| Estimated Release Date |
28th February 2024 |
| Estimated Release Time |
11 pm |
| Expected Downtime |
No expected downtime |
Summary
This development cycle we have focused on new functionality development.
Firstly we have the launch of our new Resource Calendar, which is a new improved calendar to our existing Facility Calendar. Although detailed within the release notes the rollout of this feature will not be automatically available post launch. This is to allow a staggered rollout and give clients time to organise their team operationally for the new calendar. Our Client Success team will be in touch to discuss details.
In addition to this we also have an update around account creation when an email address is already used on a Flow customer account. We have also included in these release notes clarification on how to best set up Print Tickets for booking pricing options to allow customer access entry through more than one access point when attending a facility.
Enable/Disable Duplicate Email Sign Ups
This release brings new functionality where clients can now choose if they would like to allow customers to create additional accounts using an email address already used on an account in Flow. This feature is controlled by a setting within Flow that a client has access to update, this setting can be located by Home -> System Configuration -> Settings -> Manage Settings -> Search for Allow users with duplicate emails. As a default, this setting is set to Yes to replicate the behaviour before we introduced this setting, therefore there will be no immediate change to existing client operations.
Clients who would like to disable this feature to not allow duplicate email sign-ups please review the below demonstration video.
Please note, for clients who also use CoursePro for the management of lessons and courses, and have the functionality for membership sign up online through CoursePro, if this feature is set to not allow duplicate email sign-ups and customers who sign up to CoursePro online with the same email as an existing Flow account will be notified that they are unable to create an account.
However, customers can still purchase a CoursePro membership via FOH with staff on site on their existing Flow account and be able to login via CoursePro as normal, the same way as if they had signed up to CoursePro first.
Resource Calendar
Our new Resource Calendar is now available as part of this release, whereby we will be initiating a soft launch for this new feature with our clients. The Resource Calendar will be disabled as a default for this release and the launch of the Resource Calendar will be managed directly with your Client Success Executive.
Initially we would like to implement the Resource Calendar at one trial facility for each of our clients, whereby during this launch period users will be able to switch between the new (Resource Calendar) and old (Facility Calendar) calendar, to support with the adjustment of using a new Calendar within site operations. In support for this we will also be setting up sessions, where we will review the Resource Calendar with clients and collect feedback in real-time. Once we have concluded the launch period, we will then notify clients in advance to confirm when we will be removing the Facility Calendar from Flow and replacing with the Resource Calendar.
Resource Calendar - Feature Detail
This is the first of our Activities V2 features and provides a much needed upgrade to how activities are represented and managed in a calendar view. Overall the new calendar aims to provide more information on activities and customers, and present this in a much cleaner and more flexible format than previously.
How to access the new feature
It can be accessed in one of two ways:
- Front of House > Facility Calendar
- Facilities Module > Scroll down to the list of Facilities > Click ‘Resource Timeline’
Please note that staff users who currently have access to the Facility Calendar will therefore have access to the Resource Calendar, there is no requirement to update Staff User Roles for this new feature.
Timeline-view
To maximise the information we can display on one page, we have switched to a timeline view, with resources listed on the left.
Users can easily switch between days, by clicking on the respective arrow buttons (< >), or by selecting another date by clicking on the calendar icon. If needing to return to the current date, users can click on the ‘today’ button.
To show more or less granularity, users can further zoom in and out of the calendar using the ‘+’ and ‘-’ magnifying glass icons.
Collapse/Maximise View
For Resources
If a facility has parent and child resources, the user will be able to collapse and maximise the view by clicking the ‘minus’ or ‘plus’ symbols listed next to the parent resource. By default, the calendar will be showing a maximised view i.e. all child resources will be listed underneath the parent resource. This is one of the ways in which the calendar view can be adjusted to show only what is relevant to the user.
For Overlapping Activities
A similar collapse/maximise feature is available for any overlapping activities. When the view is collapsed, the activity bar on the calendar collates all the information and displays the overall number of slots and spaces available.
Different Colours/Accessible Colour Palette
To further help with differentiating all the activities that might be happening on a given day, every activity category is now displayed in a different colour. These are assigned randomly, however once a colour has been applied, it will stay the same for that activity category.
We have chosen an accessible colour palette, meaning that the text an icons will always be displayed clearly and readable regardless of activity category’s assigned colour.
Capacity Visualisation
To view capacity information at a glance, all activity bars on the calendar now give an indication of the capacity available.
In the example below you can see the activity bar fill up with a darker shade to represent the percentage of booked vs available spaces. The actual number of spaces is also listed.
Similarly for any overlapping activities (in the collapsed view), a horizontal line indicates how busy an activity is.
When maximising the view, all individual slots become visible with the same capacity visualisation as above.
Hover panels
When moving your mouse cursor across any of the activities in the calendar, a hover panel will appear. This outlines key information, such as activity name and time, location, spaces available, name of coach/instructor, or whether an activity is cancelled.
All activities are now visible
With the Facility Calendar, any unbooked activities (f.e. overlapping ad-hoc slots which had not been booked yet) were not represented in the calendar. This could lead to confusion when facing empty spots in the calendar, and prevented members of staff from getting a holistic overview of what is booked and still available at their centre.
To overcome this, the new facility calendar will display ALL activities including:
- Booked
- Cancelled
- Clashing
- Available
- Unavailable (due to another activity booked on this resource - this would only be relevant to ad-hoc bookings)
These will all be represented with slight design/colour/icon variations for easy understanding.
Configuring Calendar View
To ensure your default calendar view is not cluttered with any information not relevant to your queries, we are introducing the option to configure your view flexibly.
You can do this by clicking the configuration icon (see video demo below), which opens a slide-out window.
Users will be able to adjust the following:
- Show activities which haven’t been booked yet (this will be turned on by default)
- Select resources to be shown in the calendar (option to select by parent category, or individually)
- Save their selection to be the new ‘default’ view This means that the next time the calendar is opened, it will only show your selected configuration
Users will always have the option to reset their filter by clicking on the respective icon.
Please see all these actions demoed in the video below:
Activity Detail Slide-Outs
To gain further information on a given activity, a user will be able to click onto each individual or collapsed view of overlapping activities. This will open a slide out window displaying the following information (if applicable to the selected activity):
Future Activities:
- Activity name, time, date, description, resource
- Spaces booked/available
- Customer list, including associated number of attendees (in case of a ticketed activity)
- Links to view customer profile
- Option to edit/cancel activity (outlined in further detail below)
- Option to cancel a customer incl. their attendees (outlined in further detail below)
Past Activities:
- Activity name, time, date, description, resources
- Spaces booked/available
- Customer list, including associated number of attendees (in case of a ticketed activity)
- Links to view a customer profile
- Option to mark customers as attended or absent (outlined in further detail below)
See video demo of a few examples:
Marking Attendance
For any activities in the past, users will be able to click into an activity and mark customers as either attended or absent. This can be done individually or by bulk.
Whether customers are marked as attended or not attended by default depends on the clients settings in System Configurations (Setting called: ‘Auto mark bookings as attended’).
Cancelling Customers
For any upcoming activities, users will be able to cancel customer bookings, either individually or in bulk.
This can be done by clicking into an activity (as demonstrated in the section above). There are tick boxes next to each listed customer which can be ticked for an individual selection. A multi-action tool bar will also appear to help you easily select all customer if needed.
When actioning the cancellation, the user will be prompted with a confirmation screen.
Following this, the facility calendar will update - in this example the Block Booking will be shown as cancelled.
Editing Activities
Any future activities in the calendar can be edited. Again, to access this functionality, a user would have to click into the activity detail page.
Users will be able to edit the following:
- Move activity to another resource
- Changing the duration of the activity
If either of these result in a clash, the user will be notified with information on why they cannot proceed with their change(s).
- Changing the maximum capacity of the activity (if applicable)
- Changing the last entry time (if applicable)
Cancelling Activities
Finally, users will be able to cancel any future activities through the new calendar. Doing this opens another slide-out window which allows you to review any details of the activity before proceeding.
Users can select their cancellation reason from a dropdown menu, which will send the appropriate notification email to any customers affected. A confirmation screen will appear to confirm your action, and the calendar will update automatically.
Print Ticket & Max Usage for Booking Pricing Options
Following a review on how access is granted to customers for a facility, we have also included the following new knowledge base article found here, to clarify the expected behaviour when selecting the Print Ticket box and max usage for that ticket against a booking pricing option.
To confirm this is existing functionality in Flow, however we are taking this opportunity as part of the release notes to highlight this new article for our clients who operate with Access Control. If you have any questions in regards to this, please do not hesitate to raise a ticket with our Support Team here.