Setting up Deputy for a retail business
This guide explains how to set up Deputy for a retail business. Deputy brings scheduling, attendance, payroll, communication, and reporting together in one place. It covers how to structure Locations and Areas, manage team access, prepare payroll workflows, review scheduling and attendance settings, and plan your rollout.
Before you read
- Target audience: This article is for users with System Administrator access.
- Free trial: If you haven't signed up for Deputy yet, see Creating an Organization and Getting Started with a Free Trial. When signing up, select Retail & Hospitality and the industry that best matches your business.
- Returning to your trial: If you've already signed up, log in at once.deputy.com to continue setting up your account.
- Watch Deputy in Action: Before you start, watch Deputy in Action to see how Deputy works and what you'll be setting up throughout this guide.
This article covers:
- Choose your organisational structure
- Review Location settings before rollout
- Set access and approval responsibilities
- Prepare payroll and Smart Scheduling workflows
- Run day-to-day retail workflows
- Quick add-on and plan check
- Five-step onboarding checklist
- Avoid common retail set-up mistakes
- Get more help
Choose your organisational structure
In Deputy, Locations usually represent stores, outlets, kiosks, warehouses, pop-up locations, or support sites. Areas represent the departments, roles, coverage groups, or work areas where team members perform their work.
Choose a starting model that reflects how your business manages rosters, store reporting, payroll export codes, POS or accounting integrations, and manager access.
| Business type | Suggested starting structure | Retail Area examples | Things to consider |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Single store Independent stores, boutiques, and local retailers |
One Location representing the store | Sales Floor, Checkout, Stockroom, Manager, Deliveries, and Visual Merchandising | This keeps store scheduling, kiosk clock-in, and labour reporting together. |
|
Multi-store retailer Retail groups, franchises, and brands with several stores |
One Location for each store | Sales Floor, Checkout, Stockroom, Manager, and Key Holder | Store managers can manage local rosters and timesheet approvals. Consistent Area names support comparison across stores. |
|
Department store or large format retail Large stores with distinct departments or teams |
Store as the Location, with Areas for departments | Menswear, Womenswear, Homewares, Stockroom, Checkout, and Manager | Departments usually work best as Areas unless separate approvals or permissions are required. |
|
Pop-up or temporary retail Markets, seasonal stores, events, and temporary sites |
Region as the Location, with Areas for pop-ups or temporary locations | Pop-up, Event, Market, Sales, Stock, and Travel | For permanent stores, one Location per store is usually cleaner. |
When you plan your structure, consider:
- Shared team members: Team members who work across multiple stores need access to each relevant Location.
- Reporting and export codes: Consistent Area names and export codes can support payroll, accounting, POS, and labour reporting workflows.
- Departments: Use Areas for coverage groups, labour reporting, departments, roles, or tasks.
For a complete overview, see Organisations, Locations and Areas.
Review Location settings before rollout
Location settings control many of the defaults used for scheduling, clock-in, timesheets, approvals, and reporting. Review these settings before go-live so each store, outlet, kiosk, warehouse, or pop-up works the way your team expects.
Key settings to review include:
- Review the physical address and map pin: Accurate store details matter for kiosk clock-in, mobile clock-in if used, and reporting.
- Review Areas and Training Tags: Areas can represent Sales Floor, Checkout, Stockroom, Manager, Deliveries, Key Holder, Opener, or Closer. Training Tags can help manage key holder, cash handling, opener, closer, supervisor, or equipment requirements.
- Review scheduling settings: Confirm default shifts, breaks, roster start day, open shifts, shift swaps, shift offers, notifications, and shift locking.
- Review timesheet settings: Confirm kiosk clock-in, photo capture, employee timesheet edits, break settings, rounding, timesheet auto-approval, unscheduled shifts, and missed clock-in workflows.
Most stores should use kiosk or tablet clock-in with photo capture. Mobile clock-in can support mobile, pop-up, or event teams where appropriate.
For a complete overview of every Location setting, including General, Areas, Scheduling, Timesheets, Notifications, Public Holidays, and Preferences, see Creating your Locations.
Set access and approval responsibilities
Access decisions should be made during set-up. The right access model helps managers control scheduling, timesheet approvals, payroll visibility, labour cost access, store visibility, and reporting.
| Retail role | Recommended Deputy access | Common responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Store staff and casual staff | Employee | View roster, clock in and out, request leave, and swap shifts |
| Shift leads and key holders | Supervisor | Review attendance and daily exceptions without unnecessary wage visibility |
| Store managers | Location Manager | Manage rosters, labour budgets, approvals, and store activity |
| Area managers | Location Manager or System Administrator | Review multiple stores, reporting, and manager access |
| Payroll and administrators | Advisor or System Administrator | Review approved timesheets and payroll exports |
Most retail businesses use Supervisor access for shift leads who approve time but should not see wage costs. Use Location Manager access for store managers who are responsible for labour budgets, roster cost visibility, wage visibility, or broader store reporting.
For a complete overview, see Deputy access levels and permissions.
Once you've set access levels, add your team members and assign them to the Locations where they work. For a complete overview, see Adding team members.
Prepare payroll and Smart Scheduling workflows
Retail payroll can include ordinary hours, casual loading, overtime, weekend or public holiday rates, allowances, breaks, and leave. Pay Templates and Pay Rate Builder can support your pay conditions, while Leave Policies control the types of leave available to team members and how leave is managed in Deputy.
You can process payroll using Deputy Payroll where available, or connect Deputy to a supported third-party payroll provider.
Click to expand for each payroll option.
Deputy Payroll (AU)
+
Deputy Payroll (AU) is Deputy's integrated payroll option for Australian businesses. It keeps scheduling, attendance, approved timesheets, and payroll within Deputy, so you can move from worked hours to a pay run without exporting timesheets to a separate payroll provider.
Set-up includes your business and payroll details, pay calendars, superannuation, deductions, extra earnings, and team member payroll information.
For a complete overview of setting up and using Deputy Payroll (AU), see Getting started with Payroll (AU).
Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor (US)
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Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor (US) connects Deputy workforce management with Paycor payroll. Deputy manages scheduling, time tracking, leave, pay rates, and approved timesheets, while Paycor can be used to handle payroll functions such as tax filings, banking, and year-end processing.
Approved timesheets can be exported directly from Deputy to Paycor, reducing the need to manually re-enter worked hours.
For a complete overview of how Deputy and Paycor work together, see Getting started with Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor (US).
Third-party payroll integration
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If you already use another payroll provider, you can keep Deputy focused on scheduling, attendance, timesheets, and pay calculations, then send approved timesheet data to your existing payroll system. Deputy supports payroll integrations including Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, ADP, and other providers, with the exact workflow and data available depending on the integration you use.
For a complete overview of the available payroll connections, see Payroll integrations.
For more information on Leave management, see:
- Leave management overview (AU Only)
- Introduction to Leave management with Deputy Payroll (AU Only)
- Introduction to Leave Management (US only)
- Introduction to leave management (UK only)
Keep payroll testing simple
Run a test export before your first live pay run. Focus on:
- Regular hours: Confirm that standard hours and pay rates appear as expected.
- Weekend and public holiday work: Confirm that weekend, public holiday, overtime, and penalty rates appear as expected.
- Store and Area reporting: Confirm that store, department, Area, export code, and allowance details export correctly.
Smart Scheduling, analytics, and labour insights
You can compare schedule costs with labour budgets, sales data, or other workforce information while building schedules. Business Insights cost panel can help you review labour cost information alongside other analytics and reporting views.
Common reports include:
- Schedule, timesheet and sales comparison: Compare scheduled and actual hours and wage costs, review cost variance, and track labour percentage against sales.
- Attendance & absence: Review no-shows, late arrivals, missed clock-ins, and early departures by Location, Area, or team member.
- Schedule adherence by team member: Compare scheduled hours with actual hours worked and identify the cost variance when team members work outside the original schedule. (Requires Analytics+)
Run day-to-day retail workflows
Clocking in: Kiosk, tablet, or mobile app
Choose the clock-in method that matches where your team works.
- Kiosk or tablet clock-in: Useful for store teams who start and finish work at a fixed store.
- Mobile app clock-in: Useful for pop-up, event, delivery, or mobile teams where mobile clock-in is enabled.
For a complete overview, see Using Deputy across different devices.
Manage schedule adjustments
Retail rosters can change when trade patterns shift, staff are unavailable, coverage gaps appear, or stores need support during peak periods.
Open shifts, shift offers, and shift swaps can help fill gaps, but they should be reviewed carefully where key holder, opener, closer, cash handling, or supervisor coverage matters.
For a complete overview, see open shifts, shift offers, and shift swaps.
Communicate with your team
News Feed and Messaging can help managers share roster changes, stock updates, store announcements, policy reminders, and urgent coverage requests.
For a complete overview, see News Feed and Deputy Messaging.
Quick add-on and plan check
The following add-ons and plan options may be useful as your use of Deputy grows. To check what is included in each plan or add-on, see our pricing plans.
| Do you need to... | You may need... | Common fit |
|---|---|---|
| Store onboarding records, policy acknowledgements, and employee records | Deputy HR | Retailers that hire frequently or manage employee records and compliance documents in Deputy |
| Create custom reports, schedule emailed reports, and review trends across stores | Analytics+ | Managers or operators who need deeper workforce and labour reporting |
| Use larger messaging groups, more message history, or team-based communication | Messaging Plus | Retailers that need faster communication for store updates, stock changes, and urgent cover |
| Process payroll from approved Deputy timesheets where available | Deputy Payroll | Businesses that want payroll connected more closely to Deputy scheduling, attendance, and timesheet approvals |
| Set up custom roles, additional Location hierarchy, and more detailed permission controls | Deputy Pro | Multi-store retailers or accounts with more detailed access and reporting requirements |
Five-step onboarding checklist
These stages apply whether you are evaluating Deputy, testing it with one store, or rolling it out across your full business.
- Set up your structure: Create your Locations and Areas, choose naming conventions, and review any required export codes.
- Add your team and schedules: Add team members, assign access levels, set up pay details, and create your first schedule.
- Test your workflows: Test kiosk clock-in, breaks, leave requests, open shifts, shift swaps, and notifications with a pilot group.
- Review timesheets and payroll: Approve pilot timesheets and test regular hours, overtime, weekend work, public holidays, allowances, and payroll export.
- Go live: Train store managers, publish the live schedule, and roll Deputy out to the rest of your team.
For a guided onboarding checklist, open the Help menu by selecting the ? icon in your Deputy account, then select Start here.
Avoid common retail set-up mistakes
| Common mistake | Why it causes problems |
|---|---|
| Creating every department as a Location | Can make scheduling, permissions, payroll, and reporting harder to manage. |
| Creating every client or temporary site as a Location | Can create unnecessary complexity unless settings, permissions, or reporting require separate Locations. |
| Using inconsistent Area names across stores | Makes reporting and payroll review harder across multiple stores. |
| Giving shift leads wage visibility unnecessarily | Supervisor access may be enough for daily floor management. |
| Using clock-in settings that do not match how teams work | Can create attendance workflows that do not match store operations. |
| Skipping a payroll test export | Can leave pay rate, overtime, public holiday, or export issues undiscovered before the first live pay run. |
Get more help
During your trial, use the Action Bar to access setup help without leaving Deputy.
From the Action Bar, you can:
- Select Start here to open Deputy Essentials, where you'll find bite-sized videos and guided walkthroughs to help you set up your business at your own pace.
- Select Ask an expert to connect with an SMB Consultant.
- Select the ? icon to open the Help menu and access support options.
You can collapse the Action Bar or drag it to another position on the screen.
Help Centre
For help and support, see Get help and request support from Deputy.