Can we still plan visually?

Yes. The planner is a drag-and-drop timeline; the board metaphor is retained, with the data behind it.

Does it handle rotations?

Yes. Worker rotations and availability are modelled and shown in the planner.

Will it stop us allocating someone?

It warns clearly and, where mandatory evidence is missing, mobilisation is blocked. Planning itself remains yours to decide.

Can we see historic plans?

Assignment history is retained, so you can see what was planned and what actually happened.

Process comparison

Manual workforce planning vs the CrewFlow Crew Planning

Manual planning is visual, immediate and everyone in the room can see it. Its weakness is that it holds availability but not compliance, and it does not travel. This page compares the two approaches honestly.

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Overview

CrewFlow and Manual workforce planning at a glance

A wall planner or spreadsheet grid answers one question well: who is where, this week.

CrewFlow answers that question too, and adds availability, rotations, document validity and posting status, so an allocation that would breach compliance is flagged as it is made.

Manual planning is not wrong. It simply cannot see the compliance data, and it stops at the office door.

Who each is for

Designed for different jobs

CrewFlow is designed for

Planners allocating crews across multiple projects and countries
Operations tracking rotations and leave alongside deployment
Teams that need the plan visible to remote colleagues
Anyone whose allocations depend on document validity

Manual workforce planning is designed for

One site, one crew, one planner
Short projects with stable teams
Environments where a physical board suits the daily routine
Teams with no cross-border obligations

Feature comparison

Capability by capability

The same 18 capability areas used across the Comparison Centre, applied to CrewFlow and Manual workforce planning.

IncludedPartialDifferent scope

Capability comparison between CrewFlow and Manual workforce planning
Capability	CrewFlow	Manual workforce planning
Workers	Included Worker records with rates, documents, availability and full assignment history	Partial Names on a board without documents or history
Projects	Included Clients, projects, jobs and positions with historical rates	Partial Columns or rows per project
Planning	Included Crew Planning with day, week, month, timeline and Gantt views	Partial Visual and immediate, but not compliance-aware or shareable
AI timesheets	Included Photo or PDF capture, AI extraction, confidence scoring and human approval	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Document packs	Included Packs assembled by country, client, project or org defaults	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Digital signatures	Included Terms of engagement issued and signed in the worker portal	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Mobility intelligence	Included A1, posting, right-to-work and Schengen day tracking with pre-mobilisation scoring	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Business intelligence	Included Executive dashboard, revenue, profitability, workforce and operations analytics	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Automation	Included Trigger, condition and action builder with execution audit history	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Mobile app	Included Native iOS and Android worker portal with offline capture and push	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Integrations	Included Integrations Hub covering accounting, storage, comms, signing and HR systems	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
API	Included Versioned REST API, OpenAPI reference, OAuth, API keys and webhooks	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Security	Included Row-level tenant isolation, EU hosting, encryption and immutable audit history	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Compliance	Included Document expiry, versioning and mobilisation blocking on missing evidence	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Commercial engine	Included Timesheet-to-invoice calculation driven by agreed terms of engagement	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Report builder	Included Self-service report definitions with scheduling and delivery	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Developer platform	Included OAuth apps, event catalogue, signed webhooks and rate-limited gateway	Different scope Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Support	Included In-app guidance, knowledge centre, onboarding wizard and named success contact	Partial Relies on the planner's own knowledge

Workers
CrewFlow
Included
Worker records with rates, documents, availability and full assignment history
Manual workforce planning
Partial
Names on a board without documents or history
Projects
CrewFlow
Included
Clients, projects, jobs and positions with historical rates
Manual workforce planning
Partial
Columns or rows per project
Planning
CrewFlow
Included
Crew Planning with day, week, month, timeline and Gantt views
Manual workforce planning
Partial
Visual and immediate, but not compliance-aware or shareable
AI timesheets
CrewFlow
Included
Photo or PDF capture, AI extraction, confidence scoring and human approval
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Document packs
CrewFlow
Included
Packs assembled by country, client, project or org defaults
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Digital signatures
CrewFlow
Included
Terms of engagement issued and signed in the worker portal
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Mobility intelligence
CrewFlow
Included
A1, posting, right-to-work and Schengen day tracking with pre-mobilisation scoring
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Business intelligence
CrewFlow
Included
Executive dashboard, revenue, profitability, workforce and operations analytics
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Automation
CrewFlow
Included
Trigger, condition and action builder with execution audit history
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Mobile app
CrewFlow
Included
Native iOS and Android worker portal with offline capture and push
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Integrations
CrewFlow
Included
Integrations Hub covering accounting, storage, comms, signing and HR systems
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
API
CrewFlow
Included
Versioned REST API, OpenAPI reference, OAuth, API keys and webhooks
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Security
CrewFlow
Included
Row-level tenant isolation, EU hosting, encryption and immutable audit history
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Compliance
CrewFlow
Included
Document expiry, versioning and mobilisation blocking on missing evidence
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Commercial engine
CrewFlow
Included
Timesheet-to-invoice calculation driven by agreed terms of engagement
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Report builder
CrewFlow
Included
Self-service report definitions with scheduling and delivery
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Developer platform
CrewFlow
Included
OAuth apps, event catalogue, signed webhooks and rate-limited gateway
Manual workforce planning
Different scope
Not part of Manual workforce planning's intended scope
Support
CrewFlow
Included
In-app guidance, knowledge centre, onboarding wizard and named success contact
Manual workforce planning
Partial
Relies on the planner's own knowledge

Advantages

What Manual workforce planning does well

Immediately visible to everyone in the room
No tooling, licences or training
Fast to change during a live conversation
Works when systems are down

Limitations

Where teams typically hit the edge

Not visible to remote or site-based colleagues
No link to document validity or posting rules
Rotations, leave and availability tracked separately, if at all
No history of what the plan was before it changed
Utilisation and coverage gaps are difficult to measure

Typical use cases

Which to use, when

Keep manual planning

A single crew on a single site with a daily stand-up at the board.

Move to CrewFlow

Multiple projects, rotations, cross-border deployment or shared visibility requirements.

Run both

Keep the board for the daily huddle and let CrewFlow hold the record and the compliance checks.

Pricing approach

How each is typically paid for

Pricing models change. Treat this as an indication of approach and confirm current commercial terms directly.

CrewFlow

Included in the CrewFlow subscription — no separate planning licence.

See CrewFlow pricing