Flexible activities have no fixed schedule, so you create rosters manually for the dates you need, one at a time or in bulk. This guide walks through adding a roster from the Rosters page, along with the special cases for Event and Regular activities and the flexible roster approval flow.
Which activities can use Add Roster
Add Roster works for:
Flexible activities — all of their rosters come through this flow
Event activities — to add new dates to an existing event
Regular activities — to add a one-off roster on a day outside the activity's normal recurring schedule. For example, a special Saturday session on an activity that usually runs on Tuesdays.
Once-Off activities don't use Add Roster, since they're a single-date activity by design.
Adding a roster
Navigate to Rosters
Click Add Roster in the toolbar (available in Single, Bulk and Calendar view)
Select the Program and Activity you're adding the roster to
Pick the date, or select a range of dates to add multiple rosters in one go
Set the location, or leave it as the activity's default
Add an optional roster name and roster notes
Click Save to create the roster
Once saved, the roster exists as a draft. You'll need to publish it for volunteers to see it. See How to Roster for the publish flow.
Adding multiple rosters at once
On the Add Roster dialog, switch to bulk mode or date range mode to pick several dates at once:
Bulk mode — pick individual dates from a calendar, ticking each one you want to create a roster for
Date range mode — pick a start and end date, and Volaby creates a roster for every day in between
If a date you've selected already has a roster, Volaby skips it automatically and tells you how many were skipped in the success message.
Flexible session customisation
If the activity has flexible sessions enabled, you can customise session times and names per roster instead of using the activity's default sessions. Use this when different dates of the same flexible activity need different shift patterns, for example a morning session on weekdays but an afternoon session on weekends.
The customisations only apply to the specific roster you're creating. The activity's default sessions stay unchanged.
Event activities
Event activities use the same Add Roster flow to add new dates to an existing event. Each event date has its own roster template on the Rosters page, so adding a new roster for a new date effectively extends the event with that date.
This is the way to add a new date to an Event activity after creation. The event dates themselves are locked on the activity edit form. See Editing an Activity for more on what is and isn't editable on an existing activity.
Flexible roster approval
If the activity has Require approval for flexible rosters enabled in its Advanced settings, any roster an Activity Leader adds starts in a Pending Approval state. A Program Manager or Admin must review and approve it before it can be published.
Rosters added by Program Managers or Admins bypass this step and can be published directly.
This is useful when you want Activity Leaders to handle day-to-day scheduling while keeping manager oversight on new rosters before volunteers see them.
Notifications
Rostered volunteers are notified when the roster is published, not when it's created. Until you publish, the roster is only visible to managers.
Permissions
You need to be the Activity Leader for the activity, a Program Manager for its program, or a Volaby Admin to add a roster.
Cross-links
How to Roster — building and publishing rosters, including the flexible roster approval workflow
Creating an Activity — for setting up a Flexible or Event activity in the first place
Editing an Activity — for modifying an existing activity (including the approval requirement setting)
Cancelling a Roster — if you've added a roster you no longer need