Shifts & Cashier Management
A shift is a cash-drawer session: you open it with a counted starting amount and close it with a counted ending amount, and HandyBook works out the variance. The Register requires an open shift before you can ring anything.
Opening a shift
At Point of Sale → Register, the Open shift dialog appears automatically when no shift is open (or tap Open shift in the header). Count the cash in your drawer, enter it as Opening cash, and tap Open shift. The header then shows the elapsed time and the amount you started with.
What a shift records
- Opening cash — what you counted at open
- Closing cash — what you counted at close
- Expected cash — what should be in the drawer based on cash sales
- Variance — closing minus expected
- Sales count and Sales total for the session
Closing a shift
Tap End shift in the Register header, count the drawer, enter Closing cash, and tap Close shift. See Daily Close & Reconciliation for what to do with the variance.
The Shifts list
Point of Sale → Shifts lists every session with its Opened time, Status (Open / Closed), Opening, Closing, and Variance. Variance is color-coded: green when balanced, amber for a small difference, red when short by more than a dollar. Click View for the detail page.
Shift detail
The detail page shows summary cards — Opening cash, Closing cash, Expected, Variance, Sales count, Sales total — and lists every sale rung during that shift, each linking to its own detail page.
Multiple registers
Run a shift on each device — a counter iPad and a tech's phone, for example. Each shift opens and reconciles independently, and all sales roll up into Sales and Reports.
FAQ
Do I have to open a shift to sell? Yes — item tiles and the Charge button are disabled until a shift is open.
Can I open more than one shift at once on one device? No — one open shift per device at a time. Close the current one before opening another.
Can I close on a different device than I opened on? Open and close from the Register; the open shift is what the Register acts on.
Where do I see how a shift's cash worked out? Open Point of Sale → Shifts, then View for the expected-vs-counted variance.
Are sales tied to a person? Sales belong to your organization and appear in the shared Sales list and Reports.