Error: end time cannot fall outside the shift

An activity cannot run past the shift it belongs to. Usually the shift is wrong rather than the activity.

An activity cannot run past the shift it belongs to. You are setting one to end after the shift ends, or to start before it begins, and activities live inside shifts. Usually the shift is wrong rather than the activity.

Why will the end time not go outside the shift?

• A schedule change refuses to save, with a message about the end time and the shift.
• Dragging an activity stops at the edge of the shift instead of extending past it.
• The activity looks correct against what the person did, and the shift does not.

The usual situation

Somebody worked late. The activity is right, the shift does not reflect what happened, and the record needs to match reality rather than the plan. Extend the shift first, then set the activity.

Fix it

1. Open the shift.
2. Adjust its start or end to cover the actual time.
3. Set the activity.
4. Check the day now adds up.

When you drag rather than type, the schedule moves in 15 minute increments, so a shift that needs to end at ten past will not get there by dragging. Click the time field and type it instead.

Two other reasons a change will not take

The workstream is dimmed. That means the agent is not assigned to it, and you cannot select it for them. Assign them to the workstream first.

You pasted a shift. Pasting over an existing shift replaces it, including the copied shift's start time, which is rarely what you wanted if you were only after the activities. Paste shift over keeps the original start time. And if the agent is not assigned to every workstream in the copied shift, those workstreams are swapped for ones they do have.

Watch what extending changes

A longer shift changes that person's scheduled hours, and with them their adherence rate and occupancy rate for the period. That is usually correct, and you are changing more than one number.

Check the time zone

An activity that appears to fall outside a shift is sometimes a display in the wrong zone. Switch to the agent's own zone before concluding the times are wrong.

Overnight shifts have the same effect: a shift crossing midnight belongs to one day, and activities after midnight can look out of range. Check which day the shift is recorded against before adjusting anything.

If it happens often

People routinely working past their shift is a staffing signal, not a data problem. Correcting the records each week treats the symptom; look at coverage at the end of the day instead.

See also

• An activity was tracked incorrectly
• Editing the schedule for one agent
• Using the time zone switcher