Similarity:

Both are enabled and controlled individually at the Location level. Both follow the parameters the location sets in Admin/Swapboard rules.

Both are options for empty shifts to be employee selected.

Both are viewed in the Swapboard Section of the Employee Portal.

Both require the Enterprise to enable empty shifts to show on the Swapboard and the Location to Allow Swapping/Claiming shifts.

Difference:

The Swapboard is first-come, first-serve for employees to try to claim shifts. The Bid Board allows multiple employees to bid on the same shift.

The Swapboard can be set to allow employees to claim the shift if eligible or to require location approval. The Bid Board can be set to automatically fill shifts based on criteria chosen or to be manually filled by the location.

The Swap Lead time and Empty Shift Lead time settings only affect shifts on the swapboard. They do not affect the Bid Board shifts as they appear as soon as assigned to a bid board by the Location.

The employee will see [Check…] if it an empty shift on the swapboard. They will see [Bid] if it is an empty shift on the Bid Board.

Can I use the Bid Board only, without allowing the other empty shifts to appear on the Swapboard?  YES!

You would set the Swap Lead time hours greater than the total number of hours till your last published schedule.This will prevent any empty shifts from being placed on the swapboard and any employees from posting shifts to the swapboard.(i.e., if you publish schedules for a full month that would be 745 hours)

See the TeamWork Learning Center/Location Help Cards/Schedule Section/#9 Using the Bid Board.

For detailed information on using each feature, see the TeamWork Learning Center/Location Help Cards/Schedule Section/#8 & #9 Using the Swapboard & Bid Board.