Your first shift#
For: Owner | Manager | Admin You’ll need: A Shiftavo account on a fresh company.
A hands-on walk from a freshly-provisioned company to one staffed shift on the calendar.
If you want the why before the how, read How the data fits together first; this article assumes you already understand the chain Location → Position → Person → MLP → Shift → Assignment.
What’s already there#
When your tenant is provisioned, Shiftavo doesn’t drop you into a totally empty company. It pre-creates:
A default Location called ‘Main’ (with your country’s statutory holidays seeded for ±18 months).
A Person for you, the Owner — attached to that ‘Main’ location.
Everything else — positions, MLPs, shifts — is yours to add.
1. Rename or replace the default location#
The auto-created ‘Main’ is a placeholder. If you only operate from one site, rename it to your actual site name; if you have several, add the rest later. See Edit a location and Add a location.
2. Add a position#
Add one for the role you’ll schedule first — cashier, line cook, nurse. Positions are defined at the company level and are available at every location by default. See Add a position.
3. Add another person (optional for now)#
You’re already on the people list as the Owner, so if you just want to test the flow by scheduling yourself, you can skip this and jump to step 4. To bring in a teammate, see Add a person (or Add a person once you’re adding several).
Tip
A person needs at least one location to be schedulable. New people you add will land on the ‘Main’ location by default until you change it.
4. Create an MLP entry#
This is the step most owners miss. Even though you exist as a Person, you can’t be assigned to a shift until you have an MLP entry (Member–Location–Position) that says Person can work this position at this location. Open your own profile and add an entry pairing the position from step 2 with the ‘Main’ location (or whichever location you renamed it to). See Manage the MLP block on a person.
5. Plan a shift#
Create the actual block of work — a date, start/end time, location, and position. The shift is born in Draft state, visible to planners but not yet to workers. See How to add a shift or, faster, How to add a shift from the calendar.
6. Assign the person#
Open the shift, add an assignment, and pick yourself (or the teammate from step 3). Because the MLP entry from step 4 exists, they’ll show up in the eligible pool. See How to open the assignment form.
You’re done — one assigned shift on the calendar#
Refresh the calendar and you’ll see the shift block with the assignee shown on it. Hover it for the validation tooltip; click it to edit.
What’s next#
Make it visible to the worker — drafts are invisible to assignees until publish. See How to publish shifts up to a cutoff.
Finish setting up your company — areas, skills, employment types, holidays, company periods and the rest are optional, but each one unlocks more accurate scheduling. See Set up your company.
Add rules and compliance — once you’re scheduling for real, work-rule limits (overtime, daily/weekly caps, rest between shifts) and break rules keep you on the right side of the law and the contract. See Rules & compliance.