Frequently asked questions about the booking system
As a new user you will have lots of questions so we have planned a route through that should help you to get answers to the most helpful and regular questions.
We have bought the software and it is setup and ready to go. What do we do next?
You will have been sent the login details that gives you access to the 2 logins necessary to gain access.
First of all we have given you the access codes that lock out the browser from seeing any of the pages associated to our system and then you have the access codes to the system itself.
You also have the passphrase that should not be given to anybody who you do not wish to gain access to the system from any pc outside of your workplace.If you can't find your login detaiils feel free to get in touch with us and we can supply them to you.
We have more one than one pc at work. Can we gain access from all of them?
Depending upon your installation will depend on what you have to do.
Web version - for those of you viewing your system on the internet, you can access the system from anywhere anytime using Internet Explorer. Remember to never give out the passphrase and extra login codes to general users who you do not want to gain access from outside of work.
Desktop version - a bit more complicated so I will explain it now. The system will be installed on one computer in your office. That machine we will call the Server. You need to network your pcs together so they can all access the server machine. This simply means the pcs can all talk to each other adn see each other files. Once the machines are networked it is possible to get the web browsers on any of those machines to view the system and work with it.
Please note that the system is only actually installed and setup on one machine and all other machines talk to that one. If that machine goes wrong you are without a system. It is absolutely imperative that you make daily backups of the database to make sure your hard work is secure and does not get lost. If you are concerned about your own ability to administer a network of machines it is probably safer to employ an IT professional or run our system over the internet from our servers, then you never have to worry.
We have logged in for the first time so what should we do next?
Well that depends, how confident you are. For some of you I would suggest you get the staff together and have a play with adding clients, booking lessons and generally getting the team confident in the use of the new system. Others of you may like to go into the Admin part of the system and start setting up the features specific to your centre.
For those of you that are more nervous of moving your yard onto a pc, it may be better that we provide you with a half day training sesssion. This way you can see first hand exactly how and what we do and ask any questions you may have. Because of our experience of running a yard we can really offer some valuable advice and ideas that can help all yards to benefit from computerised systems.
Let's say you decide to go straight into adding clients. This can be seen as a major part of the whole setup so you can do things to make it less painful.
- Firstly don't try to add every client you have ever had. Many of them can be added later so only add current riders.
- Secondly only enter the basic details your are forced to add to start with and may be ask clients for their most recent information when they are present.
- As a guide it should be easy to enter client information when a client is infront of you and take less than a minute depending on how fast you type.
We want to plan our launch from paper diary to computer. What is the best process for this?
Step 1
Setup the Riding Centre details in the Admin panel as this information is used throughout our system.Step 2
Enter staff details, lesson types, schools in the admin section.This stuff is all important so give it time to make sure it is correct.
Tip: Lessons types: break them down into groups. Many yards simply say 1 hour jump or half hour flat. If posssible call the lesson 1 hour kids cross country or 1 hour flat/jump if you are mixing a lesson plan. The more accurate you are as to the content of a lesson the better it is for recalling information at a later date if a claim came against you or you needed to track a clients lesson types. This also means you are paying more attention to lesson plans and clients like it when they feel there is real structure to what they are paying for.
We are in the Admin screen. What do all these feature do
Riding Centre details - contact information for the centre.. this info appears when printing off client sheets etc. so it must be correct and entered before you start using the system
Adult / child age range - enter the age an adult begins at for pricing differernces .. many yards have price differences for adult or kids lessons. Our system can tell you if the person is adult or Child based on this figure
User logins - control the logins for users of the system .. Only one administrator login is allowed but many general users can be added. Never give out the admin info to staff unless you want them to see financials etc.
Lesson types - set your own types of lessons .. breakdown your lessons into logical types so your reports from this system can be used to really show you what pays and what doesn't.
Staff listings - manage the staff details .. these details are part of the lesson planning system. If you add people here and tick the right boxes they appear in lesson planner etc.
Schools - setup your own facilities .. clearly define what schools you have to allow bookings to show where a lesson took place.
Suppliers - manage all services and product suppliers to the yard
Source - setup your referal titles for clients .. massively important as it allows you to run a report to see where your new clients heard about you.
Events - manage your events planner
Lunchtimes and daylight hours - enter the start and finish time for the lunchbreak
Vouchers and client credits - manage client balances
Risk assessments - administer the assessment types
New client terms - enter your own cancellation terms .. we have already written up general new client terms but you like to edit your own
Accident report terms - enter your own accident terms
Membership types - add your own membership types for clients
Special overide features - control how your system displays contentRiding levels - manage the levels by which you assess riders.
Ethnicity - edit ethnic types .. do you get government funding if you can define the ethnic groups that ride with you. Mainly applies to inner city yards
We want to access the software from our house which is a bit away from the yard.
There is no reason whay you cannot do this.
Either going for the web based version can immediately give the registered users access from anywhere or you could run a wireless network or even have a cable network installed through the yard to run the software over it.
How do the payments work if we sign up to the riding school software.
If you decide to come on board we offer the ability to pay on a month by month basis, just as you do with a mobile phone.
You commit to pay a monthly fee for a minimum of 18 months. Once that period is up you can cancel if you want to, but generally you are then on a month by month contract whereby you simply keep paying per month to continue the service.
The Terms and Conditions you sign and agree to have more detail and we can email you a copy to look at if you are interested.
