Shift Booking

Overview

Shifts are the core scheduling unit in PurposeTech. Each shift is a time slot at a site (a job in the glossary) that volunteers can book. The same structure works for a street appeal's collection sites, the stations at a fun run, the stalls at a festival or the zones of a clean-up.

You can rename the labels. Terminology in Campaign Settings (or Tenant Settings for every campaign) changes what the portal and public website call regions, areas, sites and shifts, so "areas" can become "suburbs" or "stations". This page uses the default words.

PurposeTech does not yet record on-the-day check-in or attendance. On-the-day check-in is on the roadmap.

Shift structure

Shifts sit within a four-level hierarchy:

Each shift has:

Two settings on a site's Edit tab help on a busy day. Show full displays the site as full and stops new sign-ups without deleting anything. Cancel only lets existing volunteers cancel but stops anyone new booking.

Creating shifts

The Overview page

Data Management > Overview is the starting point for a new campaign. It lists the campaign by region, area and site, with a fill indicator for each, beside a live preview of your sign-up page. Add Campaign Data opens one window that runs three steps:

1. Data – a grid with one row per site (region, area, site). Type rows in, paste them straight from Excel, or upload a CSV or XLSX file
2. Shifts – shift patterns, each applied to every site unless you untick regions, areas or sites. You can skip this step
3. Review – saves everything to the campaign in one go, all or nothing

You can also add a single area or site from the Overview table, or hover a region or area and choose Make copies to duplicate it, with everything inside it and its shift times, up to 20 times.

Single shift

1. Go to Data Management > Shifts
2. Add a shift and choose the site
3. Set the start, duration (minutes) and volunteers needed
4. Optionally add shift types, a label and a description
5. Save

Bulk creation

For campaigns with many sites running the same schedule, use the Shift Generator. It is on the Shifts page toolbar and on the Overview page.

1. Choose which sites to generate for: all of them, or a selection of regions, areas and sites
2. Add one or more patterns. For each pattern set when the first shift starts, how many shifts, how long each lasts (minutes), the break between them (minutes) and how many volunteers each needs. Use several patterns for several days or different times of day
3. Optionally apply a shift type, a label and a description, and choose whether shifts show on the website
4. Shifts can be named automatically, or named by hand afterwards
5. Review the totals. PurposeTech warns if patterns overlap, shifts run past midnight or the batch is large, then generates the shifts

On the Shifts page you can select many shifts and use Bulk edit to change whether they show on the website, or to change their shift types. You can also delete several at once.

Salesforce

If your organisation manages regions, areas, sites and shifts in Salesforce, the Salesforce sync can bring them in. It is switched on per campaign under Settings > This Campaign > Salesforce Sync. See Salesforce Integration.

Shift design guidelines

These are rules of thumb. Adjust them to your event.

Shift types

Shift types categorise shifts and attach instructions. Manage them from the Shifts page toolbar.

Each shift type has:

• A name – for your own reference
• A label – shown as a small badge on the shift in a volunteer's My shifts and on the coordinator roster
• A description – shown as a tooltip when someone hovers over the badge
• An email note – added automatically to the shift details in the volunteer's confirmation and reminder emails

Using email notes

Email notes let you send role-specific instructions without separate email templates:

The volunteer booking experience

What volunteers see

When volunteers visit your campaign site, they browse the available shifts:

The booking flow guides them through:

1. Pick a location – browse by region and area, with a coverage indicator for each. Full locations are hidden by default, and visitors can switch on "Only show locations with available shifts" or turn it off
2. Pick a time – see the shifts at that location, with how many places are left
3. Register – fill in the registration form and confirm

What volunteers can see on a shift

Shift holds

When a volunteer selects shifts, those spots are held for 10 minutes while they complete registration. This stops two people booking the last spot at the same time.

Managing shift assignments

Booking people onto shifts, moving them and taking them off happens on the roster, the coordinator view on the campaign website. The admin Shifts page creates and edits the time slots themselves. See Roster Management for the full roster guide.

Who can do what

Admins can also add a volunteer to a shift from the Overview page: open a site, find the shift card and use Add volunteer. Volunteers who are on the blocklist cannot be booked, and a booking that would go over the shift's waitlist threshold is waitlisted.

The Move Tool

The Move people window opens from the roster.

1. Moving from – the shift you are moving people off
2. Moving to – choose a site, then the shift to move them to. Shifts show how much space is available
3. Drag a volunteer to the new shift, or click to pick them up then click a space
4. A Take off roster zone removes someone without moving them anywhere
5. Review & confirm – the list of changes. Nothing is saved until you press Confirm

You can move several volunteers at once. A shift that is inside its cutoff shows "This shift can no longer be changed".

Practical uses on event day:

• A volunteer cannot make it, so you move someone from an over-staffed site
• Weather closes a site, so you redistribute its volunteers to nearby sites
• A volunteer has gone to the wrong site, so you move them to the right one

Volunteer notifications

When an area coordinator or admin changes a volunteer's shifts, PurposeTech emails the volunteer the shifts-changed-by-ac message (if that template is on). Area coordinators always notify. Admins can choose not to notify when they remove someone. Changes made by a site coordinator do not send this email.

Booking statuses

A booking has one of five statuses: Confirmed, Pending, Prospect, Waitlisted or Canceled. A booking made through a sign-up form is held while the volunteer registers and is confirmed when they finish, or waitlisted if the site has reached its threshold. A coordinator hold shows as Prospect until someone confirms it. A booking a coordinator adds is confirmed immediately.

There is no attended or no-show status. On-the-day check-in is on the roadmap.

Waitlists

PurposeTech has two waitlist options.

Area waitlist. Turn it on for the campaign in Waitlist Settings (Data Management > Waitlist). Volunteers are offered it only when an area is completely full. It is not a booking and does not hold a spot. You set how many people can join per area, how many area waitlists one person can be on, the time bands people pick from, when coordinators can first see their waitlist, and the wording volunteers read. An individual area can opt out. Coordinators phone the first person who can make the day and log the call outcome, and Place on a shift puts them on the roster.

Site thresholds. On a site's Waitlist thresholds setting, set the maximum number of volunteers before waitlisting starts for specific dates and shift types, and give the shifts the matching waitlist tag. Volunteers over the threshold are marked Waitlisted and sent the waitlist version of the welcome and confirmation emails. When a confirmed booking is cancelled and room opens up, the longest-waiting volunteer is confirmed automatically and sent a confirmation email. Area coordinators and admins can also promote someone by hand.

Reporting on shifts

See Reports & Data Exports for fulfilment, coverage by area, anomalies such as over-subscribed or double-booked shifts, and the campaign comparison timeline.

Common questions

Can I have different shift times at different sites?

Yes. Shifts belong to a site, so each site can have its own times, durations and capacities. If most sites share a schedule, use the Shift Generator to create it in one go.

What's the difference between a site and a shift?

A site is a location or station (for example "Queen St, Auckland CBD"). A shift is a time slot at that site (for example "8:00 AM – 12:00 PM on Friday"). One site can have many shifts across many days.

Can I hide a shift from volunteers but keep it in the system?

Yes. Set the shift's Display on website to off. It stays visible in the admin portal and you can still add volunteers to it. This suits shifts that are invite-only or still being finalised.

How do shift holds work?

When a volunteer selects shifts during sign-up, those spots are held for 10 minutes. If they do not finish, the holds lapse and the spots are available again.

Can I set a cutoff for sign-ups?

Yes. In Campaign Settings, choose a fixed registration cutoff date and time, or a per-shift cutoff in hours before each shift starts. The per-shift volunteer cutoff also stops volunteers cancelling. See Campaigns & Events.

Can I create shifts across multiple days?

Yes. Add a pattern for each day or time of day in the Shift Generator, or add shifts individually. The roster groups shifts by day for coordinators.

How do I delete a shift?

1. Go to Data Management > Shifts
2. Open the shift row to see its side panel
3. Use the Delete shift row at the bottom and confirm

A shift cannot be deleted while volunteers are booked on it or while people are waiting on its waitlist. Move or cancel those bookings first. Held bookings that were abandoned are removed automatically.

How do I add a volunteer to a shift myself?

From the roster:

1. Find the shift slot
2. Choose Add Volunteer
3. Search for an existing volunteer, or enter a new volunteer's first name, last name, email and mobile
4. Save

A new volunteer is created and booked. The booking is confirmed immediately, with no email verification.

How does a volunteer cancel their shift?

1. Sign in to the campaign site and open My shifts
2. Choose Cancel on the shift
3. Confirm

If the shift is inside the volunteer cutoff, they cannot cancel and need to contact a coordinator or admin. Cancelling can free a place for the next waitlisted volunteer.

Can a volunteer add a friend to their shift?

Yes. On My shifts, a volunteer can choose Add my friends details on a shift and enter a name, email and phone number. The friend is booked and gets their own invitation email, and can manage their shifts from their own account.

What is a site coordinator?

A site coordinator is someone assigned to run a specific site for specific shifts. An area coordinator looks after a whole area.

Admins assign site coordinators from the site's Coordinators tab and area coordinators from the area's Coordinators tab. Site coordinators get a notification email and manage the roster for the shifts they are assigned.

Can I reuse last year's shift structure?

Yes. Duplicate campaign with "Also copy this campaign's data" ticked, or Clone Campaign Data in Campaign Settings, copies the regions, areas, sites and shifts and moves the dates to your new first event date. See Campaigns & Events.

How many shifts should each site have?

That depends on your event. Some common patterns:

Next steps

• Campaigns & Events – campaign-level configuration
• Roster Management – day-of coordination at each site
• Volunteer Management – the volunteer lifecycle
• Glossary – definitions of shift and booking terms