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What is availability and how do I set it?
What is availability and how do I set it?

We'll go over our availability feature, how to set availability and how to use availability information when creating schedules.

Rachel avatar
Written by Rachel
Updated over a week ago

The Availability feature allows Administrators, Managers and Employees to set availability for a specific day, week, month or year. 

In this article, we'll be explaining the feature in more detail and how Administrators, Managers and Employees can set availability either for themselves or other users.

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Initial Availability Setup

First, you'll want to enable Availability, which you can do by going to Settings --> Scheduling.

1. You'll then want to check the box next to "Enable Availability."

2. If you want to allow Employees to either view or edit their own availability, you'll want to check the box next to "Allow Employees to access their own availability." 

Once this option is enabled, you can click the "Edit Employee Availability Permissions" button to set individual permissions. Permissions include: 

  • Can Edit Availability (Employees can add new and edit existing availability)

  • Can View Availability (Employees can only view availability preferences)

  • No Availability Access (Employees are not able to view or edit availability)

3. Lastly, you can set exactly which availability information employees are allowed to see. You can allow employees to see:

  • Only their own availability (Employees can only see their own availability)

  • Everyone's availability (Employees can view availability for all employees)

  • Their own availability and the availability of everyone assigned the same Location, Department or Position they are assigned. (Employees can only view their availability and the availability of employees who are assigned the same codes as them)

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Setting up Manager Permissions

Managers can be setup with their own availability permissions, so they are able to add new or edit availability for employees they are assigned. To edit Manager availability permissions, you'll want to:

1. Visit the Manager's profile, which you can do by clicking Employees in the top navigation and then click View next to the Managers name.

2. Once in their profile, select Employees Assigned from the left hand menu. 

3. After you're taken to the Employees Assigned section, click Edit Assignment.

4. Managers have three permission options which include:

  • None (Managers are not able to view or edit employee availability information)

  • View (Managers can only view employee availability information)

  • Edit (Managers can edit and add new availability)

You will need to repeat this process for each Manager account.

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How to Add, Edit, or Delete Availability

The process for adding, deleting or editing availability is the same process for Employees, Managers and Administrators. However, what Managers and Employees are able to do is determined by the account availability settings. If you haven't yet setup the availability feature, please reference the "Initial Availability Setup" section at the top of this article.

Adding Availability

You'll want to start by clicking an open space next to the name of an Employee you'd like to add availability for.

1. You'll be presented with several options. If you're a Manager or Administrator, you will be able to choose a single Employee or multiple employees from the dropdown list. If you're an Employee, you will only see your name under the Employee section.

2. Check to ensure that your starting date is correct. This date will default to the open space clicked.

3. Click whether the availability you're entering is Unavailable or Preferred time.

4. You can then decide if the Unavailable or Preferred time is all day a specific timeframe.

5 & 6. If you'd like for the availability to repeat check the box next to "Repeat Every" and choose if you'd like the availability to repeat by:

  • Day (Select which date you'd like the availability to end)

  • Week (Select which days you'd like the availability to repeat and for how long)

  • Month (Select which date or day of the month you'd like the availability to repeat on and for how long)

  • Year (Select which date you'd like the availability to end)

7. If you're currently using Locations, Departments or Positions, these can be applied to the availability as well.

8. Lastly, you can add any necessary notes for users to view.

Editing Availability

Editing availability can quickly be done by visiting the Availability page and clicking on the Unavailable for Preferred time you'd like to edit:

Make the necessary adjustments to the availability and click the blue Save button once done. You will then be presented with three editing options which include:

  • This availability event (Only updates the current and open availability event)

  • This and following availability events (Updates the current and open event as well as any following availability events)

  • All availability events (Updates all user availability events)

Once you've made your selection, complete the action by again clicking the blue Save button. 

Just as with shifts, you can click and drag an availability event to a different user. When you do this, you will be asked whether you want to move:

  • This availability event (Only the open availability event will be moved to the new user)

  • This and following availability events (The open and following availability events will be moved to the new user) 

Click the blue Save button to complete the action as shown below:

Deleting Availability

Deleting availability is a simple process. You'll want to start by visiting the Availability page and clicking on the Unavailable or Preferred time you'd like to delete:

Click the red Delete button:

You will then be presented with three delete options which include:

  • This availability event (This option only deletes a single availability event - the one you have open)

  • This and following availability events (This option deletes the availability event you have open as well as any following events that were created)

  • All availability events (This option will delete all availability events for the Employee selected)

After you've made your selection, confirm the action by clicking the red Delete button once more.

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Using Availability to Create Shifts

Now that availability, whether Unavailable or Preferred, has been created you can use this information when creating shifts.

1. First start by visiting the scheduling page. You'll see that Unavailable events are visible on the schedule now. Preferred Time events are visible when moused over.

2. If you click to create a shift, but the employee is Unavailable for that time, you can hover over the Unavailable link with your mouse and find out the specifics of the Unavailable event:

3. If you click to create a shift, and the employee is available for that time, you can hover over the View Availability link with your mouse and find out the specifics of the Preferred Time event:

4. If availability is not yet set for a user, you will see a message that states, "Availability preference not set."


You can then use the availability information to craft shifts to meet your business and employee needs.

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If you need information on creating shifts, you can learn more here: https://docs.buddypunch.com/en/articles/2663873-how-do-i-create-a-scheduled-shift

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