are useful for blocking rooms or showing room availability separately from a named staff member.
Do Warnings Stop Me From Saving?
Warnings ask you to review potential problems before saving. If the overlap or out-of-hours entry is intentional, you can proceed from the warning dialog.