Skip to main content

How to Use Assignments

Handing out the day's tasks — the medication pass, charting, floor sweeps — usually happens on paper. The Assignments page moves that day sheet into Veras: build it from saved templates, staff it from your schedule, and print it for the floor.

Before you start

  • If you don't see Assignments in the left sidebar, contact Veras Support and ask to have it enabled.

  • Build and staff the schedule for the day first. The Search staff list only offers people who are already on the schedule for that time of day and position — see Creating the Schedule.

  • Set up your departments and areas before you build assignments. Every assignment belongs to one department and one area — see How to Set Up and Use Departments and How to Set Up and Use Areas.

  • You need scheduling permissions to change assignments. If the page is read-only for you, ask an Administrator to update your role — see How to Manage User Permissions.

  • Clear board and Reset to templates both wipe out the assignments already on the day, including the staff you have filled in. Read the two sections on those buttons before you use them.

Open the Assignments page

An assignment is one task you hand out for the day (e.g., a medication pass, charting, or sweeping floors). The Assignments page shows one day at a time, which Veras calls the board.

  1. In the left sidebar, click Assignments.

  2. Check the date at the top of the page. Use the arrows to move a day at a time, or click Today to jump back to today.

  3. Pick your department from the dropdown on the left (e.g., Nursing or Dietary). The board only shows assignments for the department you pick.

  4. Under Group by, keep or remove Time of day, Position, and Area to change how the rows are stacked.
    ​

The board lists every assignment for that day in four columns: Assignment, Staff, Shift, and Area. A yellow banner at the top counts how many assignments still have nobody on them, and each of those rows carries a warning triangle.

Board tools in the three-dot menu

The three-dot menu in the top-right corner holds five tools that act on the whole board for the day you are looking at.

  1. In the top-right corner of the Assignments page, click the three-dot menu.

  2. Pick the tool you need from the menu.
    ​

  3. Add templates - Add an existing template for the department you are viewing to add to that day.

  4. Reset to templates - Quickly reset the day you are viewing to their base Assignment templates.

  5. Clear board - Remove all assignments from the board, including templates, to start from scratch.

  6. Download - Download a CSV file of the day you are viewing.

  7. Print - Navigates to the print view for the assignments you are viewing — see How to Print the Assignament Sheet.

Add assignments from your saved templates

A recurring template (Veras also calls it a standing template) is a saved assignment that Veras rebuilds on the days of the week you picked. Pulling your templates onto the board is the fastest way to start the day. To change what a template covers, see How to Set Up Recurring Assignment Templates.

  1. On an empty day, click + Add Assignments in the middle of the page. On a day that already has assignments, open the three-dot menu in the top-right corner and click Add templates instead.
    ​

  2. In the Choose assignment templates window, check each template you want on the board. Check All assignments to take all of them.

  3. Click Add Assignments.
    ​

Veras adds one row for every time of day, position, and area the template covers, so a single template can produce several rows. Assignments already on the board are not changed.

Put staff on an assignment

Assignments start out with nobody on them. You pick the person day-of, from the people already working that shift.

  1. Look at the yellow banner at the top of the board. It counts the assignments with nobody on them, and each of those rows has a warning triangle next to its name.

  2. On the row you want to fill, click the Search staff box.

  3. Type a name, or scroll the list, and click the staff member you want. Each name shows the hours and area that person is already working.
    ​

The name drops into the Staff column, the warning triangle disappears, and the open-assignment count in the banner goes down by one.

Read the Shift and Area columns

Once someone is on an assignment, two more columns fill in. Schedulers often mix the two up, so here is what each one holds.

  1. The Staff column holds the person on the assignment. Click the X inside the box to take that person off and leave the assignment open.

  2. The Shift column shows the hours that person is working on the top line (e.g., 7:00AM–3:00PM), and the name of their shift template underneath (e.g., Long Term Care). The second line is the shift name, not the area.

  3. The Area column holds the unit or section of the community the assignment covers (e.g., Long Term Care or Rehab - North).
    ​

Taking a person off with the X leaves the assignment on the board and puts it back in the open count. It does not touch that person's shift on the schedule — to change the shift itself, see Edit Shifts.

Mark an assignment not needed today

Sometimes a standing task doesn't apply on a given day. You can drop that one assignment without touching the rest of the board or your templates.

  1. On the row you want to drop, click the three-dot menu to the right of the assignment name.

  2. Click Not needed today.
    ​

The assignment name is crossed out, the Staff column reads Not needed today, and the row stops counting toward the open-assignment total. Your recurring template is unchanged, so the assignment comes back on the next day it is scheduled for.

Change the area on an assignment

The area comes from the template, so you may need to move an assignment to a different unit for the day.

  1. In the Area column, click the area chip on the row you want to change.

  2. In the Assign area box, type in Search areas or scroll the list, then click the area you want.
    ​

The new area shows on the row right away. To take the area off entirely, click the X to the right of the chip.

Reset the board back to your templates

Reset to templates rebuilds the whole day from your recurring templates. This replaces every assignment on the day, and the staff you filled in, the notes you typed, and any one-day assignments you built are lost. Use it when you have made a lot of changes and want to start over from your templates.

  1. In the top-right corner of the Assignments page, click the three-dot menu.

  2. Click Reset to templates. Read the confirmation window — it names the exact date it is about to replace.

  3. Click the red Reset to templates button to go ahead, or Cancel to back out.
    ​

The board goes back to exactly what your templates say for that day, with nobody on any assignment. There is no undo — you re-staff the day by hand. If you only want to add your standing tasks and keep what is already there, use Add templates instead.

Create a one-day assignment or a new recurring template

When none of your templates fits, build the assignment yourself. The same window handles both a one-off for today and a brand-new recurring template — one checkbox is the difference.

  1. Before you start, set the department dropdown on the Assignments page to the department this assignment belongs to. The new assignment picks up whatever department the page is on, and you cannot change it inside the window. If you are on the wrong one, close the window, switch the department, and start again.

  2. In the top-right corner, click + Add assignment. Check the small line under the window title — it names the department (e.g., Dietary).

  3. Type an Assignment name (e.g., Next Day Prep). This is what staff see on the sheet.

  4. Pick the Area the assignment covers.

  5. Under Time of day, click AM, PM, or NOC (the overnight shift). On this window you can pick only one.

  6. Under Eligible job positions, pick the positions that are allowed to take the assignment. Click Select all to take every position, or Clear to start over.

  7. To save this as a recurring template, check Create a recurring template from this assignment. Leave it unchecked for a one-day assignment.

  8. Add anything staff need to know in Notes.

  9. Click Add assignment.
    ​

The assignment appears on the board with nobody on it, ready for you to fill in. If you checked the recurring box, the template is saved for the same time of day and the same day of the week — so a Wednesday AM assignment comes back on Wednesdays at AM only. To widen it to more times of day or more weekdays, see How to Set Up Recurring Assignment Templates. Note: If no one is on the schedule for the positions you picked, the Search staff list comes up empty. Put people on the schedule first, then come back and fill in the assignment.

Common questions

Q: I don't see Assignments in my sidebar. How do I get it?
A: Assignments is not turned on for every community. Contact Veras Support and ask to have it enabled for your account.

Q: Why is nobody showing up when I search for staff?
A: The Search staff list only offers people already on the schedule for that time of day and one of the assignment's eligible positions. Put people on the schedule first — see Creating the Schedule — then come back to the assignment. If the schedule looks right, check the assignment's Eligible job positions — see How to Set Up Recurring Assignment Templates.

Q: What's the difference between Clear board and Reset to templates?
A: Clear board empties the day and leaves nothing behind. Reset to templates empties the day and then rebuilds it from your recurring templates. Both throw away the staff, notes, and one-day assignments already on the day, and neither can be undone. If you only want to add your standing tasks and keep what is already on the board, use Add templates.

Q: Can I set a recurring assignment for more than one time of day?
A: Yes, but not from the Assignments page — the + Add assignment window allows only one. Edit the template in Settings instead, where you can pick as many of AM, PM, and NOC as you need. See How to Set Up Recurring Assignment Templates.

Q: I removed the wrong person from an assignment. Did that change their shift?
A: No. Clicking the X in the Staff column only takes that person off the assignment. Their shift stays on the schedule, and the assignment goes back to being open so you can fill it with someone else.

Q: Why does one template give me several rows on the board?
A: Veras builds one row for every combination of time of day, position, and area the template covers. A template set to AM, PM, and NOC with two eligible positions will produce more than one row, because each one needs its own person.

Related Articles
Did this answer your question?