---
title: "Shift Design"
space: "Industrial Relations Documentation"
url: "http://www.buff0k.co.za/ir-docs/shift-design"
updated: "2026-08-17"
---

# Shift Design

A **Shift Design** defines a site's repeating shift roster - which Shift Types it rotates between, how many teams share the load, and the pattern they follow. Open it via the **Shift Designer** page rather than the plain DocType form - the visual builder is the intended way to work with it.

![The Shift Designer: shift types, number of teams, and the generated pattern for a two-team Day/Night rotation](/files/ir-shift-designer686b0f.png)

## Building one

1. **Design Name**, **Status** (Draft/Active/Superseded/Archived), and **Effective From**.
2. **Shift Types** - the real HRMS Shift Types this design rotates between (e.g. a Day Shift and a Night Shift), each with the weekdays it actually applies on.
3. **Number of Shift Teams** and the pattern itself - how many consecutive days each team works before rotating, and how teams stagger relative to each other.
4. **Pay Period Start/End Day** and **Ordinary Hours Limit** feed into payroll-adjacent reporting elsewhere in the app (e.g. Monthly Attendance).

A Shift Design isn't tied to one site by itself - a **Site Plan** references it to say which shift columns its groups should show (see the next page), and multiple Site Plans can share the same Shift Design.

Next: **Site Plan Designer**.