JustRosters is “an easy-to-use web-based application that allows managers and business owners to build and print rosters, notify staff about their upcoming shifts (SMS or Email), and manage time-off requests in minutes, from anywhere.”

The site is the brainchild of Gold Coast-based Aulay Macaulay and was built by his company – Marvel Internet Group. Aulay says that bricks-and-mortar businesses are only just starting to use web-based applications to improve their day-to-day operations. He goes on to add:

Most of these technologies have been available for a long time, but it’s the current economic climate that is forcing businesses to start looking at ways of running their businesses better

Having had past careers in retail and hospitality I was really keen to have a play with JustRosters to see how it would make the life of managers and staff easier.

After having a play, I can say that the site is definitely a good start but there’s still a little work to do before it hits its true potential. For instance I’d love to see the following:

• Have time, rather than employees on the vertical roster axis. The fact that you could have times later in the day above times earlier in the day because of the order of employees on the axis was a little confusing
• Use some of that sexy AJAX goodness to allow drag and drop of employees into time slots rather than typing the actual time
• Build in some sort of smarts that allow managers to set rules (e.g. Jan can’t work on Tuesday arvo, Bob needs to work only 12 hours a week etc.) and have JustRosters pre-populate a roster

Essentially, what is needed are a few more things to make JustRosters sticky – or indispensable once someone first tries it – as opposed to being just a movement from a real world to an online rostering system with a few added goodies (like the SMS functionality) – i.e. maintain the focus just make the transition more compelling. Make sense?

So will JustRosters succeed? It definitely has a few key things going for it:

1. Aulay Macaulay is a young (he’s only 21), serial, entrepreneur who has no doubt incorporated lessons from past successes and failures into JustRosters;
2. JustRosters uses technology to address a real business need; and 
3. JustRosters has a real business model

So while it’s not quite the perfect solution just yet, it’s a great start to what could very well become an indispensable service for the millions of businesses around the world that need a simple yet powerful rostering system.

They also have a free trial going on at the moment, so if you’re looking for an easier way to do rosters, track staff hours and keep staff updated of any changes then there’s no real reason not to give JustRosters a go.