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Substitutions

Temporarily reassign shifts when someone is unavailable—without changing the rotation.

Substitutions allow you to reassign on-call responsibility for a specific time window. Whether someone is out on vacation, unavailable for a day, or needs backup coverage, substitutions let you handle it cleanly without altering the underlying roster schedule.

What a Substitution Does

A substitution:

  • Marks the originally scheduled user as unavailable for a specific time range
  • Assigns a replacement user during that same range
  • Keeps the rotation logic and shift generation intact
  • Updates alerting and notifications in real time

Substitutions are visible directly in the timeline and do not affect future shift generation.

Creating a Substitution

To create a substitution:

  1. Open the On-Call Scheduling timeline
  2. Click on the user’s shift you’d like to override
  3. Click Add Substitution
  4. Select the replacement user
  5. Set the date range
  6. Click Save

![Placeholder: Add Substitution Dialog Screenshot]

Date ranges must not overlap with other substitutions for the same user.

Visual Indicator

In the timeline:

  • The replacement user appears in their place
  • The shift background becomes striped to indicate it’s a substitution
  • Hovering over either user gives full detail including local and alternate timezones

![Placeholder: Substitution Timeline with Striped Shift Screenshot]

This visual clarity ensures your team can always tell who is currently responsible, and what the original schedule looked like.

Use Cases

  • A team member is on vacation or out of office
  • Someone needs to trade a shift last minute
  • Cross-functional or backup coverage for key systems
  • Training or onboarding scenarios where someone shadows on-call

Summary

  • Substitutions allow temporary on-call reassignments without changing the roster
  • Visual indicators (crossed-out names, striped background) keep everything transparent
  • Timezone overlays help clarify the actual timing of substitutions
  • Great for handling availability changes while preserving rotation structure

Learn more