# Create and manage requests

A request asks your partner agencies to cover a shift. Admins create them — from calendar dates, from an open seat on the roster, or as a one-off slot — and share them with agencies. Admins and Managers can edit, share and delete them. Once an agency has responded, a request can no longer be deleted, only cancelled, with a reason the agency is told.

## Who can do what?

| Action | Admin | Manager | Control |
|---|---|---|---|
| See requests | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Create a request | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Share, edit, delete or cancel a request | Yes | Yes | No |

## How do I create a request?

1. Go to **Requests** and press **Create Request**.
2. **Location** — choose the site, then **Next: Date & Time**.
3. **Date & Time** — choose one of three ways to say when:

   | Choice | Use it for |
   |---|---|
   | **Calendar dates** | One or more dates at the same times. Pick a **Shift Template** — day, night or short — or type the **Start Time \*** and **End Time \***. Tick **Create 24-hour coverage** to add the opposite shift as well, so the day and night are both covered. |
   | **Pick existing slot** | Open seats on the site's roster. Each seat you pick becomes one request. See [Patterns, seats and ad-hoc shifts](/docs/concepts/patterns-seats-and-ad-hoc-shifts). |
   | **New ad-hoc slot** | A one-off date and time that belongs to no pattern. |

4. **Requirements** — choose the **Role Type \***. Each request is for one officer — *Always 1 — each request is a single assignment* — so five officers on a night is five requests. Add **Special Instructions** and **Additional Notes** if you need to.
5. **Agencies** — tick **Share immediately with agencies** and choose them, or **Select all**. Leave it unticked to share later.
6. **Review** — check the summary and press **Create Request**, or **Create 5 Requests** when there are several.

Requests shared now go straight to those agencies' inboxes.

For a single shift already on the roster, right-click it and choose **Request agency cover** instead — that raises the request from the roster, in its own dialog, and is also for Admins only. What happens next is in [How a request becomes a rostered shift](/docs/concepts/how-a-request-becomes-a-rostered-shift).

## How do I find a request?

The **Requests** list opens on today and later. Change the date range, narrow by **All sites** and **All statuses**, sort it, or search the site, role and notes. The **Quick** buttons — **Open**, **Today & Future**, **Next 2 Days**, **Confirmed** — set common filters in one go. **Export CSV** downloads what the list shows.

Press **View** on a request to open it. A request with proposals waiting shows how many candidates there are, and a **Review** button — see [Review proposals and confirm officers](/docs/organisation/review-proposals).

## How do I share a request with more agencies?

1. Open the request and press **Share**.
2. In **Share with Partner Agencies**, the agencies it already goes to are under **Currently Shared With**. Tick the others you want.
3. Press **Share Now**.

If every partner agency already has it, the dialog says *All partner agencies are already sharing this request.*

## How do I change a request?

1. Open the request and press **Edit**.
2. Change the **Date \***, **Shift Start \***, **Shift End \***, **Site \***, **Officer Role \*** or **Additional Notes**. **Number of Officers** reads 1: a request is for one officer, so for more, create another request.
3. Press **Save Changes**.

Editing a **Confirmed** request first warns you, under **Edit Confirmed Request**, that it has active assignments and that the change will affect the officers already scheduled and is recorded in the audit log. Press **Proceed to Edit** to carry on.

## Delete or cancel?

| | Delete | Cancel |
|---|---|---|
| Possible when | No agency has proposed anyone, nobody is assigned, and it is not confirmed | An agency has responded, or it is confirmed |
| The record | Removed, with its agency shares | Kept, marked **Cancelled**, with what was proposed and assigned |
| Needs a reason | No | Yes, and the agency is told it |

**To cancel** a request an agency has answered, press **Cancel Request** under **Danger Zone** at the foot of the request, type the **Reason \*** — *Why is this being cancelled? The agency will be told this.* — and press **Cancel request**. **Keep request** leaves it as it is.

**To delete** one nobody has answered, press **Delete** and confirm with **Delete Request** — *This action cannot be undone.* If an agency has responded after all, it is not deleted: **Cancel Request** opens in its place, saying why.

![A proposed request for Meadowhall Distribution Centre, 11 Sep 2026, 19:00 to 07:00, with Check Call, Share, Edit and Delete under its title, and Trentside Security Personnel's proposal of Nadia Choudhury below. Over it, the Cancel Request dialog reads: An agency has already proposed officers for this request. Cancel it so who was put forward stays on the record. A Reason box marked required reads Why is this being cancelled? The agency will be told this, above the line Recorded on the audit trail and sent to the agency. Keep request and a red Cancel request button close it.](/docs/img/request-cancel-dialog.png)

The reasons you may see:

| Message | Why |
|---|---|
| *An agency has already proposed officers for this request.* | So who was put forward stays on the record |
| *Officers are confirmed on this request.* | The assignment record must survive for the agency's records |
| *This request is confirmed.* | A confirmed request is cancelled, never deleted |
| *This request is already cancelled.* | Nothing more to do |

### What happens to the roster shift?

If the request was raised for a shift on the roster, both dialogs ask under **Roster shift** what should happen to it:

| Choice | Effect |
|---|---|
| **Keep the shift open** | It stays on the rota, unfilled, for someone else to cover. The default. |
| **Cancel the shift too** | It is marked cancelled. You can restore it from the roster. |

If someone is already on that shift, or it has started, there is no choice: it stays as it is.

### Can I delete several at once?

Yes — tick the requests on the list and delete them together. Each one is checked on its own: any an agency has responded to are refused and stay on the list, to be cancelled one at a time.

## If it goes wrong

| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| *You don't have permission to create requests.* | Your role cannot create requests — Admins, Managers and Control can. |
| **Cancel Request** opened when you pressed **Delete** | An agency has responded. Cancel it with a reason. |
| *Insufficient permissions to delete requests* | Your role cannot delete or cancel requests. |
| **Cancel request** is greyed out | Type a reason first. |

## Related

- [How a request becomes a rostered shift](/docs/concepts/how-a-request-becomes-a-rostered-shift)
- [Review proposals and confirm officers](/docs/organisation/review-proposals)
- [Use the roster](/docs/organisation/use-the-roster)
- [Organisation, agency, client — who is who](/docs/concepts/organisation-agency-client)