Setting up the Staff Rota for the first time goes smoothest in a clear order: get your defaults and pay in place, configure each supported person, then build and publish a week before running payroll. This checklist walks through it. Most of these pages live under Settings → Staff Rota and need admin access.
1. Set your organisation defaults
Open Settings → Staff Rota → Rota settings and set the week start, default shift times, working-time limits and the swap/drop/cover rules. These seed every area, so getting them right first saves repeating yourself.
2. Define your staff roles
On Settings → Staff Rota → Staff roles, add the roles you'll put on shifts — e.g. Senior Care Worker, Support Worker — each with a colour and an optional default rate for the cost bar.
3. Set pay rates
On the Pay rates page, set each staff member's hourly wage or salary so the cost bar and payroll are accurate. A role's default rate is only a fallback when a carer has no wage of their own.
4. Configure each supported person
Open each area's Rota → Settings and set their Funded/commissioned hours per week, support ratio, budget caps, clock-in rules (geofence/photo) and required competencies. Admins can also assign a Funder here for the revenue forecast.
5. Build and publish the first week
Open a area's Rota and add shifts for the week, assigning staff or leaving slots open. When it's ready, Publish so staff can see it and clock in. Working-time warnings will flag any risks before you publish.
6. Run payroll
Once shifts are worked and timesheets are approved, head to the payroll pages to create a run and export it. Your pay frequency from step 1 sets the rhythm.
- 1Set organisation defaults in Settings → Staff Rota → Rota settings.
- 2Define staff roles in Settings → Staff Rota → Staff roles.
- 3Set each staff member's wage on the Pay rates page.
- 4Configure each area's Rota → Settings — hours, budget, clock-in rules, competencies and funder.
- 5Build the first week's shifts in the area's Rota and Publish it.
- 6Once timesheets are approved, create and export a payroll run.
- Do the organisation defaults first — they seed every area, so you only override the exceptions afterwards.
- Accurate pay rates make the live cost bar trustworthy while you build, not just at payroll time.
- You don't have to finish everything before going live — get roles, pay and one person's config in place, publish a week, and refine as you go.