> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://planmyrounds.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How rosters work in PlanMyRounds

> Understand what duty rosters are in PlanMyRounds, the lifecycle from draft to published, and how the scheduling engine builds a fair, conflict-free team plan.

A **roster** — also called a **Duty Plan** in PlanMyRounds — is the schedule that tells your team who is on which shift, on which day. Instead of building one by hand on a spreadsheet, PlanMyRounds uses a scheduling engine to generate a fair, rule-aware plan for you in under a minute.

## What a roster covers

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="A date range" icon="calendar-range">
    A week, a month, or any custom range you choose.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Shifts and staffing" icon="layer-group">
    The shift types to include and how many doctors each one needs per day.
  </Card>

  <Card title="A team of doctors" icon="user-group">
    The group of doctors who are eligible to be assigned for this period.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scheduling rules" icon="shield-halved">
    The work, rest, and fairness rules the engine must respect.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## The roster lifecycle

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create">
    Open the [creation wizard](/docs/rosters/creating-a-roster) and walk through dates, shifts, team, and rules.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Generate">
    The engine runs and produces a **Draft** roster, usually within a minute.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review and publish">
    Check coverage and workload, then [publish](/docs/rosters/publishing-a-roster) to make it visible to the team.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Adjust">
    Handle real-world changes through [manual edits](/docs/rosters/editing-a-published-roster) or [duty swaps](/docs/swaps/overview).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## How the scheduler thinks

The engine looks for the best possible assignment of doctors to shifts. While generating, it respects:

* **Approved leave** and shift-to-avoid preferences
* **Maximum consecutive working days** and minimum rest days per week
* **Minimum rest hours** between any two shifts
* **Senior-to-junior ratios** per shift
* Each **doctor's experience level** (senior or junior)
* **Minimum monthly hours** per doctor for fairness

For the full list of rules and how they interact, see [Roster constraints](/docs/rosters/roster-constraints).

<Note>
  The scheduler only considers leave entries that are **Approved** before generation starts. Pending requests are not applied. Approve outstanding leave first so the engine plans around it.
</Note>

## Roster statuses

| Status        | What it means                                                                           |
| ------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Creating**  | The engine is currently building the schedule. Usually under a minute.                  |
| **Draft**     | Generation is complete and the roster is ready for review. Not yet visible to the team. |
| **Published** | The roster is live and visible to all team members. A shareable link is available.      |
| **Archived**  | The roster has been retired. Still viewable for reference.                              |
| **Failed**    | The engine could not produce a valid schedule. Adjust inputs and retry.                 |

For the colour key and other statuses you'll come across, see [Roster and shift statuses](/docs/rosters/statuses).

## Where to find your rosters

Select **Duty Plans** in the sidebar to see every roster in your organisation. Filter by status, department, or the admin who created them.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Create your first roster" icon="wand-magic-sparkles" href="/docs/rosters/creating-a-roster">
    Walk through the four-step creation wizard.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Understand the rules" icon="shield-halved" href="/docs/rosters/roster-constraints">
    Learn how work, rest, and fairness constraints shape the schedule.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>