Streamline rota management with our rota approval feature: effortlessly apply approval workflows and notify staff of schedule updates
Last updated 16 Aug 2024
Jump to:
- Approval steps
- Hints and tips
Introduction
This feature allows you to control the rota process within your organisation by allowing you to:
- Keep rotas in a draft state whilst being edited
- Implement an approval hierarchy
- Notify staff of new and completed rotas (please note that staff can be notified without using the Approval feature)
This article covers the approval and notification feature. Please read this article to explore how to create rotas and use templates.
Configuration
This feature can be turned on and off within your Kobas Cloud account. This setting applies to your whole account, not per venue. We will guide you through the four settings required.
Top Tip: Please see below how to configure your account to allow some venues/managers to self-approve or to only use the notifying staff feature.
System settings
To activate the Rota Approval & Notifications feature, a user with sufficient permissions must go to Administration > Kobas System Preferences > Rota and turn on Rota Approval. If this remains unchecked, Rotas will function as described here, and the ability to approve the rota and notify staff will not be available.
Permission levels
Each Kobas cloud user will have rota permissions based on the user group they're in, and we now have additional permission levels for rotas:
| View | These users will be able to see completed rotas. |
| Manage | These users will be able to create, edit, and delete rotas, request approval, and notify staff. |
| Approve | These users will be able to approve rotas. However, they cannot edit the rota without the Manage permission. |
Note: Please be aware that these permissions also have the "All Venue" or "Own Venue" element, which exists throughout the permission-level structure. Find more information here.
Regional and Area managers
In order to make the most of this feature, it may be necessary to set up your reporting structure for your venues within the Administration > Venue Territories menu in Kobas Cloud. The defined Area and Regional managers inherit all venues within their areas as their additional "Own Venues" and, therefore, will see the requests for approval more clearly. Please read here for more information.
Communication: Email and Dashboard widgets
The system will send emails to the email from your Staff Profile for the following events:
- To the specific approver when requested to approve, or the request is cancelled.
- To the rota creator who requested approval when rejected or approved.
- To the staff assigned to the venue (even if they have no shifts) or on the rota (inc. cover staff) when Notify Staff is pressed.
- To the staff assigned to the venue, on the rota (inc. cover staff) or staff who have been removed from the rota, when an approved rota is subsequently edited.
Note that staff on cover shifts may be notified twice, with their home and cover venue notifications.
Warning: Emails will not be received if a staff member's email is incorrectly entered into their staff profile.
Each email will contain a link to the rota, which can be accessed when logged in. The rejection email will also confirm the reasons for the rejection, and the notification emails will contain a written list of the shifts for that week.
Top tip: This means that staff won't need to log in to see their shifts.
Rota Creators and Approvers will also have access to four additional Dashboard Widgets, which can be added by going to Dashboard > Edit Dashboard Layout. One widget highlights Rota's waiting for approval and those rejected, both for All or Own venues.
Top tip: This is a great failsafe so that rotas are actioned as swiftly as possible, as emails are often missed.
Approval Steps
Here is a diagram to explain the process flow for approval:
1. Create Rota
Follow the steps in this article to create your rota from scratch by cloning or using a template.
Note: Staff who only have the View permission for rotas cannot see the rota at this stage, using the approval feature.
2. Request Approval (and cancel the request)
The rota will be in a Draft state, and you can Request Approval at any stage, by choosing the option on the Rota Creator.
A pop-up will follow asking which Rota Approver you want to notify by email. You will also have the option of All Approvers, but remember this will include everyone who is an administrator on the account. The pop-up also explains that any approver with the relevant permission can visit the page and approve the rota, regardless of whether they were selected at this stage.
You will also now have the option to Cancel Approval Request, which will email the selected approver to inform them, and will allow you to make further edits:
Top Tip: The info bubble on the status will show you who last changed the status of the rota, and the date and time.
3. Approve or Reject the rota
An approver can access the rota through the links from the email or dashboard, or by directly navigating to the rota in question. Once on the rota, the approver will have the option to either Approve Rota or Reject Rota.
These actions will trigger emails to the Rota Creator requesting approval and moving the rota status along. If you choose to reject the rota, you will be presented with a pop-up to add a reason for the rejection. The reason will be contained in the email sent to the Rota Creator. The rota edit page will also contain a list of all rejection reasons, including where there is more than one.
Once rejected, anyone with the Manage permission can edit the rota and re-submit it for further approval.
Note: Once the rota is approved, anyone with the View permission will be able to see the rota.
4. Notify Staff (optional)
When the rota is approved, it is published and visible. Staff with the Manage permission can then choose to Notify Staff from either the Rota Edit or Rota View pages.
When this is pressed, a pop-up confirmation window will appear advising you are about to email all staff who are assigned to this venue as home venue, and any other staff on the rota (or who were on the rota previously after an edit). The email will include a link to the rota in Kobas Cloud, and a list of the shift, or confirmation they don't have any.
Both pages will show a time and date stamp of when the last notification was sent out.
5. Further edit the rota (optional)
When the rota is approved, you can edit it as usual if you have the correct permissions. To do so, go to Rota > Rota > [Select Rota] > Edit Rota. This will take you back to stage one in the process.
Note: When staff have previously been notified, and a further rota edit is made, staff will be informed by email that the rota is being edited. Furthermore, when a user with Rota View permission navigates to a rota that was approved and is subsequently being edited, they will see the last approved version of the rota, with a warning noting that it is being edited.
Hints and tips
Franchises / Area structure
Q: We operate a franchise system, with some centrally owned venues. I would like my central venues to require rota approval, but I must delegate that permission to franchise owners.
A: We recommend that central venues be set up under one Region and each Franchise operator as another Region. You can then set up two permission levels for venue managers, one without approval permission (for central venues) and one with approval permission (for franchise operators), and then set up the franchise level as required.
Allowing some venues/managers to self-approve
Q: I have some venue managers who can self-approve their rotas and others who require approval from their line manager.
A: Use the area structure to put the venues that can self-approve independently and those requiring approval grouped under their line manager. You’ll then need two venue manager permission levels, one with Approve and one without.