The Onboarding Series: Setting up Rota + Time & Attendance

This guide is for Admin and HR users.

Go to Rota, Time & Attendance in the left-hand menu.

Rota + Time & Attendance is the complete package. It's ideal if you want to plan shifts, assign jobs and set coverage, and track clock-ins, breaks and timesheets too.

Locations
Assign jobs to locations
People list
Coverage (optional)
Clock-in & time capture
Timesheet & breaks
Review

Bringing in your data from Core HR

When you first open the module, Breathe brings your records across automatically: locations, departments, jobs, employees, and leave & sickness.

To begin, choose Rota + Time & Attendance on the How would you like to start? screen.

💡 Good to know: you can change your mind later in Settings > Account mode if you decide you only need one part.

Tracking your setup progress

A blue progress bar at the top shows your current step and how far through you are (for example, Step 5 of 7 | 71% complete).

Moving between steps: click < Back at the bottom left, or click any completed step in the left-hand menu. Click Continue to move on.
Pausing setup: you can leave at any time. When you come back to Rota, Time & Attendance, click Resume setup to carry on, or Start over to begin again.

💡 Good to know: the left-hand menu groups the steps into Structure & data (Locations, Rota jobs, People list and Coverage), Time & attendance (Clock-in & time capture, and Timesheet & breaks) and Review.

Step 1: Locations

Choose which locations you'd like to use in your rota, then add their address and location tracking (optional) and operating hours.

Click a location from your Core HR list.
Turn on Enable for rota to show this location in the rota builder.
Enter the postcode, click Find address and choose your address from the list (optional).
Set your Location tracking (optional)
- Enable geofence: set a radius (between 50 m and 5,000 m) so clock-ins only count on site. Turning on geofencing turns on geotagging automatically.
Set your Operating hours:
- Daily: if your hours are the same on each open day.
- Custom: if your opening and closing times change from day to day.
Repeat for each location, then click Continue.

💡 Good to know: you can still add shifts outside these hours. You'll just see a warning before you do.

Adding a new location

If a location isn't in Core HR yet, you can add it here:

Click + Add location.
Enter the location name and click Create location.
It appears in your list, ready to set up. It's added to Core HR too.

💡 Please note: if Continue is greyed out, check the blue banner at the top. For example, "Add operating hours for all enabled locations to continue".

Step 2: Assign jobs to locations

Choose which jobs can be worked at each location.

💡 Good to know: jobs your people already have in Core HR are ticked for you and labelled Added automatically, so you may only need to check them.

Click the location you want to set up.
Click the jobs list (for example, 1 of 3 jobs) and tick the jobs that are worked there. Use Select all to tick them all.

You can also use the search bar to find a job.
Repeat for each location, then click Continue.

⚠️ Important: jobs that aren't assigned to a location won't appear in your rota. A location with no jobs won't appear in your rota either.

Step 3: People list

Check your team, using the location, department and job filters if you need to.
Fill in any missing locations, departments or jobs using the lists in each row.
If someone doesn't have a department, choose one from the Department list in their row. If the one you need doesn't exist yet, click + Create department, enter the name and click Create department.
To give someone an extra location or job, click Add assignment.

Don't forget to save!
Click Continue.

💡 Good to know: if anyone's still missing a location or job when you click Continue, you'll see a message asking if you want to carry on. Click Go back to fill them in now, or Continue to carry on. You can add them later in Settings > People list.

💡 Please note: the location list only shows locations with jobs assigned. To add a new location, go back to step 1. Extra assignments only apply in Rota, Time & Attendance, but new departments are added to Core HR.

Step 4: Coverage

This step is optional. You can click Continue and set coverage later in Settings > Coverage.

To set it now, first choose a location from the list at the top left. You can also choose a department from the list next to it to narrow things down.

Set how many people you need for each job at different times of day. For example, 1 barista from 06:30 to 13:00, and 2 from 13:00 to 19:00. These act as checks when you build and publish your rota.

For each job, choose how to set coverage:
- Daily: if staffing is the same across several days. Click the day badges (Mon, Tue and so on) to choose which days it applies to.
- Custom: if staffing changes from day to day. Set each day separately, and leave closed days blank.
Use the + and - buttons under People needed to set the headcount.
Enter the start and end times in the Time fields.
To add another time slot (like an evening shift), click the + circle at the end of the line.

To remove one, click the - circle next to it.
Click Continue.

⚠️ Important: if you see a red banner saying "Job(s) require a valid start and end time", check that every chosen day has a start and end time. Any empty time boxes are outlined in red.

Step 5: Clock-in & time capture

Set your clock-in rules:

Clock-in window: how early someone can clock in.
Snap-to-rota tolerance: if someone clocks in or out within this many minutes of their shift, their paid time matches the shift.
Clock-in violation threshold: flags a clock-in that's more than this many minutes outside the snap window.
Clock-out violation threshold: flags a clock-out that's more than this many minutes before or after the scheduled end time.
Enable geotagging: stores the location captured at clock-in.
Allow unscheduled clock-in: lets people clock in without a scheduled shift.

The page also shows examples of what your settings mean in practice, like "Clocks in 18 min late → over threshold, flagged for review".

Click Continue.

Step 6: Timesheet & breaks

Manual timesheets: turn this on to let employees add or edit timesheets when they miss a clock-in or clock-out.
How are timesheets approved? Choose Manager sign-off or Auto-approve.
Lock timesheets after approval: Once a timesheet is approved, nobody can change its worked time if the lock is enabled. If the lock is disabled, Admin, HR and Finance users can edit and delete approved timesheets.
Enable break tracking: turn this on to take breaks off timesheet hours automatically.
- How are breaks applied? Choose By shift length or Per shift. Choosing By shift length opens the Break length rules table.
- Break length rules: set the break for each range of shift length, and whether it's paid or unpaid. Click + Add rule to add one.
- Click the 3 dots under Actions to remove any rules.
Click Continue.

💡 Please note: in the UK, adult workers are entitled to a 20-minute break if they work more than 6 hours.

Step 7: Review

Choose a location from the list at the top to check its jobs and coverage, and your clock-in, timesheet and break settings. Any job without coverage shows "Coverage not configured".
Click Edit next to any section to make changes.
Click Create rota.