Use Microsoft Teams Shifts for Team Schedules and Coverage
Plan on-call rotations, see who is available, and cover gaps when someone is away, all inside Microsoft Teams. This guide shows Team owners how to set up and manage a Shifts schedule, and shows team members how to use it day to day.
Important: Shifts does not update your official HR records
Microsoft Shifts and HR Connect (SAP SuccessFactors) are separate systems from different vendors, and they do not currently connect to each other. Neither system can read or update information in the other.
This means:
- Time off, remote work, or flexible arrangements added in Shifts are not sent to HR Connect.
- Requests approved in HR Connect do not appear in Shifts.
- Your leave balances and official records are kept only in HR Connect.
Always submit official leave, remote work, and flexible work requests in HR Connect. Open it from the KAUST Portal under HR > HR Connect, or use the SAP SuccessFactors mobile app (setup guide).
Use Shifts to help your team see who is available and plan coverage. Shifts is not used to track work or productivity.
About this guide
Microsoft updates Microsoft 365 regularly. Features, settings, names, and screen layouts can change without notice, and many of these changes are outside the control of KAUST IT. KAUST IT may also limit, change, or turn off features to meet KAUST requirements and Saudi data privacy regulations. We update this guide as changes are identified. If your screen does not match these steps, the linked Microsoft articles reflect Microsoft's latest instructions. For help, contact IT.
Where do you want to start?
Team members
I am on a schedule that someone else set up.
Use a schedule
Not sure whether Shifts is the right tool? See Manage Shared Team Calendars and Schedules with Microsoft 365.
Before you start
- A Microsoft Team. Each Shifts schedule belongs to one Team, and each Team can have one schedule. If you need a Team, see Manage Shared Team Calendars and Schedules with Microsoft 365.
- Team owner access to manage the schedule. Only owners of the Team can create a schedule, change it, or approve requests. If someone needs to manage the schedule, make them an owner of the Team.
- A KAUST account for everyone on the schedule. Everyone must have an active @kaust.edu.sa account. Microsoft Shifts does not support guest accounts, so people outside KAUST cannot be added to a schedule, even if they are guests in the Team.
- KAUST email on Outlook. If your KAUST email is on Gmail, you cannot currently use Shifts. For details, see Check how your team's email is set up.
Desktop, web, and mobile
- Owners set up and manage the schedule in Microsoft Teams on desktop or on the web.
- Team members can use Shifts on desktop, web, or the Teams mobile app. A few features, such as setting your availability, are available only on mobile.
Words you will see in Shifts
| Term | What it means |
|---|
| Schedule | Your Team's calendar of shifts and time off in Shifts. |
|---|
| Group | A section of the schedule that organizes people, for example "On Call" or "Operations". |
|---|
| Shift | A block of time assigned to a person, for example "Wednesday On Call, 17:00 to 08:00". |
|---|
| Open shift | A shift that needs to be covered but has no one assigned yet. Team members can request it. |
|---|
| Time off | Time when someone is away or unavailable, with a reason such as "Annual Leave" or "Remote Work". |
|---|
| Swap | Two team members exchange shifts, with owner approval. |
|---|
| Offer | A team member gives their shift to a specific colleague, with owner approval. |
|---|
| Share with team | Makes your latest changes visible to the team. Until you share, changes are saved but only owners can see them. |
|---|
Set up and manage a schedule
This section is for Team owners.
Step 1: Create the schedule
- In Microsoft Teams, select Shifts on the left side. If you do not see it, select View more apps (the three dots) and search for Shifts.
- At the upper-left corner of Shifts, select the menu to open the All schedules panel.
- At the very bottom of the All schedules panel, select + New schedule. This option is easy to miss because the panel can be tall.
- The Create a team schedule window opens. It lists the Teams you own. Find your Team and select Create beside it.
- Set the time zone and closest city (see Step 2), then select Confirm.
Why is my Team not in the list?
The All schedules panel shows only schedules that already exist. To create a new schedule, always use + New schedule. If your Team does not appear in the Create a team schedule window, you are probably not an owner of that Team. Ask an existing owner to make you an owner, or contact IT.
Microsoft's guide: Create a team schedule in Shifts.
Step 2: Set up the basics
Open your schedule and go to Settings.
| Setting | What to choose at KAUST |
|---|
| Team time zone | (UTC+03:00) Kuwait, Riyadh |
|---|
| Closest city | Riyadh |
|---|
| Start of week | Sunday, to match the KAUST work week |
|---|
If your team is based outside Saudi Arabia, choose the time zone and city for that location.
Step 3: Choose your settings
Every team works differently, so Shifts lets you turn features on or off. Each setting below explains what it does, when it helps, and what to consider. Turn on only what your team will actually use. You can change these settings at any time.
If you turn off a feature later, requests that were already made remain visible and can still be managed.
Microsoft's guide: Configure settings for your team's schedule in Shifts.
Copying shifts
- What it does: When you copy shifts to another day, this setting controls whether the activities inside each shift are copied too.
- Helps when: Your shifts contain the same activities every time, for example a daily handover.
- Consider: If activities change from day to day, leave this off so you do not copy outdated details.
Open shifts
- What it does: Lets you post shifts that need coverage but have no one assigned. Team members can request them, and an owner approves.
- Helps when: You need volunteers for extra coverage, such as a weekend on-call slot.
- Consider: Someone must review and approve requests promptly, or shifts stay uncovered.
Microsoft is rolling out an option to automatically assign open shifts. It creates a draft that fills open shifts based on factors such as team members' availability, approved time off, and your scheduling rules. You review and adjust the draft before you share it. If you use it, check the result carefully, because it only knows what is recorded in Shifts.
Open shifts across locations may also appear. This feature shares open shifts with other Teams and depends on configuration by KAUST IT. To see whether it is available to your Team, select Check eligibility. Most teams do not need it.
Swap shifts
- What it does: Lets two team members exchange shifts. The colleague accepts first, then an owner approves.
- Helps when: People regularly need to trade on-call days.
- Consider: Each swap needs owner approval, which adds a small amount of admin.
Offer shifts
- What it does: Lets a team member give their shift to a specific colleague. The colleague accepts first, then an owner approves.
- Helps when: Someone cannot cover their shift and has already found a replacement.
- Consider: As with swaps, an owner must approve each offer.
Time-off requests
- What it does: Lets team members request time off in Shifts for an owner to approve. When this is off, owners can still add time off for team members.
- Helps when: You want team members to add their own planned absences to the team schedule.
- Consider: A Shifts request is not an official leave request. Team members must still submit official requests in HR Connect. If your team may confuse the two, keep this off and let owners add time off after it has been approved in HR Connect.
Time-off reasons
- What it does: Sets the reasons people choose when time off is added, for example "Annual Leave" or "Sick Leave". Shifts includes these defaults: Vacation, Sick day, Off, Parental leave, and Unpaid. You can rename, remove, or add reasons.
- Helps when: Your team wants the reasons to match the terms it already uses.
- Consider: Keep the list short. Examples teams often use:
- Annual Leave
- Sick Leave
- Remote Work
- Flexi Hours
- Business Travel
- Training
Remote work and flexible hours are not time away from work
Shifts lists every reason under "time off", including Remote Work and Flexi Hours. In your schedule, these reasons show where or when someone is working. They do not mean the person is unavailable or not working.
Track balance
When you add or edit a time-off reason, you may see an option to track a balance.
- What it does: Keeps a running total of time used for that reason in Shifts.
- Helps when: Your team wants a rough count for planning purposes.
- Consider: This balance is not connected to HR Connect and will not match your official leave balance. A second balance can cause confusion about how much leave someone actually has. It also does not make sense for reasons such as Remote Work or Flexi Hours. If you turn it on, make sure your team knows that HR Connect is the only official balance.
Scheduling rules
- What it does: Warns you when a schedule breaks limits you set, such as maximum hours per day or week, maximum days worked, consecutive days, minimum rest between shifts, or consecutive time off.
- Helps when: Your team has a defined requirement for these limits.
- Consider: Without a defined requirement, these rules create warnings that people learn to ignore. Leave them off unless you need them.
Time clock
- What it does: Lets team members clock in and out of shifts and record breaks on the Teams mobile app. Owners can export a time report for any period.
- Helps when: Your team needs a record of when shifts actually started and ended, for example to confirm handovers.
- Consider:
- Time clock records in Shifts are not official KAUST attendance or timekeeping records.
- It asks team members to clock in and out for every shift, which is extra effort for everyone.
- Explain to your team why it is on and how the records will be used before you turn it on.
Location detection is an optional part of time clock. When it is on, the time report shows whether someone clocked in or out within about 200 meters of a location you set. The report does not show their exact coordinates.
We advise against using location detection
Location detection records information about where people are when they clock in or out, which is personal data. KAUST IT is seeking data privacy guidance on this feature. Until that guidance is available, please do not turn on location detection. If time clock meets a real need for your team, use it without location detection.
Microsoft's guides: Clock in and out with Shifts and Export your team's time sheet report in Shifts.
Privacy controls for shift visibility
These settings control how much team members can see about each other.
| Setting | When on | When off |
|---|
| Allow employees to see all shifts in the past | Team members can see all past shifts. | You choose how many months of past shifts team members can see. |
|---|
| Allow employees to see why other employees requested time off and any notes | Team members can see each other's time-off reasons and notes. | Team members see only that a colleague is away, without the reason or notes. |
|---|
| Allow employees to see the shift notes, activities, and breaks in other employees' shifts | Team members can see full shift details. | Team members see less detail about colleagues' shifts. |
|---|
- Consider: Time-off reasons can be personal, for example "Sick Leave". Turning off the time-off reason setting lets the team see who is away without seeing why.
Step 4: Create groups and add people
Groups organize your schedule. A small team may need only one group. A larger team might use groups such as "On Call" and "Operations".
- In your schedule, name the first group, or select Add group.
- Next to the group, select Add people.
- Add the Team members who belong in that group.
A person must be a member of the Team before you can add them to the schedule.
Step 5: Add shifts and time off
You can build the schedule in any order. Changes save automatically, but the team does not see them until you share the schedule in Step 7.
Add a shift
- Go to the row of the person you are assigning.
- Under the date, select More options > Add shift, or double-click the empty space.
- Set the start and end times.
- Optional: add a label, such as "On Call", so the shift is easy to recognize.
- Optional: add notes or activities.
- Select Save.
Add an open shift
- Go to the Open shifts row of the group.
- Under the date, select More options > Add open shift, or double-click the empty space.
- Set the number of slots, the start and end times, and an optional label.
- Select Save.
For example: Wednesday On Call, 17:00 to 08:00, 1 slot.
Add time off for someone
Owners can add time off to the schedule for any team member, for example after leave has been approved in HR Connect. Select the empty space on the date in that person's row, choose to add time off, and select a reason.
Add a day note
Add a note to a specific day to share information with everyone scheduled that day, for example "Planned maintenance, 20:00 to 23:00".
Save time by copying
- Copy a shift and paste it on another day or to another person.
- Copy a whole schedule period, such as last month's rotation, to a new date range, then adjust it.
Microsoft's guide: Add shifts to the schedule in Shifts.
Step 6 (optional): Import an existing schedule from Excel
If your team already keeps its rotation in a spreadsheet, you can import it instead of entering every shift by hand.
- In your schedule, at the upper-right corner, select More options > Import schedule.
- Download the Excel template from the Import schedule page.
- Fill in the template, following the instructions inside it.
- Return to the Import schedule page, select Upload, and choose your file.
- Review the result carefully before you share it with your team.
Import adds, it does not update
An Excel import can add shifts, time off, and open shifts. It cannot change or delete anything already in your schedule. Make changes to existing shifts directly in Shifts.
Importing is available on Teams desktop and web. Microsoft's guide: Import a schedule from Excel to Shifts.
Step 7: Share the schedule with your team
- Review the schedule for gaps and conflicts.
- At the upper-right corner, select Share with team.
- Confirm the date range you want to share, then confirm to publish the changes.
Repeat this step every time you make changes. Team members see only what you have shared.
A useful routine for a monthly rotation:
- Build next month's rotation.
- Assign shifts and add open shifts for any gaps.
- Review, and resolve conflicts.
- Share with the team.
Step 8: Respond to requests
When team members send requests, owners receive a notification in the Teams Activity feed.
- In Shifts, go to Requests.
- Select a request to see its details.
- Optional: add a note.
- Select Approve or Deny.
The team member is notified, and if you approve, the schedule updates automatically.
Microsoft's guide: Manage shift requests and time off in Shifts.
Export the schedule
To view the schedule in Excel, for example to review coverage or reuse a rotation:
- At the upper-right corner of the schedule, select More options > Export schedule.
- Choose the start and end dates.
- To reuse the schedule later, turn on Export in a format that can be imported.
Microsoft's guide: Export a Shifts schedule to Excel.
Check that it worked
After you share the schedule for the first time:
- Ask a team member to open Shifts and select your Team's schedule.
- Confirm they can see their own shifts and the team's shifts.
- If you turned on requests, ask them to send a test request, then approve it and confirm the schedule updates.
- If a team member cannot see the schedule, check that they are a member of the Team and that you selected Share with team after your last change.
Keep your schedule working long term
- Keep at least two owners. If the only owner leaves or changes roles, nobody can manage the schedule or approve requests. See Add another Team owner.
- Update membership when people join or leave. Remove people who have left and add new team members to the Team and the schedule.
- Agree on who does what. Decide who builds the rotation, who approves requests, and how quickly requests are answered.
Use a schedule as a team member
This section is for team members on a schedule that an owner has set up. Which features you see depends on what your owners have turned on.
Reminder: Shifts does not update HR Connect. Submit official leave, remote work, and flexible work requests in HR Connect on the KAUST Portal.
See your shifts and your team's shifts
- In Microsoft Teams, select Shifts.
- If you are on more than one schedule, choose your Team's schedule.
- Switch between your own shifts and the team's shifts, and between day, week, and month views.
If you cannot see a schedule, ask a Team owner to confirm that you are a member of the Team and that the schedule has been shared.
Microsoft's guide: Get started in Shifts.
Request time off
Use this to show planned absences on the team schedule. It does not replace your official request in HR Connect.
- In Shifts, go to Requests.
- Select New request > Time off.
- Enter the start and end dates, or select All day.
- Choose a reason and, optionally, add a note.
- Select Send request.
Pending requests appear under In progress. Approved and denied requests appear under Completed.
Swap or offer a shift
- Swap: exchange one of your shifts for a colleague's shift.
- Offer: give one of your shifts to a specific colleague.
- In Shifts, select the shift you want to swap or offer.
- Choose Swap or Offer, then choose the colleague and, for a swap, their shift.
- Optional: add a reason.
- Send the request.
Your colleague accepts or declines first. If they accept, the request goes to an owner for final approval. You receive a notification in your Teams Activity feed at each step.
Request an open shift
- In Shifts, find the open shift you want to cover.
- Select it and request it.
- An owner approves or denies your request, and you are notified.
Microsoft's guide: Request open shifts, swap or offer shifts in Shifts.
Set your availability (mobile only)
Let your owners know when you are available, so they can plan the schedule. You can set availability only in the Teams mobile app.
- In the Teams mobile app, open Shifts.
- Tap the plus icon at the upper-right corner, then tap Set availability.
- Choose Recurring for a regular pattern, such as every Monday, or Specific dates for one-off days.
- Set the times you are available, or turn off Available for days you are not available.
- Tap Save.
Microsoft's guide: Set your availability in Shifts.
Get a reminder before your shift (mobile only)
In the Teams mobile app, go to Settings > Shifts and turn on Set shift reminder. You receive a notification one hour before your shift starts.
Clock in and out
This applies only if your owners have turned on time clock. Use the Teams mobile app to clock in when your shift starts and clock out when it ends. These records are not official KAUST attendance or timekeeping records.
Microsoft's guide: Clock in and out with Shifts.
Get help
- For questions about your Team, or if something in this guide does not work as described, contact IT.
- For questions about a specific schedule, contact an owner of that Team.
- For official leave, remote work, or flexible work requests, use HR Connect on the KAUST Portal.
Microsoft resources
