Logging in & understanding roles

Signing in

Go to your restaurant’s SessionPilot OPS web address and sign in with either:

• Email and password - the normal login for owners and managers, who use their work email.
• Employee ID and password - some staff are set up with an internal login (an employee code like EMP-0001) instead of a personal email, useful for people who don’t want to use a personal inbox for work. Employee codes only have to be unique within your restaurant, not across all of SessionPilot, so the same code can exist at a different restaurant too.

If you’re not sure which one applies to you, ask your manager - see the FAQ below for how to tell the two apart.

Forgot your password

Click Forgot password? on the login screen and enter the email on your account. If it matches a real account, you’ll get an email with a reset link - the confirmation message is deliberately the same either way, so no one can use the form to check which addresses have accounts. The link expires soon, so use it right away; an expired or reused link sends you back to the forgot-password page with a message saying so. On the reset page itself, the only requirement is at least 8 characters - no separate uppercase/number/symbol rule like the initial onboarding password below.

This only works if you sign in with a real email. If you log in with an Employee ID, there’s no personal inbox to send a reset link to - ask your manager or restaurant owner to reset your password for you from the Employees page instead (see Employees).

Getting your account for the first time (onboarding link)

New employees don’t set their own password by signing up - a manager creates their profile and sends (or shares) an onboarding link, which opens a one-time setup flow at a /onboard/<token> address. It walks through three steps, with progress saved after each one so you can close the page and come back later without losing what you’ve entered:

1. Create your password - must be at least 8 characters and include an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a number, and a special character. A strength meter (Weak/Fair/Strong) and a checklist confirm each requirement as you type.
2. Personal information - full name, date of birth, nationality, your national ID number (a personnummer or a BSN, depending on whether your restaurant is set up in Sweden or the Netherlands), home address, and an optional emergency contact.
3. Bank details - bank name and account holder name are always required; Dutch restaurants require an IBAN, Swedish restaurants require a clearing number and account number (with IBAN optional).

Once all three are done, you can log in normally with the password you just set. If you revisit a completed onboarding link later, it just shows a “You’re all set!” confirmation instead of letting you redo the steps. If the link itself is wrong or has already been used up in a way that invalidates it, you’ll see “This link is not valid. Ask your manager to send a new one.”

Clocking in without logging in

For clocking in and out on a shared tablet or terminal at the restaurant (a “kiosk”), staff don’t need to log into the full app - they use a PIN code or scan a QR code shown on the kiosk screen instead, depending on which check-in method your restaurant has configured. See Attendance & Clocking In for details.

Signing out

Click Log out - on desktop it’s the icon button next to your avatar in the top-right corner of the header; on mobile, open You from the bottom navigation and use the Log out button at the bottom of that page. Either one ends your session immediately and sends you back to the login screen.

If your restaurant is locked

If SessionPilot has locked your restaurant’s account (for example over a billing issue), every page redirects you to a single screen: “[Restaurant name] is temporarily suspended” with the message “SessionPilot has locked this account. Please contact SessionPilot to resolve this before continuing.” If a reason was set, it’s shown as a badge under the message. The only action available from that screen is Log out - there’s nothing to fix on your end; contact SessionPilot support. This is restaurant-wide and unrelated to your personal role or account - everyone at that restaurant sees the same screen, from the Owner down to Employees.

Roles - who can see what

SessionPilot OPS has five roles, from most to least access:

Role	Typical use
Owner	Full access to everything, including billing and restaurant-wide settings.
Ops Manager	Full operational access across branches, same day-to-day capabilities as an Owner.
Manager	Runs day-to-day operations for their branch: scheduling, employees, checklists, etc.
Supervisor	Can view and manage some day-to-day operational areas, more limited than a Manager.
Employee	Sees their own shifts, submits availability and leave requests, clocks in/out, and uses whatever features their restaurant has turned on for staff (chat, announcements, training, etc).

What you see in the left-hand navigation automatically adjusts based on your role - if you don’t see a menu item mentioned in these guides, it’s likely restricted to managers, or your restaurant hasn’t turned that feature on yet (see Restaurant & Branches).

How the app is organized

The left-hand navigation (or the You page on mobile - see below) is grouped into:

Group	Items
Overview	Dashboard, Announcements, Team Chat
People	Attendance, Payroll & Hours, Shift Plan, Shifts, Employees, Roles & Responsibilities
Operations	Checklists & Routines, Tasks, SOPs, Inventory & Waste, Incidents
Learning	Training
Settings	Restaurant & Branches, Billing, Integrations
Help	Help & Docs (opens this documentation site in a new tab)

Each of these is covered in its own guide - use the sidebar or the search bar at the top of this site to jump to the one you need. A few items only appear for some roles regardless of feature settings: Announcements as its own page is Supervisor and above (Employees instead see a preview of it on the Dashboard with a “See all” link); Shift Plan is Supervisor and above; Employees and Roles & Responsibilities are Manager and above; and Restaurant & Branches, Billing, and Integrations are Owner/Ops Manager only.

On top of the role check, most items can also be switched off restaurant-wide as a feature - if a page is missing for everyone at your restaurant regardless of role, that’s the more likely explanation (see Restaurant & Branches).

Desktop vs. mobile navigation

On a wider screen you get the full left-hand sidebar plus your avatar and a logout icon in the header. Below roughly tablet width, the sidebar and header controls disappear in favor of a bottom navigation bar with up to four shortcuts plus a You tab - that’s also where the logout button, language, and other personal settings live on mobile, since there’s no room for them in the header. For most roles the four bottom-nav shortcuts are simply the first four items in your sidebar; Employees get a deliberately different, phone-first order instead: Dashboard, Team Chat, Shifts, then Checklists & Routines.

One sidebar quirk worth knowing about: on the Shift Plan pages, the sidebar automatically hides itself after a few seconds (immediately, if you’re on a single day’s view) to make room for the scheduling grid. Hover near the very left edge of the screen and click the small arrow that appears, or navigate away and back, to bring it back - once you’ve pinned it open that way it stays open for the rest of your time in that section.

Multiple branches

If your restaurant has more than one branch/location, look for a branch switcher near the top of scheduling, attendance, and similar pages - most day-to-day data (shifts, attendance, employees) is scoped to one branch at a time.

Your profile (the You page)

Click your avatar (desktop) or the You tab (mobile) to reach your profile page. It shows your name, role, and avatar initials at the top, followed by a few things you can change yourself:

• Language - a dropdown with four options: English, Svenska (Swedish), Nederlands (Dutch), and العربية (Arabic, shown right-to-left). Picking a new one saves it to your profile and reloads the page so every screen updates immediately - that’s also why it’s a full save-and-reload rather than an instant toggle.
• Auto-translate chat messages - a toggle with the hint: “Messages written in a different language than yours will be shown translated, with a small icon to view the original.” Useful on multilingual teams using Team Chat.

There’s no separate “change password” field on this page - to change your password, use Forgot password on the login screen (if you sign in with a real email) or ask your manager to reset it for you from the Employees page (if you sign in with an Employee ID).

Requesting leave (Employees only)

If your role is Employee, the You page also has a My Leave Requests section with a + Request leave button. Managers, Supervisors, Ops Managers, and Owners don’t see this here - they review and approve leave requests from the Shift Plan calendar instead. To file a request:

1. Click + Request leave.
2. Choose the Shift you want off - only your own upcoming shifts are listed; if you have none, the form tells you so and the submit button stays disabled.
3. Enter a Type (a free-text reason, e.g. “Vacation” or “Sick”).
4. Click Submit request.

Your requests then appear in a list with a status badge - pending, approved, or rejected.

Quick links and logout

Below that, the You page repeats your role’s navigation groups as a simple list - handy on mobile, where the full sidebar isn’t available. A Log out button sits at the bottom of the page.

FAQ / troubleshooting

I don’t see a feature that everyone else at my restaurant has. Check your role first - several pages (Employees, Roles & Responsibilities, Shift Plan, Restaurant/Billing/Integrations) are limited to Supervisor and above, or Manager/Owner and above. If your role should have access, the feature may simply be turned off for your restaurant - see Restaurant & Branches.

I can’t remember whether I log in with an email or an Employee ID. If you were given a code like EMP-0001 when you joined instead of being asked to check your email for an invite, you’re an Employee ID login - use that code (not an email address) in the login field. If you’re unsure, ask your manager; they can see which type your account uses from the Employees page, and can reset your password or resend your onboarding link either way.

The app looks different on my phone than it does on a laptop. That’s expected - see Desktop vs. mobile navigation above. The full sidebar and header logout icon are desktop-only; on mobile you get a bottom navigation bar (fewer shortcuts, reordered for Employees) plus the You page for everything else, including logout and language.

My onboarding link says “This link is not valid.” Either the link has a typo, or it’s already been fully completed and something changed since. Ask your manager to send you a new onboarding link from the Employees page.

The sidebar disappeared while I was on Shift Plan. It auto-hides there to make room for the scheduling grid - see the note in How the app is organized above for how to bring it back.