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Building Your First Schedule

Your first schedule starts from scratch. After that, you'll start from a template, so each new week takes minutes.

 Before you begin, make sure your time periods and positions are set up, your team is added, and everyone has a primary position.

 

1. Create the schedule

  1. Go to Scheduler and click Create New Schedule (top right).
  2. Name it for the week and the team, like "Week of Oct 5 – Front of House." Your team sees this name, so make it obvious.
  3. Skip the template for now. You don't have one yet.
  4. Set the start date and run it for one week.
  5. Choose the managers who can edit this schedule and approve shift swaps and drops. This is separate from who approves time off.
  6. Click Create Schedule.

2. Pick your view

The schedule opens in Position view. Use the toggle in the top right to switch.

View What it shows Use it to
Position Each day grouped by time period, then position Fill every role
Employee One row per person, with their hours and labor Make sure nobody's at 40 hours by Wednesday

Above the grid, running totals show hours, shifts, and labor cost for the week. Watch them as you build. If labor shows $0, pay rates haven't been entered. [Setting up each person →]

3. Add shifts

There are two ways to add shifts.

One at a time, good for filling gaps:

  1. Click Add in any cell.
  2. Pick the employee, position, time period, and start and end times.
  3. Check Open, Close, or On Call if it applies.
  4. Add a short note if there's something they need to know.
  5. Click Add Shift.

A whole day at once, faster for a first build:

  1. Click Add/Edit Shifts at the top of a day.
  2. Set up the shift once: position, time period, and times.
  3. Check Repeat On for every day of the week it runs.
  4. Assign someone. The Available tab shows only people whose availability fits that shift.
  5. Shifts already on that day appear on the right, so you can see what's covered.

 

4. Save it as a template

Once the week looks right, save it as a template so next week starts from this one. [ a "Save as Template" option, or copying the previous week]

  1. Open the schedule menu. 
  2. Click Save as Template and give it a name, like "Standard Week – Front of House." 

Next week, click Create New Schedule, choose your template, and adjust for time off and special events instead of building from scratch.

5. Publish

When the schedule's ready, click Publish Schedule. That's when it goes to everyone's phone. [Publishing your schedule →]

Tips

  • Fill roles first, then check people. Build in Position view, then switch to Employee view to check hours.
  • Build a template per team. Front of house and back of house often need separate schedules and templates.
  • Keep notes short. "Bring black shirt" beats a paragraph.