eBrigade Minute-level availability module
Your staff declare their own availability, down to the minute
Each member enters their available time slots on their own calendar, to the minute and separately for each of their sections. You get a reliable view of who is available before planning shifts and on-call duties.
These buttons are about the full eBrigade subscription: this module is included at no extra cost in every plan.
Illustration · sample data
What is the eBrigade Minute-level availability module?
Each staff member declares their available time slots to the minute on a month/week/day calendar, with recurrence, availability per section and month locking by the manager. It is included at no extra cost in every eBrigade plan.
Why declare availability to the minute?
Collecting each staff member’s availability by email, by message or on a spreadsheet takes time and quickly goes stale: a half-day hides the actual time ranges, changes are not passed on, and a staff member attached to two sections is counted twice. When it is time to build the schedule, nobody knows any more who is really available, or for which slot.
What Minute-level availability changes
Each staff member enters their own slots on a month/week/day calendar, with a start and end time to the minute, a title, a comment and an activity type. Availability is held separately for the member’s main section and secondary section, and a slot can be repeated on a given date or on a recurring basis. On the manager’s side, locking a month freezes the declarations once the schedule is ready.
What you can do with Minute-level availability
Each staff member declares their availability on a calendar with month, week and day views, with slots defined to the minute rather than by half-days or fixed time ranges.
A slot carries a custom title, a date, start and end times, a comment, an activity type and one or more sections. Full-day mode automatically splits time ranges that cross midnight.
A slot can be copied once to a chosen date or repeated on a recurring basis — daily, working days, weekly, monthly or yearly — over a period of one to twelve months or one to three years.
The same slot covers the member’s main section and secondary section separately, with no double entry or double counting.
Overlapping slots are detected and handled according to the chosen mode (overwrite, ignore or warn), and a slot’s duration can be adjusted by resizing it directly on the calendar.
When a section’s schedule is locked, the calendar shows a padlock and blocks changes. The day’s start and end times, as well as a tolerance window, can be configured.
Step by step
From their own area, each member opens a calendar in month, week or day view. They see the slots already declared and any padlock on months locked by the manager.
The staff member enters a slot with a date, start and end times to the minute, a title, a comment, an activity type and the section or sections concerned. Full-day mode automatically splits time ranges that cross midnight.
A slot can be copied to a specific date or repeated on a recurring basis (daily, working days, weekly, monthly or yearly) over a period of one to twelve months or one to three years, with overlap handling.
When a section’s schedule is ready, the manager locks the month: the calendar shows a padlock and blocks any creation or change of slots for that section.
Where this module really pays off
Volunteer firefighters: each volunteer firefighter (SPV) declares their availability periods to the minute, and the station commander has an up-to-date basis for building the duty roster.
Civil protection associations: volunteers state their slots per section, so that each person can be assigned where they are really available.
Multi-section organisations: a staff member attached to two sections declares their availability separately for each, with no double counting.
Recurring schedules: a staff member available every Tuesday evening creates the slot once and repeats it automatically over several months.
Night work: slots that cross midnight are split automatically according to the configured day boundary, so hours are counted correctly.
Frequently asked questions
How does this module differ from shift planning?
Minute-level availability is declared by the staff members themselves: each member states when they are available. Planning shifts and on-call duties, on the other hand, is done by the manager and relies precisely on these declared availabilities to assign the right people.
Does a staff member attached to several sections declare their availability separately?
Yes. A slot covers the member’s main section and secondary section separately. The staff member can therefore declare themselves available for one section without being available for the other, with no re-entry.
How does slot recurrence work?
A slot can be copied once to a chosen date, or repeated on a recurring basis: every day, working days only, every week, every month or every year. The repetition period ranges from one to twelve months or from one to three years.
What happens to a slot that crosses midnight?
Full-day mode automatically splits the slot at midnight, based on the start time configured for the day boundary. Night work is thus counted correctly on either side of the change of day.
Can changes be prevented once the schedule is set?
Yes. When the manager locks a section’s month (schedule ready), the calendar shows a padlock and blocks any creation, change or deletion of slots for that section.
Who can manage another staff member’s availability?
Each member manages their own availability. Supervisors with the appropriate rights can manage other people’s, and an administrator can view or edit another member’s calendar.