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Request cover

A cover request asks another member to take a duty interval. Duty stays unchanged until a selected recipient accepts.

You need: duty you hold on a native rotation and an eligible recipient.

Choose the interval and recipients

Section titled “Choose the interval and recipients”
  1. In the dashboard, open your shift in My shifts or the rotation’s Plan and select Request cover.
  2. Choose Custom interval or Remaining turn. Check Start date, End date, From and Until.
  3. Review Recipients. Remove people to narrow the audience or use Add recipient to restore someone.
  4. Check the interval in Plan, then select Request cover.
  5. Check for Cover requested. The request remains pending until acceptance.

A custom interval can span several days and include closed hours. You must hold every open portion of the requested range. Closed hours stay without duty after acceptance.

A range inside an existing direct assignment must fit within that one assignment. A range spanning multiple assignments is refused, even when they name the same person. Choose an interval within one assignment.

Respond to a request

Section titled “Respond to a request”
  1. As a selected recipient, open Review request.
  2. Check the interval and acceptance preview. If availability checks appear, open Check details to review them.
  3. Acknowledge the listed absences or unknown availability only after reviewing them.
  4. Select Accept cover or Decline.

After acceptance, Cover accepted and the plan identify the covering person. The request leaves the dashboard’s Cover requests list. Open the covered shift to review the accepted cover and its dates.

The list contains pending requests only. A request also leaves it when cancelled, declined or expired. An unanswered request expires at the end of its requested interval.

Cancel cover

Section titled “Cancel cover”

Open the saved request. Use Cancel request for a pending request or Cancel cover for accepted cover when the action is available. Remaining duty follows the schedule and other duty changes. Completed service stays unchanged.

Respond from a Slack message

Section titled “Respond from a Slack message”

As a selected recipient, check the shift in the request message and select Accept to accept it. No confirmation form opens. To decline instead, open Review request in the dashboard and select Decline.

If a private response says Conflict review required or the request is unavailable, open its Review request link. Review the current terms and availability checks in the dashboard before responding.

After acceptance, the original messages name the person who accepted, the cover request and the rotation. The requester sees “your cover request”; other recipients see the requester named. The response buttons disappear, and the requester receives a separate notice naming the accepting person, rotation and shift. Cancelling a pending request removes its original Slack messages. Cancelling accepted cover updates the originals to Cover request cancelled, with the rotation and original shift. Request reason is the reason for the original request, not a reason for cancellation.

A separate cancellation notice goes to the affected people other than the person who cancelled. For pending cover, these are the requester and invitees who have not declined. For accepted cover, only the requester and accepting member receive it. The same rules apply when a roster edit cancels cover. The fresh notice names the actor, rotation and original shift without repeating the request reason.

Dates in cover notifications follow your local Slack display. Request expired includes a Review request link to inspect the current request.

Resolve a refusal

Section titled “Resolve a refusal”
State What to do
Request changed. Refresh preview Refresh and review the current request before responding.
Cover outcome unknown Select Retry request to resolve the original attempt.
Plan unavailable Retry the plan before making a decision.
Pending cover status incomplete Retry the request check before creating another request.

Next steps

Section titled “Next steps”