The verdict in three sentences
For a group of 9 veterinary clinics, the rota becomes a management issue as soon as out-of-hours cover is shared across sites. An off-the-shelf tool at 4 to 8 EUR per employee works if your rules are standard, while a custom app pays off when working time law, shared on-call and payroll export create exceptions nobody can track any more. Either way the measurable goal is clear: go from 3 hours to under 1 hour of planning per clinic per week, with zero breaches of statutory rest.
The situation: 9 spreadsheets, 110 staff and overlapping on-call
The operations director of a group of 9 veterinary clinics across Dublin (Rathmines, Swords, Blanchardstown, Dún Laoghaire, Tallaght and the commuter belt) manages 110 people: vets, registered veterinary nurses, receptionists. Two clinics provide night and weekend emergency cover for the whole group, staffed with vets from the other sites.
Each clinic manager keeps a spreadsheet. Shift swaps are agreed on a messaging app, the director finds double bookings on Monday, and payroll rebuilds night and Sunday hours by hand at month end.
| Pain point | Today | With an app |
|---|---|---|
| Planning time | 3 h per clinic per week | Under 1 h |
| 11-hour daily rest check | Visual check | Automatic block |
| 24-hour weekly rest | Often missed after on-call | Alert before approval |
| Shift swap | Messaging app, no record | Request, acceptance, manager approval |
| Night emergency cover | Gaps found late | 8-week cover dashboard |
| Payroll preparation | 2 days a month | Variables exported in minutes |
The rules to encode, which is where it all happens
The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 requires 11 consecutive hours of daily rest, 24 hours of weekly rest, and an average working week of no more than 48 hours. Sunday work must be compensated, and on-call time spent at the clinic counts as working time following EU case law. Salaried vets and hourly nurses are tracked differently.
A good rota app must therefore handle:
- template weeks by clinic and role, with on-call rotation;
- shared on-call across sites, assigning vets from other clinics;
- skills: a surgical on-call needs an approved vet, an exotics shift a specific profile;
- leave and absence approved by the manager and applied automatically;
- a swap board, with rest checks before acceptance;
- payroll export: night, Sunday, public holiday and on-call hours, in your payroll software's format.
Off-the-shelf tool or custom app
| Criterion | Off-the-shelf rota tool | Custom Kolonell app |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | 4 to 8 EUR per employee per month (2026 order of magnitude) | Simple: 2 500 000 to 4 000 000 FCFA (3 810 to 6 100 EUR) |
| Multi-site on-call, skills, payroll export | Plan-dependent | Mid-size: 4 000 000 to 7 000 000 FCFA (6 100 to 10 670 EUR) |
| Advanced HR and payroll link, AI rota suggestions | Add-ons | Complex: 7 000 000 to 15 000 000+ FCFA (10 670 to 22 870+ EUR) |
| Maintenance | Included | 35 000 / 75 000 / 120 000 FCFA per month |
| Irish working time and group rules | Generic settings | Encoded precisely |
| 3-year cost for 110 staff | 15 840 to 31 680 EUR | 10 200 to 14 800 EUR (mid-size project + Standard maintenance) |
To be fair: if your clinics run independently with no shared out-of-hours, an off-the-shelf tool at 4 EUR per head will do the job well. Custom is justified by complexity, not by principle.
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Siobhan, operations director of the Dublin group, works out current planning time: 3 hours × 9 clinics × 47 working weeks = 1 269 hours a year. With the app she targets 1 hour per clinic per week, so 423 hours. Saving: 846 hours, which clinic managers move to people management and client care.
At a loaded cost of about 40 EUR an hour for a clinic manager, that is roughly 33 800 EUR a year. Add payroll: 2 days a month cut to 2 hours, about 21 days saved a year. The mid-size project, between 6 100 and 10 670 EUR, plus 1 368 EUR a year of Standard maintenance (75 000 FCFA or 114 EUR a month), pays back in under 6 months.
FAQ
Can the app prevent a breach of the 11-hour rest rule?
Yes, any assignment leaving less than 11 hours between shifts is blocked or flagged, as you choose. A manager can override, and the override is logged with name and date for WRC inspections.
Can staff swap shifts themselves?
Yes, through a swap board: a colleague accepts, the app checks rest and skills, then the manager approves. In practice over 80 % of swaps are handled within 24 hours.
How does the payroll export work?
Each month the app computes the variables per employee (nights, Sundays, public holidays, on-call) and exports them in your payroll software's format. The first mapping usually needs 2 payroll cycles run in parallel.
How long to roll out across 9 clinics?
Allow 10 to 14 weeks of development for a mid-size project, then a 4-week pilot in 2 clinics before extending to the group.
Is staff data protected?
Rotas and absences are personal data under GDPR: EU hosting, role-based access, change log. The hosting level is priced on quote.
Let's scope your project. Share your current spreadsheets and on-call rules, and we will scope a rota app ready in 10 to 14 weeks. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
