Help & FAQ

Straight answers about how Just Say When works — for the manager who keeps the schedule and the staff who live by it. Can't find yours? Email brantb@justsaywhen.app.

Getting started

What is Just Say When?

A scheduling system for hospital teams — pharmacy, nursing, PA/NP services, and residency programs. It replaces the spreadsheet-plus-email-chain routine with one place where the schedule is built, published, and kept current: time-off requests, approvals, shift swaps, coverage gaps, and payroll totals all live alongside the grid.

How does my unit get set up? Do I have to re-type everything?

No re-typing. Onboarding is white-glove: you send us the Excel schedule you keep today, and Smart Import reads it — your roles, your staff, your shift patterns, even future time-off already penciled in. You review what it found, and your unit goes live with a full draft schedule, usually the same week.

What does it cost?

Nothing during the pilot. Just Say When is rolling out unit by unit, free for pilot teams — no credit card, no contract, no sales call. Request access and tell us about your team.

Why can't I just sign up?

Access is invite-only while we roll out. That's deliberate: every unit gets hands-on onboarding, and hospital schedules deserve a careful setup rather than a self-serve form. The request form is the front door — we respond quickly.

Can I try it before committing?

Yes — that's the playground. It's a private, fully working practice unit (staffed by famous scientists and historical figures) with real schedules, pending time-off, and charge assignments. Approve requests, fill gaps, publish a week, see the employee view. Nothing to install, nothing you can break, and a built-in tour walks you through it.

Will the schedule look like the one my team is used to?

That's a design goal. The Schedule Builder has a compact, Excel-style view. You can also arrange staff in any order: seniority, day/evening/night, and save custom layouts. Category filters show pharmacists-only, techs-only, nurses-only, or the whole unit — however your team is used to reading it. Your staff shouldn't have to relearn the schedule just because it moved off paper.

For managers

How long does building a week actually take?

Minutes, once your standard shifts are set. The grid fills itself from your unit's shift patterns; you adjust the exceptions, and coverage gaps are highlighted before they bite. Time-off requests and availability are respected when the grid fills itself. Publishing is one click — everyone sees it instantly.

How do time-off requests work?

Staff request from their phone; requests land in your Staff Requests inbox with the dates, the type, and an at-a-glance grid of who else is already off. Approve or deny with one tap — the person is notified, approved time-off clears their shifts, and any gap it opens is flagged on the builder. You can also enter time-off on someone's behalf, or approve in bulk.

What about shift swaps?

Staff arrange their own coverage — a straight two-person swap or a multi-person rotation — and the app checks that everyone involved is qualified and available. It only reaches you for the final OK. No phone tree.

Can I track a charge nurse or lead per shift?

Yes. Units can designate a lead role — charge nurse, lead pharmacist, lead APP — assigned per day and per shift (a day charge and a night charge, for example). The assign list shows only people actually working that shift, and published leads appear on the Team Board.

Does it handle overnight and odd-length shifts?

Yes — 12-hour nights that cross midnight, 10-hour overnights, swing shifts, half days. "Working today" views, hour totals, and calendar feeds all account for shifts that start one day and end the next.

What about payroll?

Hours, overtime, and per-shift detail export in formats timekeepers actually use — including a UKG-ready AM/PM format. Targets follow each person's FTE, and PRN/part-time staff are handled correctly.

Holidays?

A per-unit holiday calendar (federal holidays built in, plus your own) marks the grid, and a bulk action can grant the day off to everyone at once. Each unit decides which holidays it observes.

What if I make a change after publishing?

Edit freely. The builder shows exactly which cells differ from what staff currently see, and a Republish banner appears so you can push the update when ready. Staff are notified when their schedule changes.

We have residents and fellows too.

Residency and fellowship programs are first-class: programs, PGY levels, rotation blocks, and recurring shift patterns publish right into the same schedule your staff see — no parallel spreadsheet.

For your staff

What do employees see?

Their own dashboard: today's shift, the week ahead, their unit's Team Board (who's working, who's off), and their requests with status and the manager's response. They see published schedules only — never your drafts.

Does it work on phones?

Yes — the whole app is built for phones, and it can be installed to the home screen like a native app. The last-loaded schedule is even readable offline.

Can shifts show up in Google or Apple Calendar?

Yes. Every person gets a private calendar feed (ICS) to subscribe to from Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook. Published shifts and approved time-off appear automatically and stay current as the schedule changes.

How do staff request time off?

From their phone: pick the dates, the type (vacation, personal, and whatever types their unit uses), add a note, send. They can see where it is in the queue, get notified of the decision, and cancel a request that's no longer needed.

Do staff get notified when the schedule is published?

Yes — an in-app notification when their schedule is published or republished, and when a time-off request is approved or denied.

Your data & security

Who can see my unit's data?

Your people, and no one else's. Every record is scoped to your hospital and unit, enforced in the database itself (row-level security) — not just hidden in the interface. Managers see their units; employees see their own unit's published schedule and their own requests.

Is patient data involved?

No. Just Say When schedules staff, not patients — names, roles, shifts, and time-off. No patient information ever enters the system.

Where does my data live?

In a managed, encrypted cloud database with daily backups and an audit trail on schedule and staffing changes. Accounts are created by us during onboarding — there is no public signup surface.

What happens to the playground data I create?

Playground sessions are throwaway by design: each visitor gets a private practice unit with fictional staff, fully separate from any real hospital's data, and stale playground data is purged automatically.

Can I export my data if I leave?

Yes — schedules and hours export to Excel/CSV at any time. It's your schedule; you're never locked in.

Still have a question?

Email brantb@justsaywhen.app — you'll get an answer from the person who builds the product. Or skip ahead and request access for your unit.