The staff app for wardens and the desk
SmartMy Hostel Staff puts the warden's and the front desk's day on a phone. Wardens approve leave, mark residents out and back, and take the night roll call, even without signal. The desk searches residents, checks them in and out, takes payments and records inspections, incidents, late entries, visitors and meter readings. Any of them can press SOS to call the other staff for help.
PLANSEvery plan
Built; its server calls pass a live test against a running server. Not yet run on a real phone at a hostel, and not yet in the Play Store or the App Store.
The problem it solves
- The warden approves leave at a desk in the office, while the resident waits at the gate.
- The night roll call is on paper in a corridor with no signal, and absentees are typed in the next morning.
- The desk cannot check a resident in from the room; the documents and checklist are on a computer downstairs.
- A resident pays rent in cash to the caretaker, and the receipt is a page torn from a notebook.
How it works
- The warden or desk user signs in with their back-office login. The app opens on Leaves, or on Roll call, Residents or the Desk, depending on what the user has.
- The Menu holds every screen under the same areas as the web: Front Desk, Residents, Daily Life, Gate and Access, Services and Billing. With several hostels, the bar on top chooses the hostel and, where it applies, the block.
- Leaves shows To approve, With guardian, Going out and Out. The warden approves, rejects with a reason, marks a resident out at the gate and back on return.
- Roll call lists the residents in house, with those on leave already marked. The warden marks Present, Absent or Late and closes it. With no signal the marks wait on the phone and go when the signal is back.
- The Desk holds the actions: Check-in and check-out, Enquiries, Book a bed, Room changes, Take a payment and Today's receipts. Also Final settlements, Incidents, Room inspections, Late entry, Visitor and Meter reading.
- When a resident presses SOS, the alert opens full screen with Call the resident.
- A warden, the desk or a manager can press the red SOS in the header. The hostel's other wardens and its managers are told at once, and an emergency incident is opened.
Everything it does
Leaves and residents
- Leaves: To approve, With guardian (a manager can Approve now in the guardian's place), Going out, Out; the whole request with reason, destination and phone
- Residents: booked and in-house residents, the first 100 shown, search by name, room or stay number
- A resident's sheet: status, from, leaving on, Call, Take a payment, Change room, Late entry, Visitor, Mark out and Mark in
- In / out: who is out and who is in now, with a punch by hand (where the hostel records attendance)
Roll call
- The roll call of a hostel or a block, for today or any earlier day (Day before, Day after)
- P, A and L marks, a note per resident, search by name or room
- Close roll call asks once, with the number absent
- Works without signal: roll calls opened before are kept on the phone; a banner counts those not sent, with Retry and Discard
Front desk
- Check-in and check-out: who arrives and leaves this week, the checklist and documents, Verify a document. A manager can go on anyway with a reason kept on the stay
- Enquiries: add, mark contacted, plan and mark a site visit, mark lost with a reason, put on the waitlist, book
- Book a bed: free beds for the dates, booked for a new resident's email or mobile
- Room changes: requests with Move or Reject with a reason, and a move without a request
Money (with hostel billing)
- Take a payment: what is due, paid by, amount, paid in (cash, UPI and others), reference; a receipt number at once
- Today's receipts: Taken by me or Everyone, with the total taken
- Final settlements: deposit against the last dues, deductions, Approve (managers) and Settle; the refund is paid in the back office
- Meter reading: the room, the reading, the date and a photo of the meter; billed at once
Daily life
- Late entry: resident, came in at, note; fined where the hostel's rules say so
- Visitor: name, relation, ID number, nights staying; guest nights are charged at the hostel's rate
- Room inspections: scheduled or surprise, the checklist, findings with photo, charge to the resident responsible; Finish charges them
- Incidents: kind, severity, residents involved, Tell the guardians; close with action taken, a written warning and a fine for each resident; reopen
- SOS in the header: Medical, Security, Fire or Other, and a message. The other wardens and the managers are told, not the police or an ambulance
- Only wardens and managers report incidents and do inspections; the front desk adds enquiries, books beds, moves residents and takes payments
Also in the app
- Dashboard for managers and owners, first in the Menu
- Face gate, Laundry, Cards and keys and Community where the hostel has them
- My approvals, shown when something of any SmartMy product waits for you
- Signing out of a phone used as a face gate removes the faces it holds
Who uses it
Warden / CaretakerApproves leave, marks residents out and back, takes the roll call, inspects rooms and reports incidents. Presses SOS when they need help.
Front Desk / AccountsChecks residents in and out, books beds, moves residents, takes payments and records visitors and meter readings.
Hostel managerDoes all of the above for their hostels, overrides a check-in with a reason, approves settlements and sees the Dashboard.
Owner / AdministratorSees the Dashboard for every hostel of their entities.
Where you use it
- The SmartMy Hostel Staff app for Android and iPhone; built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- Every screen stands for a menu of the web back office, under the same name
- The same app is published as SmartMy Stay Staff for PGs and co-living
- Not in the app: paying out a settlement's refund, rent plans and the hostel's settings (web only)
What you control
Settings
- Which hostels each user works for: managers, wardens and desk on the hostel form
- Roll Call Time (21:30 to start with) and roll-call sessions, on the hostel
- Guest night rate, late-entry rules and fines, on the hostel
- Paid at the Desk In: the journals the desk may take payments into
Approvals
- Hostel leave: wardens and managers of the hostel decide after the guardian where one is asked
- Room change request: Move approves the level for the front desk and managers
- Final settlement: a hostel manager approves; anyone at the desk can send it
Notifications
- Hostel Leave to Approve and Resident Not Back: to the wardens; in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- Hostel Absent at Roll Call and Out After In-time: to the wardens; in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- Hostel Emergency: to the wardens, at once at any hour; in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- Hostel Staff Emergency: when a colleague presses SOS, to the other wardens and the managers, at once at any hour; in the app. WhatsApp and SMS come from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- A message in the Inbox opens its screen. Leave opens Leaves, an absence Roll call, a resident out after the in-time In / out, a colleague's SOS Incidents
Works with
SmartMy DeskRoom inspection findings can open helpdesk tickets, and open complaints show on the Dashboard.
Questions
Does the roll call work in a block with no signal?
Yes. Open the roll call once with signal; after that the marks are kept on the phone and sent when the signal is back. A banner shows how many are still on the phone.Can a warden see payments?
Only with front desk rights. Take a payment, Today's receipts and Final settlements show to front desk users and managers.Can my wardens use their own phones?
Yes. Each signs in with their own login and sees only the hostels they are named on. Roll calls kept on a phone are kept per user, so two wardens can share one.Is the app in the Play Store?
Not yet. It is built and tested against our servers but not yet run on a real phone at a hostel or published. Until then your staff work in the back office in a phone browser.Can the desk check a resident in from the app when a document is missing?
Only a manager, and only with a reason. The app shows what is not ready; Check in anyway asks why and keeps the reason on the stay.Can my staff call for help from the app?
Yes. SOS in the header tells the hostel's other wardens and its managers at once, and opens an emergency incident. It does not call the police or an ambulance.Related features
DAILY LIFERoll call by hostel, block and sessionThe warden takes the night roll call for a hostel or one block, on the web or the phone. Residents on approved leave are already marked. Guardians and wardens are told of every resident absent without leave.DAILY LIFELeave and out-passes with guardian approvalResidents ask for leave or an out-pass on the portal or in the app. The guardian, the warden or both approve it. Going out and coming back are recorded, and guardians and wardens hear when someone is not back.STAYSCheck-in with checklist, documents and guardianA resident checks in only when the checklist is done, the documents are verified and a guardian is on record where one is needed. A manager can let them in anyway, and the reason stays on the stay.BILLINGRent collection online and at the deskEvery invoice goes out with a link to pay, and residents and guardians also find Pay on the portal and in the app. Money paid at the desk, in cash, UPI or by card, gets a numbered receipt and goes against the oldest dues first.DAILY LIFERoom inspections and incidentsWardens inspect rooms from a checklist, record what they find with a photo and charge damage to the resident responsible. Incidents are logged with the residents involved, and closed with the action taken, a written warning or a fine.PORTAL AND APPSDashboard for managers and ownersManagers and owners open the staff app on a dashboard. It shows occupancy now and over 30 days, beds by status, and who arrives and leaves. It also shows dues by age, money invoiced and collected this month, deposits held, enquiries and open issues. With several hostels it adds them up first, then shows each hostel. The web has its own Hostel dashboard.
See it with your own blocks and classes.
Tell us how many hostels and students you have. We will show you an allotment, a leave request approved by a parent and a night roll call, set up the way your hostel works.