The problem
Someone has to cover police station calls every night and weekend, and the rota often lives in a spreadsheet and a group chat where swaps get lost. If the partner spends 4 hours a month building the rota and sorting swaps, that's 4 hours of partner time a month, before the risk of a night nobody covers.
What the AI does
RotaCloud is staff rota software with a mobile app, staff availability, shift swapping and holiday management. The partner sets up on-call shifts for evenings, nights and weekends, staff mark when they are unavailable, and swaps are requested and approved in the app, so the rota everyone sees is the current one. RotaCloud doesn't know the duty solicitor rota, so the partner checks the firm's duty slots against it each month.
A worked example
A criminal defense firm in Northampton has 8 solicitors and accredited representatives on its out-of-hours rota. The partner builds each month's on-call shifts in RotaCloud, staff swap shifts in the app, and the partner approves each swap.
Before
4 hours a month building the rota and sorting swaps by message
After
About 1.5 hours a month to build the rota and approve swaps in the app
What it's worth
About $200£150€179A$288C$282 a month of partner time, if it is worth $80£60€71A$115C$113 an hour: 2.5 hours saved a month. RotaCloud is priced by number of employees, and 8 people falls in the 6 to 10 band: Standard $27£20€24A$38C$38 a month or Pro $40£30€36A$58C$56 per its team-size selector.
How to set it up
- Start RotaCloud's 30-day free trial and add everyone on the out-of-hours rota.
- Create on-call shifts for evenings, nights and weekends, and mark the duty solicitor slots the firm holds.
- Ask staff to enter their unavailability and holidays in the app before you build each month.
- Make it the rule that a swap only counts once approved in the app, and approve or refuse each one quickly.
- Each month, check the rota against the duty solicitor rota and confirm the person covering each duty slot is eligible for it.
What goes wrong
- RotaCloud doesn't know who is accredited for which scheme. A swap to someone who isn't eligible for a duty slot is the partner's to catch.
- If people keep swapping by message rather than in the app, the rota is wrong. Make the app the only record of who is on call.
- Pricing is by number of employees, including managers, so check the band for everyone on the rota. Optional SMS notifications cost extra.
- Night and weekend cover affects rest and pay. Check the rota against working time rules and staff contracts.