Using Teams Shifts to schedule same team of people to multiple groups

Question

Using Teams Shifts to schedule same team of people to multiple groups

Anonymous

Hello,

I'm basically looking for an updated answer to this previous question: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msteams/forum/all/managing-schedules-in-various-groups-using-teams/adf0dc35-2f07-42f9-8f46-02ba8d577c27

We have a group of people who works across two physical locations and multiple service points within each location. We do not move between the physical locations on any given day (ex: you're either working at location 1 or location 2 on a day - you don't move between them within one work day).

I can see that I can add a group for each service point and then I guess add the entire team into each group but it feels like that would quickly become unwieldy when trying to see ("at a glance") where any given group member is and what they're doing (or not doing). For example, if a team member is at service point A in the morning, they would be available for other service points in the afternoon BUT they'd have to be at the same location. So would each location have to be two different groups? If we had two different groups (one for each location), could we colour code other service points? Or would each service point need a group for each location?

It seems like Teams Shifts works best for one group in one location where each person essentially only works at one service point on any given day. Is there a way to integrate multiple locations and service points for the same group of people?

Thank you.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

1 answer

Answer 1

Hello ShannonM_989,

I'm Ibhadighi and I'd happily help you with your question. In this forum, we are Microsoft consumers just like yourself.

In Teams Shifts, managing a group of people working across multiple locations and service points can indeed be challenging, but here's a simplified approach to organize this setup:

**Create Teams per Location:**
- Set up a separate Team for each physical location in Microsoft Teams, which will allow you to manage each location distinctly.
**Use Groups within Shifts for Service Points:**
- Within each Team, use the Shifts application to create groups for different service points.
**Assign Team Members to Multiple Groups:**
- Team members can be added to multiple groups within the Shifts app to reflect their responsibilities at different service points.
**Visual Coordination:**
- While Shifts doesn't currently support color-coding for individual shifts, you can use naming conventions for clarity.
- Name shifts with a combination of service point identifiers and location, like "SP-A Location 1" or "SP-B Location 2".
**Shared Staff Members:**
- For staff who work at multiple service points, you can create their shifts accordingly within the respective groups, ensuring they aren’t scheduled for overlapping times.
**Open Shifts:**
- Use 'Open Shifts' for service points where team members can apply to work, which gives them the flexibility to choose their location within the constraints of their daily assignment.
**Time-off and Shift Swaps:**
- Encourage the use of the time-off feature and shift swapping to manage changes in availability or location.
**At-a-Glance View:**
- To get an overview of where everyone is scheduled, use the 'Week view' in Shifts, which will show you all the shifts across all the groups for that week.

Teams Shifts may not offer the most granular control for complex scheduling across multiple locations out-of-the-box, but by using separate Teams for locations and groups for service points, along with careful naming and scheduling practices, you can achieve a workable solution for your situation.

I hope this helps.

Best Regards, Ibhadighi

Share via

Using Teams Shifts to schedule same team of people to multiple groups

1 answer