Staff allocation settings

Staff Allocation Settings

Staff allocation settings control how CaterCloud automatically assigns staff and resources to events. This guide is for account admins who want to fine-tune how bookings get filled, reduce unassigned events, and make sure the right people go to the right jobs.

Navigate to Settings → Allocation to find all the options below.

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Assignment Strategy

Choose how CaterCloud picks who gets assigned when a new event comes in:

• Balance load evenly (recommended) — distributes work across available staff to avoid overloading anyone
• Rotate through in order — cycles through staff in a fixed sequence
• Priority list — follows rules you define (see Priority Rules below)
• Manual only — turns off automatic assignment entirely; every event must be staffed by hand

Select the option that best fits how your operation runs, then save.

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When No Match Is Found

If CaterCloud can't find a suitable match, you control what happens next:

• Hold for manual assignment — the event sits in the unassigned column in your pipeline until someone acts on it
• First available location — assigns to the first location that isn't blocked, even if it isn't the best fit
• Alert admin — the event goes to the unassigned queue; in-app admin notifications are coming soon

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Priority Rules

Priority rules let you route specific event types to preferred locations automatically.

1. Click + Add rule
2. Use the Search event types… picker to choose the event type the rule applies to
3. Check the locations (operations) you want to prioritise, in order of preference
4. Repeat for each event type that needs special handling
5. To remove a rule, click Remove next to it

If no locations are checked, the rule won't filter anything — make sure at least one location is selected per rule.

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Reviewing Allocation Health

At the top of the page, a Last 30 days summary shows your total allocations, what percentage were auto-assigned, and how many events are still unassigned. Check Common barriers to assignment to spot recurring problems — for example, if a particular skill gap keeps blocking matches, that's a signal to update your staff profiles.

Click Save after making any changes.

> Tip: If you're seeing a high unassigned count, switching your fallback to Hold for manual assignment makes gaps easier to spot in the pipeline.