ScheduleForward
Shift Tags

Shift Tags

Tags are little labels you stick on shifts — “Training,” “On-Call,” “Holiday.” They make shifts easy to spot, group, and filter.

Open the admin panel

What tags are

A tag is a label you put on a shift to note something about it. Unlike a location (which says where), a tag can say anything you want — what kind of shift it is, whether it’s training, on-call, or special in some way. One shift can wear several tags.

Making tags

1

Create the labels you need

In Configuration, open Tags and add the labels your team uses. Keep them short and clear.
2

Give each an icon

Every tag gets a little icon, and that icon shows on the shift — so people can read the schedule at a glance. (Colors belong to locations; icons belong to tags.)
3

Apply them to shifts

Add a tag when you create or edit a shift. You can also tag many shifts at once from the calendar.
A few good tags beat many vague ones
Resist the urge to make a tag for everything. A small, clear set is easier for everyone to read and use.
Making a tag: give it a name and icon, and choose whether it’s Primary or Balanceable.

Primary & balanceable tags

A standard tag is just a label. But when you create a tag, two checkboxes can give it a real job in scheduling. Your tag list shows which kind each one is — Standard, Balanceable, or Primary.

1

Balanceable — the app keeps count

Check this when shifts with this tag should be shared out fairly — think “Night” or “Weekend.” In a schedule builder you can set how many each person should carry, and as the schedule fills, the app counts everyone’s shifts against that target.
2

Primary — what the shift is

A primary tag names the kind of shift — “On-Call,” “Charge,” “Triage.” A shift can carry one, and when it does, the app counts that shift as the tag instead of its location. Use it when what the shift is matters more than where it happens. Primary tags are automatically balanceable.
When in doubt, balanceable
Purely visual labels — “Training,” “Holiday” — can stay standard. But most scheduling tags end up balanceable, because Guided, Draft, and Generator modes all use them to share work out fairly. Primary is the rare one: save it for a tag that truly stands in for the location.
Every primary or balanceable tag is a constraint
Each one is a rule the schedule has to satisfy — so the more you add, the more boxed-in the build gets. Add them deliberately. In Draft mode especially, fewer constraints is better: let the rounds divide the shifts and people naturally end up with the mix they find most agreeable.

Test yourself

Six quick calls. Each is a real situation a team might tag — would you make the tag standard, balanceable, or primary?

Pick what you’d make each tag. Wrong guesses are free — every answer explains itself. (And one of these has two right answers.)

0/6 solved
Training

New hires shadow a few shifts each month. You just want to spot those shifts on the calendar at a glance.

Night

Nobody loves nights, so they should be shared fairly. This one’s a judgment call — there are two right answers.

On-Call

One person is on call each day. It doesn’t matter where they are — being reachable is the whole job. And it should rotate fairly.

Holiday Pay

Payroll wants to see at a glance which shifts paid extra last month.

Charge Nurse

Every shift needs exactly one nurse in charge. Who’s leading matters more than which unit they’re standing in — and the duty should rotate.

Weekend

Weekend shifts should be spread evenly across the team — but a Saturday at the Front Desk is still a Front Desk shift.

Shift Tags FAQ

How are tags different from locations?

A location is where a shift happens. A tag is anything else you want to note about it — “Training,” “On-Call,” “Holiday Pay.” A shift has one location but can carry several tags.

Can I tag a lot of shifts at once?

Yes. On the calendar you can select several shifts and tag them in one go. The Admin Calendar guide covers bulk editing.

What’s the difference between primary and balanceable?

Balanceable means the app keeps count of shifts with this tag so they can be shared out fairly. Primary goes further: it makes the tag what the shift is — the shift is counted as that tag instead of its location. Every primary tag is automatically balanceable.

Do tags change pay or rules?

Tags never change pay. Standard tags don’t change scheduling either — they’re just labels. Primary and balanceable tags do take part in scheduling: they’re how the app counts coverage and shares work out fairly.

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