From Excel to Mobile: Modernizing Shift Rosters

From an Excel spreadsheet hosted on a shared drive to a dynamic, interactive mobile app accessible to all staff from anywhere. An app like this could provide native mobile notifications to staff, and allow staff to easily notify management to any changes required to their schedule. A web-based application would be used by management to configure shifts and keep an eye on schedules, as well as receiving timely email or SMS notifications when the situation changes.

Before: The Excel Spreadsheet

Excel is an extremely powerful tool and capable of many things, but it’s not always fit for purpose. Take for example this sheet which shows a shift roster of truck drivers over time, including breaks.

Imagine it is hosted on a share drive on a company network, and typically not accessible outside of the organisation. Drivers will need to check their roster in advance from within the organisation and will not be automatically notified of any changes to their shifts. The spreadsheet must be manually updated as time progresses, in this case a button has been added with some VBA script behind the scenes - but does anyone know how it works?

After: The Mobile App

With a dedicated mobile app, drivers could see a personalised view of the shift roster any time and anywhere. The app could highlight their own upcoming shifts, and they could receive notifications with reminders or changes to their schedule.

The app could also provide functionality for drivers to acknowledge upcoming shifts, schedule their own leave, or notify management if they are unable to carry out a shift. It could provide additional information for drivers, like exactly which truck they’ll be driving. MakoDev’s bespoke applications open the door to significant functional improvements.

Bonus: The Web App

With cross-platform development techniques, web and mobile applications can be developed using a common codebase, allowing for flexibility in where an application can be used without requiring significant effort to rework for specific platforms.

A web application like this could be available only inside the organisation, or publicly as well, offering the same functionality as the mobile app.

Administering the System

Of course, there must be a way to administer the system too, and not with an Excel spreadsheet! A fully interactive administration application with clear visibility of driver schedules on a calendar would also be built. This app would be responsible for managing staff in the system, assigning staff to shifts, and so on. It would also provide the opportinity to gain insights that would have been impossible to glean from a spreadsheet as the system would maintain a full history of shifts and shift changes.

Integration

An app like this could be set up to integrate with your existing systems, for example Office 365. Shifts could be added to a centralised calendar, providing straight-forward discoverability to everyone who has access to it using the tools they already have, while ensuring a single source of truth within your business.