Choose how the roster should think
Pick a scoring preset: Balanced, Compliance First, Continuity First, Fairness First, Availability First or Cost Aware, or tune the individual weights yourself.
Smart Rostering
Weighted assignment recommendations.
Once blockers clear, BondiByte ranks and prepares assignment options using the signals that matter to your operation.
What you get with Smart recommendations.
- Weighted, explainable recommendations
See not just who to roster, but why, with transparent scoring you can stand behind.
- Surfaces where manual attention is needed
Hard-to-fill shifts are flagged early, so your coordinators spend time only where it counts.
- Coordinators keep the final call
Automation proposes and does the heavy lifting; your team always reviews and decides.
Why it exists
The problem it solves.
Once the impossible options are ruled out, the real work begins: choosing between several people who could all take the shift. Balancing continuity for the client, fairness across the team, fatigue, weekend spread and who actually wants the work takes a coordinator hours each fortnight, and the reasoning is hard to explain afterwards.
How it works
Blockers are cleared first
Hard blocks such as leave, double bookings and missing mandatory requirements rule people out before any scoring happens, so a strong score can never override safety.
Everyone left is ranked
BondiByte weighs availability, qualifications, continuity with the site, staff preference and interest, fairness, fatigue, weekend balance, cancellation reliability and team relationship to rank who fits each shift best.
Every suggestion explains itself
Each recommendation carries plain-language reasons for and against, so you can see why a name is at the top and stand behind the decision.
You make the call
Draft assignments are decision support. Managers accept, adjust or override, and shifts that could not be filled are flagged with the reason so attention goes where it is needed.
What you can do.
Six scoring presets
Start from Balanced, or lean the roster towards compliance, continuity, fairness, availability or cost with one choice.
Adjustable weights
Fine-tune how much each signal counts, and allow individual sites to override where that suits your operation.
Explainable suggestions
Readable reasons sit alongside every recommendation, from a low recent cancellation rate to a strong site relationship.
Fairness across the period
Workload, sleepovers and weekend shifts are balanced across the roster period, not decided one shift at a time.
Cost awareness that stays safe
The optional Cost Aware preset prefers economical staffing while keeping availability, capability and fatigue weighted high. Cost carries no weight at all unless you choose it.
Recalculate on demand
Refresh recommendations for a single shift or a whole period whenever circumstances change.
You stay in control.
Turn smart recommendations on or off site by site. A site without them still gets every suitability protection.
Presets and individual weights are set by you, and you choose whether sites may override the organisation's defaults.
Draft assignments wait for manager review. Nothing reaches staff until you publish, unless you deliberately enable auto-publish for a site.
Learn how to use this feature.
Frequently asked questions.
Can we see why someone was recommended?
Yes. Every suggestion lists its reasons in plain language, positive and negative, so the ranking is never a mystery.
Does it consider cost?
Only if you choose the Cost Aware preset or weight cost yourself. Even then, safety and eligibility signals stay weighted high so cost never overrides them, and by default cost carries zero weight.
What happens when no one fits a shift?
The shift is flagged as unfilled with the reasons, such as every linked staff member already being rostered elsewhere, and the escalation workflow makes sure the right people hear about it early.
Can different sites weight things differently?
Yes, where you allow site overrides. A high-continuity SIL house and a flexible community roster can run different settings under the same organisation.
Will it assign staff without us?
No. It proposes. Manager review before publishing is the default, and automatic publishing only happens for sites where you have explicitly turned it on.
More in Smart Rostering.
Smart Rostering
Smart Rostering overview
The full rostering cycle in one supervised workflow.
Smart RosteringRoster patterns & periods
Set up your roster calendar once, capture how each site really runs, and let every future period start from that shape.
Smart RosteringShift creation & site templates
Create a whole period of shifts from your configured patterns and site or period settings, including recurring shifts.
Smart RosteringStaff interest requests
Ask the whole team who wants the shifts, in one step, and get answers you can actually roster from. Staff respond from their own portal, unsuitable responses are filtered out automatically, and interest flows straight into the roster suggestions.
Smart RosteringSuitability & hard-block checks
Critical conflicts are blocked before staff are even considered, then suitability signals rank who fits best.
Smart RosteringShift swap management
Handle swap requests, approvals, and replacement needs without breaking roster integrity.
See Smart recommendations in BondiByte
Start your free trial, or book a demo to see it with your own operation in mind.