Effective October 1, 2019, Microsoft StaffHub will be retired. Microsoft are building StaffHub capabilities into Microsoft Teams. Today, Teams includes the Shifts app for schedule management and additional capabilities will roll out over time.
These changes are part of our continued efforts to empower every employee with Microsoft 365. With capabilities for Firstline Workers now in Teams, every employee in your organization will be able to use Teams to streamline their workday, collaborate with coworkers, and access information and expertise to help them do their best work.
Frequently asked questions
About StaffHub retirement
When will StaffHub be retired?
Starting the middle of April 2019, Microsoft StaffHub will no longer be available for new tenants and you will no longer be able to access the app from the Office 365 app launcher in existing tenants. Current users will still be able to use the service until October 1, 2019, however no additional features will be made available.
What will happen once StaffHub is retired?
Microsoft StaffHub will stop working for all users on October 1, 2019. Anyone who tries to open the app will be shown a message directing them to download Teams. If the user has an active license that includes Teams and the organization has taken the appropriate steps to enable Teams, their data and core functionality from StaffHub will be available to them upon their transition to Teams.
Between April 2019 and October 2019, StaffHub users will receive in-app notifications encouraging them to use Teams.
Will Teams offer all the functionality currently offered in StaffHub?
In January 2019, Teams began offering Shifts which was previously available in Microsoft StaffHub. This feature allows managers to plan and distribute shift schedules, and team members the opportunity to review their schedule and make schedule change requests from their mobile devices. To learn more, see Manage the Shifts app for your organization in Teams.
We’re committed to delivering a superior user experience and bringing the unique capabilities of StaffHub to Teams. For more information on which features will be made available in Teams, see Firstline Worker features coming soon to Teams.
What do I need to do to prepare for this change?
To learn how to prepare for the transition from StaffHub to Shifts in Teams, go to Prepare to move your StaffHub teams to Shifts.
Why can’t users in my organization access their StaffHub team from Shifts in Teams?
Teams that were created with StaffHub can only be viewed and managed in StaffHub. After a StaffHub team is moved to Teams, users will be able to view their schedules in Shifts. We encourage you to communicate this change early and familiarize existing users with Teams.
About Shifts
What is Shifts?
The Shifts app in Teams is a schedule management tool that keeps Firstline Workers connected and in sync. Managers create, update, and manage shift schedules for teams, and team members can view their schedules, see who else is scheduled for the day, request to swap or offer a shift, and request time off, all from their mobile devices.
Which plans is Shifts available in?
Shifts is available as part of Teams in the following plans without any additional cost:
- Office 365 Business Premium
- Office 365 Enterprise F1, E1, E3, E5
- Office 365 for Education
- Microsoft 365 F1, E1, E3, E5
For more information, see Availability of Shifts.
How do I get Shifts?
If you’re already on a plan that includes Shifts, you can start using Shifts today as part of Teams. Check out Get started in Shifts.
Which devices or platforms is Shifts available on?
Shifts is available on the Teams web client, Teams desktop client, and Teams mobile clients (iOS and Android).
Are there differences between the Shifts desktop and web apps and the mobile (iOS and Android) apps?
For managers, the desktop and web apps are optimized to create teams, add members, build and publish schedules, and share content with the team. Managers generally use the mobile app to approve requests, send quick messages to the team, call a team member, and collaborate on the go.
For team members, the mobile app is optimized to view their schedule, see who they’re working with on a day, clock in and out, set availability, request time off, swap or offer shifts and open shifts. There are differences in what users can do in the desktop and web apps versus the mobile apps. We’re working on feature parity.
Are there differences between the Shifts iOS app and the Android app?
Core functionality is the same between the Shifts iOS and Android apps. There are minor UI differences between the two apps to align to their recommended design patterns.
What browsers does Shifts work on?
Shifts works on all the browsers that Teams supports which includes the latest versions of Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox. For more information, see Get clients for Teams.
What languages does Shifts support?
Shifts is available in the following languages: Chinese-Simplified, English (U.S.), Spanish, Russian, Japanese, French, Brazilian-Portuguese, German, Korean, Italian, Chinese-Traditional, Dutch, Turkish, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian. We plan to add support for additional languages in the future.
Where is Shifts data stored?
Shifts data is stored in Azure in data centers in North America and Western Europe. SharePoint content leverages Office 365 Groups and uses the same storage and support.
For more information, see Location of Shifts data.
Where can I learn more about Shifts?
For product information, go to https://products.office.com/microsoft-teams/staff-scheduling-software.
For admin guidance, see Manage the Shifts app for your organization in Teams
For end-user help, go to Shifts Help for Firstline Workers.
Switch from StaffHub to Shifts in Teams
What licenses do I need for Teams?
Each user must have an active Microsoft 365 or Office 365 license from an eligible plan and must be assigned a Teams license. For more information, see Move your StaffHub teams to Shifts in Teams.
How do I move my organization’s StaffHub teams to Teams?
For detailed guidance on how to make the transition from StaffHub to Teams, see Move your Microsoft StaffHub teams to Shifts in Teams.
How do I enable Teams in my organization?
By default, Teams is enabled for all organizations. You assign Teams licenses to users to control individual access to Teams. For more information, see Enable Teams in your organization and Manage user access to Teams.
What if I currently have Skype for Business enabled in my organization but not Teams?
Teams supports coexistence with Skype for Business. For more information, see Understand Teams and Skype for Business coexistence and interoperability and Migration and interoperability guidance for organizations using Teams together with Skype for Business.
Does each user need to have an Office 365 account or Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) account?
Yes, each manager and team member using Teams and Shifts within Teams must have an Office 365 account (Azure AD) and must be assigned a valid license.
In StaffHub, I could add a special prefix to all Office 365 Groups that were created by StaffHub teams. Can I do the same in Teams?
You won’t have the same capability when you move from StaffHub to Teams. If you need to apply name consistency to all your Office 365 Groups, you can use Office 365 Groups naming policy.
Will team names be the same in Teams?
It’s possible the name of a team will be different. Team names in Teams use the Office 365 Group name. If the StaffHub team name is different from the name of the corresponding Office 365 Group, you’ll see a different name when you switch over to Teams.
What happens to team membership when a StaffHub team is moved to Teams?
Team membership is maintained when a StaffHub team is moved to Teams. Phone numbers of team members won’t be displayed in Shifts. If the StaffHub phone number matches the phone number in Azure AD it will be stored in Azure AD for that user account.
We encourage you to review your existing team rosters on StaffHub and where possible align phone numbers to relevant Azure AD identities.
What happens to StaffHub team members who aren’t provisioned or whose status is inactive?
The user’s schedule will be moved to Shifts, however, the user won’t be a member of the team or an Office 365 Group.
For inactive accounts that aren’t linked to an Azure AD user account, a manager can ensure the user is added as a member of the team by adding a valid Office 365 email address on the StaffHub team members page so that the user is linked to the correct Azure AD account in their organization.
Another option is for admins to run the Add-StaffHubMember and Remove-StaffHubUser cmdlets to remove a non-provisioned account from a StaffHub team and add the user back to the team with their UPN.
We recommend that you ensure all users in your organization are covered with an appropriate license to minimize disruption and access to services.
What happens to chats in StaffHub?
To help transition users, we plan to migrate data chat history in StaffHub to Teams. The amount of chat history that will be available in Teams depends on how soon you configure your organization for the transition. We recommend taking action no later than June 30, 2019 to provide enough time to transition 90 days of data by October 1, 2019.
Ensure that Office 365 Group creation is enabled in the Microsoft 365 admin center before the transition begins, as this is essential to us being able to move your StaffHub chat data into Teams. Failure to turn on this service by June 30, 2019, will result in a later migration date or less chat data being copied over.
What happens to files that have been uploaded to StaffHub?
You can move the files that your teams need from StaffHub to Teams. The files you move are stored in the General folder of the team site in SharePoint Online. In Teams, users can access the files from the Files tab in the General channel of the team. To learn more, see Move your Microsoft StaffHub teams to Shifts in Teams.
Can I export shift schedules from Shifts?
You can export shift schedule information to an Excel file from the Shifts desktop and web apps. You can then import this information to your organization’s systems and tools.
How can I recover a schedule if I accidentally deleted a team?
Deleting a schedule is linked to deleting a team. If you recover a team, the schedule isn’t recovered.
What powers the file sharing capability in Teams? Where are files stored?
The file sharing capability, the ability for a manager to distribute files to team members, is powered on the back end by SharePoint Online. When a team is created, an Office 365 Group is automatically provisioned for that team in the background.
To learn more, see How SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business interact with Teams.
Is there integration between Shifts and the Outlook calendar? Can I export a schedule to a calendar?
Firstline Workers can see their entire work schedule at a glance in Shifts. We’ll be supporting native integration with Outlook calendar as part of our roadmap. In the meantime, use Microsoft Flow to set up integration with Shifts in Teams and Outlook and Google calendars.
Do I need to train users on how to use Shifts if they’re already familiar with StaffHub?
No additional training is required. They can use Shifts in a similar way to how they used StaffHub.
What admin controls are available to manage whether users in my organization can use Shifts?
You can turn on or turn off Shifts org-wide for all users in your organization. In the Microsoft Teams admin center, you can also use the Firstline Worker app setup policy to customize Teams for your Firstline Workforce. The policy is configured with the Activity, Shifts, Chat, and Calling apps. Assigning the policy pins these apps to the app bar in Teams for quick and easy access by users.
To learn more, see Manage the Shifts app for your organization in Teams.
What PowerShell controls are available for Teams?
You manage Teams through the Microsoft Teams PowerShell module and the Skype for Business PowerShell module. For more information, see Teams PowerShell Overview. At this time, there are no specific PowerShell cmdlets available to manage Shifts.
If this is something you’re interested in, send us a request through the Teams feedback portal on UserVoice.
What will happen with the StaffHub API which is currently in private preview?
If you have built any integrations with the StaffHub APIs, these APIs will be deprecated. We released Microsoft Graph APIs to support integrations with your human resources, payroll, or workforce management solutions. To learn more, see Use the Microsoft Graph API to work with Teams.
Is reporting available to view Shifts usage across my organization?
Because Shifts is an app in Teams, you can view usage through Teams reports. For more information, check out Teams reporting in the Microsoft Teams admin center and Teams activity reports in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
Source: Microsoft