> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.planmyrounds.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Auto Duty Planning works

> Understand Auto Duty — a recurring, self-driving duty plan that notifies your team, collects availability and leave, and generates a roster on a repeating schedule.

An **Auto Duty** is a recurring definition that plans your roster for you, cycle after cycle — weekly or monthly — without you rebuilding it by hand each time. Set it up once, and PlanMyRounds notifies your team, opens a window for availability and leave, generates the schedule, and (if you choose) publishes it, all on its own.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Auto Duty is a separate, additional way to get a roster — it doesn't replace the [manual Duty Plan wizard](https://www.planmyrounds.com/docs/rosters/creating-a-roster.md). Every cycle it runs still produces an ordinary **Duty Plan**, generated into the same rosters you'd otherwise build by hand.

## Auto Duty, Planning Cycle, Duty Plan — what's what

> **Auto Duty**
>
> The recurring setup: which team, which Shift Schedule, what cadence, and how much of the process runs unattended. Created once, reused every cycle.

> **Planning Cycle**
>
> One run of that setup for one period — for example, the cycle that plans next week. Moves through five stages from Notify to Published.

> **Duty Plan**
>
> The roster a cycle produces. Once generated, it's the same kind of Duty Plan you'd get from the manual wizard — reviewable, publishable, editable.

## What an Auto Duty covers

> **Cadence**
>
> Weekly or monthly, with a start day and how far ahead planning opens.

> **A Shift Schedule**
>
> The [weekly shift pattern](https://www.planmyrounds.com/docs/shifts/shift-schedules.md) generated against every cycle.

> **A doctor pool**
>
> Scoped by department, pod, and location — re-queried fresh every cycle, so staff changes are picked up automatically.

> **Scheduling rules**
>
> The same work, rest, and fairness rules used by the manual roster wizard.

## The 5-stage planning cycle

Every cycle moves through the same stages, shown as a stepper on the cycle page:

| Stage | What happens |
| - | - |
| **Notify** | The team gets a heads-up email/push, and the availability window opens. |
| **Availability & Leave** | Staff update their availability at any time; admins review leave in parallel — these run side by side, not one after the other. |
| **Generate** | The engine solves the roster against the current doctor pool, Shift Schedule, and rules. |
| **Roster Review** | The generated Duty Plan is ready to check — coverage, workload, and any soft violations — before it goes live. |
| **Published** | The Duty Plan is live and visible to the team. |

A cycle that can't produce a valid schedule lands in **Failed** instead of Roster Review; one you stop partway through lands in **Cancelled**. See [Running a planning cycle](https://www.planmyrounds.com/docs/auto-duty-planning/running-a-planning-cycle.md) for what to do at each stage.

## How much runs on its own

You choose how hands-on each cycle is:

| Setting | Behaviour |
| - | - |
| **Off** (default) | You start each cycle and click **Generate Duty Plan** and **Publish Roster** yourself. |
| **Generate duty plan automatically** (Auto Mode) | The cycle generates on its own once the review window closes, even if some responses are still pending. You still review and publish. |
| **Publish automatically** | Requires Auto Mode. The generated Duty Plan publishes with no review step at all. |

See [Setting up an Auto Duty](https://www.planmyrounds.com/docs/auto-duty-planning/setting-up-an-auto-duty.md) for how to configure these.

> [!WARNING]
>
> The doctor pool is never a saved list — it's queried fresh at Notify and Generate time from your department, pod, and location filters. A doctor who's deactivated, transferred, or rotated out is automatically dropped from the next cycle; no manual list to maintain, but also nothing to manually pin down.

## Where to find it

Select **Auto Duty Planning** in the sidebar to see every Auto Duty in your organisation, its cadence, its Shift Schedule, and its latest planning cycle.

## Next steps

> **[Set up an Auto Duty](https://www.planmyrounds.com/docs/auto-duty-planning/setting-up-an-auto-duty.md)**
>
> Configure cadence, team scope, and automation level.

> **[Run a planning cycle](https://www.planmyrounds.com/docs/auto-duty-planning/running-a-planning-cycle.md)**
>
> Walk a cycle from Notify through to a published Duty Plan.

> **[What is Auto Mode?](https://www.planmyrounds.com/docs/concepts/auto-mode.md)**
>
> The three automation levels, explained plainly.


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