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Set a coverage rule

A coverage rule states the minimum number of people needed at a location during a timeband. The schedule board evaluates it as you build a roster and warns when assigned headcount falls below the minimum.

Required role: Administrator.

A rule can require a specific role or skill. Those come from your organization’s job architecture and skill library, and shift templates carry the same requirements — so define them before writing rules that depend on them.

  1. Go to Time & Attendance → Coverage Rules.
  2. Select New rule.
  3. Choose the Location.
  4. Choose a Role (optional), or leave it as Any role.
  5. Choose a Skill (optional), or leave it as Any skill.
  6. Set the Start and End of the timeband.
  7. Set the Min headcount.
  8. Choose the Days, or leave empty to apply every day.
  9. Save the rule.
OptionDescription
LocationWhere the minimum applies.
Role (optional)Restrict the count to people in a particular role. Any role counts everyone.
Skill (optional)Restrict the count to people holding a particular skill. Any skill counts everyone.
Start and EndThe timeband the minimum covers.
Min headcountHow many people must be assigned during that band.
DaysWhich days the rule applies on. Leave empty to apply every day.

Counting the right people, not only enough people

Section titled “Counting the right people, not only enough people”

The role and skill filters are what make a rule meaningful. A rule that counts anybody present is satisfied by a roster that has nobody qualified on it.

Example: HC Corp UK Ltd requires a minimum during its warehouse evening band with a forklift skill. A shift filled entirely by people without that skill shows as short, which is exactly the warning that matters.

Coverage is a warning throughout. The board shows a band as met or short as you assign people, and a roster with gaps can still be published — the publish step asks you to confirm and offers to publish anyway.

That is a deliberate design choice: sometimes you publish short because there is nobody to add, and the roster still has to reach people.

Example: if HC Corp UK Ltd’s warehouse evening band is one person short and nobody is available, Priya Raman publishes anyway and the shortage stays visible rather than blocking the whole roster.

Coverage is also evaluated after publication. When approved leave leaves a shift below its minimum staffing, it appears in the board’s coverage alerts with a ranked list of who could cover.

Those alerts are read-only. They tell you who is eligible; they do not assign anybody, and acting on one is a manual decision.

Leaving Days empty applies the rule every day. Set specific days where the requirement differs — a weekend minimum is usually lower than a weekday one, which is two rules rather than one.

Rules take effect on the schedule board immediately, so open the board and check how your current roster reads against them. Where a band is persistently short, the answer is usually a change to the roster or to headcount rather than to the rule.