How Substitute Management Works in Docendo

You can find the substitute management feature in Docendo by clicking on Substitutes in the top menu.

Register Absence

All substitute assignments are based on an absence having already been registered for a staff member. So, the substitute management process begins by marking a teacher or assistant (etc.) as absent. Their lessons and subjects will then appear in the substitute management view.

1. Click Add absence
2. Select the absent teacher(s)
3. Choose the reason for the absence—you can select an existing absence reason or create a new one. Feel free to use your school’s own codes or abbreviations, as the reason will be visible in the teacher’s schedule.
4. Select the relevant date(s) and time period. By default, today’s date is selected and the time is set from 08:00 to 16:00. You can also enter longer absences that span multiple days.

Ongoing absence: If you don’t have an end date for the absence, you can check Ongoing absence. This will mark the person as absent each day until you choose to end the absence period.

Once the absence is registered, it will appear at the top of the overview like this:

Lessons affected by the absence are shown in the brown absence field, which indicates the time range of the absence—here, 08:00–16:00.

Because substitute management is based on registered absences, teachers can also enter their own absences in their calendars using predefined absence reasons. The affected lessons will then automatically appear in the substitute management view. This allows staff to register their own absences, which will immediately become visible to the person responsible for managing substitutes.

Assigning a Substitute for Each Lesson

When you click on a lesson that needs a substitute, a highlight will appear down all the schedules to indicate the time block. This makes it easier to see who is available among both staff and external substitutes. The view provides an overview of all school staff and activities for the selected day.

Some lessons may have a small '👤+' icon. This indicates that two or more staff are scheduled for that lesson. This can help you choose someone already involved in the lesson or someone you can "borrow" from a different class that has multiple staff present.

Click on the lesson you want to assign a substitute for and choose an available substitute by dragging the lesson down in the staff list and clicking +, or search for someone using the pop-up window on the left.

When a substitute is assigned, the lesson will turn green. You can also manually mark a lesson as handled—if there are already enough people assigned—by setting its Status in the right-hand pop-up window and clicking Covered.

Substitute Lessons in the Schedule

When a staff member receives a new substitute lesson, it will appear just like any other scheduled lesson in their timetable. They’ll also receive a notification in Docendo, as shown here:

Filtering Teachers, Assistants, Teams, etc. in the Schedule Overview

The Groups feature can be used in substitute management to filter the daily view of absentees and available substitutes for a clearer overview.

Click Select filters to display, for example, only teachers, only assistants, or those absent within a specific grade level.

Tip: It's also a good idea to create a group for external substitutes. That way, you can quickly filter the view to only show them when looking for a substitute.

Sort by Suggestions Using Our Algorithms

In the overview, you’ll find an algorithm-based feature that suggests the most suitable substitutes for each lesson. Once the priorities are set, you can click on a lesson needing a substitute, the list of available staff will be automatically sorted.

At the top, you’ll see those Docendo considers the most relevant substitutes, and at the bottom, the least relevant. The image below shows how the algorithm bases its suggestions. You can also manually change the sorting order.

Updated on: 21/06/2025