Assignment rules and the staffing plan

Assignment rules decide who each kind of production task is given to, so nobody has to assign work task by task. There are two kinds:

• Standing rules apply every day. They say who normally does that kind of work.
• Staffing plan rules apply on specific dates, such as while someone is taking time off or working a different shift. On those dates they take over from the standing rule.

You need the Assign production tasks permission to add, edit or delete rules. Anyone who can open the production calendar can see the staffing plan rules for the dates they're viewing.

Kinds of work a rule can cover

A rule covers one kind of work:

• Batch readings
• Cleaning and maintenance
• Cleaning and maintenance sign-offs
• Packagings
• Transfers

Brew sheet work isn't on this list, because it is given out batch by batch when you prepare a batch. A general task shown as a production task keeps the people chosen on the general task, so rules never apply to it either.

Adding a standing rule

1. Go to Settings -> Production -> Production tasks.
2. In the Assignment rules card, click Add assignment rule.
3. Choose the Kind of work.
4. If you have more than one site, choose a Site, or leave it on All sites to cover the whole business. A rule for one site beats the all-sites rule for that site's work.
5. Choose the Assigned users, the Assigned groups, or both.
6. Leave Applies on Every day.
7. Click Save.

Each kind of work can have one standing rule per site, plus one for all sites. To change who does it, edit the existing rule.

The Assignment rules card lists your standing rules and the staffing plan rules for this week and next week. Use the pencil and bin buttons to edit or delete a rule.

Adding a staffing plan rule

A staffing plan rule is set up the same way, but with Applies set to On specific dates. Choose the From and To dates, and choose the same date twice for a single day.

Staffing plan rules for the same kind of work and site can't overlap. If the dates clash with another rule, Breww tells you which one so you can change the dates or edit that rule instead.

You can add a staffing plan rule from any of these places:

• Add assignment rule on the settings page.
• The staffing plan (see below).
• The Assignment rules row of the production calendar, by selecting the days.
• View staffing plan rules on the settings page, then Add staffing plan rule.

Choosing what happens to existing tasks

As you fill in a rule, Breww counts the outstanding tasks it would take over and shows them under Existing tasks:

• Re-assign existing outstanding tasks this rule covers (the default) - those tasks move to the rule's people as soon as you save.
• Only use this rule for new work - existing tasks stay where they are, and the rule only applies to tasks created from now on.

Click Show which to see each task, who it is assigned to now and why. If some tasks won't move because their batch has its own assignment, Breww says so, and you can enable the option to assign those directly to this rule's people as well.

Completed tasks, and tasks someone assigned by hand, are never moved by a rule.

Deleting a rule asks a similar question under Tasks this rule assigned: Re-assign outstanding ones to follow the remaining rules, or Leave them with their current people.

Which rule wins

When Breww gives a task an owner, it works down this list and stops at the first answer:

1. Someone assigned the task by hand.
2. The batch's own assignments, set when the batch was prepared.
3. A staffing plan rule for the task's site that covers its due date.
4. An all-sites staffing plan rule that covers its due date.
5. The standing rule for the task's site.
6. The all-sites standing rule.

If none of these gives an answer, the task is left unassigned.

An owner is worked out when a task is first created, when it reopens, when it becomes ready to start, and when the plan moves its date or site. A task whose date the plan moves is treated as new work, so it follows the rules for its new day. Anywhere a task is shown in detail, Why explains where its owner came from, such as "From the staffing plan for 14 Oct 2026".

The staffing plan

The staffing plan shows a week of rules at a glance. Open it with Staffing plan on the Production task assignment page, Open staffing plan on the settings page, or Task assignment -> Staffing plan on the production calendar.

Each row is a kind of work (and site, where a rule names one), and each column is a day:

• A cell with people or groups in it shows who that work goes to on that day. A staffing plan rule is shown differently from the standing rule it overrides.
• A crossed-out person icon means no rule covers that day, so the work is left unassigned.

To add a staffing plan rule, click a day, or press and drag across several days in the same row, and the rule form opens with those dates filled in. Click a day that already has a staffing plan rule to edit that rule. Use the arrows to move a week at a time, Today to come back to this week, and Add staffing plan rule to start from a blank form.

Staffing plan rules list

View staffing plan rules on the settings page lists every staffing plan rule, with its dates, kind of work, site and people. Use Show to switch between Upcoming, Past and All. Past rules are removed automatically six weeks after they end.