Draft, Published, Cancelled – What Each Shift Status Means
"Where did my schedule go?" is almost always a question about status. Four states, and the difference between them decides what you see in every other view in the staff module.
The four states
| Status | Who sees the shift | Do the hours count | Can it be deleted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | Only you | No | Yes |
| Published | Staff too | Yes | No – it is cancelled |
| Confirmed | Staff have acknowledged it | Yes | No – it is cancelled |
| Cancelled | Shown as cancelled | No | Already out of the schedule |
Draft – only you see them
A new shift starts as a draft. It appears in your grid, but nobody else sees it: not in the staff portal, not in the app, not in the calendar subscription.
Drafts also do not count as scheduled time anywhere else in the module. With four drafts today, the Start tab still says there are no published shifts today, and Time shows zero scheduled hours.
That is deliberate — an unpublished shift does not apply, and counting it would produce false discrepancies against clocked time. But because it confuses people, the views now show an explanatory line: "4 shifts today are not published and therefore not counted here. Publish the schedule to include them."
If you see a zero where you expected hours — check first whether the period is published.
Published – binding and visible
When you publish, drafts become published shifts. They appear in the portal, in the app and in the calendar, and they count everywhere.
A published shift cannot be deleted. The button in the shift panel reads Cancel shift instead. The reason is simple: staff plan their lives around the schedule, and a shift that quietly ceases to exist is worse than one shown as cancelled.
Confirmed – staff have acknowledged it
Employees can confirm their published shifts in the portal. It is voluntary, but it gives you a receipt that they have seen the schedule.
In your grid it appears next to the name:
- Green tick – the person has confirmed all their published shifts in the period
- Orange clock – something is still outstanding
- No icon – the person has no published shifts in the period
A confirmed shift otherwise behaves like a published one: it counts, it can be cancelled but not deleted, and it is protected from being overwritten when copying.
Cancelled – the shift stays on as cancelled
Removing a published shift marks it cancelled rather than deleting it. The record stays, but the shift no longer applies — and whoever was going to work it is told.
Cancelled shifts never count as schedule. They do not appear as shifts in the grid, they are not carried along when you copy a period, they do not appear in the printout and they do not affect labour cost. Nor are they ever brought back to life by a new publication.
Shifts are also cancelled automatically when an employment ends.
What each action does to the status
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Create a shift | Draft |
| Copy week | Copies are always drafts, whatever the original's status |
| Load template | Draft |
| Apply AI suggestion | Draft |
| Publish | Drafts become published. Cancelled ones are untouched |
| Staff confirms | Published becomes confirmed |
| Unpublish the period | Published and confirmed become drafts again, confirmations reset |
| Delete a draft | Genuinely deleted |
| Remove a published shift | Cancelled, the person is notified |
| Overwrite when copying | Only drafts are removed. Published and confirmed are protected |
Practical consequences worth knowing
"Overwrite existing shifts" does not empty the period. It only takes the drafts. To genuinely replace a published schedule you must unpublish the period first.
The status stamp in the toolbar shows where the period stands: Published, Draft or Partly published. The last means you added shifts after publishing — publish again and they come along.
The printout marks drafts so nobody assumes an unpublished shift is settled.
A cancelled shift cannot be restored from the schedule. If the shift is needed again, add it anew and publish.
This feature is part of Vendion Staff.
Curious how it looks in practice? Read more about the product or book a short demo.
Was this article helpful?