Free RFI resource
Employee callout software requirements checklist
117 requirements for evaluating automated employee callout and workforce scheduling systems, compiled from real solicitations issued by shift-based employers. Read them all below, or download the matrix in Excel, Word, or PDF and use it directly in your RFI.
Free, no form to complete. Vendor-neutral — use it with any vendor.
117Individual requirements, each with guidance on what to look for in a vendor’s answer.
11Categories, from callout mechanics through security, support, and contracting.
64Marked Must, meaning a solution is not viable without them. Adjust to suit your operation.
3 formatsExcel with automatic scoring, Word for pasting into your own document, and PDF.
What it covers
Eleven categories, from the call list to the contract.
The requirements are industry-neutral. They apply equally to public safety, healthcare and long-term care, manufacturing, utilities, transportation, security services, and any operation that has to fill an unplanned vacancy quickly and fairly.
A · 23 requirements
Automated Callout & Notification
How the system builds a call list, who it contacts, in what order, and what happens when someone does not answer.
B · 15 requirements
Call List & Candidate Management
Keeping the candidate pool correct between events: eligibility criteria, named rules, crew structures, and employee attributes.
C · 12 requirements
Employee Scheduling & Rotations
Whether the base schedule lives in the same system as the callout, and what it can handle if it does.
D · 8 requirements
Overtime, Leave & Labor Rules
Overtime tracking, leave balances, work-hour limits, and the qualifications that decide who may be assigned.
E · 4 requirements
Time & Attendance
Capturing actual worked time against the schedule, and getting it to payroll.
F · 8 requirements
Employee Self-Service & Mobile
What employees can see and do for themselves, from a phone or a browser.
G · 11 requirements
Reporting & Audit Trail
The record you rely on months later when someone asks why they were not called.
H · 6 requirements
Integration & Data Exchange
Getting data in and out: payroll formats, APIs, HR system connectors, and single sign-on.
I · 12 requirements
Security, Hosting & Architecture
Hosting architecture, data protection, availability, and access control.
J · 11 requirements
Implementation, Training & Support
Who does the implementation, who trains whom, and what support looks like after go-live.
K · 7 requirements
Vendor Profile & Contracting
Vendor experience, pricing transparency, and contract terms.
Before you read the responses
Two questions that change how you read every other answer.
Is the schedule in the same system as the callout?
Categories C through F cover scheduling, overtime, leave, time and attendance, and employee self-service. A vendor whose product is callout-only will answer No or Not Applicable to much of it, or will propose integrating with a system you already own. If so, add the cost, the implementation time, and the ongoing risk of that integration to their evaluation — and ask what happens operationally when the two systems disagree.
Which rules can your staff configure, and which need vendor development?
Collective bargaining agreements define overtime differently almost everywhere. Most vendors need development work for contract-specific ordering, charged declines, escalation, and list rotation. That is normal — but insist it is scoped and priced before award, and send them your agreement first. A quote given without your rules in hand is not reliable. This is the most common source of budget overrun in these procurements.
Download
Take the matrix and make it yours.
Every requirement on this page is free to read and free to use. The files give you the working version: delete what does not apply, add your own, set your own priorities, and issue it to vendors.
No form, no email address. Pick whichever format your environment allows.
Want a second opinion on the responses you get back? Send us the callout and overtime articles from your agreement and we will walk through how they would be configured — whether or not we end up on your vendor list. Start that conversation.
Three formats
XLSXExcel requirements matrixFour sheets: instructions, the vendor-neutral matrix with response dropdowns, our own answers on a separate sheet, and a scoring summary that totals responses by category automatically. DOCXWord versionLandscape, one table per category, formatted so sections can be pasted straight into your own RFI document. PDFPrint and circulateEight pages. Opens anywhere, and passes through gateways that restrict other attachments.The full list
All 117 requirements.
Priority reflects how often each requirement appeared in the source solicitations: Must means a solution is not viable without it, Should means significant operational value with a workaround that costs time, and Nice means desirable but not decisive. Change them to match your own operation.
A. Automated Callout & Notification
23 requirementsHow the system builds a call list, who it contacts, in what order, and what happens when someone does not answer.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| A-01 | Generate a call list of qualified, available employees for an open shift or event | Must | Ask whether the list is built from live scheduling data or from an imported/synced copy. A nightly sync means the list can be stale at 2 a.m. |
| A-02 | Contact employees sequentially, one at a time, in the order the rule produced | Must | Most collective bargaining agreements require each employee get an opportunity to respond before the next is approached. |
| A-03 | Offer a shift to all candidates at once and collect responses (bidding) | Should | Distinct from sequential callout. Ask the vendor to state clearly which method does which — many conflate calling with bidding. |
| A-04 | Configurable response window per candidate, with automatic advance on expiry | Must | Without auto-advance a supervisor has to sit and watch the process. |
| A-05 | Distinguish an expired (unanswered) offer from an active decline | Must | A system that records both as ‘declined’ will misstate the record in a grievance. Ask to see both states on screen. |
| A-06 | Contact employees by more than one method (voice call, SMS, mobile app, email) | Must | Ask which methods are included in the base price and which are chargeable. |
| A-07 | Schedule a callout to begin at a specified date and time | Should | Useful for known future gaps rather than only emergencies. |
| A-08 | Define a cut-off after which the opportunity is no longer actionable | Should | Prevents an offer being accepted after it is useful. |
| A-09 | Run the callout manually, contacting employees yourself and recording responses | Should | Some agreements require a human to place the call. Automation should be optional, not mandatory. |
| A-10 | Pause, resume, or cancel a callout in progress | Should | — |
| A-11 | Take manual control mid-callout to add, skip, or reorder candidates | Should | — |
| A-12 | Contact an entire workgroup at once for a major event (all-hands) | Should | Ask how this differs from the normal callout path. |
| A-13 | Run multiple callouts at the same time across different locations | Should | — |
| A-14 | Order candidates by accumulated overtime, using the organization’s own definition of overtime | Must | CRITICAL SCOPING QUESTION. Overtime is defined differently almost everywhere — by assignment reason, reset cycle, or hours above a threshold. Ask whether this is standard configuration or vendor development, and get the cost in writing. |
| A-15 | Apply seniority as a tiebreak, or wherever the agreement places it | Must | Same scoping question as above. |
| A-16 | Charge a declined opportunity against the employee’s running overtime total | Should | Common CBA requirement. Ask whether it is configuration or development. |
| A-17 | Escalate from voluntary to mandatory when nobody accepts | Should | — |
| A-18 | Rotate the employee or crew who worked to the bottom of the list | Should | Ask whether rotation can run on a fixed cycle (e.g. weekly) as well as after each event. |
| A-19 | Cascade through the list until every position for each role is filled | Should | — |
| A-20 | Apply minimum rest and consecutive-hour caps as an eligibility condition | Must | Ask specifically whether rest limits are checked BEFORE the offer goes out or reported afterward. The difference matters for fatigue-rule compliance. |
| A-21 | Record audio of callout phone calls | Nice | Note that call recording carries consent obligations that vary by state. Confirm whether the vendor stores audio and for how long. |
| A-22 | Score candidates numerically and rank by score | Nice | A numeric score is harder to defend in a grievance than an explicit ordered rule. Consider whether you actually want this. |
| A-23 | Set up callouts without IVR scripting or telephony configuration | Must | Ask what is required to change a callout rule after go-live, and who has to do it. |
B. Call List & Candidate Management
15 requirementsKeeping the candidate pool correct between events: eligibility criteria, named rules, crew structures, and employee attributes.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| B-01 | Build named, reusable rules from a set of standard eligibility criteria | Must | Ask how many rules are permitted and whether each costs extra. |
| B-02 | Restrict candidates to employees available to work that shift | Must | — |
| B-03 | Exclude employees who already have an assignment on that date | Must | — |
| B-04 | Exclude employees whose hours including this shift would exceed daily limits | Must | — |
| B-05 | Exclude employees whose hours would exceed work-period limits | Must | — |
| B-06 | Restrict by home location, and by locations the employee is authorised to work | Must | — |
| B-07 | Narrow an individual opportunity by allowed position and required skill | Must | Ask whether this is set per opportunity or only globally on the rule. |
| B-08 | Run different rules for different bargaining units, departments, and locations in one system | Must | A single-rule system forces the strictest agreement onto every group. |
| B-09 | Mark an employee unavailable (sick, PTO, rest, travel) and control whether they are still contacted | Should | — |
| B-10 | Allow employees to make themselves unavailable for callout from self-service | Nice | — |
| B-11 | Build crew or team structures made up of distinct roles | Should | Ask how the system handles a team made of different roles – one supervisor and three technicians, or one charge nurse and four staff nurses. |
| B-12 | Change an employee’s position during an event and backfill behind them | Should | — |
| B-13 | Release employees back to available when an event winds down | Should | — |
| B-14 | Maintain employee attributes used for selection: seniority date, hire date, skills, certifications, position | Must | — |
| B-15 | Generate open shift records automatically from unmet coverage requirements | Should | Saves creating each opportunity by hand across a date range. |
C. Employee Scheduling & Rotations
12 requirementsWhether the base schedule lives in the same system as the callout, and what it can handle if it does.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| C-01 | Maintain the base employee schedule in the same system that runs callouts | Must | KEY EVALUATION POINT. If the vendor answers ‘integrates with your existing scheduling system’, add the cost, timeline, and ongoing risk of that integration to their score — and ask what happens when the two systems disagree. |
| C-02 | Build fixed, rotating, recurring, and variable shift patterns | Must | — |
| C-03 | Support 12-hour continuous rotations (DuPont, Panama/2-2-3, 4-on-4-off) and 8-hour rotations | Must | Ask to see a named pattern built during the demo, not described. |
| C-04 | Schedule relief coverage, regular days off, and floating relief employees | Should | — |
| C-05 | Schedule on-call and standby assignments distinctly from worked shifts | Should | — |
| C-06 | Define unlimited locations, departments, work areas, and employee groups | Must | — |
| C-07 | Set coverage requirements by position, skill, location, and time period | Must | This is what makes gap detection possible. |
| C-08 | Identify coverage shortfalls before schedules are published | Must | — |
| C-09 | Assign tasks, duties, and breaks within a shift | Should | Relevant where coverage is by position rather than headcount — control rooms, service desks, posts. |
| C-10 | Auto-generate a schedule from patterns and coverage requirements | Should | — |
| C-11 | Run annual or periodic shift bids with rules-based awards | Should | — |
| C-12 | Support multiple schedulers with permissions scoped by location or department | Must | — |
D. Overtime, Leave & Labor Rules
8 requirementsOvertime tracking, leave balances, work-hour limits, and the qualifications that decide who may be assigned.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-01 | Track overtime hours by employee in the same system that runs callouts | Must | If overtime balances live in a different system, the call list depends on a sync. |
| D-02 | Maintain accrual-based leave balances (vacation, sick, PTO) with transactions | Should | — |
| D-03 | Accept, route, and approve time-off requests | Should | — |
| D-04 | Prevent assignments that conflict with approved leave or stated availability | Must | — |
| D-05 | Apply work-hour limits, rest rules, and break requirements | Must | Ask which are standard and which need configuration work. |
| D-06 | Track skills and certifications with expiry dates and advance warning | Must | Essential where a licence lapse makes someone ineligible — NERC, gas OQ, clinical, CDL. |
| D-07 | Prevent assigning an employee to work they are not qualified for | Must | — |
| D-08 | Support shift trades between employees, with or without approval | Nice | — |
E. Time & Attendance
4 requirementsCapturing actual worked time against the schedule, and getting it to payroll.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-01 | Capture actual worked time against the schedule | Should | Ask whether this is the same product or a separate module with its own licence. |
| E-02 | Compare planned against actual hours and cost for any date range | Should | — |
| E-03 | Punch in and out from a mobile device with location verification | Nice | — |
| E-04 | Produce timecards and route them for approval | Should | — |
F. Employee Self-Service & Mobile
8 requirementsWhat employees can see and do for themselves, from a phone or a browser.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| F-01 | Employees view their own schedule from any device | Must | — |
| F-02 | Employees receive and respond to callout offers from a mobile device | Must | — |
| F-03 | Employees submit time-off requests and view balances | Should | — |
| F-04 | Employees update their own availability and contact details | Should | Stale phone numbers are a common cause of failed callouts. |
| F-05 | Employees bid on open shifts | Should | — |
| F-06 | Managers control which self-service features are enabled, per group | Must | — |
| F-07 | Native iOS and Android applications, not only a mobile browser | Should | — |
| F-08 | Send targeted messages to selected employees or groups | Nice | — |
G. Reporting & Audit Trail
11 requirementsThe record you rely on months later when someone asks why they were not called.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| G-01 | Retain a complete, printable record of every callout: who was contacted, when, and the response | Must | Ask to see a real record from a completed callout during the demo, not a sample. |
| G-02 | Record which rule produced the candidate list and in what order | Must | This is what answers ‘why was I skipped’ months later. |
| G-03 | Record every candidate state: identified, contacting, offered, accepted, partially accepted, rejected, expired, assigned, precluded, bypassed, cancelled | Must | Granularity matters. ‘Contacted / not contacted’ is not enough for a grievance. |
| G-04 | Report acceptance and decline rates by employee over a period | Should | — |
| G-05 | Report hours worked, overtime, and on-call by employee, team, location, and date | Must | — |
| G-06 | Search current status (e.g. which employees are approaching a rest threshold) | Should | — |
| G-07 | Provide a library of standard reports without custom report writing | Should | Ask how many reports are included and whether report changes are chargeable. |
| G-08 | Export reports to PDF, Excel, CSV, and HTML | Must | — |
| G-09 | Email reports from within the application | Nice | — |
| G-10 | Retain records for a defined period (state your retention requirement) | Must | Public bodies often need multi-year retention. Confirm the vendor’s default and whether longer costs more. |
| G-11 | Maintain a system access and change log (who viewed or changed what) | Must | — |
H. Integration & Data Exchange
6 requirementsGetting data in and out: payroll formats, APIs, HR system connectors, and single sign-on.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| H-01 | Export payroll data in a format the payroll system accepts | Must | Ask which formats are standard out of the box and which require development. |
| H-02 | Provide a documented API for exchanging data with other systems | Must | — |
| H-03 | Import employee records, leave, and certifications on a schedule | Should | — |
| H-04 | Provide a pre-built bidirectional connector to our HR/ERP system (name it) | Should | SCOPING QUESTION. Very few vendors have a genuine pre-built connector to a specific HRIS version. Ask for a reference customer using that exact connector. |
| H-05 | Export schedules to external calendars (iCalendar, Outlook, Google) | Nice | — |
| H-06 | Single sign-on (state your identity provider) | Should | Confirm which protocols and which identity providers. |
I. Security, Hosting & Architecture
12 requirementsHosting architecture, data protection, availability, and access control.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| I-01 | Vendor-hosted SaaS requiring no customer-managed servers | Must | — |
| I-02 | Describe the hosting arrangement: vendor-owned data center, a major third-party cloud platform, or another arrangement. Name the platform and state any certifications it holds, and whether they extend to the vendor’s own application | Must | Ask this before asking about certificates. A vendor hosting on a major cloud platform inherits that platform’s physical, network, and infrastructure controls; a vendor running its own servers does not, and you should understand what they have put in their place. Then confirm whether any certification named covers the application itself or only the infrastructure beneath it. |
| I-03 | Specify the data center region (state your residency requirement) | Must | Public bodies frequently require in-country hosting. Get the answer in writing. |
| I-04 | Encryption of data in transit and at rest | Must | — |
| I-05 | Describe how employee personal data, including phone numbers, is protected and who can access it | Must | Callout systems hold personal contact details for your entire workforce. Ask who inside the vendor can see them and under what circumstances. |
| I-06 | State whether customer data is used for any purpose other than providing the service, and confirm it is not shared without written consent | Must | Some public bodies require this in writing. Ask for the contractual commitment, not a policy page. |
| I-07 | Stated uptime service level agreement | Must | — |
| I-08 | Automated backups with defined retention and geo-redundant storage | Must | — |
| I-09 | Role-based permissions with read, add, modify, and delete levels | Must | — |
| I-10 | Accessible from any modern browser with no client installation | Must | — |
| I-11 | Available 24/7/365 | Must | — |
| I-12 | Protection against unauthorized use of employee contact details | Must | Callout systems hold personal phone numbers. Ask how access is restricted and logged. |
J. Implementation, Training & Support
11 requirementsWho does the implementation, who trains whom, and what support looks like after go-live.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| J-01 | Implementation delivered by the vendor’s own team, not a third-party integrator | Should | KEY EVALUATION POINT. Ask who will actually do the work and whether they are employees of the vendor. |
| J-02 | Written implementation plan with milestones and responsibilities | Must | — |
| J-03 | Configuration of callout and scheduling rules as part of implementation | Must | Ask whether rule configuration is included or billed separately. |
| J-04 | Training for system administrators and schedulers | Must | These are the people who configure rules and run callouts. Vendor-delivered training is appropriate here. |
| J-05 | Train-the-trainer program so your own staff can train end users | Should | A vendor does not know your internal callout procedure, your escalation chain, or your local practice. At enterprise scale, training your own trainers usually works better than vendor-delivered end-user training, and it leaves the capability in-house. |
| J-06 | Assistance migrating existing employee, schedule, and rule data | Should | — |
| J-07 | Live technical support during published hours, with a stated response commitment | Must | Ask what hours are covered, what the response commitment is, and how after-hours issues are handled. Round-the-clock live support is uncommon and normally chargeable, so ask for the cost of extended coverage separately rather than assuming it is included. |
| J-08 | Online documentation, help center, and self-service training material | Should | — |
| J-09 | Support for changing rules after go-live when an agreement is renegotiated | Must | Ask what a rule change costs and how long it takes. |
| J-10 | Test or training environment separate from production | Should | Ask whether additional environments cost extra. |
| J-11 | Free trial or pilot before commitment | Nice | — |
K. Vendor Profile & Contracting
7 requirementsVendor experience, pricing transparency, and contract terms.
| ID | Requirement | Priority | What to look for in the answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| K-01 | Describe implementations at organizations of comparable size, structure, and operating pattern | Must | At this stage ask the vendor to describe the work, not to supply contactable references. Look for organizations that resemble yours in shift pattern and labor environment, not simply in headcount. Reference checks belong later, once you have a shortlist. |
| K-02 | State whether the vendor is a small business | Should | Relevant where a small business set-aside, sheltered competition, or a subcontracting goal may apply. Vendor self-certification is sufficient at this stage. |
| K-03 | Transparent pricing, with all recurring and one-time costs itemised | Must | Ask for a total cost of ownership over the full term including renewals, implementation, training, additional environments, and rule development. |
| K-04 | Pricing model stated (per user, per employee, per organization, per site) | Must | — |
| K-05 | Costs for contract-specific rule development quoted before commitment | Must | IMPORTANT, AND SEQUENCE MATTERS. Provide the relevant articles of your collective bargaining agreement, or a written description of your callout and overtime rules, BEFORE asking for this figure. No vendor can quote accurately without them, and a number given without them is not reliable. Then ask every vendor to scope and price the work before award rather than after. This is where budgets are most commonly exceeded. |
| K-06 | Product roadmap and release cadence | Should | — |
| K-07 | Ownership of customer data and export on termination | Must | Confirm you can extract your data in a usable format if you leave. |
A note on sections C to F. They are not padding. Scheduling, overtime, leave, time and attendance, and employee self-service are where a callout-only product has to rely on a second system. Including them in your RFI is how you find out early, rather than during implementation.
Bring us your hardest callout rule.
Snap Schedule 365 answers all 117 of these requirements, and our answers are included in the download on their own sheet so you can compare them alongside anyone else. Send us your callout and overtime articles and we will show you how they run.