Product
Everything a busy floor needs. Nothing it doesn’t.
Six tools that replace the spreadsheet, the group chat and the paper timesheet, designed for managers who schedule between service and staff who check shifts on the bus.
Schedule builder
Build a week in the time it takes to drink a flat white.
Start from a template or last week, drag shifts where you want them and let auto-fill suggest the rest. Orbit checks coverage, contracted hours and skills while you work.
- Templates for regular weeks, holidays and quiet months
- Auto-fill that balances hours fairly across the team
- Roles and skills, so only trained people land on the bar
- Multi-location view for area managers
Availability & time off
Never schedule someone who already said no.
Your team sets when they can work and requests time off from their phone. Approved leave is blocked on the schedule, and holiday balances update automatically.
- Recurring availability with exceptions
- Time-off requests with notes and approval
- Holiday balances and accrual by contract
- Blackout dates for your busiest weekends
Swaps & open shifts
Cover gaps before you even notice them.
Post an open shift and Orbit offers it to people who are available, trained and under their hours. Swaps between teammates can go straight through or wait for your approval.
- Open shifts offered to the right people first
- One-tap swaps with optional manager approval
- Automatic checks for clashes, overtime and rest breaks
- A record of every change for fairness
Labor costs
See the cost of the week before you publish it.
Connect your till and Orbit forecasts sales by hour. Labor cost and labor % sit next to the schedule, so you can trim a quiet Tuesday or add a server for a big Saturday.
- Sales forecasts from your POS history
- Live labor cost and labor % by day and location
- Targets with gentle warnings, not hard blocks
- Weekly email with last week’s actual vs plan
Time clock
Clock in on any phone or a shared tablet.
People clock in from their own phone on site or from a kiosk tablet by the door. Timesheets fill themselves, ready to approve and send to payroll.
- Phone clock-in with location check
- Kiosk mode with PIN or photo
- Breaks, late and early arrivals highlighted
- One-click export to payroll
Team messages
Announcements that people actually read.
Pin the new menu, the fire drill or the oat milk change. Read receipts show who has seen it, and conversations stay attached to the location and the shift.
- Announcements with read receipts
- Location and role channels
- Direct messages between teammates
- Quiet hours so nobody gets pinged on a day off
Comparison
Orbit vs spreadsheets & group chats
The way most teams schedule today works, until it doesn’t. Here is what changes.
| Task | Spreadsheets & chats | Orbit |
|---|---|---|
| Building next week | Building next weekCopy last week’s tab, fix the formulas, hope nothing broke | Templates and auto-fill, with coverage and hours checked as you go |
| Who asked for time off | Who asked for time offScattered across texts, chats and memory | Requests in one list, approved days blocked on the schedule |
| Shift swaps | Shift swaps“Can anyone cover Sat?” and a lot of silence | Swaps and open shifts claimed in the app, approved in one tap |
| Telling the team | Telling the teamA screenshot of the spreadsheet, posted twice | Notifications, calendar sync and texts for people without the app |
| Labor costs | Labor costsWorked out after the week, if at all | Live labor % against forecast sales while you schedule |
| Overtime and breaks | Overtime and breaksSpotted when payroll complains | Warnings before you publish, with local break rules |
| Payroll | PayrollRetyping hours into another system | Approved timesheets sent to payroll in one click |
| Records | RecordsVersion FINAL_v3 (2) | Full history of every change, who made it and when |
Try it with your real schedule.
Import from a spreadsheet in two minutes. Free for 14 days, then free forever for teams up to 15.