Opening and Closing Shifts

Shift management creates a formal cash accountability record for each cashier session. Without it, cash discrepancies at the end of the day are difficult to trace — you know the till is short, but not when the shortfall occurred or who was responsible.

With shifts, every session has:

• A recorded opening cash balance (the float put in at the start)
• A timestamp for when the shift opened and closed
• The expected cash total (opening balance + cash sales during the shift)
• The actual cash count (physical count entered by the cashier at closing)
• The variance (expected minus actual)

This creates clear accountability per cashier, per session — making end-of-day reconciliation fast and transparent.

At the start of a trading session:

1. Open the Shift panel on the POS screen (accessible from the main sell screen menu)

2. Count the physical cash in the till drawer

3. Enter the opening cash balance — this is the float (e.g. KSh 5,000)

4. Tap Open Shift

The shift start time is recorded. The shift state is stored in the device's localStorage as the primary record, with a background write to the database. If connectivity is unavailable when the shift opens, it still opens locally and syncs when internet returns.

Only one shift can be open per cashier at a time. If the previous shift was not closed, the system will prompt the cashier to close it first.

At the end of the trading session:

1. Open the Shift panel

2. Physically count all the cash in the till drawer

3. Enter the actual cash count into the closing form

4. The system shows the expected cash (opening balance + all cash sales during the shift) and calculates the variance automatically

5. Review the summary and tap Close Shift

Example:

```

Opening Balance: KSh 5,000

Cash Sales: KSh 8,650

Expected Cash: KSh 13,650

Actual Count: KSh 13,620

Variance: -KSh 30

Shift Duration: 7h 45m

```

A small variance (under KSh 100) is typical and may reflect damaged notes, rounding, or minor errors. A larger variance should be investigated before the cashier leaves.

Shift records are visible to the business owner in the admin dashboard under Shifts in the POS section. Each record shows the cashier, dates, opening/closing balances, expected cash, actual cash, variance, and shift duration.

Shift data is used for:

• Daily reconciliation — confirm cash matches expectations before banking
• Cashier accountability — variances are linked to the specific cashier
• Cash flow tracking — opening balances reveal how much float is circulating
• Trend analysis — patterns in variance over time may indicate a training need or a systematic issue

Shift records are stored in the pos_shifts table and are included in your standard data exports.