Before you read

• Target audience: This article is for users with System Administrator, Location Manager, and Supervisor access.
• Deputy AI:
  • Deputy AI is currently in beta.
  • Deputy AI assists users by generating responses and proposing changes using large language models and based on information available in Deputy. 
  • Users are responsible for reviewing all responses and proposed changes before confirming them.
  • Deputy AI does not replace human judgment and may generate inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent responses.

This article covers:

• How does Deputy AI work?
• When can I use Deputy AI?
• What requests may not work well with Deputy AI?
• How do I turn Deputy AI on or off?
  • How do I connect or disconnect WhatsApp from Deputy AI?
• How do I access Deputy AI?
  • Accessing via the web
  • Accessing on your Mobile
• How do I use Deputy AI?
• Troubleshooting Deputy AI
• How does Deputy AI handle my data?
• How do I provide feedback on Deputy AI?
• FAQs
• Related articles

How does Deputy AI work?

Deputy AI is an AI assistant that helps you manage your work inside Deputy using natural language. Instead of clicking through menus, you can type requests into a chat interface to manage schedules and timesheets more quickly.

You’re in control. Deputy AI won’t act on its own or make changes without you. Think of it as a tool that helps you move faster. You review everything first, and Changes are only applied after you review and confirm them.

Deputy AI will display a “thinking” state while processing requests and actions.

When can I use Deputy AI?

You can use Deputy AI for everyday workforce tasks related to Scheduling, Timesheets, Leave and Availability, Training, and Help and how-to questions.

Deputy AI works best for focused, clearly defined actions. Larger or more complex requests may take longer to process, time out, or return incomplete results.

Scheduling tasks

You can build schedules from scratch or edit existing shifts by specifying names, dates, and locations.

Note: For Scheduling queries and requests, Deputy AI currently works best with up to approximately 150 shifts at a time.

• Build a schedule: Create schedules, recurring shifts, rotating patterns, open shifts, and empty shifts for specific locations, areas, or team members.
• Copy schedules and shifts: Copy schedules, duplicate shifts, or repeat existing schedule patterns across future date ranges.
• Edit shifts: Make bulk changes to start or finish times, breaks, areas, shift notes, or employee allocation. You can also move, open, unpublish, or delete groups of shifts.
• Assign and fill shifts: Identify team members with specific training, fill empty shifts based on availability, or assign replacements for absences.
• Offer and swap shifts: Offer shifts to team members or swap shifts between employees.
• Publish your schedule: Finalize a draft schedule and send it to your team members.
• Schedule insights and questions: Ask questions about schedules, shift coverage, unpublished shifts, availability, or staffing gaps.

Click to learn more about how to manage your Schedule with Deputy AI.

Leave and availability tasks

You can manage leave requests and team member availability directly through Deputy AI.

• Add leave: Create leave requests and update shifts affected by leave.
• Manage availability and unavailability: Add one-time or recurring unavailability.
• Leave and availability questions: Check upcoming leave, team member availability, or workforce coverage.

Timesheet tasks

You can manage time tracking and processing leave requests directly through Deputy AI.

Note: For timesheet queries and requests, Deputy AI currently works best with up to approximately 500 timesheets at a time.

• Create timesheets: Add new timesheets with relevant shift and break details.
• Find and review timesheets: Search, summarise, and review timesheets by team member, location, date range, status, or issue type.
• Edit timesheets: Update start and finish times, breaks, locations, or rounding details.
• Approve timesheets: Approve, unapprove, discard, or reinstate timesheets individually or in bulk.
• Track attendance and payroll readiness: Review missed shifts, late team members, missed breaks, pending approvals, and payroll readiness.

Click to learn more about how to manage your Timesheets with Deputy AI.

Training tasks

You can manage team member training records through Deputy AI.

• Add training records: Add qualifications or training records for one or more team members.
• Review training information: Check which team members hold specific training records or review team member qualifications.

Help and how-to questions

You can ask Deputy AI questions about Deputy features and workflows. Deputy AI can provide answers based on Deputy Help Centre content.

Example prompts

Head to Deputy AI prompt ideas and examples (BETA), to dive into building prompts and for suggestions to help you with everyday tasks related to Scheduling, Timesheets, Leave and Availability, Training, and even answering Help and how-to questions.

Deputy AI works best for focused, clearly defined actions. Larger or more complex requests may take longer to process, time out, or return incomplete results.

What requests may not work well with Deputy AI?

Deputy AI works best with clear requests focused on one task at a time. It may not work well for:

• Strategic analysis: Deputy AI can’t perform strategic workforce planning, analyse long-term business trends, make predictive staffing recommendations, or make operational decisions based on future business needs.
• Complex multi-step actions: Deputy AI may not reliably complete unrelated workflows in a single request.
• Requests with missing or conflicting information:  Deputy AI may not complete actions when required information is missing or conflicts with rules already configured in Deputy.
• Very large bulk requests: Large scheduling or timesheet actions may time out, return incomplete results, or require smaller batches.
• Financial queries: Deputy AI cannot answer questions about budgets, labor costs, or payroll reports.
• Employee settings: Deputy AI cannot update personal details or change employment terms for team members.
• Pay rates: Deputy AI cannot update team member pay rates.
• Guaranteed identical outcomes: Similar prompts may sometimes produce different responses or require follow-up clarification.
• Analytics and reporting: Deputy AI cannot generate reports, perform trend analysis, or compare workforce data across long periods of time.

How do I turn Deputy AI on or off?

To turn Deputy AI on or off for your business:

1. You must be logged in as a System Administrator or Advisor, and access Business Settings from the drop-down menu under your name on the Deputy website.

   

2. In the left-hand menu, click Deputy AI, find the Enable Deputy AI setting, then switch the toggle:

   • ON to enable Deputy AI for users in your business.
   • OFF to disable Deputy AI for users in your business.

   Click Save.

   

How do I connect or disconnect WhatsApp from Deputy AI?

Connect WhatsApp to Deputy AI

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To connect WhatsApp to Deputy AI, you must be logged into your web browser:

1. Click to open the Deputy AI panel.

   

2. Click the (...) menu and select Connect WhatsApp.

   

3. Select your country code and enter your WhatsApp phone number before clicking Send Code.

   

4. Enter the verification code sent to your WhatsApp number and click Verify.

WhatsApp Code	Deputy website verification
(Click to Expand)	(Click to Expand)

5. After the verification is complete, you'll see a message in the bottom right of your screen that WhatsApp is connected in your browser and receive a welcome message in your WhatsApp account.

WhatsApp welcome message	Deputy website message
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How do I access Deputy AI?

Deputy AI can be accessed via your web browser or via your mobile.

Accessing via the web

You can find and click the Deputy AI icon along your top menu.

Note: If you don't see the Deputy AI button, your System Administrator needs to enable this feature.

Accessing on your mobile

When using your mobile, you can either use the Deputy App or connect with WhatsApp.

• To connect via the Deputy Mobile App for either iOS or Android. You can find it on the home page of the app by clicking Ask Deputy AI.

  

• via WhatsApp. Once set up, you can initiate a conversation with the Deputy AI contact.

Note: If you don't see the Deputy AI button, your System Administrator needs to enable this feature.

How do I use Deputy AI?

Whilst Deputy AI can be accessed in several ways, below shows how to start a conversation using your web browser.

1. Type your question or instruction in plain English and hit send, or use the prompt builder to guide you. 

   

   Note: On the web and via the mobile app, you can use the @ symbol to easily identify team members, locations, and areas.

   

2. You can now review Deputy AI’s proposed plan.

   • If you're happy, hit Confirm.

   • If something needs adjusting, send another message and continue reviewing the plan until you're ready to Confirm.

Review and Confirm	Adjust, Review, and Confirm
(Click to Expand)	(Click to Expand)

After the changes have been applied, Deputy AI will summarise the changes that were made.

Note: If you have multiple unrelated requests, click New Topic to start a fresh conversation. This keeps Deputy AI focused on the topic and prevents it from pulling in context from earlier conversations.

Troubleshooting Deputy AI

If Deputy AI is not responding as expected, try these steps:

• Click New Topic: If Deputy AI seems confused or is referencing old data, click New Topic to clear the conversation context.

  

• Be more specific: To ensure an accurate request, always include relevant information like dates and times, and use the @ symbol to identify and match names, locations, and areas in your request.

  

• Refresh the page: If the action returns as complete but the schedule or timesheets do not update, refresh the page and check again.
• Shorten your prompt: If an action fails or produces inconsistent results, try a shorter prompt, remove unnecessary detail, or break the request into smaller actions.
• Review the relevant employee profile: If issues occur with a specific team member, review their profile for potential scheduling, availability, employment, or configuration issues.
• Check permissions: If you receive an error when clicking Confirm, make sure you have permission to perform that task in Deputy.

How do I provide feedback on Deputy AI?

You can provide feedback on Deputy AI responses directly in the response window.

To provide feedback:

1. Click the thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon under the Deputy AI response.

   

2. If you click thumbs-down, select the option that best describes what went wrong. Add extra detail in the feedback box if needed, and click Submit.

   

Your feedback helps us understand where Deputy AI is working well and where it needs improvement.

How does Deputy AI handle my data?

Deputy AI is built with security and privacy as key priorities.

• No model training: Your customer data is not used to train the large language models that power Deputy AI.
• Permission aware: Deputy AI respects existing role permissions and cannot perform actions that a user is not permitted to do manually.
• Bias protection: Guardrails are designed to reduce the risk of inappropriate or unfair recommendations. However, all recommendations should be reviewed by users before confirmation.

To turn off Deputy AI for your business, follow these instructions.

FAQs

To learn more about Deputy AI's privacy FAQs visit the Deputy Privacy Center, and to learn more about Deputy's security program visit the Deputy Trust Center.