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Running the production

Approve the hours your event crew and volunteers worked

Crew managers at festivals and event venues pay agency staff and reward volunteers for the hours they actually worked. Approving hours from the shift check-ins and check-outs gives you one agreed figure for each person, with every correction and its reason kept beside it.

Approve each person's hours at your event from the times they were checked in and out of their shifts. Fai checks every line first, so you approve the lines with nothing odd in one go, fix the rest with a reason, and check an agency's invoice against the hours its people worked.

For
Approving worked hours for your crew, agency staff and volunteers
Takes
7 minutes

Before you start

  • You are an owner, admin or producer on the event. The event's Operations page opens for those roles only.
  • Your crew and volunteers are on shifts, and your team checks them in and out of each shift in Check in on Shifts.

  1. Open the Hours view

    Open the event, select Operations, select Shifts, then select Hours at the top.

    Note: Each person has one line per shift once they check in or the shift ends. Choose a day, a department or an outside team above the list to narrow it.

    Ticket Fairy Hours view of a festival Saturday, with five lines waiting for approval, four flagged by Fai and one line with nothing odd
    The hours waiting for approval, with what Fai noticed on each line.

Fai's checks on each line

A line counts from check-in to check-out, and never more than one hour past the end of the shift. Fai flags a line with No check-out, Did not check in, Left late, Very short for less than half the shift, Two shifts at once for the same person, or Times changed after approval. A flagged line shows Check instead of Approve.

  1. Approve the lines with nothing odd

    Select the button that counts the lines Fai found nothing odd in, such as Approve 1 line, then select Approve.

    Note: Approving fixes each line's hours and the shift's cost per hour. It carries on even if you close the page, and Stop ends it.

    Ticket Fairy Approve 1 line question over the Hours view, saying Fai checked these lines and found nothing odd
    Approving the lines Fai found nothing odd in.

  2. Open a flagged line

    Select Fai flagged above the list, then select Check on a line.

    Note: The line shows what Fai noticed in plain words, the scheduled and recorded times, any change to the hours, and the cost if it is approved now.

    Ticket Fairy hours line for a bar worker with no check-out, with what Fai checked, the times and the buttons to change or approve it
    A line with no check-out.

  3. Change the hours if they are wrong

    Select Change the hours, enter the time to add or take away, enter why the hours change, then select Save.

    Note: Choose Set the total to enter the hours the line should have instead. Use the scheduled time on the line fills in the shift's scheduled hours for you.

    Ticket Fairy Change Priya Shah's hours dialog, to add or take away time or set the total, with a reason and common reasons to choose
    Changing the hours with a reason.

  4. Approve the line

    Select Approve on the line.

    Note: The line moves to Approved with your name and the time, and its hours and cost stay as approved.

Or have it done for you

Fai reads the hours lines of a day with what she noticed on each, and approves the lines you choose or every line with nothing odd. She tells you how many lines she will approve and waits for your yes first.

In your dashboard, with Fai

Approve the hours at <EVENT NAME> on Saturday that have nothing odd in them

Let Fai do it for you

Fai works inside your Ticket Fairy dashboard. Create your account, open Fai and paste the prompt above.

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Check an agency's invoice

  1. Name the outside team and the cost on the shift

    In Plan, open the shift, select More details (optional), then choose the Outside team and enter the Cost per hour.

    Note: The outside team is the agency or company that supplies the shift's people. Approved hours times the cost per hour go into the event's Budget.

    Ticket Fairy Edit shift dialog for a steward shift, with SecureCo Event Staffing as the outside team and 14.50 as the cost per hour
    The outside team and cost per hour of a shift.

  2. Compare the team's hours with the invoice

    In Hours, select By outside team.

    Note: Each team shows its people and lines, the hours recorded and approved, what is still waiting and the approved cost. Open a team to see its lines.

    Ticket Fairy hours by outside team, with SecureCo Event Staffing, Northern Bars Ltd and your own people, each with hours recorded, approved and the approved cost
    Hours by outside team.

Fai reads the hours by outside team, and sets a shift's outside team and cost per hour after you confirm.

In your dashboard, with Fai

How many hours did SecureCo's stewards work at <EVENT NAME>, and how many are approved?

Download the hours

  1. Download the file

    In Hours, choose the day, department or outside team you need, then select Download. When the file is ready, select Download the file.

    Note: The file has each line's times, changes, total, state, who approved it, and the rate and cost. It waits in the Hours view for 7 days, and each download is recorded with your name.

Fai starts the same file of the hours lines you choose after you confirm. You download it from the Hours view, where it waits for 7 days and each download is recorded.

In your dashboard, with Fai

Give me the approved hours at <EVENT NAME> for SecureCo as a file

Change hours that are already approved

  1. Open the approved line

    Select Approved above the list, then select the line.

    Note: The line shows who approved it and when, each change to its hours with the reason, and its history.

    Ticket Fairy approved hours line for a bar worker, with who approved it, a 30 minute change for an unpaid break, the cost and its history
    An approved line with a change and its history.

  2. Change the hours

    Select Change the hours, enter the change and why, then select Save.

    Note: The line goes back to Waiting for approval and keeps the cost per hour it was first approved at. Approve it again when the hours are right.

Fai changes a line's hours with the reason you give, after you confirm, and the line goes back for approval.

In your dashboard, with Fai

Take 30 minutes off Ana Lima's bar shift on Saturday at <EVENT NAME> for an unpaid break

Questions you might have

Why were some lines left when I approved them all?
Each line is checked again as it is approved. When the approval ends, the Hours view lists the lines left for a person to check, with the reason, such as a line that changed after Fai checked it.
What if someone changes a line while I approve it?
Your approval leaves that line as it is and the list shows the new figures, so nobody approves hours they did not see. Check the line again and approve it.
Are breaks taken off the hours?
Not by themselves. Use Change the hours with the reason Unpaid break to take a break off one line.
What happens when a check-out changes after I approve?
The approved hours stay as they are, and Fai flags the line Times changed after approval. Change the hours if the new times are right.
Where does the cost of the hours go?
Into the event's Budget, in a Staff and crew section: the cost of approved hours, and the scheduled cost of hours not approved yet. The section shows once a shift has a cost per hour.
Who else can approve hours?
The lead of a department approves the hours of that department's shifts, but never their own, and never sees costs. Department leads approve from their My shifts page.
Does this replace the volunteer hours and rewards?
No. Hours in Volunteers still compares the hours each volunteer signed up for with the hours they worked and sends their rewards, and it links to the Hours view of Shifts.

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