Business & Payroll FAQ

In the app: Tracking → Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly Report or Annual Report → View report, then choose a start and end date. From there they export as Payroll (which is a csv file), Print (PDF file), or Excel. Full walkthrough in our How to Use the Manager's Desk guide.

No. ShiftShow's core focus is shift scheduling. The HR features — the Payroll CSV, Print (PDF file), and Excel exports, and the Manager's Desk — are an optional add-on, there to make life easier for companies who want to use the app's hours data for payroll. You're free to ignore all of it and use the app purely for scheduling.

If you do use them: every figure in those exports comes from what the employee entered into the app themselves. ShiftShow doesn't check or verify any of it, and can't — we don't have access to any individual's data to do so. Verifying the data is correct before relying on it for payroll is the employer's responsibility, not the app's.

• Payroll is machine-readable, csv file, built for import into payroll software or the Manager's Desk — not meant to be read directly.
• Print (PDF file) is a formatted, human-readable report with signature lines, for a physical or digitally signed record.
• Excel is the same report as the Print (PDF file), opened as a spreadsheet for manual review.

You may use one or more of these options, depending on your needs.

The Print (PDF file) is designed to be printed, reviewed, and signed rather than imported into any system. Hours are presented in clearly structured sections — including Sundays Worked, Overtime, and Public Holidays — alongside summary totals, allowing a manager, payroll officer, or HR administrator to verify the figures at a glance. Signature lines are provided for both the employee and the manager, allowing the document to serve as a physical or digitally signed record of approval. No software or data import is required.

A typical process: the employee submits the Print (PDF file) to their manager, who reviews it against their own records and signs it once satisfied it is accurate. Used in this way, the Print (PDF file) functions as a self-contained record and does not require any interaction with the Manager's Desk.

Open it in Excel or Google Sheets to review the figures, or copy them into your own payroll template. It's the same report as the Print (PDF file), just laid out as a spreadsheet rather than a printable document.

Either way, your employer's official records and rules always take precedence over the app. Nothing in a ShiftShow export is auto-trusted — HR may choose not to use the app's figures at all if they don't match. The structured sections (Sundays Worked, Overtime, Public Holidays, summary totals) are laid out so managers, payroll, or HR can cross-check hours quickly.

Open it to review, or import it into your payroll system's own CSV import tool once the figures are verified. It's machine-readable and built for that kind of bulk import, or for compiling with other employees' files in the Manager's Desk — not really meant to be read directly.

Either way, your employer's official records and rules always take precedence over the app. Nothing in a ShiftShow export is auto-trusted — HR may choose not to use the app's figures at all if they don't match. The structured sections (Sundays Worked, Overtime, Public Holidays, summary totals) are laid out so managers, payroll, or HR can cross-check hours quickly, whether importing or copying figures by hand.

No — pick whichever fits how your business works. If you just want something simple to print and sign, the Print (PDF file) is the best option on its own. If you want to import into payroll, use the Manager's Desk to compile everyone's CSVs into one file, verify the figures, and confirm with your payroll software whether CSV import is supported and whether column mapping is needed.

Yes. The Print (PDF file) export includes signature lines for both employee and manager. The employee prints it, checks the hours are correct, and signs it; the manager checks and signs it too if required. That signed sheet can be kept as a physical record of the hours submitted and approved. Whether it is accepted as official proof of hours depends on the employer's own policies and requirements. No CSV, Manager's Desk, or digital import needed. Companies that don't want a digital process at all can use this as their whole workflow.

Yes. Employees can pick any start and end date for the Monthly Report, up to one month — the same date in the next month, or last day to last day (e.g. 30 September to 31 October) — so a cycle like 25 June to 25 July fits in a single export.

Use the Annual Report instead — it supports a longer custom range. The one-month limit only applies to the Monthly Report.

Custom date ranges and the Payroll CSV export are recent additions, so it's worth asking your team to keep the app updated to the latest version from the Play Store if a feature described here doesn't match what they see.

Employee Name, Employee Number, Date, Shift Type, Ordinary Hours, Overtime Hours, Sunday Hours, Public Holiday Hours, Total Hours, Leave Type, Leave Hours, and Sunday/PH Rule Applied — one row per shift or leave entry. Full field-by-field detail is in our Payroll CSV Guide.

Ordinary, Overtime, Sunday, and Public Holiday hours combined for that row. It's zero on leave rows, where the hours are recorded under Leave Hours instead.

It records which rule the employee's settings used to resolve a shift that qualifies as both Sunday time and public holiday time — one of three named rules, recorded on every row for reference, even where it made no difference to that row's figures.

That depends on which payroll software you use. We do have guides in the Compatible Payroll Software page. If your software isn't listed there, contact your payroll software provider directly for guidance on importing this file.

The Manager's Desk is a free, browser-based tool that combines several employees' CSV exports into one compiled team report, flagging common issues before you rely on the figures. No account and nothing to install — it runs entirely inside your own browser at ManagersDesk.html.

In short: each shift member exports their monthly report as a CSV and sends it to their manager; the manager drops every file into the Manager's Desk, reviews any flagged issues, and downloads one compiled, file to pass on to payroll. For the full step-by-step walkthrough, see our How to Use the Manager's Desk guide.

A free browser-based tool that combines several employees' CSV exports into one compiled team report, and flags common issues before you rely on the figures. No account, no installation. Try it at ManagersDesk.html.

Drag and drop them all onto the upload area, or click it to browse and select every file at once.

Paste in your expected employee numbers, one per line, and the tool flags anyone on that list whose file wasn't received.

Flags any shift or leave date outside this exact range — catches a file that's for the wrong period entirely. There's also an option to exclude shifts/leave outside this range when compiling, instead of just flagging them.

• Couldn't read file — not recognised as a Shift Show export.
• Duplicate submission — the same employee number appears in more than one file.
• Missing submission — on the roster, but no file received.
• Sunday/PH rule inconsistency — employees are using different counting rules; confirm this is intentional.
• Period mismatch — dates fall outside the expected range.
• Total Hours doesn't add up — a row's stated total doesn't match its own components, independently recomputed by the tool.

It's required before the download unlocks, and records who reviewed and confirmed the figures — that name is written into the downloaded file itself.

The same columns as each employee's original export, same order, same values, plus two extra columns at the end — Confirmed By and Disclaimer — which your payroll system's import tool can simply skip.

No — by design. The tool is read-only, so every figure stays traceable back to a real file. If a number's wrong, the fix is the employee correcting it at the source and re-exporting, not an edit made downstream.

Everything is cleared — nothing is saved by the tool itself. Download the compiled file before closing or refreshing the tab if you need it again later.

No. ShiftShow doesn't submit data to any payroll system on anyone's behalf. An employee exports their hours, and your payroll or HR office reviews and imports that file into your own system manually.

Many payroll and HR systems support some form of CSV import, but the exact process and whether it is available depends on your software, edition, modules, and permissions. Confirm directly with your payroll provider — see our Payroll CSV Guide for the general process, and our Compatible Payroll Software page for software-specific guides.

This isn't a universal process — every payroll system is different, and the exact steps, screen names, and even whether CSV import exists at all depends on your specific software, edition, and permissions. Confirm the precise process with your own payroll software provider before relying on it. That said, the general pattern most systems follow is:

1. Open the CSV in your payroll system's import tool (often called "Import Timesheet," "Bulk Upload," or "Time & Labor Import" — the exact name varies by system).
2. Match each column to the corresponding field in your system — for example, this file's "Overtime Hours" to whatever field your system uses for overtime.
3. Save the mapping if your system allows it, so future exports import without repeating this step.
4. Review the totals against the employee's official schedule before finalising the import.

Not every column needs mapping — most tools let you skip fields you don't use, and only your system's own required fields (typically an employee identifier and date) usually need to be mapped for the import to succeed. Full walkthrough in our Payroll CSV Guide, and check our Compatible Payroll Software page for guides specific to your system.

The typical workflow: each employee exports their own CSV and sends it to their manager. The manager imports everyone's files into the Manager's Desk and compiles them into one team report. Before downloading that compiled file and sending it on to payroll or HR, depending on your process, the manager must double-check:

• Ordinary hours worked match each employee's actual attendance or timesheet — this is the single largest figure determining pay for anyone paid strictly per hour worked, and it's worth checking first, not just the special categories below.
• The reporting period matches the payroll cycle.
• Overtime and Sunday hours against your own pay rules.
• Employee Numbers match your payroll employee IDs.
• Public holiday dates match your local calendar.

None of these are checked automatically by the tool — they're on the manager to verify before exporting and sending it on. Payroll or HR should then do their own review of the compiled file before importing it into your payroll system.

Use the Excel or Print (PDF file) export instead — both contain the same figures as the CSV, just laid out for a person rather than an import tool:

• Excel — open it like any spreadsheet and type the totals straight into your payroll system's manual entry screen, one employee at a time. Since it's a normal spreadsheet, you can also sort, filter, or copy figures into your own template if that's easier than re-typing every field.
• Print (PDF file) — a formatted, printable version of the same report, with signature lines for the employee and manager. Print it, have both parties check and sign it, and either keep it as a physical record or use it as the reference while entering figures into payroll by hand.

Either way, this is entirely manual — there's no bulk import, so verify each figure as you go rather than trusting it wasn't miskeyed.

No. It runs entirely inside your own browser. Nothing you add to it — files, roster, dates, or the compiled result — is uploaded, logged, or stored anywhere outside that browser tab, not even by us.

That depends entirely on your own company's policy — ShiftShow doesn't guarantee acceptance by any employer, payroll office, or third party. Every figure in the file is based on data the employee entered in the app. We do not check or verify any of it — we don't have access to any individual's data to do so. Ensuring the data is correct before relying on it for payroll is solely the responsibility of the business. Full detail is in our Terms of Use.

Use our Business & Payroll Contact page. That page is for business, payroll, and HR enquiries only — general app questions sent there won't be answered; shift members should use our Contact page instead.