Crew Assignments on Projects

Crew assignments link crew members to projects with specific roles, schedules, and rates. Every assignment feeds directly into project financials, enabling accurate cost tracking and client billing. This article covers how to create and manage crew assignments from the project side.

Assigning crew to a project

To assign crew, open a project and navigate to the Crew & Transport tab. Click the Add Crew button to open the assignment form. The following fields are available:

• Crew Member — An autocomplete field that searches across all active internal staff and connected freelancers. Start typing a name to filter results. Each result shows the person’s name, type (Staff or Freelancer), and current availability status.
• Job Role / Function — Select from the job roles configured in Configuration > Crew Settings > Job Roles. This defines the crew member’s function on this project (e.g., Sound Engineer, Lighting Technician, Stage Hand, Driver).
• Quantity — The number of crew members required for this role. Set this to more than one when you need multiple people in the same role and plan to assign specific individuals later. Unfilled slots appear in the Scheduler’s “Projects Needing Crew” panel.
• Start Date & Time — When this crew assignment begins.
• End Date & Time — When this crew assignment ends.

Rate configuration

Each assignment includes detailed rate settings that control both internal costing and client-facing pricing:

Cost rate

The internal cost — what your company pays the crew member for this assignment. For internal staff, this typically reflects their employment cost. For freelancers, it is the agreed rate for the job.

Price rate

The client-facing charge — what the client pays for this crew member’s time on the project. This is the amount that appears on quotes and invoices.

Rate types

Both cost rate and price rate can be set using one of four rate types:

• Hourly — Rate per hour worked. Hours are calculated from schedule entries.
• Daily — Rate per day worked. Days are determined from the number of schedule entries.
• Weekly — Rate per week. Useful for long-term project placements.
• Flat — A fixed amount for the entire assignment, regardless of hours or days worked.

Markup

The markup field adds a margin on top of the cost rate to arrive at the price rate. Two markup modes are available:

• Percentage — The price rate is calculated as the cost rate plus a percentage. For example, a £20.00 cost rate with 50% markup results in a £30.00 price rate.
• Fixed amount — A flat amount is added to the cost rate. For example, a £20.00 cost rate with a £10.00 fixed markup results in a £30.00 price rate.

You can also set the price rate directly without using markup. If you manually enter a price rate, the markup fields update to reflect the effective margin.

Multiple shifts per assignment

Each crew assignment can have multiple CrewSchedule entries, one for each day or shift the crew member works. This is essential for multi-day projects where hours differ from one day to the next.

For example, a lighting technician assigned to a three-day festival might have the following schedule:

• Day 1 (Build) — 08:00 to 18:00 (10 hours)
• Day 2 (Show) — 14:00 to 23:00 (9 hours)
• Day 3 (Strike) — 06:00 to 14:00 (8 hours)

Each schedule entry is linked to the appropriate project time period (Build, Show, or Strike) and can have its own call time override if the crew member needs to arrive earlier or later than the default.

Call time generation

The system generates crew call sheets based on schedule entries. A call sheet lists every crew member working on a given day, their role, start time, and call time. Per-shift call times override the default call time set on the assignment. This is useful when different shifts have different arrival requirements — for example, the build crew might need to arrive 30 minutes before the show crew.

Total hours and financial summaries

Hours and costs from crew assignments roll up into the project’s financial summary on the Financials tab. The calculations work as follows:

• Total hours — Summed from all CrewSchedule entries linked to the assignment. Each entry’s hours are calculated from start time to end time, accounting for overnight shifts.
• Total cost — For hourly assignments: total hours × cost rate. For daily assignments: number of day entries × day rate. For flat assignments: the flat cost amount.
• Total price — For hourly assignments: total hours × price rate (or cost rate plus markup). For daily assignments: number of day entries × daily price rate. For flat assignments: the flat price amount.
• Profit — Total price minus total cost. Displayed as both an amount and a percentage margin on the project financials.

These figures update automatically whenever schedule entries are added, edited, or removed.

Conflict detection

When assigning a crew member to a project, the system checks for scheduling conflicts with their other assignments and availability entries. If the crew member is already assigned to another project during the same dates and times, a conflict warning appears. The warning shows the conflicting project name, dates, and role. You can choose to proceed with the assignment (creating a known overlap) or select a different crew member.

Freelancer assignments

Connected freelancers appear alongside internal staff in the crew picker autocomplete. When you select a freelancer for an assignment, the system performs a compliance check before allowing the assignment to be saved:

• Public Liability Insurance (PLI) — If the freelancer’s PLI has expired, the assignment is blocked until they update their insurance documentation on their Freelancer Node.
• Certifications — If the job role requires specific certifications (e.g., IPAF, PASMA, SIA) and the freelancer’s certifications have expired or are missing, the assignment is blocked.

Blocked assignments display a clear message explaining which compliance requirement is not met. The freelancer is notified to update their documentation. Once compliance is verified, the assignment can proceed.

Assignment statuses

Each crew assignment moves through a status workflow:

• Assigned — The crew member has been added to the project but has not yet confirmed.
• Confirmed — The crew member (or their manager) has confirmed attendance.
• Completed — The assignment is finished. Hours and costs are finalised.

Tips

• Set rates at assignment creation time — Configuring cost and price rates when creating the assignment ensures financial summaries are accurate from the start.
• Use schedule entries for accurate hour tracking — Rather than estimating total hours, create individual schedule entries for each day. This gives precise hour calculations and better call sheets.
• Link schedule entries to time periods — Connecting shifts to Build, Show, and Strike phases helps with reporting and lets crew see which phase they are working in.
• Review freelancer compliance before busy seasons — Ask freelancers to update their certifications and insurance well in advance of peak periods to avoid blocked assignments at the last minute.
• Use markup for consistent client pricing — Setting a standard markup percentage across all crew assignments maintains consistent margins without manually calculating each price rate.

Next steps

You have now covered the core crew assignment workflow. Explore the related articles on the Scheduler for visual planning, the Time Clock for on-site attendance tracking, and Crew Settings for configuring rates, roles, and compliance requirements.