Staff Management
Create and manage staff accounts for your restaurant. Assign roles with specific access permissions, control who can see what in the Unavakam system, and revoke access instantly when a staff member leaves.
How Staff Accounts Work in Unavakam
Every person who uses Unavakam at your restaurant â beyond the Owner account â needs a Staff account. Staff accounts are created and managed by the Owner (you) from this screen. Each staff account has a phone number as the username, a role that determines what they can access, and a set of profile details like department and hire date.
Staff accounts are powered by AWS Cognito, the same enterprise-grade authentication system used by large-scale applications. This means passwords are stored securely with industry-standard encryption, login attempts are rate-limited to prevent brute-force attacks, and account recovery works reliably. When you create a staff account, the system sends a temporary password to the staff member's phone via SMS. They use this to log in for the first time, then set a personal password they choose themselves.
Staff Roles and What They Can Access
Unavakam has four roles, each designed for a different type of staff member. When you create a staff account, you choose one of these roles. The role determines exactly what screens and actions are available to that staff member when they log in â on both the mobile app and admin panel.
| Role | Target Staff Type | What They Can Do | What They Cannot Do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Restaurant owner (you) | Everything â all screens, all settings, billing management, staff management, all reports | â |
| Manager | Restaurant manager, head of operations | All operational screens (orders, tables, KDS, menu, categories, reports, expenses, feedback, staff view) | Billing and plan management, changing bank details or payment settings |
| Waiter / Floor Staff | Waiters, counter staff, cashiers | Tables, Quick Orders, Orders (view and take), own shift actions | Menu editing, staff management, reports, billing, settings, expenses |
| Chef / Kitchen Staff | Cooks, kitchen assistants | KDS only â view orders, mark preparing, mark ready | Everything outside the KDS â no access to tables, orders history, menu edits, reports, or settings |
The role system follows the principle of least privilege â each staff member gets only the access they need to do their job, and nothing more. A waiter doesn't need to see your expense records or GST reports. A kitchen staff member shouldn't be able to edit menu prices. Assigning the correct role protects sensitive business data and prevents accidental changes to critical settings.
Adding a New Staff Member
Click "Add Staff"
The Add Staff form opens. You'll fill in the staff member's details here. All fields marked as required must be completed before the account can be created.
Enter the staff member's phone number
The phone number is the staff member's username â this is what they use to log in. Enter it in the format +91XXXXXXXXXX (with country code). This must be a real, active phone number because the temporary password is sent to this number via SMS. If the number is wrong, the staff member won't receive their login credentials.
Enter their name and department
The full name (first and last) is displayed throughout the system wherever that staff member's activity appears â in order history, in the audit log, in the staff list. The department field (Kitchen, Front of House, Management, Delivery) helps organise your staff directory, especially as your team grows.
Select their role
Choose the appropriate role from the Role dropdown. Refer to the roles table above to select the correct level. You can change a staff member's role later if their responsibilities change â for example, if a waiter is promoted to floor manager.
Enter hire date (optional)
The hire date is informational â it's displayed in the staff profile and in the staff list. It's useful for sorting by seniority and for calculating tenure when reviewing staff performance. It does not affect system access or permissions.
Click "Create Account"
The system creates a Cognito account for the staff member and sends a temporary password to their phone via SMS. The staff member uses this phone number and temporary password to log into the Unavakam mobile app or admin panel for the first time. They are immediately prompted to change their password to something personal and secure.
When a Staff Member Leaves
When a staff member leaves your restaurant â whether through resignation, termination, or end of a temporary contract â their access must be revoked immediately. Open their profile in the Staff list and click Deactivate Account (or Delete Staff).
Deactivating removes their Cognito credentials instantly. The moment you confirm, their login session is invalidated â even if they're currently logged in, their next action will be rejected and they'll be logged out. They cannot log back in. This is a security-critical operation and should be done as soon as possible when a staff member's employment ends.
Deleting a staff account removes their profile from the Staff list, but their historical activity (orders they took, actions they performed) is preserved in the order history and audit log. This is intentional â you need that history for accountability, even after the person has left.