Quick Start

Getting started with Shinepoint is straightforward. This guide walks you through creating your account, setting up your business, and taking the first steps towards a well-organised compliance posture. Most businesses are up and running within a few minutes.

#Creating Your Account

To get started, head to the registration page and create your account. You'll need to provide your full name, email address, and a password. Once you've submitted the form, you'll receive a verification email - click the link inside to confirm your address and activate your account.

After verifying your email, you can log in and begin setting up your business straight away. If you'd like an extra layer of protection on your account, you can enable two-factor authentication at any time from your Business Settings.

#Setting Up Your Business

Once you've logged in for the first time, Shinepoint's setup wizard will guide you through creating your business profile. This takes just a few minutes and helps tailor the platform to your specific needs.

#Business Name and Details

The first step asks for your business name. Shinepoint will automatically generate a unique URL for your business based on this name, though you can customise it if you prefer. You'll also be asked for your business address - you can search by postcode to find it quickly, or enter it manually.

#Selecting Your Industry Sector

Next, you'll choose the industry sector that best describes your business. The seven available sectors are:

• Construction
• Estate Agency
• Hospitality
• Care & Social Work
• Retail
• Office & Professional Services
• Other

Your sector selection matters because it influences which policies, templates, and training checklists Shinepoint recommends for your business. It also determines how your compliance score is weighted - for example, construction businesses have a heavier emphasis on risk assessments, whilst care sector businesses place more weight on training. If none of the specific sectors quite fit, the Other option provides a balanced default.

#Team Size and Logo

You'll be asked to indicate your team size, which helps Shinepoint understand the scale of your operation. You can also upload a business logo at this stage. The logo is optional, but it's worth adding - it appears on professional documents, reports, and in the Employee Portal, giving everything a polished, branded feel.

#Your First Look at the Dashboard

After completing the setup wizard, you'll arrive at the Dashboard - your central hub for everything compliance-related.

The first thing you'll notice is your compliance score. When you're just getting started, this will be low or show as not yet active. That's completely normal - the score reflects how much of your compliance framework is in place, and it will climb steadily as you work through the recommended steps.

Just below the compliance score, you'll find the onboarding progress tracker. This shows a clear checklist of the key actions to complete, such as adding your first employee, adopting policies, and setting up training. It's a helpful way to stay on track during your first few sessions.

The Dashboard also displays quick action buttons for common tasks, along with summary cards covering your policies, training, risk assessments, and employee compliance. The navigation sidebar on the left gives you access to every section of Shinepoint - from employees and policies through to leave management, workflows, and business settings.

For a full breakdown of everything the Dashboard offers, see the Dashboard guide.

#Recommended First Steps

Once your business is set up, here's the most practical order to work through things:

1. Add your first employees - Head to the Employees section to add the people your business manages. You can enter details individually or import several at once.
2. Browse and adopt policies - The policy library contains ready-made, sector-relevant policies tailored to UK requirements. Visit Policies to explore what's recommended for your business and adopt the ones you need.
3. Set up training checklists - Assign training requirements to your employees so you can track completion and stay on top of mandatory learning. See Training for details.
4. Configure leave management - If you'd like to manage holiday requests and absences through Shinepoint, set this up early. The Leave guide explains how.
5. Explore workflows - Shinepoint includes structured Workflows for common HR processes like onboarding new starters, managing disciplinary procedures, and handling leavers. These are worth exploring once your core data is in place.

#Inviting Your Team

You don't have to manage compliance alone. Shinepoint lets you invite other people to help run things by adding them as team members. This is different from adding employees - team members are the people who manage compliance, whilst employees are the people being managed.

There are four team roles, each with different levels of access:

• Owner - Full control over the business, including billing and account settings
• Admin - Can manage all compliance features, employees, and team members
• Manager - Can manage employees and day-to-day compliance tasks
• Member - Read-only access with limited actions

To invite team members, head to Business Settings where you'll find the full team management options.

#What's Next?

You're off to a great start. The Dashboard guide is the natural next step - it covers every element of your compliance overview in detail, including how the scoring works, what the different status indicators mean, and how to make the most of the insights Shinepoint provides. From there, each section of the documentation dives deeper into the features you'll use day to day.