03 · The dashboard & navigation

This chapter explains the home Dashboard you land on after logging in, and the top navigation you use to move around the back-office.

The top navigation bar

The dark bar across the top of every back-office page is your main navigation. From left to right:

Workspace switcher, your business logo and name (top-left). Select it to switch between businesses you belong to, and to reach Settings and Plan & billing for the current business (shown if your role allows).
Dashboard, a home link back to this page.
Assistant, a sparkle icon (only if the AI assistant module is on and you have permission). Opens the AI assistant.
Grouped menus, related tools collected into dropdown groups (below).
Notifications bell, a live list of things needing attention.
Account menu, your account, password and sign-out.

The navigation is personalised: you only see groups, menus and items your role can access and your business has switched on. A group with only one available item collapses into a single flat link. So two people in the same business can see different menus.

menus visible.

The navigation groups

Group	Contains	Notes
(Dashboard)	Home dashboard	Always present.
(My work)	Your own day: clock in/out, upcoming shifts, your requests	Always present, every team member sees only their own data.
(Assistant)	AI assistant	Icon-only; Business plan.
Bookings	Bookings, Experiences, Staff, spaces & equipment, Check-in, Calendar, Run-sheet	The group label follows your wording (e.g. "Appointments", "Classes"). Run-sheet appears only when it's switched on.
Customers	Directory, Messages, Marketing	Messages is always available even without the Customers module.
Team	Directory, Approvals, Announcements, Roster, Time off & shifts, Licences & certificates, Team happiness	Approvals appears for approvers (leave/shift approvals in one inbox). Time off & shifts holds Leave and Shift swaps as sub-tabs. Roles & permissions is opened from the Directory page.
Finance	Money, Invoicing, Accounting, Memberships
Operations	Business health, Tasks, Safety, Documents, Forms, Reminders, Assets
Stock	Shopping, Recipes	The Shopping and Recipes labels follow your wording (e.g. "Supplies", "Menu").

Settings and Plan & billing aren't in the top bar, they live in the workspace switcher (your business name, top-left). Open Settings there, then use its tabs (General, Appearance, Payments, Team, Modules, …) to set things up and switch modules on or off.

The notifications bell

The bell shows a dot when something needs you, and a panel listing items in priority order:

New customer messages
New booking requests to approve
Unconfirmed appointments to chase up
Unread announcements
Shift requests to action
Leave requests to approve
Documents awaiting your sign-off

Each line is a shortcut to the relevant page. When there's nothing pending, it reads "You're all caught up."

items.

The account menu

The circular avatar (your business initial) at the far right opens:

Your business name and tagline
Help & getting started, opens the in-app help panel (see below)
Account & password, change your password
Sign out

For your security, you're automatically signed out after a period of inactivity.

Help & getting started

Every business, on any plan, including the free trial, has an in-app Help & getting started panel. Open it from the ? button on the top bar (next to the notifications bell), or from the account menu (avatar → Help & getting started). It opens as a side panel that stays put while you work, the page shifts over to make room, so you can read the step-by-step guide and click around the real screens at the same time, and it stays open as the assistant takes you from page to page. Close it with the ✕. It contains:

Getting-started shortcuts, quick links to set up your business and branding, set up what you offer, connect payments, add your team, and view Plan & billing (links adapt to the tools you have on).
Ask the assistant, a help chat that answers "how do I…" and "where do I…" questions and gives you a take-me-there button to the right screen.

What the help assistant can and can't do. It's a product guide, it explains the app and points you to the right place, but it cannot see your business data (bookings, money, customers, team). Ask it how and where, not how many. For answers drawn from your own live data, that's the full AI assistant (a Business-plan feature, see AI assistant). The help assistant has a monthly question allowance, set per plan (shown on the pricing/billing cards), displayed at the bottom of the panel.

getting-started links and the ask-the-assistant chat.

The home dashboard

The Dashboard is your at-a-glance command centre. It adapts to the modules you've switched on and to your role, you only ever see cards relevant to your business.

modules on.

Greeting and quick actions

The top shows a time-of-day greeting with your first name, your business name and today's date. If Bookings is on, you also get quick buttons to Bookings and either Set up bookings (if you haven't yet) or View calendar.

"Finish setting up" checklist (managers only)

While you're getting started, a checklist card shows the basics of being open for business, with a live progress bar. Each step is gated to the modules you've turned on, and ticks off automatically from real data:

Add your logo & brand colours
Invite your team (hidden if you've marked yourself a solo operator)
Set up what you offer (Bookings)
Set your opening hours (Bookings)
Connect your payment account (Money)
Add your business & tax details (Invoicing)
Set up your safety & cleaning checks (Safety)
Take your first booking (Bookings)

Each step links straight to the right place. The card disappears once everything is done, or you can Dismiss it.

steps ticked.

The KPI strip

Up to four key numbers, built only from the tools you use, e.g.:

Bookings today (or your wording), what's on the schedule
Upcoming, future bookings
Outstanding, money awaiting payment (Money/Invoicing)
On shift, who's clocked in now (Roster)

If you have fewer than four, a Needs attention tile fills the gap. Every tile is a shortcut.

Business health (managers only)

A green / amber / red score (0-100) summarising how the business is tracking, with a one-line summary and a breakdown of "pillars" (areas) sorted so anything needing attention leads. Select it for the full report. See the Business health section of the Operations tools for detail.

pillar breakdown.

Today's schedule

A timeline of today's bookings in time order, each with who it's for, where, and a colour dot for paid (green) vs balance owing (amber). If nothing's booked, it says so.

Money

If Payments or Invoicing is on: Collected, Outstanding and Upcoming (booked-ahead value), with a progress bar showing how much of the total has been collected.

Needs attention

A cross-module to-do list, traffic-lit and linked, surfacing things like:

Booking requests to approve
Shift requests awaiting approval
Unpaid invoices and outstanding balances
Certifications expired or expiring within 30 days
Open maintenance issues
Assets due for service

When nothing's pending it shows All clear.

Quick links

Shortcuts to common tools you have on (Shopping to order, Assets due, Safety & cleaning, Team comms), with live counts where useful.

Common questions

"Why can't I see a menu/card a colleague has?" Either the module is off for your business, or your role doesn't have the permission. See Roles & permissions.

"The nav only shows Dashboard and Messages." This is usually a temporary session-sync glitch, sign out fully and back in. If it persists, contact your administrator.

"The dashboard looks different from this manual." It's meant to, the dashboard only shows cards for the modules you've enabled and your role.

Next: Begin the module chapters, starting with Accounting export.