Understanding Templates vs Schedules in TeamBuilder
When you’re new to TeamBuilder, one key concept to understand is the difference between Templates and Schedules. Leveraging our system’s template functionality helps you avoid starting a schedule from scratch every week and gives you a solid head start—while still allowing flexibility for real-world changes.
🧩 Templates – A Starting Point, Not a Final Product
Templates are like a weekly skeleton for your schedule. They give you a reusable structure based on your typical setup—provider coverage, clinic hours, general staff patterns, etc. You can build and save multiple different templates to account for known weekly rotations and staffing patterns.
Important:
Templates don’t need to be perfect or include every shift detail. We know clinic schedules can change week to week, and provider availability often fluctuates.
- The goal is to capture the core structure that stays relatively stable.
- Then, for each week, you load this template into the calendar and adjust as needed—add days off, change shifts, swap roles, etc.
- This way, you're not building the full schedule from scratch every time.
📆 Schedules – Your Real, Week-by-Week Plan
Once you load a template into a specific week, it becomes part of your live Schedule—the actual calendar your team will use.
- Live schedules are date-specific and editable.
- Any changes you make here won’t impact the original template.
- You can load the same template into multiple weeks, then tweak it to reflect the needs of each one.
Tip: Even a rough template can save significant time. Start simple—then refine it as you go. You’ll always have the flexibility to adjust on the live calendar.
When Building your first templates:
1. Start With What You Do Know
Even if every week feels different, ask yourself:
- What are your office hours?
- Which days are certain staff or providers typically in clinic?
- Do you follow a weekly, biweekly, or monthly pattern?
- What’s the minimum number of staff needed to open the clinic?
Use these answers to start building a “base template”—your starting point each week.
2. Use Rotations If Things Change Week-to-Week
If you follow a repeating cycle like:
- Week 1 and 3 look similar
- Week 2 and 4 have different staff or providers
Then use multiple templates (e.g., “Week 1/3 Base,” “Week 2/4 Base”) in TeamBuilder. Apply the right one for each week instead of rebuilding every time.
3. Don’t Wait for “Perfect” Consistency
Most practices don’t have a 100% fixed schedule. Focus on:
- Filling templates with core staff and providers who are stable
- Leaving placeholders (e.g., “MA – Float,” “Provider – TBD”) for variable shifts
- Using templates as a base layer, and making weekly adjustments from there
4. Reuse Templates to Save Time
Once your base templates are set up, you can:
- Reapply them across future weeks
- Copy and modify for high/low volume weeks
- Spend less time starting from scratch—and more time fine-tuning
Final Tip: Don’t Overthink It
Templates are meant to make things easier, not perfect. Even 60–70% consistency is enough to benefit from templating. You can always adjust the details week-to-week in the actual schedule.