The Schedule Board allows the user to create crew availability for Personnel. This availability can be scheduled on either a repeating schedule or can be scheduled for a one-time use scenario. This article will cover the process to add crew availability to the Schedule Board and will include the following topics:

Crew availability is a feature available within the Schedule Board that is designed to designate an expected or agreed-upon long-term schedule for personnel. This feature allows the user the practice of implementing repeating cycles of availability to a large crew set over an extended date range, such as monthly, quarterly, or even yearly.

For example, one of the most common iterations of this in the industry is “8 on, 8 off”, which may be translated to 8 available days followed by 8 days without availability. The availability then repeats over the designated period of time and can be adjusted and changed as the actual schedule unfolds and personnel events and flights are assigned to the crew. Crew availability is not meant to be used for the personnel/crew’s actual schedule – that remains with Events.

Crew Availability is only available through the Schedule Board. A repeating schedule for crew availability can be created through the Add Availability Pop-Up window or the user can create a one-time use availability by right-clicking on the Crew timeline view. Once created, the availability type will be displayed on the Schedule Board for reference.

To create crew availability schedules go to Schedule Board from the main navigation then click Add Events/Availability button with the plus sign to access the Add Availability Pop-Up form.

On the pop-up there is a toggle of REPEATING; when selected, a form appears to create the repeating cycle. Then set the date range to determine the length in which this schedule should repeat.

The Start Date is the first day that the repeating cycle begins and will use the first duration of the first type entry set in the fields below. The End Date will be the last day of the repeating cycle. The repeating cycle ends on the End Date no matter what point in the repeating cycle it is. For example, if the cycle is 8 Available and 8 Clear and the End Date falls on the second day of the Available cycle, then the last Available item will only be 2 days.

The repeating schedule will create the schedule based on the order in which the Availability Types are listed with the top entry beginning the cycle. When there are multiple entries, they may be reorganized up and down using the arrows in the Sort column on the far left.

Next, click on the drop-down menu under Availability Type to view the list of Availability types that are available. Follow this link to learn more about the Crew Availability Schedule Types.

Select the applicable Availability Type and enter the duration for the type selected. The duration sets the number of days the user would like the availability type to repeat. For example, if a crew member has a schedule of 8 on 8 off then set the first Availability Type to Available with a duration of 8. This shows the crew is Available for 8 days on the Schedule Board by displaying green on the applicable days on the Crew timeline view. To show they are off for 8 days select Clear for the Availability Type on the second row with a duration of 8. This shows as "clear" on the crew's schedule on the Schedule Board by leaving the applicable cells blank. This then initiates a repeating cycle of 8 available days followed by 8 cleared days on the schedule spanning the date range selected.

Note: There is no consideration of weekends, holidays, any scheduled events, etc. when the cycle is repeating. It is directly day-by-day.

Next, select which Personnel the crew availability needs to apply to. To add personnel to a crew availability schedule click in the Add Personnel Members text box to see a list of personnel. There is the option to scroll through the list of names and click on those that apply or typing to search.

Alternately, the user may also click the button Add Crew from Current Search. When this button is clicked it will add all personnel that are currently in the filtered Crew view.

Once a personnel member has been added their name will appear in the Add Personnel Members text box. If a name needs to be removed, click the "X" next to their name. This field also has the option of an "X" on the right that clears all entries.

Click Save to add the availability to the Schedule Board.

In addition to being able to create Crew Availability on a repeating schedule, a one-time use availability can be scheduled by right-clicking on the Crew view within the Schedule Board. This functionality is only accessible when the toggle is on the AVAILABILITY layer. The Availability option will hide the events scheduled for the personnel member and allow the user to right-click in the cells to add/edit individual items directly on the Schedule Board. To learn more about how to edit Crew Availability refer to the article Schedule Board: Edit Crew Availability

On the crew timeline within the Schedule Board, there is the option to click and drag to select the date and duration for the scheduled availability. For instance, if a crew member needs to have availability scheduled from 9-5 on a certain day, click on the cell for 0900 for the date needed, hold and drag to 1700; then right-click to launch the context menu. There is an option to create all 3 types of Availability on this menu.

When creating an availability schedule from the crew timeline, it is possible for a user to select/highlight an area that overlaps with a current area if they start in a Clear section and drag over an existing Available or Tentative section. The overlapped Crew Availability will split and will automatically be replaced by the new one over the old, but only for the section that has been selected.

If a user wanted to create 3 days of Availability for more than one user, 10 users, for example, they could use the repeating form with one line and the exact start/end dates then add the personnel. Though this is not repeating, this is an easy way to create Availability items for many users at once.

Notes:

For a complete guide to using Crew Availability, see the related article

Schedule Board: Crew Availability Views and Settings