thread Re: What documents do you use to run your business? in Feedback Discussions

What documents do you use to run your business?

abhiroop — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 18:17:54 GMT

Hi everyone, I’m Abhi from the Square Product team. We’re exploring ways to make Square tools more helpful for everyday business needs, like creating reports, charts, and simple tracking sheets.

To do that well, we’d love to learn from the real documents, spreadsheets, and templates you already use to run your business.

The most helpful way to share is through this short form: https://forms.gle/HJBqPZFjTnXnPbRR7

You can upload examples like:

Inventory trackers
Staff schedules
Sales logs
Ordering sheets
Daily checklists
Templates or spreadsheets you use regularly

Please remove any personal, customer, employee, or sensitive information before uploading. You can upload one type of document per submission, up to 5 files (e.g. 5 different ordering sheets in one submission).

Prefer not to upload a file? No problem. You can also reply below with a quick description and photo of the kinds of documents you use day to day. Even a short example is helpful.

Thanks so much for sharing. Your input helps us better understand what businesses actually need to stay organized and make decisions.

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

tranguyen — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:06:14 GMT

@SVLFever @mitin @Eddiemunster @TCSlaguna @lenjobakes @VanKalkerFarms tagging a few folks off the top of my head as I'm sure you have some really great examples to share!

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

lenjobakes — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:25:14 GMT

Oh yes! I started this but couldn't clear my file I wanted to on my phone.

Shall jump on a computer now! Thanks for the reminder.

@JTPets - get on this train!

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

SVLFever — Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:42:35 GMT

Hey @abhiroop !

We actually started converting our spreadsheets and other ways of doing things to apps that we have started writing ourselves using the Square APIs.

Would you like information on our apps?

If so, I might defer you to my GM Brian, as he is the one writing them all. If not, I can send you the old spreadsheets we used to use.

Which do you prefer?

John

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

abhiroop — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:05:30 GMT

Hey John

Both would be great as I'm confident a lot of customers would just prefer that.

I would like to see the apps y'all are building though!

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

SVLFever — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 18:39:30 GMT

@abhiroop , this is from my GM Brian:

Here some examples of our apps that utilize Square APIs:

1. Multiple league/tournament managers — a family of apps for running leagues and tournaments (registration, checkout, scores, brackets, playoffs, payouts), several of which auto-register players on payment.

Square APIs: Payments · Refunds · Orders · Customers · Gift Cards (+ Gift Card Activities) · Catalog · Inventory · Locations · Webhooks (payment.updated) · Web Payments SDK

Also uses: React/Vite/TypeScript + Tailwind (Setpoint) and vanilla PWAs · Microsoft Entra/Azure AD sign-in · Twilio SMS (lane texts) · Microsoft Graph email · SheetJS (Excel import) · Conqueror/BLS bowling score files · NWS weather API

2. svl-card-on-file — Customer PWA replacing our paper credit-card authorization form; lets the customer easily add and remove their card(s) on file (SMS-verify, e-sign the authorization, then save or revoke cards themselves).

Square APIs: Cards · Customers · Web Payments SDK (SCA verification)

Also uses: Firebase Phone/SMS auth · Microsoft Graph email (via @Azure/msal-node)

3. subscription-manager — "Strike Pass" recurring monthly bowling-subscription manager, with a refreshing 6-digit redemption code (rotates every 30s) that members show at the desk for staff check-in.

Square APIs: Subscriptions · Customers · Cards · Orders · Webhooks (subscription + invoice) · Web Payments SDK (3-D Secure verifyBuyer)
Also uses: Google OAuth (customers) + Microsoft Entra (staff) sign-in · Microsoft Graph email · in-house HMAC-SHA256 rotating-code generator (Node crypto + Firebase Secret Manager)

4. daily-deposit-record — PWA for the daily cash/deposit reconciliation, pulling Square sales & labor data.

Square APIs: Payments · Refunds · Orders · Team Members · Labor/Shifts · Webhooks (order.*)

Also uses: Microsoft/Azure AD sign-in · Google Cloud Vision OCR (Keno slips) · SheetJS (Journal Entry / payroll Excel) · Firebase Realtime DB

5. tip-tracking — Tip-pool manager attributing credit-card tips to team members by matching payments to shifts.

Square APIs: Team Members · Labor/Shifts · Orders · Payments

Also uses: Firebase Realtime DB · thin Square proxy backend (no extra deps)

6. svl-tab-watch — Manager PWA surfacing open/unclosed bar & grill tabs with email alerts to the Manager on Duty.

Square APIs: Orders · Labor/Shifts · Team Members · Catalog · Customers · Cards · Locations

Also uses: Microsoft/Azure AD sign-in · Microsoft Graph alert emails · Google Secret Manager

7. square-loyalty-tracking — "Points Plus Rewards" loyalty portal that lets customers SMS-verify and easily see all of their prior purchases, receipts and the points earned per purchase, all in one place; admins can search customers and adjust points in the app.

Square APIs: Loyalty (accounts, adjust, events, programs, rewards) · Customers · Orders · Payments · Locations

Also uses: Microsoft Entra admin sign-in · Twilio (Verify SMS codes + Messages API blasts)

8. staffing-live — Production real-time staffing wall-board + full Manager timecard CRUD. One click to see who is clocked in, late, scheduled later, etc.

Square APIs: Labor (Shifts, Scheduled Shifts, Timecards CRUD, Break Types) · Team (Members + Jobs) · Webhooks (labor events) — official square SDK v44

Also uses: Microsoft Entra sign-in (domain-restricted) · Express/cors backend

9. onboarding-workflow — Employee-onboarding portal that auto-provisions new hires in Square POS after manager approval.

Square APIs: Team Members (create/activate/deactivate, wage settings, jobs) · Locations

Also uses: React 19/Vite/TypeScript + Tailwind · Microsoft Entra sign-in + Microsoft Graph/Power Automate (M365 mail contact & distribution lists) · Resend email (via Firebase Trigger Email) · pdf-lib (I-9/W-4 fill) · JSZip (audit bundle)

Let me know if you want me to enter this into the form please.

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

Lootz — Wed, 15 Jul 2026 17:42:41 GMT

@abhiroop basically what you are saying is that you would love to use the reports that we use to feed them into an AI so that it can parse the data and provide more AI derived updates similar to those we have received lately in item management that have been terrible for retailers. "To do that well" you should put together a panel and ask what we are looking for and then do the work. I'm going to pass on this opportunity.

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

abhiroop — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 16:26:40 GMT

Thank you! Super helpful

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

abhiroop — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 16:31:57 GMT

@Lootz That's not really what I'm looking for, sorry if my original post wasn't entirely clear.

Here's the current scenario: we see customers use Managerbot and ask for specific types of reports (e.g. a staff schedule). However, while we have a rough idea of what this should look like, every team will do this slightly differently. So we're looking for a few examples of a "staff schedule" we can use to better understand how the data is structured. So the next time you go into Managerbot and ask it to generate a "schedule for my team for the next week" it will create something much closer to what you intended.

We are also speaking to customers on a regular basis, if you're interested I'd appreciate it if you would sign up: https://calendar.app.google/uooZfhJZ7vpGoVvq7.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

Lootz — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:17:33 GMT

@abhiroop your statement may be true, but mine is just as likely as well. Based on the most recent update deployments, there is very little human interaction happening that would lead me to believe that a human actually thought the inventory management updates were going to be useful. I can only surmise that there will be similar results in any request for reports/documents. I don't know how you don't have experts on your teams guiding you toward the best answer. I have developed plenty of websites and programs over the years and have never done it like Square does and since the inclusion of AI on the platform, it seems that the updates are meant to work against efficiency and productivity. As an aside, I do not use Managerbot, despite that name sounding ridiculous and my penchant for treading on that side of things...

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

ehflower — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 19:18:42 GMT

hello @SVLFever You are fabulously gifted

two reports that I feel you could create better than other (it might remain nameless)....

1. daily/monthly/yearly transaction report for sales that highlights Tax Exempt or non taxable items clearly sold. This is something I know I have asked for a couple of times, maybe a few others might have asked for it. (i have had the manager bot try to do it a couple of times.. it didn't go well)

2. A report for Non moving items (dead items, orphan items, garbage items etc) I would like it to cover all time and then be able to cover segments of time. This would help us clean up our item library. (i asked managerbot to do this and i felt it's little head explode, hahaha)

(above created from chatgpt, maybe it redeemed itself a bit, yes I am old juvenile.)

however, i caught chatgpt contradicting itself and called it out this morning

Thank you for listening and have a fabulous weekend!

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

Eddiemunster — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 21:17:27 GMT

Hi @abhiroop,

Thanks for the opportunity to share. Ive been a little absent recently as I've been working hard to eliminate a lot of my day to day "Busy" work using AI. I really don't have a huge amount of forms that I think may be beneficial, however that being said, we have a lot of forms, checklists etc for our staff in our hospitality business that could be integrated into Square-we used restoke and create a lot of prep list and procedures in our business but have moved away from them and are building many in AI.

So the things I can think of are our stock count sheets, simply set up by location (Coolroom, Freezer, dry storage). It's a simple laminated sheet we use to count and use a whiteboard marker for this. My plan is to create an app where staff can count an area at a time and log data into it that we can use in an AI ordering system, to recommend order quantity based on par levels we set. It's just a list of all our products we use-packaging, food items, etc. I'm sure this wouldn't be that helpful to you.

We have an end of day checklist that is similar-laminated sheet we use a whiteboard marker on and wipe off etc. If this was built into square it could be very helpful and allow us to see who recorded it. It is simply a list of tasks that staff have to do to ensure the store is closed properly at the end of the day IE Turn off lights, mop floors, check fridges and freezers are on etc.

We have cleaning lists, lists to show how much food items need to be prepared each day, packing lists-where to place everything in the fridge/freezers etc.

We also have a sales spreadsheet we created but have now convereted to an automated process using AI. It accurately calculates our Profit for any given day/week/month as the figures we get from some reports in square don't allow for things like Uber and Doordash commisions, taxes, etc. Happy to share this one but it's big and may be a little confusing? Not sure on that front.

I've uploaded a few, but if there is any more detail you need or want to see how we are building systems in AI I'm available.

Hope it helps.

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

abhiroop — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 05:04:42 GMT

Hi @Eddiemunster Thanks for sharing these - this is exactly what we need.

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

Eddiemunster — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 05:11:44 GMT

Is there anything else particularly you are after. I have really only provide a few and some of the ones we have I've written into AI processes to help us complete our daily work without the time effor it used to take-if that makes sense.

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

SVLFever — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 16:37:08 GMT

Love these report suggestions @ehflower !

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

abhiroop — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 18:09:50 GMT

These are a great start. If you have more, feel free to share, but this is good for now!

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

tulanejeff — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 18:48:50 GMT

Our most used doc is a shared Apple note in which we track our daily catering orders.

Date

Name (time - channel)

Items

It's super manual but it includes items from Square (Order Manager), phone orders (unpaid), third party channels like ezCater, comps, donations, etc.

We'd love to have all of this populate with our desired schema via Square and then share to team members. Or have this live inside Team Communications on the Teams app.

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

doc_choc — Fri, 28 Aug 2026 14:03:37 GMT

We have a confectionary business both online and in-stores. We also run a wholesale side of the business. The two things that would really help us is when we add stock to the system it would be really helpful if we can allocate a batch code and use by or Best Before End date to stock. For example we make chocolate bars and apply two codes for item tracking the BBE and Batch code. We transfer stock from our factory warehouse to the shops and wholesale accounts. ideally we would like to be able to add stock to the system and have the BBE date linked to that stock so we can monitor and adjust levels. This would give visibility of short date stock allowing us to implement sales/marketing initiatives to help sell through on shorter dated stock. It would be also great in the eventuality of a product recall to know what stock is in the shops or at specific wholesale accounts, so we can help identify where the stock is within the business and at which locations and recall off the shelf if required by regulators/authorities.

Currently we use a spreadsheet with the Product Name, BBE and Batch code and when we transfer stock to different locations/ wholesale accounts we have to manually add the qty, date of transfer and receiving location. Very onerous.

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

abhiroop — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 01:00:27 GMT

Would you be open to sharing a version of the Apple notes? Feel free to message me directly or use this form: https://forms.gle/HJBqPZFjTnXnPbRR7.

And if you also have an ideal version in mind, please share that too!

Re: What documents do you use to run your business?

abhiroop — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 01:01:52 GMT

Managerbot should be able to do this. Have you given it a shot? If you'd like help, I can set up some time to chat through it with you: https://research.rallyuxr.com/recruit/cm8mehppyy2zj1yk823a8b196/study/cmqzpbhm7006dirl6bc6g3240?channel=share