Shifta vs Excel for staff scheduling
Almost every venue starts its rota in Excel. It is free, familiar and flexible. It also has no idea who is available, never tells your team anything, and cannot stop you double-booking the same person. At a certain size that quiet overhead costs more than the spreadsheet saves.
Shifta keeps what is good about a grid, the drag-and-drop and the at-a-glance week, and adds what a spreadsheet structurally cannot: a live plan on everyone's phone, conflict checks, swap and time-off workflows, and worked hours next to the plan.
What a spreadsheet cannot do
It is never live
The moment you email or print it, it is out of date. The version on the wall and the version in your inbox disagree, and your team is never sure which is real.
It cannot check itself
Nothing stops a double booking, a clash with time off, or a shift that breaks rest between two days. Every check is manual, and people miss things.
There is no workflow
Swaps, time off and availability happen in chat and memory. None of it is attached to the schedule, so the grid drifts from reality.
It does not reach your team
A spreadsheet cannot send a notification. Whether everyone saw the latest version is a question you can never really answer.
Side by side
| What you need | Excel | Shifta |
|---|---|---|
| Live, shared plan | Emailed or printed, quickly stale | Published once, live on every phone |
| Mobile access | Awkward on a phone | Native iOS and Android apps |
| Conflict and rest checks | Manual, easy to miss | Checked before you publish or approve |
| Swaps and time off | In chat, off the grid | Requests attached to the schedule |
| Worked hours | A separate sheet, if at all | Logged hours next to the plan |
| Labour cost | Added up at month end | Live as you build the week |
| Notifications | None | Push when the schedule changes |
When to switch
If one person plans for a handful of people and nothing changes during the week, a spreadsheet is fine. Keep it.
Once swaps, sickness and time off are part of every week, or you want to see labour cost before payday, the manual overhead of Excel is the thing slowing you down. That is the point to move to a tool that keeps the plan live for the whole team.
Once swaps, sickness and time off are part of every week, or you want to see labour cost before payday, the manual overhead of Excel is the thing slowing you down. That is the point to move to a tool that keeps the plan live for the whole team.
Switching from Excel
Can I keep planning the way I do in a spreadsheet?
Yes. Shifta is a drag-and-drop grid, so the planning feel is familiar. What changes is that the plan is live on every phone and checks itself for conflicts.
Will I lose the flexibility of Excel?
You keep the at-a-glance week and add structure where a spreadsheet has none: availability, swaps, time off and worked hours, all attached to the schedule.
How long does it take to move over?
You can build your first week in minutes. There is no import project: set up your team and areas, drag in shifts, and publish.
Is it more expensive than a free spreadsheet?
There is a free plan, so you can replace the spreadsheet at no cost. Paid plans in CHF add time tracking and analytics when you need them.
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