Temporarily remove staff from the cover candidate queue without removing them from the system.
Useful for staff in meetings, on PPA time, or covering elsewhere. Paused staff appear greyed out.
0 staff paused
📧
No emails sent yet
📋 Coordinator emailAll SOS alerts and morning briefings go here
⚠️ Escalations
✅
No escalations yet
🔷 External Sub Pool
CSV format: Name, Email, Rate (e.g. J. Smith, j.smith@agency.com, 28)
Add sub manually
Name *
Email *
Rate/hr
📋 Activity Log▶
No activity yet — run SubBot to start logging
✉️
Send an absence email — try it
Write a real or made-up sick note. SubBot reads it, figures out what lessons need cover, and handles everything.
✉️ Try DEMO Email
Your email
What SubBot understood
🤖Hit Send to SubBot ↓ to see the AI parse your email
🤖
How SubBot Works
Live walkthrough — 6 steps
🤖
SubBot — AI Cover Coordination
A teacher emails in sick. SubBot reads it, finds cover, contacts staff, confirms the slot — all automatically. The coordinator only handles exceptions.
❌ Without SubBot
Coordinator reads every absence email Rings or emails staff one by one Chases non-replies manually Manages the whole morning No automatic audit trail
✅ With SubBot
SubBot reads and parses automatically Contacts candidates in priority order Escalates automatically on urgency Coordinator handles exceptions only Every action logged automatically
Human stays in the loop. SubBot finds candidates, sends requests, and records responses — but never makes final decisions. A coordinator can override anything at any time. This satisfies GDPR requirements around automated decision-making.
5
Demo Scenarios
8
Comms Rules
3
Escalation Axes
<5min
Coordinator / day
😷
Scenario 1 — Best Case
Mr Hart emails sick at 07:15. Full day, 3 lessons. First candidates all accept quickly. Coordinator receives 1 email and does nothing.
1
Mr Hart
Emails cover inbox: "Not feeling well, won't be in. Maths 9A 08:45, Maths 10B 10:45, Science 8C 14:05."
inbound only
2
SubBot
Reads email within 2 minutes. AI identifies: full day, illness, 3 lessons needing cover. Confidence: high.
nothing sent
3
SubBot
Builds candidate queue for each slot: same subject first, related second, any free teacher third. Sends cover request to first candidate per lesson.
3 emails
4
Mrs Nash, Mrs Kim, Ms Grant
Each receives an email with ✅ CONFIRM and ❌ DECLINE links. All three click confirm within 10 minutes.
link clicks
5
SubBot
All 3 slots confirmed. Sends briefing pack to each cover teacher (room, class, lesson notes). Sends summary to Mr Hart.
3 + 1 emails
6
SubBot
Coordinator morning briefing at 07:45: "1 absence today — 3 lessons, all covered. No action needed."
1 email
8
Total emails
0
Chat messages
1
Coordinator touch
✓
No action needed
📋
Scenario 2 — Realistic Day
2 absences, 4 lessons to cover. Some staff decline. One doesn't reply in time — SubBot sends a SMS ping instead of a duplicate email. All resolved internally.
1
SubBot
Parses 2 absence emails. Identifies 4 lesson slots needing cover. Sends first-round requests to top candidates.
4 emails
2
Mr Fox
Clicks ❌ DECLINE for the Drama slot. SubBot moves immediately to next candidate: Mr Owen.
1 email
3
Mrs Kim
No reply to History 09:35 request after 12 minutes. Lesson is 45 min away — moderate urgency. SubBot sends a SMS ping instead of another email.
1 Chat
4
Mrs Kim
Sees SMS ping. Clicks ✅ CONFIRM in the original email. No reply email needed.
link click
5
SubBot
Blake's afternoon slot is TBC — she may return after lunch. SubBot flags this to coordinator: "Blake afternoon TBC — awaiting her update."
1 flag email
6
SubBot
Confirmed slots get briefing packs. Mr Fox gets a "no longer needed" courtesy note. Absent teacher summaries sent.
4 + 1 + 2
14
Total emails
1
Chat message
2
Coordinator touches
1
Manual decision
The SMS ping rule saves a duplicate email — if a staff member hasn't replied, an SMS is sent next, not a second email. The coordinator only acts once, on Blake's ambiguous return time.
🚨
Scenario 3 — Difficult Day
4 absences, 14 lessons, one late email (33 min to first lesson). One slot exhausts all internal candidates — external sub called. One SOS.
1
Mr Webb (08:12)
Car breakdown — emails at 08:12, first lesson at 08:45. 33 minutes to lesson. SubBot flags as urgent immediately.
Urgent level
2
SubBot
Webb's 08:45 slot: simultaneous email + Chat (less than 30 min to lesson). All other 13 slots: standard email first-round.
One slot (RS 14:05) — all 12 internal candidates exhausted. Lesson is today. SubBot jumps straight to external sub: contacts A. Mensah.
1 ext. email
5
SubBot
Webb's 13:15 slot — zero internal candidates, external also unavailable. SOS triggered. All channels alerted. Red banner on dashboard.
SOSChat
6
Coordinator
Sees SOS. Manually arranges cover (splits class across two rooms). Marks slot as resolved in dashboard. SubBot handles everything else.
manual
42
Total emails
4
Chat messages
3
Coordinator touches
1
Manual resolve
Without the 8 comms rules, a difficult day could generate 80–100 emails. With them: 42. Reply-by-link alone accounts for roughly half the reduction.
📊
3-Axis Escalation Model
SubBot's urgency engine combines three axes. Axis 3 (candidates remaining) always overrides the others — running out of candidates accelerates urgency regardless of timing.
Same day → Emergency Tomorrow → Planned 2–5 days → Scheduled 6–13 days → Advance 14+ days → Pre-planned
Axis 2 — Time to Lesson
>60 min → email only, 20 min wait 30–60 min → email then Chat 15–30 min → simultaneous 5–15 min → critical, coord alerted <5 min → SOS all channels
Axis 3 — Candidates Left
3+ → standard timing 2 → halve wait, alert coord 1 → contact immediately 0 internal → go external 0 total → SOS, all channels
Days Away
Time to Lesson
Candidates
Behaviour
Same day
>60 min
3+
Email only, standard ramp
Same day
<15 min
Any
Email + Chat simultaneously
Same day
Any
1
Contact immediately + coordinator alert
Same day
Any
0
🆘 SOS on all channels
Tomorrow
—
0 internal
Skip to external immediately
2–5 days
—
3+
Single email, 24hr window
6–13 days
—
Any
Single email, 48hr window, day-before confirm
All thresholds are configurable — stored in a Settings tab, adjustable per school without any code changes.
📐
The 8 Minimum Viable Comms Rules
Built into SubBot to keep communications to the absolute minimum. Configurable, but these are the recommended defaults that cut a difficult day from 80–100 emails down to 42.
1
One request per slot per round
Eliminates parallel spamming of multiple staff for the same lesson slot
2
Reply-by-link, not email reply
One click replaces an entire email thread — eliminates the inbound reply parsing layer
3
Briefing pack merges confirmation + instructions
Saves one email per confirmed cover teacher — confirmation and briefing are one send
4
Absent teacher gets one email only
"Your cover is arranged" at the end — no progress updates during the cascade
5
SMS ping instead of second email
If a staff member hasn't replied, an SMS is sent next — not a duplicate email
6
"No longer needed" to contacted staff only
Staff in the queue who were never emailed get no notification
7
Coordinator gets briefing + SOS only
No running commentary — dashboard is the live view. Email and Chat only when action needed
Ready to explore the live demo?
Close this walkthrough and use the dashboard — try the "Try DEMO Email" button in the Demo Controls panel to see SubBot parse a real absence email using the Claude AI API.
🤖
SubBot Live Demo
Experience it as a teacher
Enter your details and SubBot will send you a real cover request — email and SMS — exactly as your staff would receive it.
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