OT Events — Agent Submission Guide

Overtime (OT) Events are special scheduling periods created by administrators for holidays, peak seasons, or any time extra coverage is needed. As an agent, you choose which hours you're available to work — no one is auto-assigned. This guide walks you through finding an OT Event, completing your submission, and understanding what happens after you submit.

Who is this guide for?

This page is written for agents (frontline staff). If you're an admin looking to create or approve OT Events, see OT Events — Admin Guide.

Overview

Admin creates OT Event  →  Agents submit availability  →  Admin reviews & approves  →  Schedule updates

An OT Event covers one or more calendar dates. Each date is broken into individual hours. You tap the hours you can cover, save a draft or submit, and the admin decides which agents' picks to approve. Approved hours are automatically added to the live schedule.

Finding Your OT Events

Open the sidebar and navigate to My OT Events.
You'll see a list of all events you've been invited to, along with their current status badge:

Status	What it means
Not Started	You haven't opened the form yet
Draft	You've saved hours but haven't submitted
Submitted	Your picks are with the admin for review
Approved	Admin accepted your slots — they're live on the schedule
Rejected	Admin declined; you can revise and re-submit

Click View on any event to open the submission form.

📸 Screenshot: My OT Events list showing status badges and the View button

The Submission Form

The form is the heart of the OT Event workflow. It shows every date in the event as its own collapsible section, letting you work through them one day at a time.

Day Sections

Each day section is labelled with the date (e.g. Monday, Dec 25) and expands to reveal the full 24-hour timeline.

📸 Screenshot: A single day section expanded to show the three shift groups

Shift Groups

Each day's 24 hours are divided into three named groups to make navigation easier:

Group	Hours (24h)	Hours (12h display)
Late Night	00:00 – 05:59	12 AM · 1 AM · 2 AM · 3 AM · 4 AM · 5 AM
Morning – Day	06:00 – 17:59	6 AM · 7 AM … 12 PM · 1 PM … 5 PM
Night	18:00 – 23:59	6 PM · 7 PM … 11 PM

12-hour clock

All times in the form use 12-hour format (AM/PM) regardless of your profile timezone setting. This matches how shifts are communicated on-floor.

Reading the Timeline

Each hour slot is a card that shows you — at a glance — who is already working and who has claimed that OT hour.

Agent Chips

Every slot can contain two types of agent chips:

Muted / grey chips — agents on their regular scheduled shift. These give you context ("the morning team is already there") but aren't OT claimants.
Bright colored chips — agents who have already submitted OT availability for this hour.
Your chip — displayed in your profile color with an OT badge on any hour you've selected.

📸 Screenshot: An hour slot showing one muted chip (regular agent) and two bright chips (OT claimants, one with an OT badge indicating the current user's pick)

Gap Slot Hints — ⚡ "No Coverage"

If an hour has no regular schedule and no OT claims yet, the slot shows an amber ⚡ icon with the label:

No coverage — claim first

This is a hint that the business currently has no one covering that hour. Claiming it helps ensure continuity.

In the date header of the day section, you'll also see a pulsing indicator:

⚡ 3 uncovered

This count updates in real time as you (or other agents) pick those hours.

📸 Screenshot: Amber gap slot with the pulsing uncovered count in the date header

Prioritise gap slots

Gap slots are highlighted for a reason. Admins often approve OT for uncovered hours first. If you can cover them, consider claiming them before claiming hours that already have coverage.

Conflict Tooltips

It's fine for multiple agents to claim the same OT hour — the admin decides who actually covers it. When you tap a slot that another agent has already claimed, a non-blocking tooltip appears for 4 seconds:

"[Agent Name] has also claimed this hour — admin will decide who covers. Your pick is still saved."

Your selection is saved regardless. The tooltip is purely informational; it doesn't block you or prevent the claim.

📸 Screenshot: Conflict tooltip appearing over a claimed slot

Selecting Your Hours

Tap any hour card to select it. The card highlights in your color and your chip appears with an OT badge.
Tap again to deselect.
Work through the day sections in any order — the form remembers your picks as you scroll.

Sticky Bottom Bar

As you make selections, a bar sticks to the bottom of the screen showing:

Total hours selected across all dates in the event
🚨 Priority date warnings — if the admin has flagged certain dates as high-priority and you haven't selected any hours for them
⚠️ Over-limit warnings — if your selections exceed the event's per-agent hour cap (set by the admin)
Save and Submit buttons

📸 Screenshot: The sticky bottom bar with hour count, a priority warning, and the two action buttons

Over-limit hours

An ⚠️ warning does not block your submission — it's a heads-up. The admin may still approve some or all of your hours. However, it's worth reviewing before submitting.

Gantt Overview

After you've selected at least one OT slot, a Gantt Overview panel appears below the day sections. This gives you a bird's-eye view of your picks across all event dates.

Each date appears as a row
Bars show your OT slots (in your profile color) vs the existing regular schedule (grey)
Hover / long-press a bar to see which hours it covers

📸 Screenshot: Gantt Overview panel showing a multi-day event with colored OT bars and grey regular-schedule bars

This is especially useful for long events (10+ days) where scrolling through every day section is impractical.

Saving and Submitting

Save — Draft Mode

Click Save to store your current selections as a Draft. You can return to the form at any time to add, remove, or change hours. A draft does not notify the admin.

Status changes to: Draft
You can save as many times as you like

Submit — Send for Review

Click Submit when you're happy with your picks. This:

Locks the submission and sends it to the admin for review
Changes your status to Submitted
Notifies the admin that your availability is ready

Can I edit after submitting?

Yes — you can still edit your submission until the admin approves or rejects it. Simply return to the form, make changes, and click Submit again.

📸 Screenshot: Confirmation screen after clicking Submit, showing the Submitted status badge

After Submission

Admin Review

The admin reviews all agent submissions side by side. They may:

Approve all of your hours
Approve some and reject others
Reject all your hours (with a reason)

You'll receive an in-app notification when a decision is made.

Approved

If your submission (or part of it) is approved:

Your status changes to Approved
The approved hours are automatically added to the live schedule — no further action needed
You'll see them in your regular schedule view on the relevant dates

Rejected

If your submission is rejected:

Your status changes to Rejected
The admin's rejection reason appears at the top of the submission form
You can edit your selection and re-submit — the form becomes editable again

📸 Screenshot: Rejection reason banner at the top of the form with a Re-submit button

After rejection

Read the rejection reason carefully before re-submitting. Admins often specify which dates or hours had conflicts. Adjusting those specific slots gives your re-submission the best chance of approval.

Status Lifecycle

The following diagram shows every possible state and transition for your OT submission:

Not Started
    │
    │  (open form and save)
    ▼
  Draft ◄──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
    │                                                           │
    │  (click Submit)                                           │ (edit after rejection)
    ▼                                                           │
Submitted ─── (edit & re-submit) ───────────────────────────────┘
    │
    ├──► Approved  (admin approves — schedule updated)
    │
    └──► Rejected  (admin rejects — reason shown; re-submit available)

Quick Reference

Action	How
Open submission form	My OT Events → View
Select an hour	Tap the hour card
Deselect an hour	Tap again
Save progress	Sticky bar → Save
Send to admin	Sticky bar → Submit
Edit after submitting	Re-open form → make changes → Submit
Edit after rejection	Re-open form → adjust → Submit
Check approval status	My OT Events list → status badge

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the admin force me onto an OT shift without my submission? No. OT Events are opt-in. Only hours you've submitted (and the admin approves) appear on your schedule.

What if I submit and then can't work those hours? Contact your admin as soon as possible. If your submission hasn't been approved yet, you can edit it directly. If it's already approved, your admin will need to manually adjust the schedule.

Why can I see other agents' chip colors on my slots? Agent chips are shown as context so you know who's covering nearby hours. Bright colored chips are OT claimants; muted chips are regular schedule. This helps you understand coverage without needing to leave the form.

Does saving a draft notify anyone? No. Drafts are private. Only clicking Submit notifies the admin.

I see a 🚨 warning — what does it mean? The admin has marked certain dates as high-priority (e.g. Christmas Day). The warning appears if you haven't selected any hours for those dates. You don't have to — it's advisory.

OT Events — Admin Guide — Creating events, reviewing submissions, approving hours
Workspace Modules — Enabling or disabling the OT Schedule Events module
My Schedule — Viewing your approved OT hours alongside your regular schedule
Notifications — Configuring approval and rejection alerts

OT Events — Agent Submission Guide ​

Overview ​

Finding Your OT Events ​

The Submission Form ​

Day Sections ​

Shift Groups ​

Reading the Timeline ​

Agent Chips ​

Gap Slot Hints — ⚡ "No Coverage" ​

Conflict Tooltips ​

Selecting Your Hours ​

Sticky Bottom Bar ​

Gantt Overview ​

Saving and Submitting ​

Save — Draft Mode ​

Submit — Send for Review ​

After Submission ​

Admin Review ​

Approved ​

Rejected ​

Status Lifecycle ​

Quick Reference ​

Frequently Asked Questions ​

Related ​