Publish the Schedule – and Notify Staff

Publishing means the schedule goes from draft to binding. Before publishing, shifts are only visible to the manager; after publishing, they appear in the staff portal and staff calendars.

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Before publishing – checklist:

1. Review warnings – system shows all warnings (daily rest, weekly rest, overtime, OB conflicts) at the top. Fix red warnings first – they often block publishing
2. Check the cost – cost panel shows total labor cost for the week. Compare with historical sales – 30–35% is the benchmark for à la carte
3. Verify coverage – is any station or time missing? Check the booking overview (shown as heatmap below schedule)
4. Ensure absences are approved – no one should be scheduled over approved vacation

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How to publish:

1. Open Staff → Schedule
2. Navigate to the week you want to publish
3. Click Publish schedule (button at top)
4. A dialog appears with:
   • Number of shifts being published
   • Number of employees affected
   • Warning summary (if any)
5. Choose what message staff should receive
6. Click Publish

All shifts in the week are marked as published with timestamp. You now see a green indicator in the schedule.

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Staff notification:

When you publish, you have four choices:

Cost: SMS costs 0.89 SEK each, email is included.

Tip: Use email as default the first time a new routine publishes, then push notifications for weekly updates.

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What staff see after publishing:

Once the schedule is published, each employee can:

• Open the staff portal (/staff/portal or via the app)
• See their 10 nearest shifts with date, time, station, break and notes
• Confirm shifts (optional – shows the manager they've seen the schedule)
• Request swap with colleague (see shift swap article)
• Subscribe to iCal – add the entire schedule to Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook. Updates automatically on changes

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Lock the schedule after publishing:

By default, you can still edit shifts after publishing – the system warns staff and sends updates. But you can also lock the week entirely:

1. Go to Staff → Schedule → Settings
2. Enable Lock after publishing
3. After locking, formal process required to change:
   • Create a change request (justification, affected people)
   • Approve the change
   • Send update to those affected

Locking is recommended for restaurants with collective agreements where late schedule changes may trigger compensation.

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Unpublish schedule:

Did you publish by mistake? Click Unpublish within 1 hour – shifts revert to draft and staff are not notified. After 1 hour all shifts are binding and must be handled via change requests.

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Print the schedule:

For notice boards or offline use:

1. Click Print in the schedule toolbar
2. Choose layout:
   • Week view – standard person × day grid
   • Day list – one page per day
   • Person lists – one page per person with their shifts
3. Save as PDF or print directly

Tip: Always publish in good time. Collective agreements often require 14 days' notice; company policy can be stricter. Vendion logs publication time in the staff register.