Rostering
Simple scheduling, without the site setup.
Light Rostering is the quick way to roster individual clients or community access clients on a week or fortnight calendar. You add a shift, assign staff, and publish to notify them. No sites, roster periods, or automation are required.
Before you begin
Before creating your first roster, make sure your operational foundations are in place. We also recommend familiarising yourself with the Smart Rostering guide before enabling automated rostering for your sites.
- Configured your Sites.
- Created Staff profiles.
- Added Participant (Client) records.
- Completed Service Agreements and billing line items.
- Recorded staff availability and rostering preferences.
Recommended setup order
For the best experience, we recommend setting up your rosters in the following order.
1 Complete your operational setup
Before creating a roster, ensure your:
- Sites
- Staff
- Participants
- Service Agreements
- Staff availability
have all been configured correctly. This ensures every shift has the information needed for accurate rostering and downstream billing.
2 Create a roster period
Create a roster period for the date range you wish to schedule.
Roster periods provide an organised way to build, review and publish shifts before they become visible to your workforce.
3 Add shifts
Create shifts by assigning the appropriate:
- Date
- Start and finish times
- Site
- Participant
- Staff member
Where applicable, configure additional shift information such as sleepover shifts, active night shifts and shift notes. Adding complete shift information improves scheduling accuracy and supports payroll and billing workflows.
4 Create recurring shifts
Before enabling Smart Rostering, create your recurring shifts using the standard rostering tools.
Recurring shifts provide the foundation that Smart Rostering uses to automate future scheduling.
5 Review your roster
Before publishing, carefully review your roster for:
- Unallocated shifts
- Staffing gaps
- Participant coverage
- Shift conflicts
- Billing context
Taking time to review your roster helps reduce scheduling issues and improves service continuity.
6 Publish the roster
Once you're satisfied with the roster, publish it.
Publishing makes shifts visible to staff through the Staff Portal and allows employees to begin planning their upcoming work.
7 Enable Smart Rostering
After your recurring roster has been established and reviewed, you can enable Smart Rostering for eligible sites.
Starting with a clean, accurate roster allows Smart Rostering to deliver more effective recommendations and workforce automation.
Understanding rostering
Roster Period
A defined date range used to organise, review and publish scheduled shifts.
Shift Card
A summary of each scheduled shift displaying staff member, participant, site, shift time and status. Shift cards provide a quick overview of your roster while making it easy to identify gaps or conflicts.
Recurring Shift
A repeating shift pattern used to simplify scheduling and form the foundation for Smart Rostering automation.
Draft Roster
A roster that is still being prepared and reviewed. Draft rosters remain hidden from staff until they are published.
Published Roster
A roster that has been finalised and made available to staff through the Staff Portal.
Shift Notes & Reports
Additional information recorded against a shift by managers or support staff, helping maintain accurate operational records and supporting reporting and compliance.
Best practice
- Configure recurring shifts before enabling Smart Rostering.
- Review participant, staff and site information before publishing your roster.
- Confirm Service Agreements and billing information are complete before scheduling supports.
- Review staffing gaps and unallocated shifts before publishing.
- Enable Smart Rostering only after your standard rostering processes have been established.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Enabling Smart Rostering before creating a recurring roster structure.
- Publishing rosters before reviewing staffing gaps or shift conflicts.
- Scheduling shifts without complete participant or Service Agreement information.
- Expecting timesheets or invoice drafts to generate correctly when roster information is incomplete.
- Forgetting to review staff availability before assigning shifts.
What to do next
Related guides
SIL / Automated Rostering
Set up SIL rosters that run at a site with supervised Smart Rostering automation, covering base recurring shifts, staff interest, suitability checks, draft assignments, manager review, and publishing.
Timesheets and InvoicingTimesheets
Set up roster-connected timesheets, draft generation, staff review, submission, manager approval, sleepover handling, and payroll export preparation.
Staff WorkflowsStaff Portal
Help staff use portal access for shifts, availability, interest, swaps, cancellations, timesheets, reports, documents, notifications, and profile details.
Need help applying this setup path?
Book a BondiByte demo and we can walk through the right setup order for your provider.