Enter the need once,the home page and auto-schedule read it.

How it works

1. 1

   Set the opening hours

   In Settings, on the Location tab, enter each day’s opening and closing time under Opening hours and minimum staffing. A closing time earlier than the opening time means the next day.

2. 2

   Enter the need

   On the Needs and targets page: for each team and weekday, enter the minimum in the columns At opening, At closing and Total per day. An empty cell means no rule.

3. 3

   Add shift types

   Under By shift type, press ＋ Add shift type and enter how many people each shift type needs per weekday. To express lunch, create a lunch shift type.

4. 4

   Save

   Press Save needs: the whole location’s weekly need is written at once. The Staffing today chart on the home page then compares planned and needed people hour by hour.

By hand and with Plana

Who uses it

Owner

Sets and saves the need on the Needs and targets page, and the opening hours in Settings on the Location tab. Sees the Staffing today chart on the home page.

Manager

Same as the owner. If a custom role loses the permission to edit location settings, the need can’t be saved.

Employee

Has no such screen.

Accountant

Can’t open this page.

What it doesn’t do

• It has no arbitrary time windows: a rule like “three people for lunch, 11–14” can’t be entered.

• The need is a business preference, not the law: when it conflicts with the legal rules, the rules win, and a day can end up short.

• The cells take a minimum only. There is no input for a maximum.

• The opening and closing rules need the whole location’s opening hours for that day. Without them the cell says it can’t be calculated, and planning skips the rule. Opening hours set per team don’t count for the opening and closing time.

• It counts planned shifts only, not clockings.

• The home page’s hourly chart can’t draw a team that has only whole-day numbers. It says that only a whole-day need is set.

• The planning board’s live check doesn’t use the need, so short staffing doesn’t become a violation when you plan by hand. You see a shortfall on the home page, in the Coverage section of Reports (Plus) or in auto-schedule.

Where to find it in Plana

Where to find it in Plana

Needs: Plan → Planning assistant → Needs and targets. Opening hours: Settings → Location

Where to find it in Plana

First you need teams, shift types and the location’s opening hours. The opening and closing counts can’t be calculated without that day’s opening hours.

Questions

• Can I set a need for lunchtime?

  Not directly.Create a lunch shift type, for example 11:00–15:00, and enter its need per weekday under By shift type.A time window such as “three people from 11 to 14” can’t be entered as it is.See:Needs and targets, By shift type

• What do At opening and At closing mean?

  At opening counts who is on site at the moment of opening, and At closing counts who is still there at the moment of closing.A shift counts for opening if it has started by the opening time and hasn’t ended, so early arrivals are included. A shift counts for closing if it started before the closing time and ends at that time or later.A closing time that isn’t later than the opening time is read as the next day. Only planned shifts are counted, not clockings.See:Needs and targets, By opening hours

• What does Total per day count?

  The people of that team who work that day.If one person has two shifts on the same day, they count as one person.One shift can count for several rules: if the restaurant opens at 10, a 10–16 morning shift counts for opening, for the daily total and for its own shift type. Each rule has to be met on its own.See:Needs and targets, By opening hours

• Where is the need used?

  In four places.Auto-schedule takes it as a minimum (Plus). The Staffing today chart on the home page compares planned and needed people by the hour. Coverage in Reports compares planned and needed shifts per day (Plus). On the phone, a shift lead sees the shortfalls from it.When you plan by hand, the planning board’s check doesn’t use the need.See:Home page, Staffing today

• What if the needs contradict each other?

  Auto-schedule makes no roster and tells you which rows are blocking it.Every row’s minimum has to hold at the same time. Change the blocking rows and run it again.The law comes before the need: Plana would rather leave a day short than make an unlawful roster.See:Needs and targets

• Can I set the need on my phone?

  No.In the phone app the need is read-only. A shift lead sees the shortfalls from it.Saving needs the permission to edit location settings. Owners and managers have it.See:Plana in the browser: Needs and targets

• Does it work on Perus?

  Entering the need and setting opening hours are part of Perus.On Perus the need also shows in the Staffing today chart on the home page. Auto-schedule and Coverage in Reports are part of Plus.On Perus, the top of the page says auto-schedule is included in Plus, and the generate button is disabled.See:Pricing

• What is the difference between an empty cell and 0?

  An empty cell means there is no rule, which isn’t the same as 0.A cell takes a number from 0 to 150, and an empty cell stays without a rule.The maximum in one cell is 150, and there can be at most 500 rules at a time.See:Needs and targets

Next stop in the period

Next stop in the period2Plan · Auto-scheduleOne click fills the period to your needs. You decide which suggestions stay.

Related features

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  Open shifts 0Legal violations 0

  A roster from your staffing needs

  You say how many people each day needs. One click suggests the missing shifts for the period. You decide which ones stay.

  • At least 11 h rest, at most 7 days in a row and 15 working days in a period
  • Sundays in turns: people who worked more Sundays lately get fewer
  • Student permit: auto-schedule keeps the yearly hours under the limit
  PlusVideo

• New preference from a phone

  HS

  Heikkinen, Sanna

  Day-off wish · Sun 13.9.

  Approve✓ Approved

  Preferences and time-off requests

  Employees send a preference from their phone, and you approve it in one place.

• Net pay goal this month1 800 €✓ TES OK

  MoTuWeThFrSaSu

  Shifts

  18

  Hours

  144 h

  Gross

  2 688 €

  Net

  1 876 €

  Example: morning shift 10–18, 16 €/h, tax card 22 %, September 2026.

  Plan from take-home pay

  An employee wants 1 800 € net? Plana works out how many shifts that takes.

  Example: a net pay goal of 1 800 €. Plana places 18 shifts and 144 hours in September: gross 2 688 €, net 1 876 €, TES OK.

  • Uses the tax card, Sunday supplements and overtime rates
  Pro