Your First Day With FabWise

A start-to-finish walkthrough for a brand-new admin. Set up your shop, get your team in, pair a kiosk, and have your first worker clocked in by lunch.

Why it matters

You signed up for FabWise. Now what?

This guide walks you through the first day end-to-end. It links out to detailed help articles for each piece, but follow this in order and you'll be live by the end of the day. Most shops are running real shifts on the kiosk within 2–3 hours.

The plan

By the end of today, you'll have:

Your shop's basic information in
Your team's departments created
Your workers in the system with PINs
A schedule assigned to each department
An Android tablet or iPad paired as a kiosk on your shop floor
Your first worker clocked in

Optional but recommended:

Workstation set up on your phone, so you can see what your workers see
Customer Portal published, so customers can find you online

We'll do the required steps first, then circle back to the optional ones.

Go to admin.fabwise.app and sign in with the email and password from your signup.
Click Settings → Company.
Fill in:
- Shop name — your business name
- Logo — drag in your logo image (used on the kiosk, Workstation, customer portal, and exports)
- Brand color — pick a color that matches your logo
- Timezone — pick your shop's local timezone (this matters — all times in FabWise are stored UTC but displayed in your timezone)
- Address — your shop's physical address
Click Save.

Your logo and brand color now appear across the kiosk, Workstation, customer portal, exports, and emails.

Step 2. Create your departments (5 minutes)

A department is how you group workers. Examples: Production, Assembly, QA. Each department gets one schedule.

Go to Settings → Scheduling → Departments section.
Click Add Department.
Type the department name and click Save.
Repeat for each department.

If you only have one team and aren't sure how to group, start with a single department called "Shop" — you can split later.

For the full guide, see Setting Up Departments and Workers.

Step 3. Create your first schedule (5 minutes)

A schedule is your work week — what days and hours your team is expected on shift.

Go to Settings → Scheduling → Schedules section → Manage Schedules.
Click Create Schedule.
Name it (e.g., "Day Shift").
For each day Monday–Friday, set start time and end time (e.g., 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM with a 30-minute meal break). Mark Saturday and Sunday as inactive (or set them up if your shop runs weekends).
Click Save.
Go back to Settings → Scheduling → Departments. Click each department and assign your new schedule.

FabWise now knows when your workers are expected on shift and will generate their daily shifts automatically.

For more, see Schedules.

Step 4. Add your workers (10–20 minutes)

For each shop floor worker:

Go to Users → Add User.
Fill in: first name, last name, email (optional), User type: Shop, Tracks time: Yes, PIN (4 digits — must be unique), Department, optional Hourly Rate.
Click Save.

Repeat for everyone on the shop floor.

For office team (managers, supervisors, additional admins), set User type to Office and pick their Role.

For more, see Setting Up Departments and Workers.

Step 5. Pair a kiosk tablet (10–15 minutes)

The kiosk is the shared tablet workers tap to clock in and out. Pick an Android tablet or iPad — both work the same way for workers.

On the tablet, open the browser (Chrome on Android, Safari on iPad) and go to kiosk.fabwise.app. You'll see a 6-digit code entry screen.
On your computer in the admin panel, go to Settings → Devices → Add Kiosk Device. A 6-digit code appears.
Type the code on the tablet, give the device a name like "Shop Floor Kiosk," and tap Continue.

The tablet is now paired. Follow the full tablet setup guide to keep the screen on all day, lock the kiosk in place, and mount the tablet:

Set Up an Android Tablet for the Kiosk
Set Up an iPad for the Kiosk

Step 6. Have your first worker clock in (2 minutes)

The big moment.

Walk over to the kiosk.
Find a worker's name in the list.
Tap their name.
Enter their PIN.
Tap Start Shift.

You should see a confirmation. Congratulations — FabWise is now tracking real time for a real worker.

If it didn't work, the two most common reasons:

Worker's name doesn't appear — they're not marked Tracks time: Yes, or they're not in an active department.
PIN rejected — typo on either the worker setup or at the kiosk. Try again carefully.

Optional: Set up Workstation on your phone (5 minutes)

Workstation is the per-worker app. Set it up on your own phone so you can see what your workers see (and you'll need it eventually for your own time tracking if you also work the floor).

In admin, go to Users → open your own profile → Devices → Enroll new device.
A QR code appears.
Open your phone's camera and scan the QR code.
Tap the notification to open the enrollment page.
Confirm your name and unlock with Face ID, Touch ID, or your fingerprint.
Add workstation.fabwise.app to your home screen.

You're enrolled. Tap the Workstation icon on your phone, tap Sign in with passkey, and you're in.

For the full per-platform guides, see Set Up Workstation on iPhone or iPad / Android / Mac / Windows.

Optional: Publish your Customer Portal (15 minutes)

Your Customer Portal is your public shop page at fabwise.app/shop/your-slug. It includes your capabilities, photos, hours, and a quote request form that drops leads into FabWise.

Go to Customer Portal in the left nav.
Click Edit.
Pick a portal slug (e.g., acme-metalworks).
Add your tagline and description.
Upload 4–8 photos of your shop and work.
Check the capabilities, materials, industries, and certifications that apply.
Set business hours and add social links.
Under Publishing, check Enable portal and Public listing.
Click Save and then View Portal.

For the full guide, see Set Up Your Customer Portal.

Where to go next

Things to do this week:

Run a few shifts and review them. Go to Shifts in admin after workers have clocked in and out. Get familiar with the review queue.
Export hours. At the end of your first pay period, go to Reports → Payroll and export the CSV. See Exporting Hours for Payroll.
Enroll the rest of your team for Workstation. Send them the platform-specific setup guides.
Configure per-supervisor push notifications on each supervisor's profile (Users → [supervisor] → Edit → Notifications) — Missed Shifts, Late Arrivals, Flagged Shifts.

Things to do this month:

Add jobs and customers if you're using job costing
Post a hiring listing on your Careers page if you're hiring
Configure shift review settings to match your shop's tolerance for early/late
Audit your worker list to confirm everyone is set up correctly

Common questions

Q: What if I make a mistake during setup?
A: Almost everything is reversible. Delete a department, rename a worker, change a schedule — none of it breaks existing data. The one exception is the portal slug — changing it breaks any URLs you've already shared.

Q: How long until FabWise pays for itself?
A: Most shops report 1–2 hours per week saved per admin from automated time tracking and payroll prep. At a shop owner's hourly rate, that's typically less than the monthly cost.

Q: Can my workers do anything wrong that breaks something?
A: No. The worst case is a worker forgets to clock out or clocks in late — both are normal and FabWise has tools to fix them in shift review.

Q: Do I have to pay for the kiosk tablet?
A: Yes — the tablet is your hardware. We don't sell tablets; any Android tablet or iPad that meets the specs in the setup guides works fine. Budget tablets in the $150–$350 range are plenty.

Q: I'm stuck. Who do I ask?
A: Use the help search (top of any help page), or contact support from the admin panel.

Where to find it

Sign-in: admin.fabwise.app
Settings overview: Admin → Settings
Add users: Admin → Users → Add User
Pair a kiosk: Admin → Settings → Devices → Add Kiosk Device
Public portal: fabwise.app/shop/your-slug (once you publish it)

[Setting Up Departments and Workers](../admin/setting-up-departments-and-workers.md)
[Schedules](../admin/scheduling.md)
[Set Up an Android Tablet for the Kiosk](../kiosk/tablet-setup-android.md)
[Set Up an iPad for the Kiosk](../kiosk/tablet-setup-ipad.md)
[Set Up Your Customer Portal](../admin/customer-portal-setup.md)
[Enroll a Worker for Workstation Access](../admin/enrolling-workers-for-workstation.md)
[Setting Up Your Shop](setting-up-your-shop.md)