How to build a more reliable income forecast

Your forecast relies on the shifts you record. Keeping your earnings history complete and your schedule up to date helps ServerLife estimate income that reflects the way you work.

Track every shift, including unusually busy or slow ones. Recording only your highest-earning shifts can make your average earnings look higher than they are. Missing shifts can also make it appear that you work less often than you do.

A complete record helps ServerLife calculate both your average earnings and your work frequency.

Make sure the earnings and work details attached to each shift are correct. Correct mistakes and remove accidental duplicate entries.

If you filter your forecast by job or other work details, make sure your shifts are assigned correctly so the forecast includes the relevant records.

Since ServerLife uses your last 90 days of recorded shifts, fewer recorded shifts give it less information to work with.

Keep recording as you work so your forecast has more recent history to draw from. You don’t need to wait until you have 90 days of records to see a forecast, but an estimate based on limited history may be less reliable.

Work schedules are available with ServerLife Premium. If Use my schedule is on, make sure your remaining scheduled shifts reflect the days you expect to work. Add new shifts and update any that are canceled or rescheduled.

Each scheduled day uses 100% of your average earnings for that day of the week. An outdated schedule can therefore affect your estimate.

Days without a scheduled shift use your historical average earnings and work frequency.

After changing jobs or schedules, your last 90 days may still include records that no longer reflect how you currently work.

Keep tracking your new shifts. As older records fall outside the 90-day window, your forecast will increasingly reflect your current work patterns. With Premium, you can use forecast filters to focus on your current job if you track jobs separately.

Your forecast is an estimate, even with complete records. Changes in guest volume, tips, available shifts and other factors can cause your actual earnings to differ.

Check whether your recent history and remaining schedule reflect what you expect this month. Your confidence rating can help you assess the estimate, but it does not guarantee a particular amount.

For details about the calculation, see How your income forecast works. To understand the confidence rating shown on the Forecast screen, see What your forecast confidence rating means.