Scheduling and Dispatch Workflow

Overview

This workflow covers how a team business plans and dispatches work visits in MyApprentice, a web-based job-management platform. Workers are assigned to shifts, not directly to jobs — a job can have one or many shifts, each with its own date, time, assigned worker(s), and shift instructions. This guide walks through creating shifts, assigning workers, setting up recurring visits, using the schedule board, and editing, reassigning, or deleting scheduled work. The Business Owner, Admin, or Supervisor creates and confirms shifts, assigns workers, and manages the schedule board, while Tradies and Apprentices receive notifications and view their own work.

Who This Workflow Is For

• Business Owners, Admins, and Supervisors plan and dispatch work — they can create, edit, and delete schedules and assign workers.
• Tradies and Apprentices use the schedule board to view their own assigned shifts only; they cannot create or assign shifts.
• Finance users have view-only access to the schedule.

Note: Admin and Finance can administer or view schedules but cannot themselves be selected as a shift assignee — they are back-office roles, not field workers.

Before You Start

The job must already exist before you can add shifts to it. A shift can also be created directly from the schedule board where calendar-first planning is supported. Confirm the workers you intend to assign have accepted their invitations and have active accounts.

End-to-End Workflow

Step 1: Open the Schedule Card or Schedule Board

A Business Owner, Admin, or Supervisor opens the starting point for scheduling.

1. Open the relevant job and scroll to the Schedule card, or open the Schedule page from the sidebar. The job’s Schedule card is the starting point for adding a visit to a specific job; the schedule board is the starting point for calendar-first planning.

Step 2: Add a Shift Using Fast Schedule or Choose on Board

1. Select Add, then choose one of two pathways:
   • Fast Schedule — use when you already know the date and time. Enter the date, start time, end time, and shift type, then book the visit immediately.
   • Choose on Board — calendar-first shift creation. The schedule board opens so you can review existing team commitments and pick an open slot before finalising the time.

Step 3: Set the Shift Type and Details

1. Select the shift type (for example, Ad Hoc, Inspection, or Reschedule).
2. Add Shift To-Do’s for any tasks specific to this visit.

Step 4: Assign One or More Workers

1. Select Assign Workers and tick the team member(s) for this shift. Multiple workers can be assigned to the same shift for larger jobs.
2. A shift can also be saved without a worker — it will appear as Needs Worker, surfaced as an action item so unallocated work can be resolved later.
3. Note that Admin and Finance users do not appear in the assignee list, as they are back-office roles. (Sole Trader is not a Teams-mode role — it’s a separate account type for single-operator businesses.)

Step 5: Set Up Recurring Shifts (Optional)

For work that repeats — such as maintenance contracts or regular client visits — set the shift to recur.

1. Select Recurring.
2. Set the start date, end date, the days of the week to repeat on, and confirm the start and end time that applies to all occurrences. MyApprentice then creates an individual shift entry for each occurrence.

Step 6: Confirm the Shift

1. Select Confirm Shift (or Save Shift). The shift is saved against the job and appears on the schedule board.

Step 7: Worker Notification

1. When a shift is created, updated, or reassigned, MyApprentice emails each assigned Tradie or Apprentice at the time of the change — sent to the email address on their staff account — with the shift date, time, location, and a link into MyApprentice.
2. If a worker misses the email, the shift is still visible on their personal dashboard schedule (view-only).

Step 8: Monitor and Adjust on the Schedule Board

The Business Owner and Admin see the full business schedule including unassigned work; Supervisors see the whole team through the Team view.

1. Switch between Day, Week, Month, Team, and All views, and apply filters by worker, team, date, job, or status. When a shift is assigned to multiple workers, it appears as a block in each assigned worker’s column.
2. Hover over a shift to preview the assignee, time, and linked job; select it to open the full shift detail panel.
3. From the shift detail panel a Business Owner, Admin, or Supervisor can:
   • reassign a shift (remove the current worker and select a replacement, or add an extra worker — both outgoing and incoming workers are emailed at the time of the change).
   • edit a shift (update the date, time, shift type, workers, Shift To-Do’s, or job link, then save).
   • delete a shift that will not go ahead.
4. Note that there is no separate “reschedule” action — changing a shift’s date or time is itself the reschedule.

Common Issues & Limitations

• Recurring option not visible: Confirm the shift has a start date and time entered before selecting Recurring.
• Each recurring occurrence is a separate shift entry. You can edit or delete individual occurrences without affecting the others. To remove all remaining shifts, delete each one — only the individual occurrence is removed when you delete from a series.
• Worker not appearing in the assignment list: Confirm the worker has accepted their invitation and their account is active. Admin and Finance users will not appear, as they cannot be shift assignees.
• Shift not on a worker’s dashboard: Confirm the shift is saved and the worker is correctly ticked in the assigned worker field.
• Deleting a shift removes only that scheduled visit — the job itself is not deleted or cancelled. The deleted shift record is kept and can be restored from Document History. If the work needs to go ahead later, add a new shift.
• In-progress shifts can be deleted. The platform does not block deleting a shift that is already in progress. Check the shift status before deleting so you do not remove work that is underway.
• Shift reappears after deletion: Refresh the schedule board.

What Happens Next

Once shifts are scheduled and workers assigned, work moves into field execution — workers open their assigned shift, clock in, complete tasks, and clock out. See the Timesheets and Time Tracking Workflow for how scheduled hours feed into timesheets.

Related Guides

• Timesheets and Time Tracking Workflow
• Creating a Job and Completing the Work
• Field Execution: From Shift Start to Completion
• Getting Started as a Tradie or Apprentice