Duty Session Configuration

N4 Safety relies heavily on “Check-In” and “Check-Out” blocks to define a member’s active Duty Session. This active period determines which assignments highlight green on the dashboard, what notifications appear, and when a member is officially recorded for an audit timestamp.

Buffer Minutes

Because members often arrive early or stay late for debriefs, the system does not enforce a rigid “on the dot” start time. Instead, an administrative setting called Buffer Minutes surrounds every event.

A Check-In Buffer opens the operational check-in window X minutes prior to an assignment starting.

A Check-Out Buffer leaves the operational session active for X minutes after an assignment concludes.

Default Limits

By default, N4 Safety creates a 30-minute check-in and check-out buffer around all services, programs, and ad-hoc events.

This means if an event runs 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM, the check-in banner appears on a member’s phone at 8:30 AM, and it automatically sweeps them out (if they forget to check out manually) at 11:30 AM.

Buffer Cascade & Overrides

Administrators can override these buffer windows from the Admin Panel to fine-tune operations. This process follows an inheritance cascade:

1. Event Configuration: If a singular Event (/schedule/events) has a setting applied via the “Edit” dialog, it trumps all other configurations. 2. Service or Program Definition: The most common place administrators update buffers is on the Service Definition or Program Definition. Changing a Service to 60 minutes will ripple down to all future events cloned from that service. 3. Organization Default: If no service or event data overrides the original block, the overall organizational 30 minute default applies.

[!WARNING] Because previously generated events write the current Service default into their own table records, changing a Service Definition from 30 minutes to 60 minutes will not instantly update older events that were already created under that service. Those older events will retain their 30-minute window unless manually edited on the /schedule/events page.