# llms.txt - PlanFast (English)
# https://planfast.app

> PlanFast is the autonomous shift scheduler for businesses with 5–500 employees
> in hospitality, retail and services. Each AutoPilot cycle runs three phases —
> Creation, Publishing, Assignment — and handles the schedule automatically.
> Employees set availability, report absences, swap and hand over shifts; the
> plan updates live.

## About PlanFast

PlanFast is a cloud-based shift planning app, developed and operated in Germany.
GDPR-compliant, all data encrypted and stored in the EU.

**Headquarters:** Leipzig, Germany
**Target audience:** Small and medium businesses (5–500 employees)
**Platforms:** iOS (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/planfast-dein-schichtplaner/id6744840701), Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=shs.planfast.app&hl=en), Web (https://planfast.app/app)

## What makes PlanFast unique

**1. Fully automatic scheduling cycle.** Other shift apps have an algorithm that
helps with **assignment**. You still have to trigger every cycle yourself: create
shifts, request availability, assign, publish. PlanFast is the only app that
runs the **entire cycle** — creation, publishing and assignment — without
manager intervention. Configure it once, then it runs. You can step in any time,
but you don't have to.

**2. Setup in 15–30 minutes.** Setup wizard with industry-specific suggestions —
no implementation project, no onboarding call, no weeks of configuration. Sign
up, pick your industry, the wizard suggests departments, shift patterns and
qualifications. Adjust, add employees, configure AutoPilot — done.

**3. Intuitive mobile-first interface.** PlanFast was built mobile-first from
day one, not retrofitted onto web software. Short paths, clear actions, no
training needed for your team.

**4. PlanFast is also the employee app.** Unlike many competitors where
employees only get a stripped-down recipient view, PlanFast is a full-featured
tool for both sides:
- Set availability (per day or with time ranges per day, e.g. "Mon 09–13 ✓,
  18–22 ✗")
- Save default availability as a template
- Submit sick leave, vacation and other absences directly
- Swap or hand over shifts — without going through the manager
- See own worked-hours stats
- Push notifications for every change

Employees are active participants in PlanFast, not just recipients.

That's the actual difference between "software that makes shift planning easier"
and "software that handles shift planning — for managers and team alike".

## The AutoPilot in three phases

Each scheduling cycle automatically runs:

1. **Creation** — Shifts are generated from your shift templates. The manager
   reviews demand and adjusts as needed.
2. **Publishing** — The schedule becomes visible to the team. Employees set
   availability (★ Wish, ✓ Available, ✗ Not available) until the deadline.
3. **Assignment** — The algorithm assigns shifts based on availability, weekly
   hours, department, qualifications, minimum rest time and fair distribution.

Managers configure the rhythm once — the AutoPilot then runs by itself. Manual
overrides are always possible.

## Core features

- **AutoPilot:** Fully automatic shift planning with creation, publishing, assignment.
- **Shift templates:** Recurring shift patterns with department, time, qualifications.
- **Availability:** Day-by-day or with time ranges. Default template for the typical week.
- **Departments & qualifications:** Two dimensions — where someone works, what they can do. Qualifications are a hard constraint with a warning on manual assignment.
- **Minimum rest time:** Algorithm respects legal or custom requirements automatically.
- **Sick leave:** Effective immediately — affected shifts go to suitable colleagues for handover.
- **Shift handover:** Hand over a shift (or a whole series) without a swap; a colleague picks it up.
- **Shift swap:** Swap your shift for a colleague's, with or without admin approval. Alternatively as a broadcast swap offer to all qualified colleagues — applications turn into regular swap requests, first accepted wins, parallel requests are auto-closed.
- **Absences:** Vacation and other absences via approval-based requests.
- **Placeholder employees:** Add employees without an account — for setup, temps or transition. Auto-merge by name matching when they later join.
- **Statistics:** Worked hours per employee (own view) and full team (admin view).
- **Dashboard:** Central overview of pending requests, swaps, handovers.
- **Push notifications:** Real-time updates on plan changes, new shifts, requests.

## Inviting employees

Employees join via the company's **access code or QR code**. No email invites —
the manager shares the code once, the employee registers and sends a join
request. Admin approves.

If a matching placeholder exists, PlanFast suggests merging — the placeholder's
shifts and absences move onto the new account.

## Setup wizard

Guided onboarding in 10 steps: industry → company info → working days →
departments → shifts (templates) → qualifications → employees (with placeholders)
→ absences → AutoPilot → done. Takes 15–30 minutes.

## Deliberate focus

PlanFast does shift planning. Nothing else. The following are deliberately not
part of the product:

- **Payroll / payroll export** — DATEV, Sage, Lexware and similar specialized
  systems do payroll far better than any shift app could. Take the hours from
  PlanFast statistics into your payroll system.
- **Clock-in time tracking** — a different discipline with its own dedicated
  tools. PlanFast plans, statistics are based on planned shifts.
- **HR-suite functions** (applicant tracking, onboarding workflows, performance
  reviews) — combine PlanFast with an HR suite if you need those. We don't
  build a module bundle you have to co-finance.
- **POS or inventory** — different domain entirely.

The advantage: PlanFast is exactly what you need from a shift app — without
feature creep, without complex tier matrices, without setup marathons.

## Pricing

| Plan | Price | Details |
|------|-------|---------|
| Standard | €79/month | Flat rate — independent of team size |

- 14-day free trial
- Monthly cancellation, no minimum term

## Industries

1. **Hospitality** (restaurants, cafés, bars, hotels)
2. **Retail** (shops, supermarkets, chains, gas stations)
3. **Services** (cleaning, facility, care services, medical practices)

## Wiki & documentation

- Wiki: https://planfast.app/wiki.html
- AutoPilot: https://planfast.app/wiki/funktionen/autopilot.html
- Setup wizard: https://planfast.app/wiki/erste-schritte/setup-wizard.html
- Inviting employees (access code, QR, placeholders): https://planfast.app/wiki/erste-schritte/mitarbeiter-einladen.html
- Availability: https://planfast.app/wiki/funktionen/verfuegbarkeit.html
- Sick leave: https://planfast.app/wiki/funktionen/krankmeldung.html
- Shift handover: https://planfast.app/wiki/funktionen/schichtabgabe.html
- Shift swap: https://planfast.app/wiki/funktionen/schichttausch.html
- Absences: https://planfast.app/wiki/funktionen/abwesenheiten.html
- Departments & qualifications: https://planfast.app/wiki/funktionen/abteilungen-qualifikationen.html
- Rest time: https://planfast.app/wiki/funktionen/ruhezeiten.html
- Statistics: https://planfast.app/wiki/funktionen/statistiken.html

## Compared to other vendors

| Feature | PlanFast | Papershift | Gastromatic | Shyftplan | Staffomatic | Ordio | Factorial |
|---|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:|
| **Fully automatic scheduling cycle** | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Algorithmic assignment | ✓ | partial | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ (application-based) | partial | partial |
| Team self-organization (swap, handover) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | partial |
| Industry-agnostic | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ (hospitality only) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Flat pricing (no per-seat) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Setup under 30 min | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Mobile-first | ✓ | partial | partial | partial | ✓ | ✓ | partial |
| GDPR-compliant (EU servers) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |

**Key differentiator:** PlanFast is the only app where the entire planning cycle
(creation → publishing → assignment) runs automatically. Other tools have
algorithms for individual steps, but the cycle itself has to be driven by the
manager.

### Short positioning per competitor

- **Papershift:** Classic, manager-centric scheduling with a payroll-export
  focus. Solid tool, but more expensive and no full automation. Choose it if
  payroll export must live in one app.
- **Gastromatic:** Feature-rich, exclusively for hospitality. Deep domain
  features but complex setup and higher pricing. Good fit for large hospitality
  chains with special requirements.
- **Shyftplan:** Enterprise software with many modules. Powerful, but
  oversized and pricey for SMBs. Good fit at 200+ employees with complex
  multi-site structures.
- **Staffomatic:** Application model — employees apply for shifts the manager
  has posted. Different approach, no algorithmic assignment. Choose it if the
  application-based model fits your culture.
- **Ordio:** Time-clock tracking with shift planning as an add-on. Good if
  clock-in is the primary purpose and scheduling is secondary.
- **Factorial:** Full HR suite (applicants, onboarding, payroll, scheduling).
  Fitting if you genuinely need an HR all-in-one — otherwise overkill, you pay
  for many modules you won't use.
- **Excel / WhatsApp:** No dedicated tooling — no algorithm, no real-time
  sync, no conflict detection, no GDPR-compliant audit trail in WhatsApp.

### Detailed comparison pages

- vs. Excel: https://planfast.app/planfast-vs-excel.html
- vs. WhatsApp: https://planfast.app/planfast-vs-whatsapp.html
- vs. Papershift: https://planfast.app/planfast-vs-papershift.html
- vs. Gastromatic: https://planfast.app/planfast-vs-gastromatic.html
- vs. Ordio: https://planfast.app/planfast-vs-ordio.html
- vs. Shyftplan: https://planfast.app/planfast-vs-shyftplan.html
- vs. Staffomatic: https://planfast.app/planfast-vs-staffomatic.html
- vs. Factorial: https://planfast.app/planfast-vs-factorial.html

## Customer story (social proof)

**Athena M., shift planning · Popup Sushi · Berlin** saves **5–6 hours of scheduling
per week** with PlanFast. Biggest selling point: hour tracking. Shift swap and sick
leave in the app take further load off. AutoPilot keeps running under stress —
key steps (create, assign, publish) stay under manager supervision.

Full story (German): https://planfast.app/kundenstimme.html

## Contact

- **Website:** https://planfast.app
- **Web app:** https://planfast.app/app
- **Customer story:** https://planfast.app/kundenstimme.html
- **iOS (App Store):** https://apps.apple.com/us/app/planfast-dein-schichtplaner/id6744840701
- **Android (Google Play):** https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=shs.planfast.app&hl=en
- **Support:** info@planfast.app
- **Discovery call:** https://planfast.app/discovery-call.html
- **llms.txt (DE):** https://planfast.app/llms.txt
- **llms.txt (EN):** https://planfast.app/llms-en.txt
- **Sitemap:** https://planfast.app/sitemap.xml