When filling out a schedule, administrators have many options on how to assign associates to shifts. Associates can be manually assigned to shifts by clicking on the shift and selecting the associate. Alternately, the administrator can click 'Auto-schedule my Team' and our intelligent Mesh auto-scheduler engine will automatically assign members to all the empty shifts in the schedule.
Administrators are free to combine these techniques as well. They may assign some shifts manually, auto-schedule the remaining empty shifts, and then make modifications to the assignments when the auto-scheduler finishes - administrators are always in full control.
Shifts can also be left empty when a schedule is published if administrators want associates to select their own shifts on a first-come-first-serve basis.
In summary: Mesh AI offers 4 methods for schedule creations (you can use any of these whenever you need them):
1- Self-selection: you publish all shifts unassigned/empty and staff enroll themselves in what they like first-come-first-served or following a prescribed set of rules in your unit (see this article),
2- Manual scheduling: admins assign staff to shifts as they wish (Mesh schedule quality tool can show admins the distribution on the fly to help them do this easily),
3- Auto-scheduling: when possible, all shifts are assigned to staff with a press of a button following the coded rules,
4- Hybrid scheduling: some shifts are done using 2 and then 3 is invoked to finish the job by adding the shifts around the manual work (again following the rules you have).
Note that you are always in control. For example, when you use method 3, admins can still manually make changes and adjustments before they publish the entire schedule to all staff.