Activity Messenger Help Center

Staff management and scheduling: first-time setup

Use this guide to set up a team for the first time. Complete staff management first if you need employee records, onboarding or roles. Then complete staff scheduling if you need availability, shifts or worked hours. You can use staff management without scheduling; enable only the parts your team needs. For individual controls and exceptions, follow the linked guides.

The three things to distinguish

A user access level controls what someone can do in Activity Messenger. A staff role describes the work they perform on an assignment and can be used for hours and pay. Set these separately. See Users and permissions and Staff profile and forms.

Part 1 — Set up staff management

1. Choose owners and enable the features. Decide who manages user access, staff records, scheduling and approvals. Ask Activity Messenger support to enable Staff management if it is not available. Hierarchy, Staff scheduling, References and Staff payroll are separate features; enable them only when you plan to use them. A missing tab can also mean your account lacks permission.
2. Set access before inviting the team. In User management › Users & Permissions, review access levels and granular permissions. Create permission templates for repeated jobs, such as instructors or coordinators. Grant profile, role, qualification and scheduling permissions according to each person's duties. If you use Hierarchy, add your reporting levels and responsible people under User management › Hierarchy, then review access scope and notification recipients. Hierarchy can limit an action to No other staff, Staff below them, All staff or Existing permissions.
3. Design the shared staff profile. In the people table, use Actions › Staff profile to define information you need from every person. Put reusable employee details here. Keep separate documents and submissions in staff forms. Restrict sensitive fields and profile access to the people who need them. See Staff profile and forms.
4. Prepare onboarding forms. Under User management › Manage forms › Staff forms, prepare the forms you need for contracts, banking details, signatures and other documents. If you accept applications, create a separate application form. When the References feature is enabled, its References question can send each reference a private form link and connect the response to the candidate. Review applications and references before granting access. An authorized user can open an eligible respondent with a valid email and choose Create user. That action opens a review window for the permission or template, invitation email, staff resource and initial staff roles; it does not create an account merely because the application was submitted. See Staff forms, form questions for people and form management.
5. Create or confirm each person. Search the people list first to avoid duplicates. In Users & Permissions, choose Add a user, enter their name and email, select their permission, and decide whether to send the invitation now. Select Add to staff resources when the person must be schedulable. If you use Create user from a form response, confirm the account, profile and scheduling resource after creation. Open their staff record and complete Information; review connected submissions under Forms. You can give staff a microsite for forms and onboarding documents.
6. Set up the work they can perform. In User management › Staff management, review Staff roles, Qualifications and Contracts for your organization. Assign the relevant roles and qualifications to each person, collect and review required forms or contracts, and check any dates or rates that matter for the period worked. Staff can see their own Roles, Qualifications and Contracts in the connected client portal when the applicable features are available. A scheduling resource does not automatically give someone a staff role.

At this point, a team that only needs records and onboarding can stop. Revisit profiles, access, qualifications, contracts and forms as people join, change jobs or leave.

Part 2 — Set up staff scheduling

1. Enable the scheduling options you need. Ask support to enable Staff scheduling. Under Organization settings › Team & operations › Staff scheduling & management, decide whether to turn on Timesheets, Timesheet projects, Time Off Requests and Require staff to approve worked hours. Choose the worked-hours report defaults and, if used, approval request method and frequency. These options are independent of the Staff payroll page.
2. Check people and permissions. Confirm every schedulable person has a staff resource. Give staff permission to change their own availability if appropriate. Give schedulers access to view and edit other staff schedules. If you use Hierarchy, review View schedules, Edit schedules and Approve time off for each level.
3. Collect availability and leave. In User management › Staff schedule › Staff availabilities, have staff enter recurring weekly availability and one-time available or unavailable periods. Add leave through Time Off if that feature is on. An approved time-off request adds an unavailable period. Review who handles replacements for existing assignments. See Staff operations.
4. Build the work. Add staff requirements to classes and bookings, including required positions or roles. Create standalone shifts from Staff schedule › Shifts; assign people now or leave shifts unassigned for later coverage. On the Schedule tab, fill open positions and check Unavailable, Conflict, Role mismatch and missing-staff warnings. The warnings help you review assignments but do not prevent an authorized scheduler from saving them. Choose whether changes appear to staff immediately or only after you publish a date range. Then send the schedule or enable reminders and change notifications as needed. See Staff operations and Staff calendar.
5. Record work and approve time. Hours can come from classes, bookings and shifts. If Timesheets is on, use it for other tasks; a manager must approve a timesheet before it counts in worked hours. Staff can use the timer to prepare a timesheet entry. Review time-off requests and resolve assignment changes as they arrive. If worked-hours approval is on, send requests manually or on the selected schedule; staff approve their own report or ask for corrections. A manager reviews corrections and can create payroll adjustments.
6. Review the period and export. Open Reports › Financial reports › Worked hours. Check the date range, report options, check-in and preparation-time rules, missing roles or rates, approved timesheets and any payroll adjustments. Use Download to Excel for hours-based pay. User management › Staff payroll is a different optional workflow for fully paid private lessons; it does not calculate pay from shifts, timesheets or the worked-hours report. See Staff operations.

Feature map for later reference

If an option in this guide is missing, first check the person's permissions and your organization's enabled features. Support can confirm whether an optional module must be enabled.