Roles

A Role is what an employee does on a shift, such as "Bar", "Kitchen" or "Duty Manager". Roles are optional. Add them when you want to roster by Role, or see what each Role costs.

This guide explains what Roles change in Microkeeper, how to add and link them, and the mistakes to avoid.

What a Role is in Microkeeper

A Role is what an employee does on a shift. A restaurant might use "Bar", "Front of House", "Kitchen", "Duty Manager" and "Restaurant Manager". The same Role can be worked at more than one Location, so you add each Role once and link it to every Location where it's worked.

Each shift records its Role alongside its Location, so you can see what each kind of work costs. See Cost Centres.

Where Microkeeper uses Roles

• Roster Calendar: each Location gets a row for each Role linked to it, in alphabetical order, so you roster Kitchen shifts in the Kitchen row.
• Choosing staff for a shift: a Role can be limited to a staff Group, and can require Skills. Staff who haven't completed a Role's Skills are listed as Unskilled when you choose who works the shift.
• Clocking on: when staff clock on, they can choose a Role from the active Roles linked to the Location. If they're rostered, the shift's Role is used unless they pick another.
• Timesheets and pay: each timesheet keeps the Role it was worked in, and pay can be broken down by Role for cost centre reports.

Decide whether you need Roles

You don't have to use Roles. Without them, each Location has a single Shifts row on the Roster Calendar, and everyone's shifts at that Location go in it.

Add Roles if:

• You want to roster by what people do, for example so you can see you've got two people on Bar and three in Kitchen.
• Some work needs a qualification, such as Responsible Service of Alcohol for Bar.
• You want to know what each Role costs in wages.

If everyone at a Location does the same work, you can leave Roles out and add them later.

Add a Role

Navigate to Menu > Settings > General > Roles.

1. Click Add New Role.
2. Enter the Title, for example "Kitchen". Keep it short.
3. Leave the other fields as they are for now, and Status as Active.
4. Click Add.

The Role appears in the list, on the Active tab. Repeat for each Role. You can also add and update Roles in bulk from a spreadsheet with CSV Transfer, which has Export CSV and Import CSV.

A new Role doesn't show on the roster until you link it to a Location. See Link Roles to a Location.

Role settings explained

The New Role and Update Role forms have these fields. Only the Title is required. To add a Group, Job or Skill without leaving the form, click the + button beside its list: its page opens in a new tab, and the one you add there is chosen on the Role.

Edit or disable a Role

Navigate to Menu > Settings > General > Roles.

1. Click the pencil button on the Role's row. The Update Role form opens.
2. Change the fields you need.
3. Click Update.

Roles can't be deleted. To stop using one, set its Status to Disabled. The list has an Active tab and a Disabled tab, and a disabled Role moves to the Disabled tab. To use it again, open it there, set its Status to Active and click Update. Hover over a Role's Status to see its Role ID.

A disabled Role can't be chosen when you link Roles to a Location, set an employee's Default Role or clock on. If it's still linked to a Location, its row stays on the Roster Calendar with a red dot, as a reminder to move its shifts to another Role or delete them. To take the row off the roster, remove the Role from the Location's Roles too.

Link Roles to a Location

The Roster Calendar only shows the Roles linked to each Location. Until you link them, the Location keeps its single Shifts row, and you can't roster by Role.

Navigate to Menu > Settings > General > Locations.

1. Click the pencil button next to the Location. The Update Location form opens.
2. Click the Logistics tab.
3. In Roles, choose a Role from Select Role. It's added below the list.
4. Choose each other Role worked at this Location.
5. Click Update.

Repeat for each Location. To remove a Role from a Location, click the x on its name under Roles, then click Update.

To add a new Role without leaving the Location, click the + button next to Select Role. The Roles page opens in a new tab, and the Role you add there is added to the Location's Roles. Click Update on the Location to save it.

On the Roster Calendar (Menu > Rosters > Roster Calendar), each Location now shows a row for each of its Roles.

Require Skills for a Role

Skills are qualifications, licences and inductions you track for your staff. Set them up first; see Skills and Documents.

To require Skills for a Role:

1. Open the Role on the Roles page.
2. Under Skills, choose each Skill from Select Skill. Only active Skills are listed, and each one you choose is added below the list. To take one off, click the x on its name.
3. Click Update.

The Role's Skills show in the Skills column of the list. A Skill that's since been archived or set back to Draft shows in red, marked (Inactive).

To add a new Skill without leaving the Role, click the + button next to Select Skill. Skill Config opens in a new tab. Add the Skill, set its Status to Active and click Done, and it's added to the Role. When you close the tab, the Select Skill list is updated with any other Skills you added there. Click Update on the Role to save it.

When you choose who works a shift in that Role, staff who've completed its Skills are listed under Available, and staff who haven't are listed under Unskilled. You can still roster them.

To stop staff clocking on to a shift until they've completed a Skill, set the Skill's Severity to Critical Shift in Skill Config. An employee can then work a Role that doesn't need the Skill, but can't clock on to a shift in a Role that does. For example, a waiter without a Responsible Service of Alcohol certificate can clock on to a Front of House shift, but not a Bar shift.

A Location can require Skills too, on its Logistics tab. A shift needs the Location's Skills and the Role's Skills.

Roles as cost centres

Role is one of the three cost centres every shift records, with Location and Job. When you add your first Role, Microkeeper turns on the Role pay breakdown, so each pay run records which Role the hours were worked in. You can turn it off under Payroll Breakdown in Global Settings.

Once the Role pay breakdown is on, each employee's profile has a Default Role in Payment and Employment. Microkeeper uses it for that employee's pay that doesn't come with a Role, such as leave.

How a shift gets its Role, Location and Job, and where they show up, is explained in Cost Centres.

Common Role mistakes

Guides related to Roles

• Cost Centres
• Locations
• Jobs
• Groups
• Skills and Documents