Crew Scheduling: Set Up Rotations

Rotations are the repeating crew patterns your operation runs on, such as 7 days on and 7 days off, 21 days on and 21 days off, or 14 days on and 7 days off. You define each pattern once and assign it to the assets that follow it. When you automate an asset's schedule, Helm CONNECT uses that asset's rotations to build the schedules for you.

Rotations come in two kinds:

• Daily rotations: Repeat on a fixed number of days, such as a 7-day, 14-day, or 21-day cycle.
• Monthly rotations: Repeat on a calendar date, such as the 15th of every month. Because months vary in length, the number of days between crew changes isn't constant.

Choose the kind that matches how your contract describes the pattern.

For where to start, see "Crew Scheduling: Introduction to Setup." For worked examples such as 7/7, 14/7, and a crew change on the 15th of every month, see "Crew Scheduling: Automate the Schedule."

Create Your Rotations

You can create your rotations in Manage Rotations, which you open from the Daily Rotations or Monthly Rotations settings page. It shows your daily and monthly rotations together, whichever page you open it from.

To create a daily rotation

1. Go to the Personnel > Schedule > Schedule tab.
2. Click the Settings icon, click Rotations, then click Daily Rotations.
3. Click MANAGE ROTATIONS.
4. Click ADD DAILY ROTATION.
5. Complete the following fields:
   • Name: Enter a name for the rotation, for example "7/7." This is the name that appears when you assign rotations to your assets.
   • Days in rotation: Enter the length of the cycle in days.
6. Click the expand arrow to the left of the name to open the day grid.
7. For each day of the cycle, enter a Crew On Time and a Crew Off Time if crew come on or go off duty that day. Leave a day empty if nothing happens on it.
8. Click SAVE.

The days you fill in decide the shape of the schedules Helm CONNECT draws when you automate:

• On and off times on every day: Crew go home at the end of each day and come back the next morning. Helm CONNECT draws a series of short schedules, one per day.
• An on time on the first day and an off time on the last day: Crew live on board for the whole rotation. Helm CONNECT draws one long schedule covering the full cycle.

To create a monthly rotation

1. Go to the Personnel > Schedule > Schedule tab.
2. Click the Settings icon, click Rotations, then click Monthly Rotations.
3. Click MANAGE ROTATIONS.
4. Click ADD MONTHLY ROTATION.
5. Complete the following fields:
   • Name: Enter a name for the rotation, for example "Monthly."
   • Months in rotation: Enter how many months the cycle spans before it repeats. Enter 1 for every month, 2 for every two months, and so on.
6. Click SAVE.

A monthly rotation only sets the cadence. You choose the day of the month the crew change falls on when you automate the schedule, because the start date you choose becomes the recurring date.

To delete a rotation

1. Go to the Personnel > Schedule > Schedule tab.
2. Click the Settings icon, click Rotations, then click Daily Rotations or Monthly Rotations.
3. Click MANAGE ROTATIONS.
4. Click the minus icon (−) to the right of the Days in rotation or Months in rotation field.
5. Click SAVE.

Assign Rotations to Your Assets

You can assign rotations to your assets on the Daily Rotations and Monthly Rotations settings pages. Each page lists your assets down the left and your rotations across the top, with a checkbox where each asset and rotation meet. An asset can follow more than one rotation, and each one you assign is offered when you automate that asset's schedule.

To assign a rotation to an asset

1. Go to the Personnel > Schedule > Schedule tab.
2. Click the Settings icon, click Rotations, then click Daily Rotations or Monthly Rotations.
3. (Optional) To narrow the list, click FILTER, or select Unassigned to show only the assets that don't have a rotation yet.
4. Select the checkbox where the asset's row meets the rotation's column.
5. Click SAVE.