---
title: Creating a Rotation
description: Create effective employee schedules with rotations that repeat over a certain number of days or weeks. Easily add rotations to departments and customize rotation names, lengths, and description
---
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# Creating a Rotation
A rotation is a pattern of shifts that occur over a certain number of days or weeks. They can be effective tools for scheduling employees over larger time frames or for employees who consistently work the same days, dates, or times.
Rotations are made from the Department Profile. To get here, click the **Schedules** link in the top navigation bar.
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Select the department you would like to add a rotation to by clicking that Department's name.
Click on **Profile** on the left side navigation bar.
Click on the **Rotations** tab.
Click the green **Add Rotation** button at the top right corner.
Enter the **Rotation Name. **The rotation name should be short and remind you of the structure of the rotation when you are adding it to an employee at a later date. Some companies may choose to name the rotation after the individual(s) that will be working this rotation.
Enter the **Rotation Length **and then select either **Days** or **Weeks**. The rotation length is the length of time before the rotation repeats itself. For example, you could have a 1 week rotation that would repeat itself every 7 days. This is an effective way of scheduling someone to work specific days of the week, every week. Or you could have a 4 week rotation that would repeat itself after 28 days.
Enter a **Rotation Description **which can be used to help identify and describe how a rotation is composed and the proper way of using the rotation. This is an optional field that can be used for any notes that should accompany this rotation.
Click the **Generate **button.
You will now see a schedule of blank boxes that represent the days/weeks in your rotation. You must have previously created shift templates for a department before you are able to create rotations. If you would like to learn how to create shift templates, please read our article on **[Creating Shift Templates](https://19916410.hs-sites.com/creating-shift-templates?hsLang=en-ca)**.
Drag **Shift Templates** onto the days of the rotation that the employee(s) will be working. We recommend that you use Day 1 to represent the first day of your schedule week (Ex. Sunday or Monday).
Once a shift has been dropped onto the rotation schedule, the **Select a position** dropdown option will appear. If you have assigned positions to your employees, you will see a list of all the positions that exist in this department. Select the position that corresponds with this shift in the rotation if necessary.
Days within the rotation can be left blank if there is no shift scheduled for that day. You can also drag **Time Off** onto the rotation as well. If you make a mistake and drag a shift type on to the wrong day or assign the wrong position, hover your mouse over the shift and the word **Remove**will appear. Click that day to remove the shift.
After you have created the desired rotation, click the **Create **button to save the rotation.
You can now create employee schedules using your rotations. For more information on how to add a rotation to an employee's schedule, please read our article on **[Adding a Rotation to an Employee's Schedule](https://19916410.hs-sites.com/adding-a-rotation-from-the-department-schedule?hsLang=en-ca).**
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