A counter shows a running count of a configurable data point on a roster view you can see at a glance. For example, how many consultants with the paediatric skill are working today, how many junior are still vacant, how residents are on leave and so on.

Counters work in two steps. A site administrator creates a counter setting on the admin page, and then any roster view can be told to display it. The same counter can appear in as many views as you like.

To see your counter settings, go to Admin > Counter settings.

When you create a counter you first choose what it counts. There are five options:

assignments - actual created slots on shifts whether filled or vacant

slots on shift templates - slots on shift templates - that may or may not have been created into actua shifts

user templates - allowing you to count users who would normally be allocated, unallocated, available or unavailable

leave —- you can show approved, pending or both

using a formula - a calculation combining counters you have already made, example: total available users MINUS total slots to be filled - giving you an "excess" or "deficit" of staff to slots

Each of these has its own article explaining how to set it up.

Here's a quick overview of counter settings that apply across all counters; specific articles on different types of counters will go into more detail:

Name: required, and it is what you will look for when adding the counter to a view. Make it descriptive — "Vacant consultant slots" rather than "Counter 1".

Count within the time frame of a: whether the count is per day, per day part, or per session. Day parts only appear as an option if your site has them configured. For example, you can count the users on leave during the morning only.

Multiply count by: leave this at 1 unless each thing counted is worth something other than one. It takes up to three decimal places, so 2 counts each slot twice and 0.5 counts each as a half.

Three optional thresholds that shade the count based on its value. Enter a figure in Below threshold, Target or Above threshold, and any count that falls in that band is shaded. Leave a row blank for no shading.

Beside each threshold is a colour button. Click Select colour to choose a colour tat applies for that threshold, and click Done. To go back to the default, click Remove colour beside it.

Most counters are built from a selector and then one or more filters. The selector says where to look — which roster groups or rosters, or which people. Filters then narrow that down, for example to a single role or to vacant slots only.

Nearly every selector and filter has a "not" version, so you can count everything except something. Add filters with the + Add a filter link, and remove one with the red bin icon beside it.