2. Create a new roster period

Lumary WFM - This article explains how to create a new roster period.

A roster period uses the base roster as a starting point and allows you to customise it for a specific time frame, such as a week, fortnight, or four-weekly cycle. Once ready, you then publish the roster period to the live schedule, making it visible to workers via the mobile app. 

A roster period is where you can:

• add or modify workers, clients, shifts and sessions for that time period
• run validation rules to avoid scheduling sessions that violate rostering rules, and
• estimate the award interpretation and total cost of the roster period.

Required and supported packages

Available with: Lumary WFM

Supported in: Lumary DC

This article explains how to create a roster period in three steps:

1. Create a new roster period
2. Associate workers to the roster period
3. Add/modify sessions or shifts on the roster period

Before you begin...

To create a roster period, you'll need to start from a base roster or an existing roster period. The base roster's settings will be applied to the new roster period. Find out how to:

• select an existing base roster, or
• create a base roster.

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Create a new roster period

Once you're on a base roster or existing roster period, to create a new roster period:

1. Click on the roster selection drop-down list (where it says "Base Roster")
2. Select + New Roster Period.
   
   
   
3. Complete the New Roster Period popup form. The following table explains what each of the fields are for and how to use them. Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk.

Field	Purpose
* Start Date	This will be the first day of the roster period. The start date must be: later than the current date the same day of the week as the first day of the base roster. For example, if day 1 of the base roster is Monday, the roster period must also start on a Monday, and different than the start date of any other roster periods that have been made from the same base roster. To prevent overlapping roster periods, the start date must also align to the Template Period pattern of the base roster. This means that: if the pattern is fortnightly, each new roster period start date must fall on a 2 week cycle starting from the start date of the base roster, and if the pattern is 4 weekly, each new roster period start date must fall on a 4 week cycle starting from the start date of the base roster.
End Date	The end date is auto-filled with the last date in the roster period based on the Template Period of the base roster.
Budget	The budget field can be used to show an estimated budget for tracking against the overall cost of workers rostered for the roster period.

4. Click on the Save button.
5. The system will begin creating records for your new roster period. This may take a moment. Once the process is complete, click on the Close button.

This will take you to the new roster period, which will have a status of Draft. The orange Roster Period label shows that you're on a roster period calendar. This calendar will show:

• sessions and/or shifts that have been brought through from the base roster, and
• worker availability for that period.
  
  You can always switch between the base roster and roster periods to compare and make any changes by clicking on the drop down box where the dates are. 

Check your new roster period carefully to make sure there are no duplicate sessions. If you have a lot of duplicates, a roster period may have already been published for this period. You can delete a roster period by clicking on the Delete button at the top of the record. 

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Associate workers to the roster period

You’ll only need to associate workers to a roster period if they weren’t already linked when the base roster was created. Associating workers to a base roster or roster period allows you to assign sessions or shifts to them from the Calendar tab. If workers were associated with the base roster, they’ll automatically carry over to the roster period.

Workers who have been added to sessions on a roster period but haven't been associated with that roster will be labelled with an exclamation mark icon.

To associate a worker to a roster period:

1. Click on the Associated Workers tab.
2. Click on the New button next to the Contact Availability Templates - Workers section.
3. Complete the New Contact Availability Template popup form. The following table explains how to fill in the fields on this form. Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk.

Field	How to use it
* Contact	Search for the name of the worker and select it.
* Start Date	The first date from which to apply the availability template.
* Availability Template	Use this field to search for and select an availability template for this worker. The availability template sets and shows the pattern of days and times that the worker is available. For example, your business could have a template for workers who typically work Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.
* Roster	Sets the roster for this availability. This should auto-fill with the name of the base roster. If you're in a roster period, this will show the base roster for the roster period.
Worker Assignment	If you're using Lumary DC for award interpretation, you can select the worker assignment to apply to this worker for this roster. The search field shows assignments that have been created for this worker. New worker assignments should be synced from the payee's assignment record.

4. Click on the Save button.
5. Repeat this process to add all of the workers you require for this roster.

6. Once you've associated workers, click on the Calendar tab to go back to the calendar view. Workers you've added should now appear. You may need to refresh your browser to see newly associated workers.

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Add/modify sessions or shifts on the roster period

When working on a roster period draft, you can add or modify sessions or shift specific to that time period (e.g. just for that fortnight). If you’re adding or updating a session or shift that will likely occur in future roster periods, it’s best to make the change on the base roster instead so it’s automatically included in all future roster periods created from it.

There are two ways to add sessions or shifts to a roster period:
Option 1: Create sessions or shifts one-by-one
Option 2: Clone existing sessions or shifts

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Option 1: Create sessions and shifts one-by-one

1. Select the Calendar tab
2. Click Roster Session.
3. Complete the form (be sure to select Shift as the work type and session type if creating a shift).
4. Click Save.

You can then right-click and modify the session or shift to add workers, clients, adjust session times and more. 
Repeat this process until your roster period is complete.

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Option 2: Clone existing sessions

To save time, you can clone an existing session or shift instead of creating a new one from scratch.

1. Select the Calendar tab
2. Right-click an existing session or shift on the calendar.
3. Select Clone Session or Clone Shift.
4. Modify the start day and time 
   Click Save

All details from the original session or shift will be copied into the new session.

You can then right-click and modify the session or shift to add workers, clients, adjust session times and more.

Repeat this process until your roster period is complete.

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Validation alerts

If you assign a session to a worker who is not associated with the roster, you may see a validation alert next to their name. This can also happen if the worker doesn’t have a valid worker assignment set on their record. To resolve this make sure the worker is associated with the roster, and has a valid assignment set up in their record. 

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Once you've set up a draft roster period, you can set up sessions and shifts without affecting the base roster.

Once you've created a new roster period, you can validate the roster period and check for violations.