The schedule lives in your head.
Who can close, who's still learning, who's trained on the register. Only you remember it all, so only you can build next week.
For small businesses
Get the schedule out of your head.
Tell OnlineScheduling how your place runs, in your own words. Start from the spreadsheet or whiteboard you use today. Your team sees their shifts in the calendar they already use.
How your business runs
There's no scheduler. There's you.
At a small business, the person who makes the schedule also opens the doors, orders supplies and covers the shift nobody else can. There's no scheduler, just you, a whiteboard or a spreadsheet, and a phone full of messages about next week.
Most of the rules live in your head: who can open and close, who's still learning, which teen has to be done by 7, who wants more hours. The team is small, so one call-out moves everyone, and people come and go with the seasons. It works as long as you're there to remember it all.
Your staff, part-timers and teens The counter, the kitchen, the front desk The van, the mower, the floor machine
Open the doorsBefore anyone else gets there Order and pay the billsBetween the rushes Cover the gapsThe shift nobody else can take Build next weekSunday night, after closing
Where scheduling breaks
Five ways a small team runs you ragged.
Most small business schedules live on a whiteboard, a spreadsheet and the owner's phone. That works until someone calls out.
Sunday night is schedule night.
Next week gets built after closing, around a stack of messages about time off and swaps.
Every call-out lands on you.
Someone's sick at 6 a.m. You go down your contacts one by one, or you work the shift yourself.
The team keeps changing.
Students leave for the summer, new hires start Monday, and the schedule gets rebuilt around people who are still learning.
Some rules you can't afford to miss.
Federal law limits how late and how long 14- and 15-year-olds can work, and federal overtime starts after 40 hours a week for most hourly staff. One slip costs more than the shift.
Say how it works
Your rules, in plain words.
Tell OnlineScheduling how your place works, the way you'd tell a new manager. It reads each rule back, and nothing changes until you confirm.
Who can close, teen hours, the 40-hour limit and the van are all just rules. Every schedule is checked against them.
Say “always” or “try to,” and it knows which rules can bend.
A rule in plain words
“Only people trained to close work the last shift.”
Your place this week Week of Oct 12
MonTueWedThuFri
Counter
Closers
Jordan, 15
New hire
Van
A trained closer on every last shift
Your five building blocks
Five building blocks, in small business words.
Every schedule is made of the same five pieces. Here's what they look like at one location.
What you schedule
Your staffPart-timersWeekend teensThe counterThe kitchenThe front deskThe vanThe mowerThe floor machine
When it's needed
Opening shiftsClosing shiftsThe Saturday rushDeliveriesA private partyA job across town
Who's on it
Ava opens the front counter Saturday, 6:30 to 2.
When it's not free
Time offThe van at the shop
Classes and appointments show as busy time, from each person's own calendar.
How it works here
Your rules, in your own words. “Only people trained to close work the last shift.”
When plans change
One call-out, sorted before you open.
It's 6:10 on Saturday morning and Lena is sick. You say “Lena is out today.” Theo is trained to open and under 40 hours this week, so he takes her opening shift.
That leaves Theo's close open. Jordan is free, but he's 15. You hear that it breaks “Under-16s finish by 7 p.m.” and why, so Sam, who's also free, closes instead. Nobody went down a contact list, and each change shows up in their own calendar.
Lena is out today.
Done. Theo is trained to open and under 40 hours this week, so he takes Lena's opening shift.
That left Theo's close open. Jordan is free, but he's 15, and under-16s finish by 7 p.m. Sam closes instead. Everyone's new shift is in their own calendar.
The team changes. The rules stay put.
Summer starts. Maya and Kai go home until September, and Mia and Noah start Monday. You say what changed. Their shifts move to the rest of the team inside everyone's hours, and the new hires work alongside someone experienced for their first week.
Built for your industry
See it in your line of work.
Each industry page tells a fuller story. Here is where each one starts small.
Restaurants One restaurant, the Friday dinner rush and a 15-year-old who has to finish by 7. Read the restaurants story Landscaping Three crews, their trucks and gear, and a rain day. Read the landscaping story Hotels An independent hotel's floors, linen carts and front desk. Read the hotels story Delivery fleets A morning lineup of drivers and vans, and the call-out that changes it. Read the delivery fleets story Recreation centers One pool, its lifeguards and a 5:40 a.m. call-out. Read the recreation centers story Sports fields A town's fields, referees and a rainout. Read the sports fields story
Ask your assistant
Ask between customers. Your team sees it in their calendar.
Connect OnlineScheduling to the AI assistant you already use, like ChatGPT, Claude and Muse, and schedule by asking. Your team connects their own calendar from a phone or computer browser, so their shifts show up where they already look. No app to download.
Your AI assistant Connected to OnlineScheduling
Lena's out today. Who can open? Theo is trained to open, free this morning and under 40 hours this week. Book him? Yes. Who's closest to 40 hours this week? Theo is at 36 hours after today. Sam is at 34, and everyone else is under 30. Give Theo next Saturday off. What has to change? Ava can take his open and Sam his close. Both stay under 40 hours. Make the change?
OnlineScheduling · nowTheo's calendar updated: Saturday, Open, 6:30 a.m.
OnlineScheduling · nowTheo's calendar updated: Saturday, Open, 6:30 a.m.Google Calendar Apple Calendar Outlook
Questions
Small business questions, answered.
Something else on your mind? Ask when you request access. We read every request ourselves.
Is my team too small?
No. It works for a team of any size, even a team of one.
Does it work for one location?
Yes. One location or many, in one account. Add more locations later, each with its own rules.
How do we get started?
You set it up on the OnlineScheduling website. Upload what you already have, like a spreadsheet, a PDF or a photo of the whiteboard, then tell it your rules in plain words. After that, you can make changes by asking your AI assistant.
Do my staff need an app?
No. Each person needs an account, then connects their own calendar from a phone or computer browser.
What happens when someone calls out?
Staff can add, drop or swap shifts, and you can change the schedule by hand or just by asking. Changes show up in their own calendar.
Can it check teen hours and a 40-hour limit?
Yes. Write them as rules, like “Under-16s finish by 7 p.m.” or “Nobody works more than 40 hours a week.” Every schedule is checked against them, and you can ask your assistant who's closest to 40 hours this week.
Can I see what's on my staff's calendars?
Only that they're busy. Details stay private.
Request access
Bring us your hardest rule.
We're opening access in stages. Tell us how your place runs, and we'll reply within one business day.
1Tell us how you schedule.
2We read every request ourselves.
3We reply within one business day.
Your hardest rule, for example “Under-16s finish by 7 p.m.”
Tell us who you are, what you schedule and the rule your current tool can't handle. It's one short form.
Request access