Introduction to the flair Scheduler
The flair Scheduler is flair's next-generation shift planning tool. Built from the ground up to handle complex, real-world rostering, it lets you run multiple independent schedules in parallel, plan over any horizon — from a week to multi-year long-range plans — and give employees a richer self-service experience in the Employee Hub.
The flair Scheduler is a paid add-on that sits on top of your existing flair subscription. It is not included in the standard package. To enable it for your organisation, please reach out to your flair Customer Success Manager or the flair Sales team — they will guide you through pricing, contracting, and activation.
flair Scheduler vs. the legacy Shift Planner
The flair Scheduler is a complete replacement for the legacy Shift Planner. It is designed to remove the limitations that customers running larger or more complex operations were running into.
The table below summarises the most important differences.
| Capability | Legacy Shift Planner | flair Scheduler |
|---|---|---|
| Number of schedules | One global view per location | Create as many Schedulers as you need — per team, project, ward, store, shop, etc. |
| What a schedule is tied to | Always tied to a Location, rows always Employees | Object-agnostic — both rows (the resource) and parent (the target) are configurable: Employees × Location, Employees × Department, Employees × Project, or any custom combination |
| Time horizon | Week / month | Preset views: 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 1 month — plus a Custom range picker for longer horizons (e.g. 3- or 6-month plans). There is no upper limit. |
| Customizable view | Limited | Customizable filters per Scheduler — by skill, department, employees, or even raw query |
| Open Shifts | Supported | Open Shifts with richer eligibility — skill filters and object-agnostic target scoping |
| Shift Transfer | Not supported | Shift Transfer — employees can request to hand a shift over to a colleague; manager approves |
| Predefined shifts | Basic | Filterable predefined shifts (e.g. "Morning", "Late", "Night") for one-click shift creation |
| Recurring shifts | Supported | Supported, with per-occurrence editing |
| Copy from previous period | Week-by-week | Copy shifts from any previous period |
| Publishing | Sync for small batches, async for large batches | Sync for small batches, async for large batches |
| Employee Hub experience | Read-only My Shifts | My Shifts, Colleagues view, Open Shift requests, Shift Transfer requests |
| Permission model | Tied to Manage Shifts permission | Dedicated Flair Scheduler Admin and Flair Scheduler Manager permission sets |
Key concepts
Three concepts power the flair Scheduler. It is worth getting familiar with them before you set anything up.
Scheduler
A Scheduler is a single shift schedule — for example, "Berlin Store — Morning Team", "ICU Ward — Nurses", or "Project Atlas — Engineers". Each Scheduler is its own record in Salesforce, with its own resources (rows), target (parent context), filters, and predefined shifts.
Because each Scheduler is independent, two managers can plan completely different areas of the business at the same time without stepping on each other.
A Scheduler is defined by two axes:
- A Resource (the rows in the calendar — typically Employee).
- A Target (the parent context — for example a Location, Department, Project, or any custom object).
This is what makes the flair Scheduler object-agnostic — you choose the combination of resource and target that fits your operation.
Shift
A Shift (Shift__c) is a single block of scheduled work, with a start time, end time, and an assignee. Every Shift always has an assignee. Shifts live inside a Scheduler.
Unassigned slots that employees can claim from the Hub are tracked as a separate object — Open Shifts (Open_Shift__c). See Open Shifts for the full flow.
Predefined Shift
A Predefined Shift is a re-usable template — for instance, "Morning 06:00–14:00" or "Night 22:00–06:00". Predefined shifts let managers create real shifts with a single click instead of typing start and end times every time.
What you can do with the flair Scheduler
Once activated, the flair Scheduler powers the full shift-planning lifecycle for both managers and employees.
In Salesforce, managers can:
- Create as many Schedulers as needed for different teams, locations, projects, or any other grouping
- Configure each Scheduler with its own filters, predefined shifts, and employee list
- Plan shifts across any horizon — there is no upper limit on how far ahead you can plan
- Create single shifts and recurring shifts
- Copy shifts from previous periods to avoid re-planning recurring patterns
- Post Open Shifts that any eligible employee can request
- Approve or decline Shift Transfer requests from employees
- Borrow employees from other locations or departments for one-off coverage
- Publish shifts to make them visible to employees in the Employee Hub
In the Employee Hub, employees can:
- See their own upcoming shifts in My Shifts
- See their colleagues' shifts in the Colleagues view
- Request Open Shifts that match their skills and the Scheduler's targets they have access to
- Request a Shift Transfer with a colleague when they can't make a shift
- Get real-time updates as managers publish changes
How to navigate this guide
This section walks you through every part of the flair Scheduler:
- Setting Up in Salesforce — turn the feature on, assign the right permission sets, and prepare your org.
- Managing Schedulers — create new Schedulers and configure their filters, employees, and predefined shifts.
- Working With Shifts — open a Scheduler, plan shifts, copy from previous periods, and publish.
- Open Shifts — create unassigned shifts that employees can request.
- Shift Transfer — let employees request shift transfers and approve them as a manager.
- Scheduler on the Hub — what employees see in the Employee Hub and how to hide the feature if you only want managers to use it.
If your org is already using the legacy Shift Planner, you can run both side-by-side while you transition. Existing shifts remain accessible. Once you are comfortable with the flair Scheduler, your Customer Success Manager can help you migrate workflows and retire the old planner.