22 September, 2026
Someone needs to cover Wednesday evening.
You know the hours. You know the team. What you don't know yet is who will cover it.
You could put the time on a shared calendar, keep a spreadsheet, or coordinate it through Teams messages. But the thing you're really trying to manage isn't an event.
It's people and coverage.
That's what Microsoft Teams Shifts is designed to help your team manage.
Shifts is available in Microsoft Teams at KAUST. It gives a team a shared schedule where you can see who is working, away, on call, or available, and where coverage is still needed.
Assigned coverage
See who is scheduled to cover each period.
Open shifts
Show coverage that is needed but has not been assigned yet.
Swaps and offers
Handle changes when someone can no longer cover an assigned shift.
Shared visibility
Give the team one place to see the current schedule.
For example: Wednesday on call, 17:00 to 08:00
If nobody has been assigned yet, Shifts can show it as an open shift. A team member can request the coverage, and a Team owner can approve it.
Schedules rarely stay perfect for long. If someone can no longer cover an assigned shift, Shifts can let them swap it with a colleague or offer it to someone else. Team owners review the request before the schedule changes.
Build before you publish
Owners can prepare and review schedule changes before selecting Share with team. Until then, the changes remain visible only to owners.
Already using Excel?
If your team already maintains a rotation in a spreadsheet, Shifts can import a schedule instead of making you enter every shift again from scratch.
The distinction is simpler than it sounds. Start with what you are actually trying to manage.
Managing events?
Use a Microsoft 365 Group Calendar.
Meetings, maintenance windows, deadlines, and shared activities are events.
Managing people and coverage?
Consider Microsoft Teams Shifts.
On-call rotations, duty rosters, open coverage, availability, and shift changes are about who is covering a period of time.
Most teams do not need both. Use the simplest tool that solves the problem.
Shifts helps your team plan coverage. HR Connect remains the official record.
Microsoft Shifts and HR Connect are separate systems and do not exchange information.
Official leave, remote work, and flexible work requests still need to be submitted through HR Connect. A team can use Shifts to reflect that information in its operational schedule, but Shifts does not update your official HR records.
Shifts is for team scheduling and coverage. It is not used to track work or productivity.
Already have a Microsoft Team? You can add a Shifts schedule to it without requesting another Team.
Ready to explore Shifts?
Our guide walks Team owners through setting up and managing a schedule, and shows team members how to view schedules, request open shifts, swap or offer shifts, set availability, and more.
Use Microsoft Teams Shifts for Team Schedules and Coverage
