RotationGrid docs / Your first trainee

Getting started

Add your first trainee and plan their programme

This page walks through one trainee from start to finish: add them, fill in their name from the GMC register, and give them their first placements. It takes about five minutes, and it is the quickest way to learn how the plan fits together.

Before you start

A placement is always at a site, so the programme needs somewhere to put the trainee first.

  • Check the organisation and programme in the header.
  • Programme Setup must be initialized. If it is not, Programme Setup asks you to choose a starter blueprint first.
  • Add at least one site in Manage Sites. Leave and out-of-programme types are sites too, so add those you use.

Add the trainee

  1. Open Trainee List.
  2. Select Add Trainee. The Add New Trainee form opens with the cursor in GMC Number.
  3. Type the trainee's seven-digit GMC number.
  4. Select Look up GMC. The app reads the name from the GMC register and fills Full Name, with the message Name filled from GMC register.
  5. Check the name. You can change it.
  6. Set Status (usually Active) and Baseline WTE. Use 1 for full time, or the trainee's fraction, for example 0.6, if they work less than full time.
  7. Add Email and Contact Number if you have them. The email address is where Email schedule sends the trainee their schedule later.
  8. Set Training Start. The first placement you add starts on this month.
  9. Set CCT Date if you know it. The app does not calculate it.
  10. Select Save Trainee.
  • If the lookup says Could not look up GMC number — enter name manually., type the name yourself. The GMC register is sometimes slow or unavailable; the trainee saves the same either way.
  • Look up GMC stays off until the number has exactly seven digits.
  • If the GMC number is already used in another programme, the trainee record shows it, so you can spot the same person entered twice.

Hold a place for someone not yet recruited

Use a placeholder trainee when you know a slot will be filled but not by whom — for example, next August's intake before offers go out. The slot counts against capacity like any other trainee, so the plan shows the real pressure.

  1. Select Add Trainee.
  2. Tick Placeholder trainee at the top of the form. The GMC field goes away.
  3. Give the slot a name you will recognise, for example CT1 August intake 1.
  4. Save, then add placements exactly as below.

In Trainee List, a placeholder shows a TBC badge and an italic grey name. When the person is confirmed, open their record, select Edit profile, clear Placeholder trainee, and add their real name and GMC number. Their placements stay as they are.

Open the trainee record

Select the trainee's name in Trainee List. The trainee record opens on the pathway view. A new trainee has no placements yet, so it shows one button: Add First Rotation.

Add the first placement

  1. Select Add First Rotation. The Insert New Block form opens, with Start Month set to the trainee's Training Start.
  2. Choose the site in Site / Leave Type.
  3. Check Start Month, and set Duration (Months), for example 6.
  4. Leave WTE at the trainee's baseline, or change it for this placement only.
  5. Choose the Training Grade, for example CT1. The grade decides which capacity group the placement counts against, so it is required.
  6. If the programme uses disciplines, choose one. A site with a default discipline fills it in for you.
  7. Optionally add Tags (comma separated) and Notes.
  8. Select Insert Block.

The placement now shows in the pathway view, and on the site's row in Capacity Grid.

Add the rest of the programme

Each next placement starts where the last one ends.

  1. Select + Add next post below the last placement. The form opens with the start month straight after the latest end date.
  2. Fill it in as before, and select Insert Block.
  3. Repeat until the plan reaches the trainee's CCT date, or as far ahead as you plan.

To put a placement between two others, hover between the rows for an insert line, or use the ⋯ menu on a row and choose Insert after.

  • When you insert into the middle of a pathway, the form asks what happens to the later posts. Move current and future posts is the default, and moves them later so the new placement fits. Do not move leaves them where they are, which can make an overlap.
  • If the new placement overlaps another, the form says Warning: Overlap Detected before it saves. Choose Move later posts, or Add Anyway if the overlap is what you want.
  • If the site would go over capacity, a Capacity Warning shows. It is a warning, not a block: you can still save.

Check the plan

Once the placements are in, check them the same way you will every day.

  • The pathway strip at the top of the record shows the whole programme to scale, with a Today line.
  • Issues on this pathway, in the right column, lists this trainee's gaps and overlaps. Fill gap opens the insert form in a gap.
  • The validation badge in the header counts problems across the whole programme.
  • In Capacity Grid, find the trainee's placements on each site's row.

Next steps

Plan and move placements day to day Work in the capacity grid Find out why a placement is flagged Try a change without committing it