The decision at a glance
Keep the spreadsheet while the pattern is stable, ownership is clear and exceptions are rare. Consider a shift system when absence cover, attendance and calculated hours are maintained elsewhere.
The important threshold is not team size. It is whether several records must be reconciled to explain one working week.
What Vaktos connects
Vaktos combines week and month planning, assisted draft assignments, mobile or kiosk punching, open shifts, leave, attendance review and approved data export. The planner reviews every assisted draft and publishes it manually. Vaktos is not payroll software.
Why spreadsheets work at first
Excel and Google Sheets are familiar, flexible and quick to distribute. For a stable operation, that may be entirely appropriate. Complexity arrives when each exception creates a new file, message or side calculation.
Where the file stops being the whole workflow
The published version becomes uncertain
A shared-drive file, printed copy and chat image can diverge. Managers lose a reliable view of the schedule staff originally received.
An opening becomes a message campaign
The manager must identify possible replacements, contact them and then update the roster separately. Eligibility and the final assignment are difficult to see in one place.
Hours depend on later reconstruction
Actual breaks, overtime and hour bands are calculated from memory or side records. Missing punches and late arrivals lack a clear attendance history.
Leave policy is embedded in formulas
Allowance, leave year, accrual and working-day definitions become hard to explain when they live across cells and notes.
Test the replacement with one difficult week
Use a real roster with an absence, a cover decision, a missing punch and period-end approval. Confirm that the system keeps each event understandable. If demand forecasting, POS data or named payroll connections are essential, read the operating-model comparison before choosing Vaktos.
Important details
- Assisted scheduling creates editable draft assignments and never publishes automatically.
- Shift correction records cover after the start time without changing the published assignment.
- CSV and API access hand approved data to another process; neither replaces payroll software.
Using MarRest? Keep maritime punching and work-and-rest records in MarRest, with Vaktos as the planning layer. Review the connected model.
Frequently asked questions
When is a roster spreadsheet still enough?
A shared file can suit a stable schedule with one clear owner and little need to track attendance or cover. Its limits appear when live changes and approved hours require separate records of the same week.
Does Vaktos replace the payroll system?
No. Vaktos prepares and approves the hours record, then exports CSV or exposes data through a read-only API. If a named live payroll connection is required, assess a broader workforce platform.