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Configuration Guide

Organization Settings Complete Guide

Configure scheduling rules, role-based staffing, shift pickup policies, email notifications, security settings and billing for your organization. HEAD_MANAGER role required.

8 min read
HEAD_MANAGER Only
Configuration

Accessing Settings

How to access and who can modify settings

Access Requirements

  • • Settings page located in left sidebar navigation
  • • Navigate to: /{orgId}/settings
  • • CRITICAL: ONLY HEAD_MANAGER can access this page
  • • MANAGER and EMPLOYEE are completely blocked from settings
  • If non-HEAD_MANAGER tries to access:
  • - Shows "Access Denied" error message
  • - Message: "Only Head Managers can access organization settings"
  • - "Return to Dashboard" button shown
  • - Cannot access ANY settings (including MFA)
  • • Page title: "Organization Settings"
  • • All sections (Scheduling, Email Notifications, MFA, Billing) are HEAD_MANAGER only

Scheduling Settings

Configure core scheduling and staffing rules (HEAD_MANAGER only)

Roles

  • • One checkbox for job titles and staffing
  • • Label: "Roles"
  • • Description: "Give people job titles like Server, Cook or Cashier, and say how many of each a shift needs. Turning it on also sets Shift Pickup Approval to Smart Approval."
  • When turned ON: people can be given job titles, and you can set how many of each a shift needs
  • When turned ON: switches the pickup approval policy from Auto-Approve to Smart Approval
  • • Turning it OFF asks first ("Turn Off Roles?")
  • • Default: Checked (enabled)

Staffing Requirements

  • • A section of Settings
  • • Text: "Say how many people of each job title each place needs. Save the Roles switch first."
  • • Click "Manage Staffing Rules" to set them
  • • Default: Checked (enabled)
  • •
  • How to Manage Staffing Rules:
  • 1. Click "Manage Staffing Rules" link in settings (appears when enabled)
  • 2. Navigate to: /{orgId}/settings/staffing-rules
  • 3. Page title: "Staffing Requirements"
  • 4. Description: "Tell XShift how many people each shift needs. New shifts on the Schedule page and in the AI Copilot ask for these automatically."
  • •
  • Creating Roles:
  • - Section header: "Manage Roles"
  • - Shows current roles as blue badges (e.g., "Server", "Chef", "Lifeguard")
  • - Each role badge has × button to delete
  • - Deleting role removes ALL staffing requirements for that role
  • - Confirmation prompt: "Are you sure you want to delete this role? This will remove all staffing requirements for this role."
  • - Add New Role section with 3 fields:
  • * Role Name (required) - e.g., "Lifeguard", "Server", "Cook"
  • * Description (optional) - describe responsibilities
  • * "Add Role" button (green)
  • - Press Enter in role name field to quickly create
  • - Success alert: "Role created successfully!"
  • •
  • Setting Staffing Requirements Per Location:
  • - 2-column grid layout (1 column on mobile)
  • - Each location shown as a card with:
  • * Location name (header)
  • * Address (if set)
  • * "Required Staff by Role:" label
  • * List of ALL roles with +/- controls
  • - For each role:
  • * Role name on left
  • * Current required count in center (0 if not set)
  • * Minus (-) button to decrease count
  • * Plus (+) button to increase count
  • * Minimum value: 0 (removes requirement)
  • * No maximum limit
  • - Bottom of card shows: "Total Required: X staff members"
  • - If no requirements set: "No requirements set. Click + to add role staffing requirements."
  • •
  • Example Staffing Requirements:
  • Restaurant - Downtown location:
  • • - Server: 3 required
  • • - Chef: 1 required
  • • - Dishwasher: 2 required
  • • - Total Required: 6 staff members
  • Restaurant - Uptown location:
  • • - Server: 5 required
  • • - Chef: 2 required
  • • - Host: 1 required
  • • - Total Required: 8 staff members
  • •
  • Saving Changes:
  • - "Save Changes" button in top-right corner
  • - Shows "Saving..." when processing
  • - Saves ALL locations staffing requirements at once
  • - Success alert: "Staffing rules saved successfully!"
  • - Error alert if save fails with specific error message
  • •
  • How Staffing Rules Are Used:
  • - During shift creation: System enforces minimum required staff per role
  • - Shift pickups: Smart Approval checks the person taking the shift holds the job it needs
  • - Schedule validation: Warns if location is understaffed based on requirements
  • - AI Copilot: Uses requirements to suggest optimal staffing levels
  • - Reports: Shows staffing compliance (actual vs required)
  • •
  • Edge Cases:
  • - If no roles exist: Shows "Create Your First Role" form instead of grid
  • - If no locations exist: Shows "No locations found. Create locations first before setting staffing requirements."
  • - Link to "Go to Locations →" to create locations
  • - Setting requirement to 0 removes it (same as not set)
  • - Deleting a role deletes all its requirements across all locations
  • •
  • Navigation:
  • - "← Back to Settings" link at top to return to main settings page
  • - Page is separate from main settings (not inline)
  • - Breadcrumb: Settings → Staffing Requirements

Require Base Pay

  • • Checkbox setting for employee hourly rates
  • • Label: "Require Base Pay"
  • • Description: "Require all employees to have a base hourly rate"
  • When enabled: All employees must have hourly rate set
  • • Used for payroll and cost calculations
  • • Independent setting (no dependencies)
  • • Default: Unchecked (disabled)

Require Schedule Publish Approval

  • • Checkbox setting for draft vs immediate publishing
  • • Label: "Require Schedule Publish Approval"
  • • Description: "Manually review and publish shifts. When enabled, new shifts start as DRAFT and must be published. When disabled, shifts are immediately published."
  • When ENABLED (default):
  • - All new shifts created as DRAFT status
  • - Shifts not visible to employees until published
  • - Manager must manually publish shifts
  • - "Publish Schedule" button shows in manager dashboard
  • - Gives manager review time before employees see schedule
  • When DISABLED:
  • - New shifts immediately published
  • - Employees see shifts right away
  • - No manual publish step needed
  • • Default: Checked (enabled) - recommended for most organizations

Shift Pickup Approval Policy

  • • Dropdown with 3 options
  • • Label: "Shift Pickup Approval Policy"
  • • Text under it: "What happens when someone picks up a shift another person dropped."
  • OPTION 1: Auto-Approve All Pickups
  • - "The person who picks it up gets the shift straight away. You don't need to do anything."
  • OPTION 2: Smart Approval (shows "(recommended with Roles)" when Roles is on)
  • - "The person gets the shift straight away if they are free at that time, stay at 40 hours or less that week, and hold the job title the shift needs. If not, they are told why and the pickup doesn't go through."
  • - Also checks the person works at that location
  • OPTION 3: Manager Approval Required
  • - "Nobody gets the shift until a manager approves the pickup. Waiting pickups show on your Home page under Needs your OK."
  • Tips shown:
  • - Blue tip when you use Roles but not Smart Approval: "You use Roles, so Smart Approval is a good fit. It stops people picking up a shift for a job title they don't hold."
  • - Yellow note when Smart Approval is on but Roles is off: "Roles is off, so Smart Approval only checks that the person is free at that time and stays at 40 hours or less that week."
  • • Turning Roles on switches Auto-Approve to Smart Approval for you
  • • Default: Auto-Approve

Email Notifications

Choose which emails go out to your team and managers

Where to find it

  • • In Settings, press "View email notifications". It opens its own page.
  • • Only head managers can see or change it.
  • • Your choices apply to everyone in your business.
  • • Press Save at the bottom of that page to keep your changes.
  • • A new business starts with every switch off. Turn on the ones you want.

Always sent

  • • These have no switch. They go out every time, so nobody misses a decision about their time off.
  • • Time off approved: the employee is told.
  • • Time off denied: the employee is told.
  • • Time off given by a manager: when a manager adds or changes time off for someone, they are told.

Shift management

  • • New shift: the employee gets an email when they are put on a shift.
  • • Schedule published: employees get an email when you publish their schedule.
  • • Repeating shifts made: you get an email when a set of repeating shifts is made.

Time off

  • • New time off request: managers get an email when someone asks for time off.

Shift drops and pickups

  • • Shift dropped: the employee and their managers get an email when someone drops a shift.
  • • Shift open to pick up: employees get an email when a dropped shift is open for anyone to take.
  • • Shift covered: everyone involved gets an email when someone picks up a shift.
  • • Pickup approved and Pickup denied: the employee gets an email with the answer.

Time tracking

  • • Late clock-in: managers get an email when someone clocks in late.
  • • Early clock-in: managers get an email when someone clocks in early. This can be a lot of email.

Communications

  • • Announcements: employees get an email when you post an announcement.
  • • New employee added: the manager who adds someone gets an email about it.

Security Settings (MFA)

Multi-factor authentication settings - HEAD_MANAGER only

MFA Settings - HEAD_MANAGER Only

  • • Section header: "Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)"
  • • CRITICAL: Only accessible by HEAD_MANAGER role
  • • MANAGER and EMPLOYEE cannot access MFA settings
  • Shows current MFA status:
  • - "● Enabled" (green badge) if user has MFA active
  • - "Disabled" if user does not have MFA
  • Status message:
  • - If enabled: "Your account is protected with 2FA. You need your phone to log in."
  • - If disabled: "Add an extra layer of security. You will need a code from your phone every time you log in."
  • ENABLE MFA button:
  • - Opens MFA setup modal
  • - Shows QR code to scan with authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, etc.)
  • - Requires entering verification code to confirm
  • - Saves backup codes for account recovery
  • DISABLE MFA button (if enabled):
  • - Opens confirmation modal
  • - Requires current password
  • - Requires current 2FA code from authenticator app
  • - Both password AND code required to disable MFA
  • - Success alert: "Two-Factor Authentication disabled successfully"
  • - Error shown if password or code incorrect
  • • MFA is optional for HEAD_MANAGER role

Billing

The last section of Settings, HEAD_MANAGER only

Billing Section

  • • Section header: "Billing"
  • • Text: "Your plan, payment method, invoices and cancelling."
  • • Click "Open Billing" to see your plan, change your card, download invoices or cancel

Saving Changes

How to save and apply settings

Save Settings

  • • "Save Settings" button at bottom of page (HEAD_MANAGER only)
  • • Button text: "Save Settings"
  • • Shows "Saving..." when processing
  • • Saves ALL settings at once (not individual)
  • • Success alert: "Settings saved successfully!"
  • • Error alert: "Failed to save settings" if API error
  • • Changes take effect immediately after save
  • • All organization users affected by changes
  • • No confirmation required - changes apply on save
  • • MFA settings save individually (not part of main save button)

Ready to Configure Your Organization?

Access settings from your HEAD_MANAGER dashboard to customize XShift AI for your business.

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Configure Scheduling Rules & Customize Workforce Settings | XShift AI