Creating & Editing Shifts

Shifts are the building blocks of your schedule. Every time you work a relief shift, you add it to ReliefBooks so you can track your hours, calculate your earnings, and generate accurate invoices.

Adding a new shift

1. Click the Add Shift button in the top-right corner of the Schedule page, or click on an empty time slot in the calendar.
2. Fill in the shift details:
   • Facility (required) -- Select the facility where you'll be working. If you haven't added this facility yet, you can create one from the dropdown.
   • Date and time -- Set the start and end time for your shift.
   • Rate card -- Choose the rate card that determines your billing rate for this shift. The rate card controls how the shift is priced when you create an invoice.
   • Agency/booking source (optional) -- If you booked this shift through an agency or staffing platform, select it here. This helps you track where your work comes from.
   • Contract policy (optional) -- Attach a contract policy if this shift is governed by specific cancellation or billing terms.
   • Notes -- Add any notes you want to remember about this shift (e.g., special instructions, contact info, or reminders).
3. Click Save to add the shift to your schedule.

Editing a shift

1. Click on an existing shift in the calendar to open the shift detail panel.
2. Update any field -- date, time, facility, rate card, notes, or any other detail.
3. Click Save to apply your changes.

You can also drag and drop shifts on the calendar to quickly reschedule them to a different day or time slot without opening the detail panel.

Adding expenses to a shift

Some shifts come with out-of-pocket costs like parking fees, supplies, or tolls. You can attach these directly to a shift so they're included when you create an invoice.

1. Open the shift detail panel by clicking on the shift.
2. Look for the Expenses section.
3. Click Add Expense and enter the details (description, amount, category).
4. The expense is now linked to this shift and will appear as a line item when you invoice for it.

Deleting a shift

1. Click on the shift to open the detail panel.
2. Click Delete.
3. If the shift is part of a recurring series, you'll be asked whether to delete just this occurrence or the entire series.
4. Confirm the deletion.

Deleted shifts are removed permanently. If the shift has already been added to an invoice, you'll need to update the invoice separately.

Conflict detection

ReliefBooks automatically checks for scheduling conflicts. If you try to create or move a shift to a time that overlaps with an existing shift, you'll see a warning. This helps you avoid double-booking and ensures your schedule stays accurate.

You can still save a conflicting shift if needed (for example, if you're splitting time between two locations), but the warning gives you a chance to catch mistakes before they happen.

Shift statuses

Shifts move through a simple lifecycle:

• Scheduled -- The shift is in the future and hasn't happened yet.
• Unbilled -- The shift's date has passed, but it hasn't been added to an invoice yet. These shifts represent completed work that you still need to bill for.
• Invoiced -- The shift has been included on an invoice.

You can see all your completed but uninvoiced work in one place on the Unbilled Shifts page. From there, you can select shifts and turn them into an invoice with just a few clicks.