Pre-Plan Standby Crews
A standby crew (also called a pre-planned crew) is a crew you assign to one of your vehicles before anyone asks for it. Many brigades do this routinely during high-risk periods. If that vehicle is later requested for a deployment, it is already crewed and ready to go — nobody has to start from an empty roster.
You manage standby crews from the My Crews tab, which is always available to your unit. It is separate from the deployment itself: a standby crew is your unit’s own plan, and it only becomes part of a deployment when the vehicle is requested.
This guide covers setting up standby crews, listing standby members, notifying the people involved, and what happens when something changes.
Prerequisites
Section titled “Prerequisites”- You must be a unit admin (for example a brigade admin), or have been granted the Crew Builder permission — see Who Can Manage Standby Crews below.
- The Availability module must be enabled for your unit.
- You work with the unit you are currently acting as. If you manage more than one unit, switch to the right one first.
Two Kinds of Crew
Section titled “Two Kinds of Crew”Each crew period you create has a purpose:
| Deployment crew | Local response crew | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A crew held ready in case the vehicle is requested for a deployment | A designated crew that keeps your brigade’s own emergency response covered |
| If the vehicle is requested for a deployment | The crew is copied into the deployment | The vehicle is not offered to the deployment for that period |
| Vehicle needs to be available for deployments? | Yes | No — can be used on a vehicle that is excluded from deployments |
| Members’ availability for deployments | Normal | Shown as unavailable (a manager can still override) |
A typical use: a brigade prepares one truck with a deployment crew for a possible strike team, and assigns a local response crew to its other truck for the same period so it keeps adequate emergency cover at home.
Open My Crews
Section titled “Open My Crews”- Click Crew Builder in the main navigation
- Click My Crews
You will see one card for each active vehicle in your unit, followed by a Standby members section.
Choose Which Vehicles Are Available for Deployments
Section titled “Choose Which Vehicles Are Available for Deployments”Each vehicle card shows whether the vehicle is Available for deployments or Excluded.
- Click Exclude to stop the vehicle being offered to deployments. It can still hold a local response crew.
- Click Make available to offer it again.
You can also change this on the vehicle itself, using the Available for deployments checkbox in the vehicle’s Status & Availability section. It is separate from a vehicle’s booking status — a booking never changes it, and a booked vehicle can still be crewed.
Create a Crew Period
Section titled “Create a Crew Period”- On the vehicle’s card, expand Add crew period
- Choose the Purpose — Deployment crew or Local response crew. For an excluded vehicle, only Local response crew is offered.
- Set From and To
- Click Add crew
The crew appears with one seat for each position on the vehicle: Driver, Crew Leader, and Crew.
Periods on the same vehicle can’t overlap, but they can sit back to back. To change crews part-way through a day, create two periods — for example 00:00–12:00 and 12:00–24:00 — each with its own members.
Assign Members
Section titled “Assign Members”On the crew, choose a member for each seat from the dropdowns, then click Save crew.
- Only members of your unit are listed.
- The Driver seat only lists members with a driving endorsement for that vehicle.
- A member can only hold one seat on a vehicle at a time.
- You don’t have to fill every seat.
- You can swap two members’ seats (or rotate several) in a single save — you don’t have to clear a seat first.
A member can’t be added if they are:
- already on a deployment during that period
- already on another standing crew, or on standby, during that period
- archived, or no longer a member of the unit
If any seat in a save is rejected, nothing in that save is applied, and the message tells you which seat and why.
To delete a crew period you no longer need, click Remove crew on its card.
Add Standby Members
Section titled “Add Standby Members”The Standby members section lists extra members who are available over a period but aren’t on a particular vehicle. Standby members are visible to your own unit.
- Under Standby members, choose the Member
- Set From and To
- Click Add standby
The same rules apply as for crew seats: someone on a deployment, on a crew, or already on standby during that time can’t be added.
Notify the Crew
Section titled “Notify the Crew”Click Notify crew to tell everyone on a crew which appliance they’re on standby for. Clicking it also saves any changes you’ve made to the form first.
Each member receives an email (subject to their notification preferences), an in-app notification, and a push notification. The message includes:
- The appliance, and its type
- Their role (Driver, Crew Leader or Crew)
- The period, in your organisation’s timezone
- Whether it’s a deployment crew or a local response crew
- The whole crew, listed with each person’s role, with their own row marked (you)
Nothing is sent automatically — members are only told when you click the button.
After You Change a Crew
Section titled “After You Change a Crew”If you edit a crew after notifying it, the card shows an amber box — Changed since last notified — listing exactly what changed (for example Added Jo Bloggs, Removed Sam Lee, Period changed from … to …). The button becomes Notify changes, and sends each person only what concerns them:
| Member | What they receive |
|---|---|
| Newly added | The full “you’re on this crew” message |
| Staying, with something that affects them — the period, appliance, crew type or their own role changed | A Crew Updated message listing what changed, plus the current crew |
| Removed | A short Removed From Crew notice |
| Staying, nothing relevant changed | Nothing |
If nothing has changed since you last notified, the button reads Resend notification and sends the full message to everyone again.
What Happens When a Vehicle Is Requested
Section titled “What Happens When a Vehicle Is Requested”A deployment crew
Section titled “A deployment crew”When a manager adds the vehicle to a deployment, StationOne finds the deployment crew that covers the deployment’s departure time and copies its members into the deployment’s crew seats, already approved (your unit set the crew, so there is nobody else to ask). The standing crew is then marked as used by that deployment.
- The copy is a snapshot. Later changes to your standing crew don’t alter the deployment, and the deployment page is where it’s managed from then on.
- If the vehicle is removed from the deployment, the standing crew returns to your plan.
- Each member is re-checked at the moment of copying. Anyone who has since been archived, left the unit, lost their driving endorsement, or joined another deployment is left out, and their seat stays empty for the deployment manager to fill. The rest of the crew is still copied.
- Any other crew for the same vehicle that overlaps the deployment (for example your afternoon crew when a morning deployment is open-ended) is flagged — see When a Crew Can’t Be Used.
A local response crew
Section titled “A local response crew”A vehicle with a local response crew isn’t offered to a deployment whose period overlaps it. Managers won’t see it in the vehicle list, and it can’t be added.
Its members show as unavailable (labelled Local response crew) in a manager’s crew picker, but a manager can still choose them using Show unavailable / not set (override). If they do, your local response crew is flagged and your unit is notified (see below), so you can decide how to keep your home cover.
When a Crew Can’t Be Used
Section titled “When a Crew Can’t Be Used”If something later makes a crew or standby entry unusable, StationOne flags it — it turns red on My Crews, with the reason — and notifies your unit’s Crew Builder contacts by email, in-app and push. Nothing is removed automatically; you decide how to fix it.
Common reasons:
- The vehicle was taken out of service, decommissioned, or excluded from deployments (for a deployment crew)
- The vehicle was added to a deployment
- A member was pulled onto a deployment, archived, or removed from the unit
A flagged crew can’t be notified. Fix the problem — change the member or the period, or remove the crew — and save. If the underlying problem has been resolved (for example the vehicle is back in service), the flag clears itself, and StationOne re-checks every upcoming crew hourly.
Who Can Manage Standby Crews
Section titled “Who Can Manage Standby Crews”- Unit admins (brigade, group, district and region admins), and organisation and super admins acting as a unit, can use My Crews for the unit they’re working as.
- Any other member can be granted the Crew Builder permission — Crew vehicles and manage standby members for deployments — directly on their profile, through an appointment, or through a custom group. See Appointments & Feature Permissions.
Everyone is limited to their own unit’s vehicles and members. You can’t crew another unit’s vehicles.
Choose Who Is Notified When a Crew Is Flagged
Section titled “Choose Who Is Notified When a Crew Is Flagged”By default, flagged-crew alerts go to your unit’s admins. To send them to specific people or groups instead:
- Navigate to Brigade Settings
- Click the General tab
- Scroll to Crew Builder Notifications
- Check the Groups and/or Individual members, then click Save Changes
This is the same list used for the other Crew Builder admin notifications — see Crew Builder Notifications.
Common Issues
Section titled “Common Issues”I can’t add a crew to a vehicle
Section titled “I can’t add a crew to a vehicle”Check the message shown. The usual causes are: the vehicle is decommissioned, out of service, or already on a deployment during that period; the vehicle is excluded from deployments (only a local response crew is possible); or another crew on that vehicle already covers part of the period.
A member doesn’t appear in a seat’s dropdown
Section titled “A member doesn’t appear in a seat’s dropdown”Only active members of your unit are listed, and the Driver seat needs a driving endorsement for that specific vehicle. See Add Vehicle Endorsements.
”Notify crew” is greyed out
Section titled “”Notify crew” is greyed out”The crew is flagged. Resolve the problem shown on the card first.
The crew in a deployment is missing someone from my standby crew
Section titled “The crew in a deployment is missing someone from my standby crew”They were re-checked when the vehicle was added and no longer qualified — for example they were archived, had left the unit, or were on another deployment. The seat is left empty for the deployment manager to fill.
My vehicle isn’t offered to deployments
Section titled “My vehicle isn’t offered to deployments”Check My Crews: the vehicle may be Excluded, or it may hold a local response crew over the deployment’s period.
My local response crew was flagged
Section titled “My local response crew was flagged”A manager assigned one of its members to a deployment using the availability override. Reassign that seat, or contact the deployment’s manager.
A member says they didn’t get the email
Section titled “A member says they didn’t get the email”Check they have an email address on their account and that their Vehicle Bookings notification preference isn’t turned off. They will still have received the in-app notification. See Manage Email Notifications.