Build the week
free in fullAdd shifts for each person, or leave an open slot with nobody assigned yet. Repeat a shift weekly on chosen days for up to 12 weeks; each one stays editable on its own.
A free rota app next to your sales
Build the week, publish it, and your team sees their shifts on their own phone. They clock in there and ask for leave there, and you see what the hours cost against what you took.
Free in fullOn your team’s phonesLabour cost next to sales
A week's staff rota in DUMA
Why a rota belongs next to the till
In a lot of small food businesses the rota lives in a WhatsApp group and a spreadsheet. Nobody is sure which version is current, leave is agreed in a message that gets lost, and nobody knows what Saturday’s staff cost compared with Saturday’s takings until the accountant tells you.
In DUMA the rota, the clock-ins and the sales share one place. The shifts you plan, the hours people actually work and the money the day took sit side by side, so labour cost is a number you can see this week, not a surprise next month.
What DUMA’s rotas do
Rotas and time are part of the free plan in full.
Draft, then publish
free in fullNew shifts start as drafts, so you can plan without the team watching it change. Publish every draft for a location and date range in one go when it’s ready.
My rota, on their phone
Each person sees their week, their next shift, scheduled and worked hours and approved leave. Hourly staff see their estimated pay. New and changed shifts are marked.
Clock in where they are
Staff slide to clock in on My rota, or at the till, which asks them to clock in before it opens. A clock-in shortly before a published shift is matched to it.
Planned against worked
One view shows each shift beside the time actually clocked: late or early by how many minutes, no-shows, and work that was not on the rota.
Leave, with the context
Staff request time off from their phone. You approve or decline seeing their remaining allowance, who else is off, and the shifts it would leave uncovered.
Cover against demand
Compare the people on the rota, hour by hour, with the staff your recent orders suggest you need, by weekday, so the short-staffed hours stand out.
Labour cost next to sales
An estimated cost for the rota, and a Labour vs sales report with labour as a share of takings and sales per labour hour. A Staff hours report works as the timesheet.
How to write a staff rota in DUMA
The first week takes a few minutes. After that most of it repeats.
Add your team
Invite each person with their role and the location they work at. Add an hourly rate if you want labour cost.
Plan the shifts as drafts
Add shifts for the week, repeat the regular ones weekly, and leave open slots where you still need someone.
Check cover, then publish
Look at the cover panel for hours that look short, adjust, then publish. Your team sees the published rota on My rota.
Compare the week with the takings
After the week, open Labour vs sales to see what the hours cost as a share of what you took, and tune next week’s rota.
What the rota doesn’t do yet
Honest gaps, so nothing surprises you. Tell us if one of these matters: we add things on request.
- No shift swaps between staff yet. Swaps go through the manager.
- Publishing doesn’t send a notification. Your team sees the new rota when they open My rota.
- No copy-a-whole-week or rota templates. Regular shifts repeat weekly instead.
- No GPS, geofenced or PIN clock-in. Staff clock in for the location chosen in the app.
- It is an installable web app, not a native app from an app store.
- Pay runs are prepared in DUMA and exported for your payroll tool or accountant. DUMA does not submit anything to HMRC.
Questions about rotas in DUMA
Is DUMA a free rota app?
Yes. Rotas and time are part of DUMA’s free plan in full: building and publishing the rota, clock-ins, leave requests and the labour reports. There is no time limit and no card is needed.
Can my staff see the rota on their phone?
Yes. Each person has My rota, which shows their week, their next shift, their hours and their approved leave. It works in the phone’s browser and can be installed to the home screen like an app.
Can staff clock in and out on their phone?
Yes. They slide to clock in on My rota, or clock in at the till. A manager can correct a clock time, and staff can query a day that looks wrong.
Does it show labour cost against sales?
Yes. The rota shows an estimated cost, and the Labour vs sales report shows labour cost as a share of takings and sales per labour hour, because the rota and the till share one system.
Can staff swap shifts?
Not yet. For now a manager moves the shift. Tell us if you need swaps, because requests decide what we build next.
Does DUMA run payroll?
It prepares pay runs and payslips from the hours worked, and exports them for your accountant or payroll tool. It does not submit PAYE to HMRC.
Take the rota out of WhatsApp.Free, on your team’s phones.
Start in minutes with no card needed. We’ll help you add your team and build the first week.