Your first shift#
For: Owner | Manager | Admin You’ll need: A Shiftavo account on a fresh company.
Let’s put one staffed shift on the calendar. Six steps, about five minutes, and along the way you’ll touch every record that matters. If you want the why before the how, read How the data fits together first — this walkthrough assumes you’ve seen the chain Location → Position → Person → MLP entry → Shift → Assignment.
What’s already there#
A fresh company isn’t completely empty. Shiftavo 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, MLP entries, shifts — is yours to add.
1. Rename or replace the default location#
The auto-created ‘Main’ is a placeholder. If you 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#
Create 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, skip ahead to step 4. To bring in a teammate, see Add a person.
Tip
A person needs at least one location to be schedulable. The person form enforces this — it won’t save until you pick at least one location.
4. Create an MLP entry (Member–Location–Position)#
This is the step most owners miss. Even though you exist as a Person, you can’t be assigned to a shift until an MLP entry says this person can work this position at this location. Open your own person record for editing and, in the right-hand ‘Assignments’ panel, pick the position from step 2 and the ‘Main’ location (or whatever you renamed it to), then click ‘Create assignments’. See Manage the MLP block on a person.
5. Plan a shift#
Create the actual block of work — a date, start and end time, location, and position. The shift is born in Draft state: visible to planners, not yet to the team. 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 show up in the eligible pool. See How to open the assignment form.
Verify it worked#
Refresh the calendar. You’ll see the shift block with the assignee shown on it — hover it for the validation tooltip, click it to edit. That’s your first staffed shift.
What’s next#
Make it visible to the person — drafts stay invisible to assignees until you publish. See How to publish shifts up to a cutoff.
Finish setting up your company — areas, skills, employment types, holidays, and budgets are optional, but each one unlocks more accurate scheduling. See Set up your company.
Add policies and compliance — once you’re scheduling for real, work-policy limits (overtime, daily and weekly caps, rest between shifts) and break rules keep you on the right side of the law and the contract. See Policies & compliance.