What documents do you use to run your business?

[abhiroop]

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.

[tranguyen]

@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! 

[lenjobakes]

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!

[SVLFever]

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

[abhiroop]

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!

[SVLFever]

@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.

[abhiroop]

Thank you! Super helpful

[Lootz]

@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.

[abhiroop]

@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.

[Lootz]

@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...

[ehflower]

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!