Step-by-step guides

There are two kinds of shift, and it helps to know which you want.

1. One person, one day: open Roster, press Manual Shift, choose the person, the shift and the date, then save. It appears on the roster straight away.
2. A new type of shift (for example a Brunch shift you will run every week): go to Settings, then Shifts, add a name with start and end times and press Save. It is used for rosters you build from then on.
3. If the new shift needs people, open Settings, then Staffing, and set how many of each role it needs.

You need the person's name, their role and their WhatsApp number. That is all. They do not download anything.

1. Check the role exists. If it doesn't, add it first in Settings, then Roles & Departments.
2. Go to Team and press Add person. Enter their name, pick the country and type their number the way it is written locally, then choose their role.
3. Tick any skills they have, such as Barista or Opening, and set their experience level.
4. Save. They get a welcome message on WhatsApp explaining how to use OpShifts, and from then on they are asked for availability like everyone else.
5. Adding a whole team at once? Press Import on the Team page and upload your spreadsheet. We tidy messy sheets and match common role names.

OpShifts drafts it for you. Your job is to check it.

1. Wait for your cutoff, or until most people have sent availability. The strip on Team shows who is still missing.
2. Open Suggestions or Roster and open the draft.
3. Look at anything flagged, such as an open slot or a double. Click a shift to change the person or time.
4. Publish the roster. If roster notices are on, each person is told about their own shifts on WhatsApp.

They message /cant_make_today or /cant_make_tomorrow on WhatsApp and pick the shift. It reaches you under Requests.

1. Open Requests and find the sick request.
2. Press Acknowledge, or approve it with needs replacement to post the shift to the swap marketplace so a colleague can pick it up.
3. Or open the shift on the Roster and choose someone else yourself.

Everything staff ask for lands in one place.

1. Open Requests. New items are at the top.
2. Open a request to see who asked, which shift it affects and why.
3. Press Approve or Deny. The person is told on WhatsApp straight away.

Go to Settings, then Roles & Departments, type the role name and add it. If we guess the department wrong, change it in the dropdown. Do this before adding staff, and keep names consistent: Waiter and Waitron count as two roles.

Tell OpShifts about it early so the draft adds extra people.

1. On the Roster page press Events, then Add event.
2. Enter the name, date, start and end time and the number of guests.
3. Tick the roles that need extra people. We show how many extra we work out, and you can override it for this event.
4. Save. Any shift that overlaps the event gets the extra headcount on that date only.

Open Team, click the person, update their phone number and save. Messages go to the new number straight away.

Open Team, click the person and mark them inactive. They stop being rostered and messaged but their history stays. To remove their personal details for good, use the permanent removal on an inactive person.