Work hours programming platform for companies

We are sure that Opensinsin, is on a good path to be a platform that provides a service that amalgams with a vital recuse and is the time to help with the needs of people how to manage their time at work and how to dispose Exchange schedules with coworkers and other virtues that allows the Opensisin platform in our case we within the company are grateful to meet their services and thus be able to organize in an optimal way the most valuable resource that for us the time of our employees and thus have more happy and motivated employees and managers when giving them the ideal tool to have their working hours. it resulted in positive changes for the productive development of the company

Pros

In our successful experience with OpenSimSim, I manage to solve an internal problem in the company and to make an hourly schedule of our employees making its use easy, ease of configuration, the configurations are quite clear. The most practical is that they receive the schedules, they are published on their mobile devices in real time, helping to maintain a reciprocal communication, another very appropriate faculty, because it is free for managers and employees, which gives an additional bonus to this platform, that help to companies that have workers for a certain time. OpenSimSim gives its users the power to create a program through proven programming templates where they see staff availability and the hours worked are displayed and are more accurate for our workflow, which seeks to achieve and optimize a Correct performance of our employees, which helps managers avoid inconvenience or confusion in relation to the extra overtime so far you have the virtue of visualizing the budget allocated and thus monitor labor costs in real time to keep track of the budget of The company, another useful and pragmatic virtue, is being able to have contact via chat being able to write messages with employees and management, in addition to being able to install a mobile application from smartphones wherever it is, this innovative application allows employees of our company who make purchases and sales of raw materials or product s finished, maintaining a schedule that can be modified by us

Cons

to our experience with OpenSimSim, and the little that could be highlighted as negative or enhance improvements in the characteristics and capabilities of precarious synchronization, which as a constructive criticism can be enriched between the application of the computer and the Smartphone, for the better performance, contact lists must be optimized for use and all personnel, phone numbers and emails can be accessed to be able to exchange shifts with anyone on the contact list, even if they have a different schedule. Currently, the function of exchange and allocation of these hours since what we have seen is that it is available to those who have a clear availability of hours on the platform. Shift change is very important in all lines and departments, since what is sought is that employees are without worries about how to organize their time for better performance since one of the most valuable resources is time for both growth of the company like that of employees and their free time and how to manage it, in terms of organization when printing schedules, everything should be organized from the platform and thus avoid having to go to Excel and place the calendar information of work are better digestible to the understanding of the employees, also organizing by start date and an end date can illustrate how Anasa does it on her platform just to mention as an example and adapt it to the OpenSimSim platform, also look for ways to automate as well as edit the master lists and a

My OpenSimSim review

I am so happy with OpenSimSim. We use it very exclusively for scheduling and have reduced greatly the amount of confusion about scheduled shifts experienced by our staff. It is a great way to get a message out to the full staff, and has increased are accountability for publishing schedules.

Pros

I really like how we can make frequent updates/changes to the staff. We are a job training program with shifts going to Managers, temporary interns, and volunteers. I like how convenient it is for users to interface with it. Its very accessible.

Cons

I cant really think of anything. I know sometimes the interface for messages for managers can get cluttered because they are inundated with staff individual and group messages. It might be nice if there was an easy way to sort or archive certain threads or easily click on a user and see all the messages associated with that person.

OpenSimSim for rostering

extremely positive. Opensimsim has given us increased productivity and efficiency. Communication between all staff is easy and encouraged through this software. Overall it saves so much time, is flexible, is easy, fast and overall reliable.

Pros

Ease of use by managers, administrators and regular staff. Straight forward and up to date, even old timers can quickly gain the skills to use opensimsim. I love how you can select particular staff, times, breaks and see a total hours per week. Shift dropping and swapping is also a function that helps take stress off myself as a coordinator. the messaging tool is great also and saves some time in last minute needs and cuts out emails.

Cons

This software works perfectly for my personal use. Another department here onsite use opensimsim for their rostering but use the publishing option to send out shifts for the whole department at once. They do seem to have trouble working around this but are quite new to the tool as well

Still Has Flaws

Overall it has been a good experience, I say that because my best friend is a software engineer and I know it takes time to work out the bugs in any application or program. That being said there are still a few things about your app that annoy the crap out of me - like getting woke up at 3AM by notifications; AFTER I've already been scheduled when I have other apps (like GroupMe) that enable me to silence all notifications for one hour; two hours; six hours or twelve hours.

Pros

I like the fact that you guys actually respond to negative reviews and take a proactive approach to fixing the bugs. Also like the fact that with this app I can take my pick of available shifts and get scheduled with one click instead of being on the phone for half an hour (Securitas at Universal Studios). That's half an hour of my life that I'm not going to get back and they're not paying me for that time, it's bad enough that they want to pay minimum wage to people with specialized skills (like operating X-ray machines) but then they expect me to waste half an hour of my life; every single day on the phone trying to get scheduled. Over a period of one week that adds up to three and a half hours of my life that they're not paying me for.

Cons

I didn't like the fact that I still get notifications for shifts that aren't even available any more. I'll see a long list of invitations, go through one by one - and not a single one of them is still available. It seems like once a shift has been filled it should fall off of my notifications so that I don't have to click through every single one of them just to find the ONE (if any at all) that are still available. I also don't like the fact that after I've already accepted a shift for tomorrow I still keep getting invitation notifications for shifts that are on the same day as the one I just accepted and these notifications will just keeping coming and keep coming and keep coming and there's no way to shut off the notifications - even JUST for the day that I'm already scheduled. And I shouldn't even have to disable notifications; even for specific days - when the app should already know that I'm already scheduled and don't need to be scheduled again. Our bosses even keep telling us "if you're already scheduled then DO NOT accept the newer shift notifications that come in" because apparently there have been people that accepted one shift - then another one came in that was their preferred shift; they accepted that one two and then it creates a scheduling conflict which is neither good for the employee OR the employer.

Easy to use and suit volunteers

Finally found an online system where my members can be responsible and accountable for their shifts. I can pre-load and everyone can see who is on. Love this.

Pros

I am involved in a totally volunteer environment and this is the best option for us to control the shifts. It allows for members to be responsible for their own work shifts. We have members from 14 - 89 and they all use it.

Cons

I wish I could customise each week. As in we only patrol or do shifts on weekends and public holidays so really most weeks Mon to fri is blank. Would be better if not there at all. Minor bug and really only applies to our organisation.

Multi-Unit Scheduling

Pros

It gives us ease of access to schedules for multiple locations, and easy to identify and contact an employee that is working.

Cons

Setting up mutiple locations and schedule labeling/identification.

Scalable and Easy to Use

Scheduling across two stores with different operating hours used to be a real struggle for me and very time consuming. I would estimate it takes me 1/4 of the time to make a schedule than it used to. Its easy enough to use that I can even let my assistant managers or administrative assistant do the scheduling, and just step in to review it instead of doing it all myself - freeing up time to focus on what matters most to me, improving my business and increasing our returns.

Pros

I used to spend hours setting up schedules for both of the stores I manage. Ensuring time off requests and availability was such a hassle before I started using Open Sim Sim. Now I can easily see all of my employees availability and time off requests in a sleek interface and create perfect schedules in a fraction of the time it used to take.

Cons

Adding new employees could be easier, and the header menu navigation could be easier. Some of the features I use fairly often are hidden a little deeper in menus than Id like, but overall I love the software.

One of the best scheduling solutions

Pros

OpenSimSim is incredibly easy to implement. Adding new employees to schedules takes a few minutes, so overall very quick and straight forward. Managing multiple locations is convenient and simple. Overall, no complaints. Great experience so far.

Cons

Nothing noteworthy. If I had to pick I would say I wish the iOS phone app had better UI for managing the schedule. It seems like the website it still best for creating schedule conveniently. But not something that is a concern for us, using the website is easy enough.

Easiest Scheduling Software out there

After trying out several different scheduling apps, I was recommended OpenSimSim and it was by far the easiest and most effective app I have worked with. Their customer service is exceptional. They trained me and taught me how to navigate the app and how to educate my employees on the use of the app as well.

Pros

The ease of setting up different schedules is great and all my employees were able to quickly set up their profiles and were able to use the app with ease.

Cons

No cons here! This is the best app I have found for scheduling. Give it a try, you wont regret it!

Absolutely recommend it!

See above. Basically no back and forth asking anymore between employees for shifts, they can just save their availability and the rota is done!

Pros

It is really easy to handle. The rota is created on no time, swapping shifts has never been this easy, monthly accumulated shifts are just passed on to accounting and salary is paid. Love the idea that you are informed about shift opportunities, too to make extra money.

Cons

Doesn't work well on an ipad, editing or reassigning shifts take very long.

OpenSimSim working great for our daycare, with some exceptions.

The TAs love it, because it's all on their phone, and they don't have to keep track of a paper schedule. The only problem is if someone drops a shift at the last minute (due to illness or whatever), and I don't get a chance to approve the person accepting the shift. We haven't chosen automatic approval, because we want to maintain control of who is working in which classroom. We also haven't been able to automate the process as much as I would like because we want the schedule to be as consistent as possible for the children in our care. We have to list the shifts as one hour each because of the TAs' crazy class schedules, but we want TAs to work the most hours in one block that they can so that the children don't have all new teachers every hour. Overall, we have been very happy. The customer service is amazing. Any time I have had to contact them with a question or a suggestion, I get an almost immediate response.

Pros

It's free! We had been using only paper scheduling, and had a lot of no-shows, especially when a TA was supposed to sub for someone else. TAs are now more in control (and aware of) the process of finding a sub.

Cons

Printing the schedules doesn't work for us. When we print our paper schedule, we have the days of the week across the top, and the time of day down the side, and then the name of the person in each room on the chart. This is the only way our director can read it, and OpenSimSim isn't able to sort the information in this way. So we still make a paper schedule in Excell and print that, and then enter all the info in the app. Also, it would be excellent if people could enter their availability with a start date and end date. We only hire college students, and their schedules change each semester. It is really hard to enter the new semester's schedule, because they have to leave the old semester's availability in for subbing. The only other complaint has more to do with college kids than the program itself. A lot of our TAs think that they can drop a shift and then ignore it. Then when no one shows up, they're surprised that we're upset. So it still takes a certain amount of checking up on them on my part.

Review

Definitely spend less time scheduling than ever before, which is awesome!

Pros

Ease of use, ease of setup, setup is organized and clear, love that it notifies my staff when I publish a schedule and is integrated with phone platforms/has an app.

Cons

I really really dislike that I have to manually edit availability for each new staff member, in order to force them to submit timeoff requests. I also dont like that you cant have an algorithm for time off requests- for example I require two weeks notice for time off requests, and I wish the app would allow me to enforce that, but it doesnt...so instead I have employees submitting time off requests 5 days before which then makes me look like the mean guy when I have to decline a request. I wish open simsim would just allow me to have a setting that removes the ability to request time off if its less than 14 days from the requested time off date.

Rosters the way they Should be

The managers enjoy using it and wouldn't go back to how we where doing it. The team have shown an increase in picking up extra shifts and sticking to what agreed changes they had arranged with managers. Our roster is now more steady and hours worked more accurate to our ideal workflow.

Pros

Its simple and easy to use. It gives you all the information that is required to make informed decisions when planning your teams hours, it gives clarity and removes confusions when dealing with shift swaps and holidays, Both employer and employee are on the same page via a cloud format that automatically updates every one when changes are made. Can roster multiple departments so when in a big retail business you can plan for team members to be working in a different department too. The messaging function is the easiest way to connect with 100+ people in just a few clicks, this helps drive engagement through communication.

Cons

A few upgrades that would improve this further is: A function to save and print time off requests and approvals so that we could go paperless and keep complient with the IRD -this would also give option for the employee to complete a virtual signature on screen Also editing a master roster would be great - currently not an option to edit a roster without having it uploaded into an actual week - master rosters are forever changing so would be great to keep these updated simply as things change. I always found the name OPENSIMSIM "out there" and odd however UBER would have also sounded strange until it was a house hold name, SIMSIM could be as big soon enough!!

OpenSimsim review

Overall OpensimSim has slim-lined our procedures for allocating shifts which in tern has reduced our admin costs and time. This allows our senior staff to move on to more important tasks and making our processes more productive and efficient. A lot of our staff members are not tech savvy so having a product that is easy to use was quite important and OpenSimSim has ticked the boxes.

Pros

It was easy to set up. The staff had no issues getting used to using it. It has reduced hour scheduling hours significantly as we no longer need to contact staff or go through individual text messages, everything is all in one place where we can see who is available and at what times. Makes booking in shifts very easy. I also love that you only have to post once and everyone will have their shifts allocated, no more individual messages to each staff member.

Cons

When posting the shifts it goes to every staff member listed on the system even if you did not get a shift this week. I would prefer it only goes to those who have been rostered on. It would also be more beneficial for us if the availability times show when the staff is available not the opposite way around.

Free Scheduling Solution for Small Team

OpenSimSim has been an excellent scheduling tool for our small staff and team of Student Assistants. It has been very easy for administrators to add and remove users, edit and publish shifts, and add extra touches of personalization like user photos and different colors for positions. There are some functions which we use little or not at all (Timeoff Requests, Payroll, etc) but they do not hinder our use of the scheduling software.

Pros

OpenSimSim has an easy-to-use, simple, and aesthetically pleasing interface that works well on both desktop and mobile apps. Our employees picked it up easily to drop shifts, swap shifts, and message one another and supervisors whether at work or on the go. It's also been very easy for administrators to create schedule templates to quickly and effortlessly publish week after week.

Cons

There is still room for improvement in regards to tutorials for employees. A few of the functions in the tutorials are only covered from the employer's perspective and not the employee's perspective, which makes it more difficult to explain how to use the software to new employees in some regards.

Odd functionality

Pros

UI is easy to understand and accessibility on both mobile and desktop is really nice. I'm constantly referencing my phone to check when other employees are going to be working so I know how to balance the workload and who to send tickets to. I work in I.T., so knowing who is working when is really important for handling clients requests quickly. OSS is easy to navigate.

Cons

There are several discontinuities in the functionality. I can view other workers schedules on desktop, but ONLY on days when I'm working. But on my phone, I can view other workers schedules throughout the whole week by turning my phone on its side. It really doesn't look great to have my phone out while at work, so this is frustrating. Additionally, requesting time off and changing individual availability (not just regular weekly availability) is a pain and can't be done through both mobile and desktop app. There are many things I can do ONLY on mobile or ONLY on desktop, but not both. Sometimes when changing my daily availability on desktop, the visual block may look like it's between two different times, but the actual time it states is several hours later. There are many similar bugs and discontinuities between the mobile and desktop apps.

User friendly and accessible

With open sim sim we are able to reduce manual hours of calculating timesheets. The systen allows staff to sign in and of their shifts at great ease.

Pros

I found open sim sim very user friendly in comparison to it's competitors such a deputy. The navigation around the website is simplistic but effective. The support team are always on hand and eager to help with any issues.

Cons

As the product is still relatively new in comparison to it's competitors some features are only just becoming available, such as accounts integration. However these features are definitely on the way and the product is constantly developing.

Its alright

Its ok. It works, and its what my organization is using.

Pros

The design is easy and simple to see. Updates are made real time and notifications are sent.

Cons

There are functionality limited to mobile, and this is extremely unhelpful when Im working at a customer service position where Im not supposed to look at my phone. Cons on the computer: -I cannot see who else is working when Im not working that day. -I cannot see a list of people and their shifts the way I can view it on mobile. -When I make the window size smaller (when I have to sometimes for my work), the application wont let me view anything. Overall cons: -Setting availability/unavailability is a nightmare. It just takes so much time, especially when my hours are variable. There must be a better way to design this. Also, this function is limited to the web app why design the software where the functionality is half and half between different platforms? -is there a way to change the view setting to Month? That will make the schedule easier to see. -The notifications are exsessive I get one when my schedule is changed, then published. For one change, I get four notifications (2 app, 2 emails).

Great Product, Easy to Use

The experience has been great. The customer service is fantastic! We are a non-profit with very little money so having a free option that is this in depth is wonderful. Communication has improved immensely as we can all send out messages.

Pros

Ease of Use. It has a lot of great features, entering as many job positions as you want, accounting for lunches, different print views etc. We use the messaging system a lot too. I have gotten really good feedback from my staff. This is a place where we can send messages and everyone gets them.

Cons

It is extremely slow. That could be just our internet, but it takes me a long time to do the schedule just from sitting and waiting. When I need to edit the time frame, I click, and sit and wait and wait. Eventually the options come up to Assign, Manage, or Delete. The weird thing though is the actual edit comes up immediately. Have the time, I am clicking just trying to get the hover part to come up and the shift edit comes up. I would like more color options. The publishing options for the Job Opportunities is time consuming. I would like if I could publish all instead of one at a time.

Love the app!

Super stoked on it. Its great for the staff on their end it could just offer a few more tools to make the admins jobs easier

Pros

Love the interface. Communication process is great and customer service is amazing.

Cons

-want to be able to easily black out dates for time off requests. -a way to force staff to look at messages even or notes and agree that they have read them would be awesome. -would love to have an interface to build standard shifts that you can then just mine from and add a little easier. -also on the time off requests it would be helpful to have a limit on requests. So for example, if 3 people are already requested the 10th of the month off and we had set the limit at 3 requests, no one else could request off or make them u available. -admins should representative the only ones to be able to edit workers availability The blackout dates would for sure be the most helpful though. And ensuring that an alert is sent to employees when blackout dates are entered by managers.

Great Scheduling Platform

Overall, I think OpenSimSim is beneficial for small businesses who are looking for something that is simple, free, but VERY effective.

Pros

I've been using OpenSimSim now for over a year. I really enjoy all of the benefits of the program. Obviously, the greatest thing about OpenSimSim is that it is free; however, I also really love the ease of use. If I am unable to put in the schedule for my agents, it is easy to instruct one of my mentors to do so. The platform is colorful, fast, and the notifications setting is much appreciated by myself as well as my staff.

Cons

I feel like the platform is geared more towards businesses that consistently have weekly set schedules. With the type of business we handle, I wish there was an easier way to create multiple shift opportunities for one day. We could really benefit from being able to quickly create shift intervals. The mobile app lags a bit when a shift is posted, preventing agents from applying for the shift in a timely manner. I also wish the chat system was an API that could be integrated into other programs so that everything can be uniform.

Observations from a first time schedule app user

Paper schedules were awful. It wasn't until we went to OpenSimSim that I found out how truly time consuming and wasteful paper schedules really were. After printing the schedule, it was almost always an incorrect copy by the end of the day. It was so frustrating. Now, everyone is up to date 24/7, able to see who is available for swapping and can swap shifts on their own. I appreciate having OpenSimSim as part of our scheduling process. Thank you!!

Pros

1.I love that there is an app! Doggonit, that thing is awesome!! When staff can get on there and swap and not have to call or message me to make that change, that's AWESOME!! 2. The help desk people (bless their hearts) are very patient, knowledgeable and are available to help every time I have messaged them. 3. I really like that I can stay home when someone calls in. I just open my app and send out a message as well as ask individually if needed.

Cons

1. I would like to be able to see/print a month view at a time 2. I would somehow REALLY REALLY like to be able to see what changes were made to each shift ie..who traded with who, who was originally scheduled on a shift, etc... 3. I would also like the ability to shrink the page (on the screen) so that I'm not constantly scrolling and up and down the page through a long list of staff

Love this scheduling app!

Lots of benefits in the ease of use, for both me and my staff. It makes scheduling fun!

Pros

The ease of use, it's so helpful to have the schedule on you whenever you need it. It's made it way easier for my staff to get there shifts covered on their own. Allowing the app to assign sections to my staff it has given me the tools to help maintain order on my sales floor as well. I don't know how I worked for so long without it!

Cons

Mostly it's been a positive experience, the only thing I think would make it better would be holding the same layout as the computer when converting to the weekly schedule on the phone. And as a administrator being able to see what i have unpublished on my phone as well. And also it would be nice to be able to black out days employees couldn't drop shifts, just how there is the feature to do that with the time off requests. But really it's been an amazing tool to have!

Review

My staff is having a much easier time utilizing this scheduling system vs the old one I had. They are able to get their shifts covered much more easily and showing up for a larger percent of their shifts. Because of that alone, this makes it worth it. But, from a supervisor and manager position, it requires more work on our end to create, view and manage our team.

Pros

The best part about this product is the ease of use and functionality from a team member perspective. This a very easy to use software for team members to understand, learn and utilize on a daily basis.

Cons

There are several limitations concerning this software from a management/admin perspective. Specifically to my unit, the use of sections is limited too much, including being able to view things by section. This software seems ideal for a place that has 1 location (a restaurant) and is able to split people into several sections. However, my account has upwards of 15 locations (which doesn't even take into consideration that there are several accounts within my company), which make it hard for me to view and manage my team's schedule in that regard.

Good scheduling tool for managing a bar

I have enjoyed OpenSimSim more than our previous scheduling tool. Since pretty much everyone carries a smartphone these days, the schedules are easily distributed to the employees.

Pros

I like that the software works on multiple operating systems as well as moblile devices. I find the 'landscape' feature when a mobile phone is turned sidways to be especially helpful and well thought out. I really like genaral ease of use for scheduling, removing, and adding workers, arranging time off, basically keeping everyone in communication (and thereby accountable).

Cons

I have not discoverd how to do all my managent tasks from my phone, and thus must always use my computer. I don't know if that's an option, but it hasn't been intuitive enough that I have figured it out (or important enough that I have spent time to figure it out). I wish that when people sent messages that they were more flagged or intrusive, I have a lot going on and sometimes I miss messages sent through OpenSimSim... Like a pop up window or something?

Super practical

Its super helpful in order to organize timetables; I highly recommend it.

Pros

Its very visual, eye.friendly and simple. You figuer it out in two minutes and gives you good reliable information.

Cons

Maybe some drag and pull features; or that I cant fully customize the viewing screen (you can see it dialy or weekly) but I cant suggest a third way. But nothing too serious

Close other programs and OpenSimSim

It lets me see my day to day Labor percent and the actual cost with breaks of how much I will be paying my employees each week. I can better watch labor and adjust accordingly. The experience is great. I tried a few different programs and nothing compares to the simplicity, the easy navigation and the information it supplies to better control your costs. Not to mention my employees love it.

Pros

The software is super easy to navigate and its all very basic to learn. You can control your costs and see your weekly world all right on the program. I recently opened up a store and the Owner wanted me to use a different program and it is a nightmare compared to the simplicity yet efficiently of Opensimsim. Opensim sim does all the work for you.

Cons

Nothing so far. I had trouble and was a little frustrated trying to figure out how to give employees individual pay, but the OpenSimSim staff walked me thru it and now it makes complete sense. They were very patient and tried different things to show me how it worked. I know I was not the easiest person at the time to work with but they helped me figure it out and now that I understand how to enter it. It is awesome.

Great scheduling app

My overall experience has been wonderful this app has streamlined our scheduling and is super easy to use

Pros

Being able to easily set and send schedules

Cons

Glitches in the software when scheduling or swapping or dropping shifts

Honest review

We use this every week with scheduling everyone for who's working and when. It's really great because before we used this we just had an Excel sheet and it had to be emailed out and with this, we can also see if they have acknowledged the shift where as with emailing it, it would be such a hassle with making sure everyone knew when they worked.

Pros

I like that I can have this on my phone and check it whenever I want to, and that I can edit shifts from my manager account from my phone. It's really easy to add availability and to teach new employees on how to use it as well. I really like that I can color code position titles as well.

Cons

I don't like that it shows all employees for our team members at one location, because it confuses them on who they can contact about getting a shift covered. I recommend adding their location or main location underneath their name in the messages part of it, or only be able to send a message to others at the location they have access to.

OpenSimSim is a time saving tool!

Overall, I do love this app. Customer service has been fantabulous and I've given them some ideas and they Incorporated them into the app almost immediately. I had asked about sorting the positions on a calendar so that they would go in alphabetical order because I had wanted to sort everything so the a.m. positions which show at the top of the calendar and the p.m. positions with show at the bottom. It has been a very useful tool and great for communication for my team.

Pros

I like that I am able to cut and paste my different schedules so it makes it easier for scheduling on a weekly basis with a staff of over 20 employees. It saves me a lot of time when it comes to scheduling.

Cons

I really wish the message app would allow to have different categories to choose from so you can pick from different chats between possible areas of a business such as servers, kitchen, cleaning, Etc and it's not very easy to sort through the hundreds of messages that I get daily as a business owner from my staff.

A Small Restaurants Review of Epos

Initially the customer support was eager & helpful. It was a little bit frustrating to have to deal with multiple people (I kept being told that my support "person" was no longer with the company). With that said, I still found everyone to be knowledgeable and friendly. Luckily I have been able to troubleshoot most problems myself, which is good because I have found the callback time to not be especially fast with the basic package.

Pros

Cost. For the features it offered, it seemed to be a good value and they didn't insist I use their credit card processor. My staff hasn't had really any difficulty using the program. It seems very straightforward.

Cons

Not that I have a lot of experience with this type of software but setting up some of the till-order details seemed like it could be more stream-lined. I know it is not specifically designed for restaurants but it would be great if it included more sub category options instead of having lots of multiple choice product group. Also, being able to have a negative charge option would be helpful when somebody want to remove an item from the meal.

Good option for the price, but needs more ability to customize

We tried a variety of timeclock software, and Opensimsim was one of the less expensive versions out there for the features. It does the job adequately, but as we add more staff, the shortcomings may become too much of a burden.

Pros

Making a Schedule is very easy, especially on the following week as you just have to 'tweak' it. The employees like how easy it is to request time off. The timeclock works on Kindles, so a Timeclock kiosk is very inexpensive and even works during a power outage.

Cons

You need to play by their rules, and their is very little personalization possible (for example we prefer to schedule in 2 week sets, but you are forced into a single week at a time) It should be able to export directly into Quickbooks, but we have to manually enter the times There should be a section for entering each employee's availability so you don't schedule them outside of their available hours. This is a HUGE oversight.

Product Review

Helps us communicate available shifts with staff who are sleeping from night shifts or currently busy with a customer where we cannot communicate with them, during our 9-5 hours in the office

Pros

It's easy to train staff to use it. It is reasonable customisable for how we need to use it as an agency. We use positions for each possible customer location that might request our services. There are too many locations for each to have its own schedule. Half of our potential customers listed use our services less than once a month. We are not staffing every location throughout the week with different managers like some of your users might be.

Cons

Please make it so that it is easier to add positions to staff in bulk, or groups. I spend too much time setting up new staff with all of the positions they need, or setting up new positions with all applicable staff.

OpenSimSim, so easy!

I love OpenSimSim, it has helped me schedule my employees better and has increased communications with everyone. If ever I have a question, the Support team is right there, very responsive.

Pros

I like how easy it is to add new employees to the system. I like how the everyone can know what they need to through the app. I also like the budgeting feature to help keep our production costs down. I also like the messaging feature, I don't use email anymore.

Cons

One thing I don't like is how I can't assign more tasks or positions to one person per shift, or maybe I just don't know how. Another thing is, sometimes I would like to see all of my employees schedules at once instead of scrolling up and down.

This APP saves me tons of time and frustration

Overall I am super excited that this APP exists and I have been using it for over a year now. I cant even begin to describe the benefits, its easy to use, simple to deploy, provides a great staff communication platform and has help tremendously in the overall accountability of my employees and ownership of their schedule.

Pros

Well thought out solid platform with all the bells and whistles of way more costly APPS but functions better, integrates easier, and the fluidity of the data is unsurpassed for an online scheduling APP !!

Cons

Seems a little slow to maneuver at times and ctrl copy function seems a bit glitchy at times. The availability and time off feature works well but its not very intuitive for my staff ... so far I have had people doing it reverse and others squaring me into a position where I have to conform to their specific availability but that is my own HR issue :-/

A Restaurants Dream Come True!

I first used OpenSimSim when I was a server at Urge Gastropub & Whiskey Bank. It was a convenient app that let all the employees swap shifts, pick up shifts and request time off. It was so great not having to call 10 people just to get one shift covered! I then brought this amazing time-saving tool to the restaurant as a GM. My staff was used to the old-school way of using a printed excel spread sheet and then calling or texting a bunch of people trying to switch shifts, cover shifts, time-off requests, etc.. Once I brought in OpenSimSim, they raved about how useful and easy it was to use! If you are looking for a smooth running app that saves you time and money, then GET THIS PRODUCT!!! Thanks our reps & OpenSimSim for your outstanding training, support and all around awesomeness! I'm recommending this to anyone that will listen!

Pros

It's Free! It's a smooth running app. It's convenient, user friendly and my staff loves using it!

Cons

Nothing.

Great free option for scheduling software with potential for more

I had a great on-boarding session with their training team. They do offer employee data importing as part of their setup but I did it all myself and it wasnt too bad.

Pros

Super easy to use and set up. It has been as smooth of a transition for our employees One could hope for. Most employees have been able to get it set up and availability updated with no direct instruction other than our expectations.

Cons

A few simple features I would like to see on the app are: view only first initial of last name on printed schedule (privacy issue of employees), hide total hours on printed schedule, select individual rights for remote clock in (paid version).

Open simsim

Opensimsim saves us mass emailing our staff, then receiving numerous emails to confirm if they can work. Therefore making the process alot simpler and easier. The staff also find it great because they can look in one place rather than having to find their emails. It has definitely made life simpler, easier and quicker.

Pros

If is easy to use, quick to put shifts on and for staff to select them. Since implementing it has definitely sped up the process of staff g jobs.

Cons

Would love to introduce the time management aspect of the software to save staff having to sign a form. However because you have to pay for each user and we have 88 that don't work all the time. It is not a cost effective option for us. If there was a monthly set fee that we could pay for the option that would be far better.

Great piece of software

One of the best scheduling tools I have used in a long time and its absolutely free! so Please keep it that way. You can set up as many work places on OpenSimSim and manage them from one place.

Pros

Live scheduling tool, any changes is immediately sent to the relevant people. Team can book time off on the software. There is an app for everyone to use. Its simple and not bulky. Gives you a breakdown of cost per day. You can have offsite working.

Cons

Not having the ability to talk to SAP Payroll. Not having the ability to input other breaks in a shift (paid and unpaid) you can only put one break in.

Excellent Addition For My Team

I have worked in the Operational Management sector for many years and always found employees coming up with new excuses when not turning up for work or 'I didn't know I was in'. This cuts all this out as it verifies when shifts have been confirmed by employees. It also cuts out tons of paper when doing shift swaps, annual leave and printing out rostas saving time and money.

Pros

Firstly I use the standard version so it's free, one of the only free rostering software packages I could find

Cons

Lack of auditing tools. I would have liked to be able to track back who has authorised annual leave and also have the ability to input sickness etc

Love OpenSimSim!

Pros

I use this to schedule a team of work-study students in my office, so it was important to me to use a system that would allow people to drop shifts without needing to find a cover and to post open shifts that any worker can sign up for- this fulfills both of those needs. I love seeing a weekly view and daily view, being able to sort alphabetically and by time of shift for the day, being able to save a schedule template for a week so that I don't have to manually schedule shifts every week (their weekly schedules are the same), and I love how easy the app is to use so that I can manage the schedule while I'm out of the office.

Cons

I created a fake employee account when I was first starting to use this system so that I could see how things look/work from the worker perspective, and then had difficulty deleting my fake worker account. Customer service helped me out with this, but it would be nice if there was a feature that let administrators toggle to the worker view just so that they have an idea of what schedules/notifications look like to their workers.

Scheduling & Sharing Made Easy

This software is very easy to use. It allows me to schedule employees on days when they absolutely must be here, offer up optional shifts, and immediately tells employees that a new schedule has been published (this has dramatically reduced the amount of texts I get at 10:30 Sunday night asking when an employee is scheduled to work). Employees also have the option to request days off, mark days they're absolutely unavailable, and send messages through the app. It's really nice to be able to communicate with a whole team with very little effort.

Pros

This software is very easy to use. It allows me to schedule employees on days when they absolutely must be here, offer up optional shifts, and immediately tells employees that a new schedule has been published (this has dramatically reduced the amount of texts I get at 10:30 Sunday night asking when an employee is scheduled to work). Employees also have the option to request days off, mark days they're absolutely unavailable, and send messages through the app.

Cons

The app can be flakey at times, and doesn't always notify me as the scheduler of changes. Time-off requests don't always show up immediately, and messages can be easily missed.

Open Simsim

Excellent, specially in the organization of the businees.

Pros

I have been using it for more than a year to organize my 25 workers and it has been incredible!! Every worker can easily access his/her schedule on the app and the administrators can easily modify schedules or add/delete shifts as necessary. I don't know how we survived without this app for so long. Obviously there was a great deal less organization back then. I recommend it to everybody that needs to have the schedule always at hand, specially when you have multiples sites and workers on a day to day basis.

Cons

If I had a doubt it took me a bit to solve it, although when I needed extra help I could do it with a live chat.

Fantastic easy to use product

Support has been fantastic and are willing to hear suggestions on possible improvements, certainly respond quickly if you are having an issue. to e honest I wish all software companies ran this way.

Pros

Can be used from anywhere, allows staff to say when they are not available, alerts them when they have been given a shift and allows them to swap. I don't need to rely on my fading memory anymore or sticky notes or diary entries, simply awesome :)

Cons

So many buttons to print the same report every week but this is a minor inconvenience for the benefits being offered

Just what I need, all in one place

The biggest benefit to myself is managing time off requests, I no longer need to remember when a colleague has asked for time off. They use the app, submit request, I review and there it is in the schedule. No more allowing too many colleagues off at same time and mistakingly scheduling on time off. Another benefit is less pressure to complete a schedule, I do my schedules at home so I no longer need to rush to ensure all staff see it in store, I have a little extra breathing space because as soon as I hit publish, my colleagues instantly have the schedule in their hands.

Pros

Communication feature - direct messages to specific colleague(s) Manage time off requests which then show in schedule Mobile version - inc notifications on shifts Coverage graph (able to see how many colleagues scheduled per hour/per day) Best of all, it has a FREE version

Cons

Some limited functionality on mobile version. For example, can only manage/create schedules on pc version. Time off requests need to be managed on pc version as this way allows to view existing time off to prevent allowing too many staff off. On mobile version, this is difficult to manage. Can't track holiday allowances - possibly icing on the cake Generally though, con's are hard to argue because it is free and it does just what I need it to do

Great product and great company

Was looking for an alternative to excel schedules that we've used for 20 years. Found OpenSimSim on a search, tested it out and loved it. Our search criteria was mainly, what will benefit the employee and the store the most.

Pros

Easy to use and navigate. Support is always quick to help when we have an issue. They gladly take our feedback on improvements and listen when we make suggestions.

Cons

That we can't incorporate all of it into our system. They have a time/attendance but since we have a POS system that does that, we haven't used that portion.

Easy and user friendly.

I am very happy with Open Sim Sim. I have used this scheduling software at two different locations and it has been a lifesaver. All of my employees love it too. Saves time and money. Making communication a breeze.

Pros

Schedule is alway at your fingertips ok your phone You can edit and add shifts between employees. Send out group messages. Complete shift swaps And manage all requests off. Its brilliant and bang for your buck is unparalleled

Cons

The program at times has technical difficulties which renders it useless.

Love this scheduling software

I have had nothing but a great experience with OpenSimSim. I have recommended it to several other hospitality business owners and managers, who have actually implemented and love the software as well. Do I get a referral reward?

Pros

There is nothing about this software that I do not like and I cannot thing of one thing I like most above about it.

Cons

The only complaint I have, and it's more like a wish list item, is that as the manager, I cannot modify and/or enter a time-off request for employees or modify an employee's availability who as agreed to accept a shift outside their availability.

Works Great

Great overall, very good product with some amazing customer service. They get back to you right away and help fix your problem.

Pros

It's Free!!!! It also has some great features, I really appreciate that they added the reminder feature to remind employees when shifts are coming up. Really easy to use. posting a schedule doesn't take more then 5 minutes and they have made it easy to copy over the previous weeks schedule.

Cons

it can get a little buggy sometimes and you have to refresh. The only thing that I would like to see different would be the ability to change availability for my employees. or to schedule folks even when they show up as unavailable

OpenSimSim for the win!

I think that the business I work at has benefited from OpenSimSim when it comes to communication. We are easily able to request off and put in our availability. We are also able to easily communicate in the messaging section of the application.

Pros

My favorite thing about OpenSimSim is the mobile app. It is very accessible at home and on the go, so if I need to ask off really quickly, this application lets me do so efficiently. another aspect of this application that I really like is that it is easy to maneuver through the app and I am able to understand where I need to go to do something.

Cons

I don't think that there is anything I do not like. However, it would be neat to be able to see what reason you put down for asking off (on a computer) after you submit it. I am able to see that on my phone, but not the computer.