Help centre

Track your shifts and bookings

One ledger for every shift you work, across every agency and direct workplace, from the moment it is offered to the day it is paid.

What a shift records

A shift is a single period of clinical work at one workplace. Sessional stores the workplace name, the date, start and end times, your agreed rate and rate type, site notes, and the payment and cancellation terms. These details follow the shift all the way through to your invoice, your earnings, and your tax records, so you enter them once. Because Sessional serves ten AHPRA professions, the labels adapt to you: a GP sees their work described the way GPs talk about it, a pharmacist the way pharmacists do.

The shift lifecycle

Every shift moves through the same six states, and you control each step:

  1. Offered: a workplace has proposed the shift, or you have logged one you are arranging
  2. Confirmed: both sides have agreed and the shift is locked in
  3. Delivered: you have completed the work
  4. Invoice ready: the shift is queued to be invoiced
  5. Invoiced: you have generated and sent the tax invoice
  6. Paid: the money has landed

A shift can also be Cancelled before delivery. As an AHPRA-registered independent contractor you self-invoice your work, so once a shift is delivered you generate the invoice yourself and track it through to payment. The workplace can mark it paid from the secure link on your invoice, or you record the payment when it arrives in your bank.

Note

Delivered shifts that have not yet been invoiced are the ones ready for action. They appear under the Delivered filter and feed the batch-invoice prompt described below. See invoicing for how a shift becomes a tax invoice.

Creating a shift

Shifts reach your ledger in two ways:

  • From a booking request: when you accept a workplace's request, a confirmed shift is created for you automatically
  • Manually: add a shift yourself with the workplace, date, times, and agreed rate, using the Create button

Tip

When a shift is created from an accepted request, your availability calendar updates to match, so you never have to mark the same day busy twice. Sessional also checks for clashes, so it warns you if a new shift overlaps one you already have.

Searching and filtering

The filters at the top of the shifts page let you cut the list down fast:

  • Status filters: All, Upcoming (offered or confirmed), Delivered, Invoiced, Paid, or Cancelled, each with a live count
  • Search: type a workplace name (or text from your site notes) to find specific shifts
  • Date range: set a from and to date to focus on a particular period, such as a single BAS quarter

Search and the date range work together, so you can pull up, say, every shift at one Sydney clinic between April and June. There is also a calendar view of your shifts at the top of the page for an at-a-glance month.

Your summary cards

Four cards at the top of the page give you the headline numbers:

  • Total shifts: every shift you have logged
  • Upcoming: shifts that are offered or confirmed
  • Ready to invoice: delivered shifts waiting to be billed
  • Total earned: the value of all your shifts excluding cancelled ones, with hourly rates worked out from the hours on each shift

Batch invoicing one workplace

Worked several shifts at the same workplace in a billing period? Tick the delivered shifts you want and generate a single invoice covering all of them, rather than one invoice per shift. Sessional even prompts you when you have more than one shift ready to invoice for the same workplace.

Important

Every shift in a batch must be from the same workplace. If you select shifts from two workplaces, Sessional asks you to invoice each one separately. Use the workplace search to isolate one workplace's shifts before you select.

Generating invoices is included from the Free plan up, with the number of invoices a month capped on Free and lifted on the paid plans. See billing and plans if you are hitting the monthly cap.

Exporting to CSV

Export your shifts to a CSV file for your spreadsheet, your accountant, or your own records. The export respects your current date range, so you can pull a whole financial year or just one quarter. Each row contains the date, workplace, start time, end time, rate, status, and notes. The on-screen list shows your most recent shifts; if you have a very long history, the CSV is the way to get the complete record. The export is open on every plan, because your shift records are yours to take with you.

Payment and cancellation terms

Each shift carries the payment terms and cancellation policy you agreed. Your profile defaults pre-populate every new shift, and you can override them per shift. The cancellation default suits your profession out of the box: a sliding scale for GPs, a working-day notice for pharmacists, and so on. These terms carry through to your invoices, and the payment due date is calculated from them. If a shift is cancelled and your terms apply, you can raise a cancellation-fee invoice, or waive it. See cancellation terms and fees for the detail.

Frequently asked questions

Can I edit a shift after I have invoiced it?
No. Once a shift is on an invoice, its details lock so the invoice record stays accurate, which matters for your ATO records. To correct something, void the invoice first, edit the shift, then generate a fresh invoice.
How do I invoice several shifts at the same workplace at once?
On the shifts page, tick the delivered shifts from that workplace and generate one invoice covering all of them. Every shift in the batch must be from the same workplace; invoice each workplace separately.
What happens when I cancel a shift?
It moves to Cancelled and the matching availability slot is released. If your agreed cancellation terms apply, you can raise a cancellation-fee invoice from the Invoices page, or choose to waive the fee.
Why are the shift labels different for my profession?
Sessional supports ten AHPRA professions and adapts the wording to each, since a GP, a pharmacist, and a paramedic describe their work differently. The lifecycle and features are the same; only the labels change to match how you talk about your shifts.
Does the shift list show everything I have ever worked?
The page renders your most recent shifts for speed. If you have a long history, use the CSV export with a date range to pull the full record, including older shifts beyond what the list shows.

Related help

Keep every shift in one place

Log shifts from any agency or direct workplace, invoice them in a click, and always know what has been worked, billed, and paid.