Getting to Know Microsoft StaffHub

Microsoft 365 in 365 blog series

12/365

What It Is:

Having worked in the project and portfolio management space for the first decade of my career, I sometimes coordinated with field personnel on different projects. For example, back during my time with Pacific Bell, I worked with an internal marketing team on a project to expand our GIS data for service teams trying to repair phone lines, and coordinated the time and activities of those line workers participating in the testing of the new data and related tools. I was responsible for schedules, and it was a nightmare without any centralized tracking tools. It was almost entirely a manual effort to track and manage the project. when Microsoft announced StaffHub, that’s where my mind went — to those people out in the field, most of the time without connectivity much less the tools to report back in and collaborate with the folks at headquarters.

When you think about collaboration, do you take into consideration all of the roles within your organization, and not just those with 24×7 connectivity and the ability to attend a meeting in the conference room down the hall if requested? Thankfully, Microsoft is thinking about these extended scenarios — and how the broader team benefits when all team members can actively participate in collaboration.

If you’ve not yet explored what is included in StaffHub, here is the information you need to get grounded:

High-level Description:

There’s a short description on Staffhub.office.com:

Microsoft StaffHub is a cloud-based platform that works across all your devices. It enables firstline workers and their managers to manage time, communicate with their teams, and share content. [Read More]

But a more in-depth description on the announcement on Blogs.office.com:

There are an estimated 500-million frontline staff workers around the world in retail stores, hotels, restaurants, manufacturing and other service-related industries. These employees typically don’t have their own office, desk or computer—making it hard to access and share information important for the workday. Far too often, these workers rely on manual processes and outdated tools—cumbersome creation and printing of paper schedules, bulletin boards crammed with notes and a flurry of phone calls and text messages to cover shifts. Microsoft StaffHub is here to help.

We’re pleased to announce the worldwide general availability of Microsoft StaffHub—a new application for Office 365 designed to help staff workers manage their workday—with schedule management, information sharing and the ability to connect to other work-related apps and resources. [Read More]

Recent News/Media:

“Hands-On With Microsoft 365’s New Small Business Apps”

The solution also comes with optional access to Microsoft StaffHub, an easy employee shift-scheduling app. StaffHub was announced as part of F1, one of Microsoft 365’s other versions for first-line workers. SMBs can also connect a couple other existing apps to their Microsoft Business Center dashboard: a simple Microsoft Bookings tool for managing online appointments, the MileIQ mileage tracking app that monitors a user’s travel for tax reimbursements, and Outlook Customer Manager, a basic CRM tool built right into Microsoft’s email client. [Read More]

“Microsoft launches StaffHub, a new Office 365 app aimed at shift workers”

Microsoft today unveiled the newest addition to its Office 365 suite with the debut of an application for shift workers and management, called StaffHub. The program is aimed at those who don’t tend to work from desktop computers and have different schedules from week to week, such as in retail, hospitality, restaurants and other industries.

The program was originally introduced in “preview” last fall… [Read More]

“Manage firstline Workers with Microsoft StaffHub”

​​Microsoft StaffHub is one of the latest solutions available from Microsoft which can completely transform how you manage firstline workers. If you answer yes to any of the below questions then this blog is for you:

  1. Do you want to understand more about Microsoft StaffHub?
  2. Do you manage teams of frontline workers?
  3. Are you a frontline worker who is fed up of the lack of communication in your company?
  4. Do you work shifts in a factory or warehouse?
  5. Does you manager work in a different location to you?… [Read More]

Support Articles:

“Microsoft StaffHub: How it Works”

Managers use the StaffHub web app to create schedules, manage requests for shift swaps or time off, and share information with the team. Employees use the mobile app to view their shifts, submit shift and time-off requests, and communicate with the team. [Read More]

“Microsoft StaffHub [iOS app]”

On mobile or web, it’s the one-stop app for scheduling, sharing, and communicating. Microsoft StaffHub gives everyone the freedom to manage work. And get on with life. [Read More]

“Microsoft StaffHub FAQs”

Microsoft StaffHub is a purpose-built app for the Firstline Workforce in Office 365. It is specifically designed to deliver the capabilities, tools and information that Firstline Workers need to work effectively and perform at their peak. This service combines scheduling, task management, documents, people and tools in one secure place – with the ability to connect to other work-related apps and resources. [Read More]

“A purpose-built app for the Firstline Workforce in Office 365”

Identity and access management: Quickly create and assign a digital identity with just a phone number. Easily add and remove team members in the application and maintain the enterprise security and IT management control that you expect with Office 365.

“It has changed completely the relationship we have between management and the staff, and it helps us concentrate on what is important.” Dominique Grandjonc, General Manager, Novotel, Paris [Read More]

“Getting started with Microsoft StaffHub”

  1. Sign in to StaffHub at https://staffhub.office.com/with your Office 365 work account, such as rob@contoso.com.
    The first time you sign in, the setup wizard will start. If you have already created a team and want to create a new one, go to https://staffhub.office.com/app/setup.
  2. Follow the steps in wizard to add the names of everyone you want to schedule… [Read More]

“Microsoft StaffHub [Templates]”

StaffHub Flow Templates: Automated workflows between your favorite apps and services to get notifications, synchronized files, collected data and more. [Read More]

“StaffHub: Overview, Initial Setup & Configuration”

Introduction: StaffHub is a remarkable new tool from Microsoft that enables organizations to effectively manage their firstline workers and enable them to have a collaborative experience to achieve more in their jobs. A firstline worker can be a nurse, barista, retail worker, manufacturing worker, hospitality worker, service technician, etc. The purpose of this blog post is to walk you through initial setup and configuration of StaffHub in your Office 365 tenant to get started using the service. For a great overview of StaffHub, I recommend watching the below video: [Read More]

“StaffHub: Automatically Assign Licenses to New Users”

When a new team member is added, StaffHub (if configured to do so) will automatically create a new user account and add them to a Security Group called Deskless Workers in Azure Active Directory. However, the user will still need to be assigned a license in order to start using StaffHub. [Read More]

Relevant Videos:

https://youtu.be/e8ZE-IsgFow

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/haKRuwPjWOQ

Microsoft Tech Community Discussions:

“Microsoft Technet. Category: StaffHub”

How many Firstline Workers did you interact with today? For me, I count around a dozen or so that range from the barista at the coffee shop, gas station attendant, waitress at the restaurant I ate lunch at, the gate agent when I boarded my plane to fly home, when the cable repair technician came… [Read More]

“Microsoft Tech Community. StaffHub”

Community Info Center for StaffHub. The space to share experiences, engage and learn from experts. [Read More]

Christian Buckley

Christian is a Microsoft Regional Director and M365 Apps & Services MVP, and an award-winning product marketer and technology evangelist, based in Silicon Slopes (Lehi), Utah. He is the Director of North American Partner Management for leading ISV Rencore (https://rencore.com/), leads content strategy for TekkiGurus, and is an advisor for both revealit.TV and WellnessWits. He hosts the monthly #CollabTalk TweetJam, the weekly #CollabTalk Podcast, and the Microsoft 365 Ask-Me-Anything (#M365AMA) series.

1 Response

  1. February 17, 2018

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