For agencies📋 Scheduling & Dispatch

Split a job between interpreters

Split one billable job so one interpreter hands off to another partway through, without changing the slot count or the customer charge.

When a long job needs to be covered by more than one interpreter at different times (for example, an all-day surgery handed off at noon), you can split a single slot into segments. The customer is still billed once for that slot; each interpreter is paid only for the segment they work.

Watch the walkthrough

3:07

Split, set the handoffs, drop a piece, and put it back together. · Open in a new tab

Step by step

  1. 1Open the job, either click "✂ Split slot" in the assignment detail popup on the dispatch board, or open the job in Edit and use the per-slot "✂ Split slot" button.
  2. 2The slot splits at its midpoint into two segments; the first keeps the original interpreter (if assigned) and the second becomes a new open segment.
  3. 3Assign or offer an interpreter to the new segment like any other open slot.
  4. 4To set the exact handoff time, open the job in Edit and adjust each segment's start/end times (a quick-split just uses the midpoint). The handoff moves with it: change a piece's end and the next piece starts at that time, change its start and the piece before ends at that time. The slot's own start and end only change when you edit the first start or the last end. If the pieces still leave a gap or overlap, the job won't save until you fix it.
  5. 5Split a segment again if more than two interpreters need to cover the slot.
  6. 6The pieces list in time order on the dispatch board and in the job form, labelled like "Part 2 of 5" with their hours (on a job with several slots, "Slot 1, part 2 of 5"). A job with one slot in pieces is headed "Split slot · handoffs" rather than "Team Assignment".
  7. 7To drop one piece, click "Remove" beside it in the job's detail popup on the board, or in the job form. The piece before it (or after it, if you remove the first one) takes over its hours, so the slot is never left with a gap. The confirmation says who takes over, their new hours, and warns you if that clashes with anything else they have booked. If the piece can't be removed, you see the reason instead, with no "Remove piece" button.
  8. 8To go back to one interpreter for the whole slot, click "↩ Re-merge to original" in the detail popup and pick who keeps it.
  9. 9When everyone closes out, the customer sees one charge for the slot and each interpreter is paid for their own segment.

Tips

  • Splitting never changes "Interpreters needed", a split slot is still one billable position, and the customer is billed once for max(scheduled, actual) duration.
  • The same interpreter can hand off and RETURN to the same slot later in the day (for example A covers the morning, B covers midday, and A comes back for the afternoon), they're paid for each segment they work.
  • Overlapping segments for the same person on one slot are blocked, a returning interpreter's windows can't collide.
  • Each interpreter sees only their own time window on their card and calendar, with a "your shift" tag marking split segments. On the dispatch board the same tag reads "this piece".
  • On the dispatch board every piece shows the scissors icon, including an open piece waiting in the Unassigned row. Click the scissors to light up all the pieces of that slot.
  • Interpreters sharing a split slot can see each other's contact info, just like teammates on a multi-interpreter job, so they can coordinate the handoff.
  • Splits are for single (non-recurring) team-style jobs; recurring series keep one shared window.
  • When you remove a piece, both interpreters are told: the person coming off gets the usual removal notice, and the person taking over is told their new hours.
  • Removing a piece is refused when it, or the piece taking over, has already been closed out, when the job is invoiced, or when the interpreter taking over has an offer out for different hours. A piece that is not covered can never take over, so if nothing else can take the time, it cannot be removed. You find this out before anything changes: clicking Remove shows the reason and only a Close button.
  • Removing a piece from the job form saves straight away. It does not wait for you to click Save, and it only changes that one date.

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