Ask a question

Type a question as you would say it and send it. The answer is a sentence or two, with a card underneath for each thing it looked up: a list of shifts, a check, a person, a set of figures. Tap or click a card to open the screen it came from.

How to ask

• Plain words are enough: “Who’s on tonight?”, “When is Sam next in?”. Days can be said as you would say them: “Saturday”, “next Friday”, “last week”.
• A follow-up can lean on the last answer: “and tomorrow?”, “what about Sam?”.
• Under most answers there are questions to tap that carry on from it. Use them or ignore them.
• On the web, Enter sends and Shift Enter starts a new line. In an empty box, ↑ brings back your last question. While an answer is coming, Esc or the Stop button stops it.
• A question can be up to 2,000 characters.

What anyone can ask

These are about you, and about what the whole team can already see.

• Your shifts. “When am I next in?”, “What am I working next week?” From published rotas only.
• Who is on. “Who’s on with me today?”, “Who’s on Saturday?” This is who the published rota has down, not who has clocked in.
• Your hours. “How many hours have I done this week?” Hours only, never pay.
• Your time off. “How much holiday have I got left?”, “Has my time off been approved?”
• Open shifts and swaps. “Any shifts going?”, “Has anyone answered my swap?”
• Your checks. “What checks do I have?” lists the open checks on the shift you are working now.
• Your training. “What training have I got left?”
• Your availability. “What availability have I set?”
• Your sales, if you take orders. “How were my sales this month?”
• The menu. “How much is the burger?”, “Which dishes have nuts recorded?”
• The briefing. “Any briefing today?” reads the pre-shift briefing and the day’s note.
• What you have not read. “Anything unread?”, “What are my notifications?” It says which chat has unread messages and how many. It never repeats what a message says.
• Your tasks. “What’s on my list?”, for anyone who can see the task boards.

What managers and supervisors can ask

Each of these needs the permission named. If you do not hold it, the chat says it cannot see that.

• The day. “What needs me?” gives what is waiting for a decision, who is working now and where the checks stand. Needs “See the manager dashboard”.
• The rota. “Is next week published?”, “Where are we short this week?”, “Who can cover Sam on Friday?”. Needs “Build and edit the rota”. The cost of a week is given only if you may see pay rates.
• Clocking. “Is everyone clocked in?”, “Who was late last week?”. Needs “See timesheets and clock-ins” or “Approve clock-ins”.
• Requests. “Any time off to approve?”, “Any swaps waiting?”, “Which timesheets are waiting?”, “Who’s off this week?”. Each needs the permission to approve that kind of request.
• People. “Who is Sam?”, “How has Sam been getting on?” The second gives attendance, checks, training and sales over the last four weeks, and needs “See the team’s performance”.
• Checks. “What’s overdue?”, “What was the walk-in fridge at?”, “How have checks gone this week?”. Needs “See every check and its history”.
• Documents and equipment. “What’s expiring soon?” Needs “Manage compliance documents” or “Manage equipment and service records”.
• Sales. “How were sales this week?”, “How did Saturday go by the hour?”. Needs “Build and edit the rota”. Labour cost and labour % are added only if you may see pay rates. Sales come from the till: see How sales and the till work.
• What sold. “What are our best sellers?”, “What’s not selling?”. Needs “See the till (POS) connection and its sales”.
• Who sold it. “Who are the top earners this month?”. Needs “See the team’s performance”.
• Training. “Who is overdue on training?”. Needs “Manage training and sign people off”.
• Tasks. “What tasks are overdue?”, “What is Sam on?”.

Charts in answers

When you ask about a trend or a comparison over three or more days, weeks or readings, a chart is drawn under the answer. These can be charted: sales, hours and labour by day, or one day by the hour; checks by day; one check’s readings; lateness by week; a person’s weeks; time off by week; your own hours; your own sales. A question about one fact gets no chart. If nothing can be charted, the answer says so and gives the figures instead.

What it will not answer

• Anything you are not allowed to see in the rest of the app. It has the same permissions you have, and no more.
• Draft rotas, unless you build the rota. Everyone else is told about published weeks only.
• Other locations in the same breath. It answers for the location at the top of the chat. Someone who builds the rota at several can ask how each is doing today; for anything more, switch location.
• Questions that are not about your restaurant, its people or the app.
• Advice on discipline, or guesses at why something happened. It reports what is recorded.

On the web: cards that say “On the phone”

A card is a link when the web app has a page for it. A few things live only in the iPhone app; the card then says On the phone with the screen’s name, and is not a link.