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How Does Scaftra's Scheduling Work?

How do you put a sub on a job and grant them access without a separate onboarding step?

Scaftra schedules work as the act that creates project membership: assigning a sub to a calendar block makes them a member of that project, so the dispatcher never pre-adds them.

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The problem it solves

On a job, a person earns the right to act on a project the moment they get scheduled onto it. The framer who shows up Tuesday does not first get added to a roster by the office; they get put on the schedule, and that is the act of putting them on the team. Scheduling is also where two distinct decisions get recorded: the GC assigns responsibility (which company owns the work) and the vendor assigns labor (which crew member shows up).

Why it matters

Conflating responsibility and labor, letting the GC pick the sub's individual crew member, is a category error: it puts the GC in the sub's workforce-management seat. And separating scheduling from membership creates a second onboarding step that gets skipped, leaving a scheduled sub without access. Modeling scheduling as the membership-granting act keeps the team and the calendar in sync automatically.

Common mistakes

Try
Assigning a sub by picking their crew member
Reality
The GC assigns the company that owns the work; the vendor picks which crew member shows up. Picking the crew member is the wrong granularity.
Try
Pre-adding subs to the project before scheduling
Reality
Scheduling is what grants membership; a separate add step is a chance to leave a scheduled sub without access.
Try
Forcing a double-booking through
Reality
A same-project overlap can be knowingly approved, but a cross-project overlap is a hard block that cannot be overridden.
Try
Mixing a sub assignment with GC labor
Reality
An item delegated to a sub should not also carry an internal employee or crew; it makes who-owns-this ambiguous.

How it works

  1. Create the schedule item
    A dispatcher creates a calendar block: a project, an optional room footprint, a window, and a type like install or delivery.
  2. Assign responsibility
    Assign an internal employee or crew, or assign the sub company as the responsible party.
  3. Membership is created automatically
    Assigning a sub auto-creates the subcontractor's project assignment and seeds compliance rows; no pre-add needed.
  4. Overlaps are checked
    A cross-project overlap is blocked; a same-project overlap is a warning the dispatcher can knowingly approve.

How Scaftra does it

Scaftra makes the Schedule Item the single source of scheduling truth and the act that grants membership. Assigning a subcontractor profile to an item auto-creates the subcontractor project assignment, the membership row that makes the sub a member of that project, and seeds compliance rows; the internal axis equivalently auto-creates a project assignment. The GC assigns responsibility (the sub company) and the vendor assigns labor (the crew member), kept as separate decisions. A sub assignment may not also carry internal labor. A cross-project overlap is a hard block that cannot be overridden from the wire, while same-project overlaps are warnings a dispatcher can knowingly approve. All gates live in one validate path, so no write can skip them. This is built and live.

Scaftra treats scheduling as the act of putting someone on the team, so assigning work grants project membership automatically, no separate onboarding step.

Key capabilities

  • Scheduling grants membership: Assigning a sub or employee to a schedule item auto-creates their project assignment, so the team and the calendar stay in sync.
  • Responsibility versus labor: The GC assigns the sub company; the vendor assigns the crew member. The two decisions stay distinct.
  • Cross-project overlap is a hard block: Booking someone already committed in another project is rejected unconditionally and cannot be overridden from the wire.
  • One validate path: Membership, exclusivity, and overlap gates live in one place, so no write path can skip them.

Benefits

  • A scheduled sub gets project access automatically, with no separate add step to forget.
  • The GC stays out of the sub's workforce-management seat.
  • Double-booking someone across projects is caught before it ships a crew to the wrong place.

Who it's for

GC dispatchersProject managers
  • GC dispatchers.Schedulers assigning install, delivery, and punch work across crews and sub companies.
  • Project managers.PMs who need scheduling to also grant the right people access to the project.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to add a sub to the project before scheduling them?
No. Assigning the sub to a schedule item auto-creates their project assignment and seeds compliance rows. Scheduling is the act that grants membership.
Can the GC pick the sub's individual crew member?
The GC assigns the responsible sub company; the vendor assigns which crew member shows up. The two decisions are kept separate by design.
Can a cross-project double-booking be approved?
No. A cross-project overlap is a hard block. Same-project overlaps are warnings a dispatcher can knowingly approve.

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