This is a quick start guide for creating Rosters in Tanda.
Creating a Shift
Firstly, you will need to navigate to Time & Attendance > Rosters.
The roster will look a little different depending on whether you are in Staff View or Stacked View. Choose which option works best for you.
Then, to start creating shifts, click + Add Shift on the day you want to schedule it for.
Then, select the employee, team and start/finish times:
Selecting an Employee and Team
You can select an employee and team in any order (i.e. you can nominate the team first or the employee first).
If a team is allocated first, only the employees of the selected team will appear in the drop-down menu. The same applies to the team selector if an employee is selected first.
Tip: Vacant shifts can be used as placeholders instead of selecting an employee. They are useful for creating roster templates or future rosters when you don't know who will work the shift.
Entering Shift Times
Shift times can be entered in any format. For example, for 8 am, Tanda will also recognise: 8a, 0800, or 08:00 am.
Rostering Breaks
You have a couple of different options when it comes to rostering breaks. Breaks can be allocated to shifts manually or through automatic break rules.
Option 1: Manually enter break start and finish times:
Option 2: Automate break rules that apply based on the shift duration:
Please see our setting up and managing automatic breaks help guide for more details on configuring Option 2.
Publishing the Roster
Once you've created shifts in the roster, you'll need to Publish them to finalise them and send them to employees.
Filter your roster to the date range you wish to publish using the date selector.
Select the 'Review & Publish' button in the top right.
Specify how the roster should be published. Options include the mobile app, email, and SMS. By default, the Mobile App must be selected as an option.
Select the staff you would like to publish shifts for. By default, all staff on the roster will be selected for publishing, but you can publish to individual staff or specific teams.
Confirm by clicking 'Publish.'
Tip: You can also publish an individual shift directly from the roster using the three-dot menu on a shift card.
When publishing a roster with Vacant shifts, make sure to choose Publish All Shifts + Publish Vacant Shifts. Otherwise, employees will not be notified to claim these vacant shifts.
If you have already published a schedule but want to publish additional Vacant shifts, you would again need to choose Publish All Shifts + Publish Vacant Shifts as well.
Tip: When re-publishing a roster with additional vacant shifts, click Review & Publish and then Deselect All (located below 'Staff receiving rosters') to avoid sending the same schedule to your employees.
In this way, your staff members will not receive notifications again for already published shifts, but they will be notified that vacant ones are available to claim.
Customise Your View
You can customise your roster view in a few different ways using the menu at the top.
These allow you to customise what you see to suit your scheduling needs. For example:
Use the Date Picker to customise the date range on your roster. Alternatively, use the 'Week' menu to select between daily, weekly, fortnightly, 4-weekly, and monthly roster views.
Toggle between a Stacked View, a Staff View, the Stats Report and the Day Breakdown.
Use the grouping filter to group the roster by either team, position, shift group, or no grouping.
Use the Spotlight filter to highlight things like overtime, validation errors, and more.
Use the Rostering filter to switch between Roster view, Stats Report, and Daily Breakdown.
Mark Important Events and Record Notes for Other Managers
To leave a comment or record an event on the roster, click 'Events & Comments' on the left roster sidebar.
Custom Events
Events are used to signify important events on the roster (for instance, your work is hosting a major event and needs all hands on deck for staff). Events are visible to both employees and managers.
To create a custom event, navigate to Time & Attendance > Rosters > Events & Comments > + Add New Event. When creating your custom event, you can select the locations and teams it applies to and can choose to discourage or prevent staff from submitting leave requests during this time.
You can also leave instructions for the Roster Agent, which will influence its rostering decisions.
To add Custom Events in bulk, such as for major sporting events, you can do so by uploading a CSV containing the event details. Follow the steps below to do so:
Navigate to Settings > Customise & Extend Tanda > Import & Export
Click Import next to Custom Events
Download the Template on the import page
Open the file and enter the details of each event. You can refer to the dropdown below to help you enter these details.
Save the updated file as a CSV and attach it below:
Follow the steps in the importer and ensure the field mapping is correct before confirming the upload.
Custom Event CSV Guidelines
Custom Event CSV Guidelines
Field | Required | Accepted Values |
Name | Yes | Any text |
Start Date | Yes | Date (e.g. 2026-12-24) |
Finish Date | Yes | Date (e.g. 2026-12-26) |
Leave Restriction | No | none, discourage, blackout |
Unavailability Restriction | No | none, discourage, blackout |
Max Leave Requests | No | Whole number |
Max Unavailabilities | No | Whole number |
Roster Agent Instructions | No | Any text |
Locations | No (will default to org-wide if not entered) | Comma-separated location names (e.g. southside, northside) |
Comments
Comments are used to leave notes for other managers on the roster. They are visible to managers only and are not visible to employees.
FAQs and Troubleshooting
Can employees see changes made to the roster?
Can employees see changes made to the roster?
Employees will only see changes to the roster once the changes have been published.
Why can't I see costs on my roster?
Why can't I see costs on my roster?
The ability to see costs is determined by user permissions levels. You can manage this by navigating to Settings > Permissions > Employee Roster Permissions.
Can you change between 12 and 24 hour time?
Can you change between 12 and 24 hour time?
Each user can nominate their personal preference for viewing Tanda in 12 or 24-hour time. To customise this, navigate to My Profile (hover over your profile icon in the top right corner) and then set your time preferences.
What are the red/orange flags on the roster?
What are the red/orange flags on the roster?
These roster validations highlight potential issues in your schedule that may require attention, such as a shift clash. Click on the flag to understand what the issue is with that shift:
Can I dismiss the flags on my schedule?
Can I dismiss the flags on my schedule?
Flags (a.k.a roster validations) appear according to your account settings. You can configure and manage these by navigating to Settings > Rosters > Roster Validations.
Orange roster validations highlight potential issues but will not stop you from creating or publishing a shift. The exception is if these validations have been set to blocking, not warning.
Can I enter events into Tanda to be considered when creating a schedule?
Can I enter events into Tanda to be considered when creating a schedule?
Yes. Select Events in the left-hand sidebar to add a custom event to Tanda. This event will be visible to staff, and you can choose to discourage time off during this event.
What do all the icons on a shift represent?
What do all the icons on a shift represent?
The graphic below breaks down what each icon on a shift card represents:
