The point of a shift is attribution
A pump that records one set of readings a day knows what it sold. A pump that records them per shift knows who sold it. That distinction only matters on the days something is wrong — but those are the days that cost money, and on those days it matters enormously.
A ₹2,000 shortfall found at month-end belongs to nobody. The same ₹2,000 found at the close of the evening shift belongs to a named person who is still on the premises and can usually explain it in a sentence: a credit sale not written up, a UPI payment that failed and was waved through, a note taken for change and not replaced.
Nothing about this is about blame. It is about the window in which an explanation still exists.
How shifts work in PumpDesk
A shift opens with the people on it, carries the meter readings and payments taken during it, and closes with a reconciliation between what those readings imply and what was actually collected.
Closing a shift is the checkpoint. It is where a nozzle with no closing reading becomes visible, where the drawer is counted, and where the next shift inherits a starting position rather than a mystery.
- Each shift carries its own opening and closing readings per nozzle.
- Payments logged during the shift are attributed to it — cash, UPI, card, fleet and credit kept apart.
- Collections are totalled per channel at close, so a shortfall points at a channel rather than at a person.
- Managers close shifts; operators record within them. The role split is enforced on the server, not just hidden in the UI.
Roles, and why they are per outlet
PumpDesk grants roles on a specific outlet rather than across your whole account. That is deliberate: in a group of pumps, the same person is very often a manager at the one they run and has no business seeing the numbers at the others.
| Role | Enter readings | Log payments | Close shifts | Pull reports | Change settings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Operator | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Accountant | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Auditor | No | No | No | Yes | No |
What each role can do. Roles are granted per outlet.
Frequently asked questions
How many shifts can I run in a day?
As many as your outlet actually runs. Shifts are records, not a fixed schedule, so a two-shift pump and a round-the-clock highway outlet both work without configuration.
Can one person work at more than one outlet?
Yes. Roles are granted per outlet, so the same person can be a manager at one, an operator at another, and have no access at a third. There is no single account-wide permission level to work around.
What happens if a shift is not closed?
It stays open and visible. The nozzles it covers have no closing reading, so the litres are not yet attributed and the day's reconciliation is incomplete — which is the intended signal. An unclosed shift is a task, not a silent gap.