Scenarios

A scenario is a copy of your project's plan where you can try things out without touching the live plan, called Main. Use one to test a shorter shoot, an extra unit or a bigger team, see what it costs next to Main, and then promote the changes you want to keep.

What a scenario holds

A scenario has its own shooting days, positions with their rates, and work rules. While you're in one, the Planning tab, the positions on the Crew tab and the Work rules sheet all edit the scenario, and a banner under the project name shows which scenario you're in. Position changes save as you go. Days save when you tap Save in the day editor, and work rules when you tap Apply work rules.

People aren't part of a scenario. Who fills a position, negotiations, the approval chain and Hours & pay always show Main. Nothing in a scenario reaches crew either: nobody gets an invite, an offer or a schedule change until you promote it.

Creating a scenario

Open the project and tap the scenario switcher at the top. It's the chip that says Main while you're on the live plan.
Tap New scenario, type a name such as "Tighter schedule" and tap Create scenario.
CrewShift copies Main as it is now and opens the new scenario, so you can start editing right away.

Duplicate current in the same menu copies the scenario you're in, changes included. Use the switcher to move between scenarios and back to Main. When a project has no scenarios yet, the Scenarios section on the Planning tab also has a New scenario button.

Changing days

In a scenario you add and open days on the Planning tab the same way as on Main, see Adding shooting days. The day editor says "Editing scenario …, not the live plan" at the top, and Save writes to the scenario only. You can change the date, day type, length, call and wrap times, lunch, location and per diem. To remove a day, open it and tap the delete button. Removing several days at once only works on Main.

A day that was cancelled on Main stays cancelled in the scenario and can't be edited there.

Changing positions and work rules

On the Crew tab, add, edit and remove positions with the usual position sheet. A position you add starts unfilled. You can change a position's department, role, rate and gear.

Tap Work rules in the project summary to change the scenario's rules, then tap Apply work rules. If the scenario follows the Fijn Weekend standard, its rules are fixed, just like on Main. Switch it to Custom to change them for this scenario only.

Comparing cost

Open the Scenarios section on the Planning tab. Producers and co-producers see it. Main and each scenario sit side by side, with Total, Labour, Overtime, Premiums, Night premium, Per diem, Gear, Crew-days and Crew. Under each scenario figure you see the difference from Main: green when it's cheaper, red when it costs more.

The figures are a forward estimate, not a binding amount or a budget. They're priced on the planned times and work rules and include every planned position, also the ones nobody has signed for yet. That's why they rarely match Finances, which counts signed commitments only (see Why doesn't Finances match my scenario estimate?).

Early in planning, days often have no wrap time yet and positions no rate. The estimate still gives a figure, and of which indicative under Total shows how much of it rests on these assumptions:

Standard days counts the days without a call or wrap time. Each is priced as the work rules' standard day (for example 10 hours), without overtime. Without a call time the day ends at its wrap time, or runs from 08:00.
Indicative rates counts the positions without a rate that are priced anyway. CrewShift first takes your own most recent signed rate for that role on your other projects, from the last 24 months. Without one, it takes the role's reference rate, raised to the fair-pay floor when that is higher. Your earlier rates are only used when everyone who can see this project's estimates may also see those projects' prices.
Rate TBD counts the positions that still have no price: a buy-out or monthly fee without its amount, a role without a reference rate, or a rate you're not allowed to see. They add nothing to labour until they get one.
Indicative rates are never saved on the position. Give a position its real rate to replace them.
A dash instead of a figure means the scenario isn't complete yet: a day without a date, or a position without a department or role.

Outdated and Recalculate

A scenario copies Main when you create it and keeps its own days after that. When a day is later added to Main, removed, moved or cancelled, or another scenario is promoted, the scenario's column is marked Outdated. Changing a Main day's times or day type, or Main's positions, doesn't set the mark. Its difference from Main no longer compares like with like.

Recalculate prices Main and every complete scenario again with the current rates and work rules, and clears the mark. A scenario that shows a dash keeps the mark until it's complete. It doesn't copy Main's new days into the scenario. To compare against Main's current schedule, create a new scenario. Recalculate is also what you want after changing a rate or a work rule elsewhere, because an open table doesn't refresh on its own. Updated … next to the button shows when the figures were last calculated.

Promoting a scenario to Main

When a scenario is the plan you want to run, open it, tap the switcher and choose Promote → Main. Producers and co-producers can promote. Crew with the Planning right submit it for approval instead. The scenario has to be complete first. If a day or position is missing something, you're asked to complete the required fields.

Review promotion opens with the Plan cost impact, the estimated total of the whole plan before and after. It's the same figure as Total in Scenarios. Below it the changes come in groups, and a group is applied only if you switch it on. That way you can promote the schedule now and the team later, or the other way round.

The groups you may see:

New positions: positions the scenario added. They're created as open roles, and no invite is sent.
Removed or unfilled positions (no fee): positions the scenario removed that were never confirmed. They leave the plan, or stay listed as unfilled if they have negotiation history. An open negotiation on a removed position is cancelled.
Cancellations with fees: confirmed crew the scenario removes. Each person's late-cancellation fee and chargeable day count are shown before you switch the group on. Crew paid hourly carry no fee. Promoting this group cancels their booking and issues the fees.
Schedule amendments: crew with an accepted offer, a deal memo out or a booking whose dates are affected by the day changes below. Booked crew are marked must re-sign. This group follows from the day changes and has no switch of its own. See Who hears about a promotion.
Schedule / day updates: the days added, removed, moved or changed. A day with signed crew can't be removed this way, so cancel it instead. Days with logged hours aren't removed or moved. Those days are flagged in the list and skipped.
Position changes: department, role, gear or rate changes on positions that aren't confirmed yet.
Work-rule changes: the scenario's changes to the project, department and unconfirmed-crew work rules. This group is locked when the project runs on the standard Fijn Weekend rules, or when a signed deal memo has locked the work rules.

Work-rule and day-rate changes for crew who already signed are flagged and left as they are. A signed deal memo keeps the figures the crew member agreed to. The flag tells you the scenario assumed different terms for that person, so you can follow up if you need to.

Tap Confirm & promote. Production days that add crew-days use your crew-day credits. If a step fails, the rest is still applied and the sheet says Promotion completed with issues.

Who hears about a promotion

Promoting writes onto Main, so crew hear about it the same way as when you edit the calendar:

Adding, removing or moving a day sends a schedule change request to crew with an accepted offer, a deal memo out for signature or a booking. Booked crew sign an amendment, and until they do, their deal stays on the old dates. Signing can cancel their negotiations on other projects that overlap.
A new call time, location or other change to an existing day sends no request.
Crew who are still negotiating get no request. Adjust their offer if the dates matter.
Crew negotiating on a position you switch on under Removed or unfilled positions see their negotiation cancelled.
Crew you switch on under Cancellations with fees lose their booking, and their fees are issued.
New positions are open roles. Nobody gets an invite until you send one.

After promoting

After a promotion you land back on Main. When every group went across, the Scenarios section opens with a note that the scenario now matches the live plan, and Delete this scenario if you don't need it any more. If you keep it, it's marked Promoted in the switcher and becomes read-only. It stays as a record of what was merged and can still be renamed, but Promote → Main is gone, so the same changes can't be written onto the plan twice. To keep planning from there, use Duplicate current.

If you switched on only some groups, the scenario isn't marked and you can promote the rest later.

Submitting a scenario for approval

Crew with the Planning right build scenarios for their own departments and send them to the producer with Submit for approval instead of promoting them. A planner can change positions in their departments and the shooting days, which apply to the whole production. Work rules and rate changes to existing positions are never part of a planner's request. A planner who also holds Finance or Accounting can set the rate on a position they add. Otherwise you set it. The planner's side is described in Planning.

Reviewing planner requests

A submitted scenario lands in your Inbox as a request to review. The producer or any co-producer can review it. Open it to see exactly what the planner changed. The changes are grouped the same way as when you promote a scenario, and only the groups you switch on are applied.

Add an optional note to the planner, then tap Approve & apply or Decline. Nothing reaches the live plan until you approve. A declined request goes back to the planner with your note, so they can revise it and submit it again.

Deleting a scenario

Open the scenario, tap the switcher and choose Delete, then confirm. You can't undo it. Deleting removes only the scenario: Main stays as it is, including anything you already promoted from it. A planner can't delete a scenario while it waits for the producer's approval.