Every rotating schedule generator, maker or creator does the same arithmetic: it takes a pattern and lays it across a calendar so that each crew's days and hours appear. The free worksheet on this site does that arithmetic from the four numbers that matter, the crews, the shift length, the days a crew works in a cycle and the cycle length, and returns the figures a manager argues about: hours per person a week, hours over forty, the crews and people it takes to cover the clock, and the cost of a cycle. This page explains how to use it as a rotating schedule maker for a 2-2-3, a 4 on 4 off or a 9/80, as a 3 person schedule rotation generator for a tiny crew, and as a roster generator or work schedule creator once the pattern is chosen.
What to type in, for each common pattern
For a 2-2-3, Pitman or Panama: four crews, twelve hours, seven days on, a fourteen-day cycle. For a 4 on 4 off: four crews, twelve hours, four on, eight-day cycle. For a DuPont: four crews, twelve hours, fourteen on, twenty-eight-day cycle. For a 9/80: one crew, nine hours, nine on, fourteen-day cycle. For a 4/10: one crew, ten hours, four on, seven-day cycle. For a three-crew eight-hour rotation: three crews, eight hours, five on, seven-day cycle. The people per shift and the hourly rate are yours. The worksheet returns the same figures for each, which is how the patterns are compared on something other than their names.
Reading the answer: hours, coverage, cost
Average hours per person a week is the figure the crew feels and the figure the workweek definition turns into overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act; hours over forty is the same figure minus forty. Crews needed for round-the-clock coverage is twenty-four divided by the shift length, times the cycle divided by the days on: on twelve-hour shifts at half the days it is four, and if you entered three the difference is the crew you do not have. People needed multiplies that by the people per shift. The cost of a cycle and of an average week are the crews times the people per shift times the hours times the rate, before overtime premiums, which is the number to put beside a wage budget.
From generator to roster
The worksheet lays out the pattern; the roster is that pattern with names on it for a specific period, published with a date. A 3 person schedule rotation generator is the same worksheet with three crews of one, which is how a small clinic or a three-officer department finds out that covering a clock with three people means 56-hour weeks. Once the pattern is chosen, Rotazo Pro is the work schedule creator that keeps it: the crews, each published version of the roster, every swap and call-out against its shift, and every person's hours. The free generator is the argument; the record is what the argument becomes.
Questions people ask about rotating schedule generator free
Is the rotating schedule generator really free?
Yes, with no account and no sign-up: the worksheet computes on the page from the figures you enter and prints. Saving a pattern and keeping the published roster is what the paid plan adds.
Can it generate a schedule for three people?
Yes: three crews of one. It will show that three people covering twenty-four hours on twelve-hour shifts each average 56 hours a week, which is the honest answer a three-person rotation gives.
Does it put names on the schedule?
The free worksheet gives the pattern's hours, coverage and cost. Names, published versions and swaps are the record, which is Rotazo Pro.