# Get started

Three short articles to give you the mental model of {{ app_name }} before you click anything. Read them in order and you'll understand how the data is shaped, how a schedule gets built, and what happens between a planner's first draft and the payroll export.

## Start here

- {doc}`how-the-data-fits-together` — the chain from **Location** and **Position** through **MLP**, **Person**, **Shift**, **Assignment**, **Time entry**, **Payroll**. Every other view in the product is a window into this chain.
- {doc}`three-ways-to-build-a-schedule` — **schedule templates**, **recurring shifts**, **Alt+drag copy**. When to reach for each.
- {doc}`from-shift-draft-to-payroll` — the five states a shift moves through (Draft → Published → Submitted → Approved → Locked) and what locks behind you at each step.

## Then try it

- {doc}`your-first-shift` — a hands-on walk from an empty company to one staffed shift, linking through the canonical how-to articles in order.

```{toctree}
:maxdepth: 1
:hidden:

how-the-data-fits-together
three-ways-to-build-a-schedule
from-shift-draft-to-payroll
your-first-shift
```