Overview

Chance Animal Hospital is one system for the whole practice. The public website tells pet owners what you do and who works with you, and lets them book visits, grooming, surgery drop-offs and boarding stays online. The admin is where your team runs the hospital: the front desk, the exam and surgery rooms, the medical record of every visit, boarding, invoices and payments, the price list, reports, staff and the website text.

This manual is for everyone who uses the admin: the hospital manager, the front desk, vets, technicians, groomers and whoever looks after the website. The first chapters show the sign-in and the public website, so you know what owners see. The rest follow the admin menu from top to bottom. Use the search box at the top left to find any word in the manual.

How the pieces fit together

The website and the admin work on the same records. A visit booked online is on the Today board straight away; a text changed in Pages is live as soon as you save.

Who does what

Every person has their own sign-in. Their role gives them a starting set of rights, and the manager can then add or remove rights for that one person in Staff and Permissions. A typical team looks like this:

A vet, technician or groomer can also be set to own patients only: they then see and work on their own appointments and visits only.

A day at the hospital

A clinic, grooming or surgery visit moves from the desk to a room and back to the desk. Boarding stays run on their own board and come to the desk when the pet goes home.

1. Booked. The owner books online, or the desk books in Appointments.
2. Check in. When the pet arrives, the desk clicks Check in on the Today board. A visit is opened and the pet waits.
3. Start. The desk or the vet picks a room and who sees the patient. The visit is now In room. If someone starts writing on a waiting visit, the system asks for the room and vet first.
4. Record the visit. In Visits the team writes notes, adds the diagnosis, orders treatments, medicines, tests and vaccines, enters results, adds files and writes the take-home summary.
5. Ready for checkout. The room becomes free and the visit appears at the desk.
6. Checkout. The invoice is made from the orders. The desk takes the payment, or sends the bill to pay later, and emails or prints the visit summary and invoice. The visit is closed.

What you find in the admin

Each person only sees the sections and pages they have a right to. A new hospital starts with Going Live, which lists the setup steps in order.

Getting Started

Everyone on the team works in the same admin, at the address of your website followed by AdminLogin. You can also reach it from the Staff sign in link at the bottom of every website page. What each person sees depends on the rights a manager gives them, so two people may see quite different menus.

1.1 Signing in

The sign-in box.

1. Type your User name. Capital letters don't matter here.
2. Type your Password. Capital letters do matter here.
3. Click Sign in. The Dashboard opens.

You stay signed in on that computer or phone for 8 hours, and the time starts again each time you use the admin. After 8 hours without using it, the admin takes you back to the sign-in page.

1.2 Choosing your own password

When a manager creates your sign-in, or sets a new password for you, you sign in once with the password they gave you. Instead of the dashboard, the box then asks you to Choose your own password.

Shown only on the first sign-in after a manager set your password.

1. Type a New password of at least 8 characters, different from the one you were given.
2. Type it again in New password again.
3. Click Save and sign in.

Messages you may see: Use at least 8 characters for the new password., The two new passwords are not the same., Pick a password that is different from the one you were given. If you see Sign in again with the password you were given., reload the page and start again with the manager's password.

1.3 Signing out

Click Sign out at the top right. You go back to the sign-in page and that computer is no longer signed in. Always sign out on a shared front-desk computer at the end of your shift, or when you step away and someone else will use it.

1.4 Finding your way around

Every admin page has the same frame. The numbers match the table below.

1.5 What you see depends on your rights

Each person has rights on each menu page. A manager sets them in Staff and permissions. The rights use five letters:

Your rights shape the admin in three ways:

• The menu. Only pages you may view are listed. A section with no page you may view is not shown at all.
• The buttons. Buttons for things you may not do are not shown. For example, without the Cancel right on Appointments you see no Cancel button.
• Whose work you see. A person set to own appointments only sees only their own appointments, visits and numbers.

The same admin for a hospital manager, a groomer and a website editor.

If you open a page you have no right to, for example from an old bookmark, the page says You don't have access to this page with a button back to the dashboard. Ask a manager if you need it.

A new person starts with the rights of their role. A manager can then change any single right. Managers always have every right. The starting rights are:

1.6 Windows, questions and messages

• Windows. Many actions open a window over the page, for example an appointment's details or a form. Close it with the ✕ at the top right or by clicking the dimmed area outside it. On most pages Esc closes it too.
• Questions before an action. Actions that change a booking or cannot easily be undone ask first. Read the question, then click the action button to go ahead, or Not now to stop. A red button warns you that the action takes something away, such as a no-show or a cancellation.
• Short messages. After you save, a short message appears at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds. Problems with what you typed show in red under the box concerned.

A question before an action. The red button does it; Not now closes the box.

1.7 Using the admin on a phone or tablet

The admin works on phones and tablets. On a narrow screen the left menu folds away:

1. Tap the menu button (three lines) at the top left. The menu slides in.
2. Tap a section to open it, then tap a page.
3. To close the menu without choosing, tap ✕ or the dimmed page beside it.

On smaller screens your name and View site are hidden from the top bar to save room. Sign out is always there. Lists and boards stack into cards you can scroll.

The Today board on a phone, and the same page with the menu open.

The Public Website

The public website is what pet owners see. It shows your services, team, boarding and opening hours, and owners book visits and stays on it without an account. Almost everything on it comes from the admin: the words and pictures from Pages, and the facts (services, prices, people, hours, free times) from the pages where your team does its daily work. So when you change a price or a vet's hours, the website follows by itself.

2.1 On every page

• Top strip: Open now · until 7:00 PM or when you open next (including Closed today for a holiday), and the phone number. On a phone the number can be tapped to call.
• Header: the hospital name and town, the menu (Services, Vets, Boarding, Pet owners, Contact), an Emergency button, My booking, a light or dark switch, and Book. On a phone these move behind a menu button, which also lists Home, Book a stay, Media and My booking.
• Footer: the tagline, address, phone and email, links (including Change or cancel and Staff sign in), the opening hours with today in bold, and your urgent-care line.

The name, tagline, town, address, phone, email, urgent line, accent colour and opening hours are set in Settings (tabs Hospital and Opening hours). Days the whole hospital is closed are added as holidays in Hours and time off.

2.2 Home

The top of the home page.

• Page top: a big title, a short text, Book a visit and Book a boarding stay, and a picture.
• Find a time: the owner picks their pet and what they need, and Find a time opens the booking page with both filled in. Under it is the next free online time and with whom.
• Teams: one card per team (for example Wellness & vaccines, Dental care, Grooming) with its picture and the next free online time. A card opens the services of that team.
• Our vets: four people from the team, with photo, role and the animals they see.
• Boarding band: each run type with its price a night and a button to see runs and prices.
• Hours and address: the opening hours with today highlighted, a notice when a holiday falls in the next 30 days (for example Closed Thursday, November 19, 2026 · Staff training day), the address and phone, and the pet insurance list.

The other parts (first visit steps, the cat room, the numbers) are ordinary page parts you can change, move, hide or add to in Pages.

2.3 Services and a service page

Services, grouped by team, with filters for team and animal.

Services lists every active booking type, grouped by team. Owners can filter by team and by animal. Each service shows its kind (Visit, Drop-off or Grooming), a short line, the animals, its length (or drop-off and pick-up times), the price, and the next online time, with Details and Book. Who you can see beside each team opens the vets page filtered to that team.

A drop-off service page with what to expect, how the day works and what to do before the day.

A service page (Details) shows:

• The name, short line and long text, Book online and a call button.
• A facts box: kind, length (or drop-off and pick-up), price, animals and whether new clients are welcome or it is for Existing clients only. Grooming priced by size shows a small table of length and price for small, medium and large dogs.
• What to expect, and for drop-offs How the day works and Before the day. Drop-off pages also link the PDF from the Media library whose name contains Before and after surgery.
• The next free times (or next drop-off days), Who you can see and other services in the same team.

All of this is edited in Booking types, and the prices come from Items and prices. When online booking is off for a service, or nobody is free to do it, the page says Online booking is off for this service. Please call and gives your number.

2.4 Vets and a vet's profile

Vets shows everyone on the team who is set to Show on the website in Staff and permissions, in the order set there. Owners can filter by team and by animal. Each card shows the role (Vet, Technician, Groomer), the main team, name and qualifications, title, animals, languages and the next free online time.

A profile: photo, about, the services this person does with their next free times, weekly hours and planned time off.

The profile shows the bio, the animals they see, languages and training, Book with that person, every service they do with its next free time, their weekly hours with breaks, and any time off coming up. The words come from the person's record in Staff and permissions; the services from Booking types (who does each one); hours and time off from Hours and time off.

2.5 Boarding

Each run type with its nightly price and the free places for the next seven nights.

The boarding page shows each run type that is set to be booked online, with its picture, which animals and sizes it suits, the price a night, the free places each night for the next seven nights (Full in red), how many places there are, and Book a stay. Under it are the add-ons with their prices, the vaccines each animal needs, and a Times and changes box with check-in times, the check-out time and how long before check-in owners can still change or cancel online.

• Run types, their texts, pictures and number of places: Rooms and room types.
• Nightly prices and add-ons (boarding items): Items and prices.
• Check-in and check-out times, longest stay, change window and required vaccines: Settings, tab Boarding.

2.6 Pet owners and Emergency

Pet owners covers the first visit, calm visits, the vaccine schedule (one tab per animal, with core and lifestyle vaccines and a link to book a vaccine visit), pet insurance and payment, and common questions that open to show the answer. The vaccine schedule is edited on the Vaccine chart tab in Pages, the insurance list in Settings, and the questions in the Questions part of the Pet owners page in Pages.

Emergency tells owners who to call. A box for your hospital shows We are open now, until the closing time, or that you are closed and when you open. A second box shows the after-hours emergency hospital with its phone and address, for when you are closed. Below are signs that mean "call right away". The after-hours hospital is set in Settings, tab Hospital.

2.7 Contact and messages

Phone, email, address, opening hours, how to get here and the message form.

Owners fill in Your name, Email, an optional Phone, What is it about? (Appointments, Boarding, Grooming, Prices, Records and letters, Joining as a new client, Something else) and a Message of at least 10 characters, then click Send message. A Message sent box thanks them. The message arrives in Messages in the admin.

• The form promises a reply within one working day and tells owners to call if their pet is unwell now.
• To stop floods of messages, the same connection or email address can send six messages in five minutes. After that the owner sees You have sent several messages in a short time. Please wait a few minutes or call us.

2.8 Media

The Media page (in the footer and the phone menu) shows three things:

• Photo albums: every album marked Published in Albums, newest first. Each opens to its photos.
• Videos: every video in the Media library tagged media-center.
• Forms and guides: every PDF in the Media library tagged media-center, with Open and Download.

2.9 Where each part is changed

Booking Online

Owners book three things on the website without an account: a visit, grooming or a drop-off procedure on Book; a boarding stay on Book a stay; and changes or cancellations on My booking. Online bookings land straight in the admin with the status Booked, ready for the front desk.

3.1 The rules behind online booking

You control online booking from a few places. Settings, tab Bookings:

Settings, tab Boarding, sets the check-in hours (7:30 AM to 6:00 PM), check-out time (by 11:00 AM), the longest online stay (30 nights), the change window for stays (48 hours before check-in) and the vaccines each animal needs.

A time is offered online only when all of these are true:

• The booking type is active and Bookable on the website, is for that animal, and the person is linked to it in Booking types.
• The person is active, is set to Show on the website, treats that animal and has Taking new clients ticked.
• The hospital is open that day (opening hours, no holiday) and the person works then: inside their hours, not in their break, not on time off.
• The person has nothing else booked over it, and a room of the needed type is free (for example a surgery room for a spay).
• It is at least the notice hours from now and within the days ahead.

Drop-off procedures work by day: the owner picks a day and drops off in the drop-off window. The procedure must fit after the window and end at least an hour before the pick-up time.

3.2 Booking a visit

The Book page has five steps. Each finished step folds into a line with Change, and a Your visit box on the right shows the choices so far.

1. Who is coming in? The owner picks the kind of animal. For dogs they also pick the size (small under 20 lb, medium 20 to 50 lb, large over 50 lb), because grooming time and price depend on it.
2. What does your pet need? Only services that can be booked online for that animal are listed, with team filters. Each shows its kind, length and price; drop-offs show the drop-off window and pick-up time; some say For existing clients.
3. Who would you like to see? First available or one person, each with their next free time. If only one person does the service, this step is skipped.
4. Choose a time (or Choose a drop-off day). A strip of seven days shows how many times each day has, Full or Closed. The arrows move a week. The day's times are split into morning, afternoon and evening. If a week has nothing, a button jumps to the next free day.
5. Your details, then Confirm booking.

Step 2: the services for a dog, with team filters.

Step 4: seven days at a time, then the free times of the chosen day.

Step 5: the owner's and pet's details.

The details form asks for:

• We have been here before or We are new. We are new can't be picked for services that are for existing clients.
• First and last name, mobile phone, email and how to contact them (phone call, email or text message).
• The pet's name, breed (optional), sex (needed for dogs and cats), spayed or neutered, age in years and months (if known) and weight in lb (needed for dogs, a good guess is fine).
• An optional note for the front desk, and a tick that they will cancel at least 24 hours before if they can't come.

If the weight puts a dog in another size and that changes the length or price of the service, the booking goes back to the time step with a note such as Moose weighs 41 lb, so he is a medium dog and asks for a new time. Everything typed is kept.

3.3 How a booking finds the right client

Owners don't sign in, so the booking matches them to your records by email and phone:

• A client is found only when both the email and the phone match one client. The phone may be the client's main phone or second phone, and only the digits count (the last 10 digits when longer), so (555) 863-2397 and 555 863 2397 match.
• Inside that client, a pet with the same name (capital letters don't matter) and the same animal is used. Its empty facts (breed, sex, birth date, size) are filled in from the form; filled ones are not changed. The weight is added to the pet's weights.
• When nothing matches, the booking creates a new client and a new pet, both marked as created by the website, and the appointment is marked New client. This also happens when a returning owner types a different email or phone than the one on file, so you may get two records for the same family. Fix them in Clients.
• For a service not open to new clients, a booking that matches no client is refused with We could not take this booking online. Please call us on your number.

3.4 The confirmation

The confirmation with the booking code.

The owner sees You're booked, the booking code (visit codes look like CAH-T87KNFC2; boarding codes start with CAH-S), the pet, service, person, time, address and price, and either Please arrive 10 minutes early or, for a drop-off, the Before you come list. Buttons: Add to calendar (a calendar file for the owner's phone or computer), Manage booking (opens My booking) and Book another.

For visits, grooming and drop-offs the owner also gets a confirmation email with the code, once email is set up for the hospital (see Settings). Stays booked online get the confirmation screen only, so remind owners to keep their code.

3.5 Limits that protect your book

3.6 Booking a boarding stay

The Book a stay page also has five steps:

1. When is the stay? Check-in date, check-in time (every half hour within the check-in hours) and check-out date, then Continue.
2. Who is staying? The animal, and for dogs the size. Only animals that have a run type online can be picked.
3. Choose a room. Run types that suit the pet, with the total price for the nights and 5 free for these nights, Only 1 left or Full on a date (greyed out). If all are full: Sorry, we are full for these nights. with Try other dates.
4. Any extras? Add-ons for that animal, priced a night or once, then Continue.
5. Your details, then Confirm stay.

Step 4: extras. The Your stay box adds up the nights and extras.

The dates are checked when the owner clicks Continue. Messages they may see:

• Check-out must be at least one day after check-in.
• Stays can be up to 30 nights online. For a longer stay, please call us.
• Check-in must be at least 2 hours from now. and We take online bookings up to 60 days ahead.
• We are closed on Sun 15 Nov, so check-out can't be that day. Check-in and check-out must both be on days you are open, and the check-in time must be within that day's opening hours.

The details form is like the visit form, plus a Feeding box and a Vaccines box listing the vaccines needed for that animal, which must be valid until check-out. The owner ticks I will bring proof of these vaccines at check-in if they are not already on file with you, and agrees to cancel at least 48 hours before check-in if plans change. Client and pet matching works as for visits (see 3.3); stays are open to new clients.

The stay confirmation. Here the vaccines on file already cover the whole stay.

When the booking is made, the pet's vaccine records are checked. If every needed vaccine is on file and valid until check-out, the owner sees Vaccines on file are valid for the whole stay. If not, they see Please bring proof of these vaccines at check-in: with the names, and the stay is marked as waiting for vaccines on the Boarding board. At check-in the team checks the proof; to check in while vaccines are still missing, they must write why. A free unit of the chosen run type is picked by itself.

3.7 My booking: look up, change or cancel

Owners open My booking from the header, the footer (Change or cancel) or the Manage booking button. They type the Booking code and the Email or phone you booked with and click Find my booking. The email or phone must match the client on the booking (main or second phone).

A visit found by its code, with Change time open.

• The card shows the status, code, service, pet, person, time, address, who booked it (first name and initial) and price, and a History list in plain words (Booked online, Confirmed by the clinic, Time changed by the clinic and so on).
• Change time (or Change day for a drop-off) shows the free times with the same person for the same service, a week at a time. Picking one moves the booking at once: Done. Your booking has been moved. The owner can't switch to another person or service online. Keep my time closes the picker.
• Cancel booking asks Cancel this booking? with Keep it or Cancel booking. The time becomes free for others.
• Add to calendar downloads a calendar file.
• Less than 24 hours before the visit, or once the pet is checked in, the buttons are gone and the card says This booking is less than 24 hours away, so it can't be changed online. To change or cancel, please call your number. Past, finished, no-show and cancelled bookings show a friendly line and Book again.

A boarding stay found by its code, with the vaccine check and its buttons.

• A stay shows check-in and check-out, room, extras, feeding, price and the vaccine check (Vaccines on file are valid until check-out, or which proof to bring, with a link to book a vaccine visit).
• Change dates lets the owner pick new check-in date, time and check-out date, then Check these dates. The same rules as booking apply, the run type stays the same, and the new nights and price are shown before they confirm. Cancel stay asks first, like a visit.
• Stays can be changed or cancelled online until 48 hours before check-in.

To keep codes safe, six wrong look-ups in five minutes for the same code, connection, or email or phone lock look-ups: Too many tries. Please wait a few minutes or call us. If the whole website has many wrong look-ups in an hour, everyone sees Online look-ups are busy right now. Please call us and we will help. for a while. Owners who lost their code can call; the front desk finds the code on the appointment in Appointments.

3.8 Where your team sees online bookings

• Visits, grooming and drop-offs appear right away in Appointments and on the Schedule, booked by Website, with the owner's note; the appointment window shows a New client tag for new clients. On the day they appear under Expected on the Today board, ready to Check in.
• Stays appear on the Boarding board under arrivals on the check-in day, with the feeding note and any vaccine hold.
• Owners' online changes and cancellations show in each booking's history (Moved online from, Cancelled online by the owner), and the website's actions are listed under Website in the Activity log.

Dashboard

The dashboard is the first page you see after you sign in. It greets you by name, shows your job title and today's date, gives you a row of quick numbers for the day and lists every area you are allowed to open. Each person sees only the numbers and areas their rights allow, so two people can see quite different dashboards.

The dashboard of a front desk lead: day numbers at the top, then the areas this person can open.

4.1 The day at a glance

Click a tile to open the page behind it. A tile turns clay when something needs attention: a pet is waiting, a pet is waiting to pay, or an invoice is past due.

4.2 Your areas

Under Your areas there is a card for each part of the menu you can open (Front office, Clinical, Boarding, Clients, Invoices and so on). Each card lists the pages in that part with a one-line reminder of what they are for. Click a page name to open it. The same pages are in the menu on the left.

If you see No areas are open to you yet, your sign-in has no rights yet. Ask a manager to give you rights in Staff and Permissions.

4.3 Recent activity

People who can see the Activity log also get a Recent activity box at the bottom of the dashboard. It shows the last eight things done in the app, such as sign-ins, check-ins and payments, with who did them and when. Something that was refused (for example, a change without the right to make it) is highlighted. The full list is in Activity Log and My Account.

Today Board

The Today board is where the front desk runs the day. It shows every pet expected today, who is in the waiting room, who is in a room and who is waiting to pay, in four columns from left to right. From here you check pets in, take walk-ins, start visits, move patients between rooms and send them to checkout.

Expected, Waiting, In rooms and Ready for checkout. The counts at the top add up the day.

5.1 Reading the board

• The line under the title counts the day: expected, waiting, in rooms, ready and done.
• Show picks All staff or one person, so a vet or groomer can see only their own patients. The board remembers your choice on this computer. If your sign-in is set to own patients only, it always shows Only my patients.
• The board updates by itself every 45 seconds. Refresh now loads it at once.
• When boarding guests arrive or leave today, a Boarding strip says how many, with a link to the Boarding Board. Boarding stays are checked in and out there, not here.
• Walk-in checks in a pet without an appointment, New appointment opens Appointments, and Room board opens the Room Board.

Each card shows the pet (click the name to open the pet's record), the animal, any pet alert in amber, the owner with a phone number you can tap to call, the kind of visit and who sees the pet.

Below the columns, Done today opens a list of the visits finished today, newest first, with the time, pet, owner, visit and vet. Its heading also counts today's no-shows and cancellations.

5.2 The steps of a visit

A booked appointment becomes a visit when the pet is checked in. The visit gets its own visit number and moves along the board until it is closed at checkout. A walk-in starts straight in the waiting room. If a vet or technician starts recording on a waiting visit from the visit page, a Start visit box asks for the room and the person first, so the board always knows who is where (see Visits).

5.3 Checking a patient in

1. When the pet arrives, find its card under Expected.
2. Click Check in. The card moves to Waiting and the minutes start counting. The app says, for example, Willow is checked in and waiting.

• Only today's appointments can be checked in, and only while they are Booked or Confirmed.
• Boarding stays are checked in on the Boarding Board.
• Confirm marks a Booked appointment as confirmed with the owner, without checking it in.
• Details opens the appointment in Appointments. You can also check a pet in there with Check in now.

5.4 Walk-ins and quick pet search

Use Walk-in for a pet who comes in without an appointment.

Type part of a name or phone number, then pick the pet.

1. Click Walk-in and type in Search: the pet's name, the owner's name or a phone number (at least 2 letters or 3 digits). Matching pets appear as you type, with the owner, phone and any alert.
2. Click the pet. A pet that already has an open visit shows Already here and can't be picked.
3. Choose the Kind of visit (Clinic visit, Surgery or Grooming) and Who sees the pet, or leave Anyone (decide later).
4. Write a short Reason, for example limping since this morning. If you leave it empty, the visit says Walk-in.
5. Click Check in walk-in. The pet goes straight to Waiting.

If the owner is new, use Add a new client under the results (needs the Add right on Clients), add the owner and the pet, then come back. A pet can only have one open visit at a time: This pet already has an open visit today.

5.5 Starting a visit and moving rooms

Click Start on a waiting card when the pet goes into a room.

Rooms in use are greyed out with the patient in them. A free room of the booked kind says so.

1. Check Who sees the patient. It starts with the person on the appointment.
2. Pick a Room. The rooms are grouped by room type. The app picks a free room for you when it can: the person's own room, or a free room of the type the visit was booked for (marked Free · booked room type).
3. Click Start visit. The card moves to In rooms.

If someone took the room a moment before, you see That room was just taken. Pick another room. and the window stays open so you can choose again.

Move on an in-room card opens the same kind of window titled Move with the pet's name. Pick the new room and Who looks after the patient, then click Move patient. Use it to take a pet to treatment, surgery or recovery. When you move a pet to a recovery room, the visit keeps its vet.

5.6 Ready for checkout

When the visit is over, click Ready for checkout on the in-room card. The app asks first:

The room becomes free at once and the card moves to Ready for checkout. The visit now waits at the front desk in Checkout. Click Checkout on the card to go straight to it.

5.7 Undo check-in, no-shows and cancellations

• Undo check-in (on a waiting card) is for a pet checked in by mistake. A booked appointment goes back to Expected as Booked or Confirmed, as it was; a walk-in is removed. It works only while the pet is still waiting, not after Start.
• No-show (on an expected card) asks Mark Max as a no-show? The appointment stays in the history as a no-show and is counted in the Done today heading. You can book a new one later.
• To cancel an appointment, open it with Details and use Cancel appointment in Appointments. It needs the X Cancel right.

Room Board

The Room board shows every room right now: which are free, which are in use, who is in them and for how long. The waiting room is on the left. Use it on a screen at the treatment area, or when you want to put the next patient into a room you can see is free.

Rooms grouped by room type, each with its colour. Free rooms offer Start here.

6.1 Reading the board

• At the top: how many rooms are in use, how many are free and how many pets are waiting. The board updates by itself every 30 seconds; Refresh now loads it at once.
• Waiting lists the pets checked in, with how long they have waited, any alert, the owner, the reason and who will see them.
• Each room type has its own group and colour, with 2 of 4 free and so on.
• A free room shows its note (for example Quiet side of the building) or Ready for the next patient.
• A room in use shows the pet (click to open the pet's record), any alert, the owner, the kind of visit and the vet. If someone else is with the pet in that room, for example a technician, it adds with and their name. In since is the time the pet came into this room; Visit total counts from check-in.
• Today's board at the top right goes back to the Today Board.

The tag on each room comes from its room type:

Boarding runs are not on this board; they are on the Boarding Board. Rooms, their notes, order and room types are set up in Rooms and Room Types.

6.2 Start here

When a pet is waiting, every free room has a Start here button.

1. Click Start here on the free room.
2. Pick the Waiting patient. If only one pet is waiting it is already picked. Booked for this room type marks a pet booked for this kind of room.
3. Check Who sees the patient and click Start visit.

6.3 Move and Ready for checkout

On a room in use, Move opens the list of rooms. Rooms in use are greyed out with who is in them; the pet's own room says Here now. Pick the new room and who looks after the patient, then click Move patient.

Ready for checkout frees the room and sends the visit to the front desk, the same as on the Today board. Open visit opens the visit record.

Appointments

Appointments is the list of every clinic, surgery and grooming appointment. Use it to book by phone or at the desk, find a booking, confirm it, move it to another time, mark a no-show or cancel it. Boarding stays have their own board.

The list starts with today and the next six days, grouped by day.

7.1 Finding an appointment

• From and To pick the days (up to about three months at once). Next 7 days goes back to today and the six days after it.
• Status: Booked, Confirmed, Checked in, No-show or Cancelled. With: one vet, technician or groomer. Kind of visit: one booking type.
• Search finds a pet name, owner name, phone number or booking code. Click Show.

Each row shows the time and length (or the drop-off and surgery times), the pet with any alert, the owner and phone, the kind of visit with the booking code, who it is with, the status, how it was booked (Website, Phone or Desk) and the estimate. Cancelled and no-show rows are dimmed. The list shows 40 appointments per page. Click a row to open it.

Online bookings. Appointments that owners make on the website come in as Booked with Website in the Booked column, and their history starts with Booked online. When you have confirmed the visit with the owner, click Mark as confirmed. Owners can also move or cancel their own booking online; the history then says Moved online from … or Cancelled online by the owner. See Booking Online.

Booking codes. Every appointment has a code such as CAH-FFYYKG. The owner needs it to look up, move or cancel the booking online. Search by the code when an owner reads it out.

7.2 The appointment window

An online booking, with the cancel form opened.

At the top are the status, the booking code and New client for a first visit. Then come When (day, time and length, who and the room type; for a drop-off the drop-off, surgery and pick-up times), Pet, Owner (with how they like to be contacted) and Booking (how and when it was booked and by whom, the estimate, and a link to the visit once checked in). Any pet or client alert is shown in amber. Note to the vet is what the owner or the desk wrote when booking.

These buttons work only while the appointment is Booked or Confirmed. A cancellation needs a reason of a few words: Write a short reason, so the team knows why. The reason is shown under Why it was cancelled.

Desk note is for practical notes only staff see, for example owner will be 10 minutes late. Type it and click Save note. History lists every change with who made it and when: booked, confirmed, checked in, moved (with the old time), desk notes, no-show and cancelled with the reason.

7.3 Booking a new appointment

Click New booking (needs the A right). The window walks you through five steps.

Pet, kind of visit, who, day and time, then note and save.

1. Pet. Type the pet's or owner's name, a phone number, a microchip number or the client number and click Find. Pick the pet. Any pet or client alert is shown, and overdue vaccines are listed so you can add a vaccine visit. Pet not listed? links to add a new pet for that owner; New to the clinic? links to add a new client first.
2. Kind of visit. Only the kinds that suit this animal and that someone on the team does for it are shown, grouped as Clinic visits, Surgery and dental (drop-off) and Grooming. The length shown already allows for the pet's size.
3. Who. Pick a person or leave Anyone available. The length and the estimated price are shown.
4. Day and time. Use Day before, Next day or the date box. The free times are listed under each person. Click a time. If the pet already has a visit that day you see a note, but you can still book. If there are no free times the window says why (the clinic is closed, it is a holiday, or nothing is free) and offers Find the next free day.
5. Note and save. Check the summary line, add a Note to the vet if you like, choose Booked by (Phone call or At the desk) and click Book this time.

The window then shows Booked for the pet with the booking code, the time and the estimate. Give the owner the code. Appointments booked by staff are saved as Confirmed straight away. If someone took the time while you were choosing, you see That time was just taken. Pick another time. and the free times are loaded again.

7.4 Which times are offered

The same rules decide the free times for staff and for online booking:

• The clinic is open that weekday and it is not a holiday (Settings and Hours and Time Off).
• The person works that day, inside the clinic's hours, outside their break, and is not on time off.
• The person does this kind of visit and sees this kind of animal (Booking Types).
• Start times come in steps of the Start times every setting (15 minutes unless changed). The length comes from the booking type, and can be longer for medium or large dogs.
• Times already past are not offered, and the person must not have another appointment then (cancelled and no-show ones don't count).
• If the kind of visit needs a room type, there must be a room of that type free: never more bookings at once than rooms of that type.
• Drop-off procedures (spay, neuter, dental cleaning and so on): the owner drops the pet off in the drop-off window, you choose the surgery time, which starts after the drop-off window and ends at least an hour before pick-up. The pick-up time is shown on each choice. Today's drop-offs are no longer offered once the drop-off window has started.

Move to another time uses the same steps with the pet and the kind of visit fixed. The line Now: shows the current time. Pick the new time and click Move to this time; the history records Moved from … to …. Only Booked or Confirmed appointments can be moved.

Schedule

The Schedule shows appointments on a time grid. The Day view has a column for each person working that day; the Week view shows one person's week, Monday to Sunday. Use it to see how busy everyone is, to spot free time and to book into an empty slot.

Day view: one column per person, breaks and time off shaded, the red line is now.

8.1 Day view

• Use the arrows, Today or the date box to change the day. The line under the title shows the date and how many people are working.
• Each column head shows the person, their role, the number of appointments and the hours booked. Click it to see that person's week.
• Only people working that day (or with appointments) get a column. Tick Show everyone to add the others. Appointments with nobody set appear under Not assigned.
• Shaded time is time the person isn't working. It is labelled Break, Time off (with the note from Hours and Time Off), Not working, Clinic closed, or Closed with the holiday name. On a closed day a box says so, and still shows anything left on the books.
• On today, a red line marks the time now, and the page refreshes itself every two minutes.

8.2 Appointment blocks

Each block shows the start time, the pet and the animal, and the kind of visit. A drop-off procedure is drawn at its surgery time, with the drop-off and pick-up times. The colour follows the status (Booked, Confirmed, Checked in, No-show, Cancelled); the key is under the grid. Once the pet is here, a tag shows where the visit is: Waiting, In Exam 1 (the room), At checkout or Visit done. Point at a block to see the full time, the owner and the note.

Click a block to open the appointment window in Appointments. People without the Appointments right but with the Visits right open the visit instead. Tick Show cancelled (the number in brackets says how many) to see cancelled appointments too.

8.3 Week view

Click Week, or pick a person marked (week) in the list. Each day head shows the person's hours that day (or Off), the number of appointments and the hours booked; click it to see everyone on that day. The arrows move a whole week. Days the person is off or the clinic is closed are shaded.

8.4 Booking from an empty time

If you can add appointments, pointing at free working time in a column shows + and the time, in 15-minute steps. Click it to open New booking with that person, day and time already chosen; you then pick the pet and the kind of visit (see Appointments). If that time is not free for the kind of visit you pick, the window says so and shows the times that are.

Checkout

Checkout is the front desk's last step. When a visit is sent to checkout, or a boarding stay is checked out, the pet appears here. You check the invoice, add anything missing, give a discount if needed, take the payment or bill the owner, and give the owner the visit summary by email or on paper. Finishing closes the visit.

The desk: pets ready to pay, and today's finished checkouts.

9.1 The desk

• Ready for checkout lists every visit and stay waiting to pay, oldest first: the pet, the owner and phone, the kind of visit and visit number, who saw the pet, when it was sent and how long ago, and the estimate. Once an invoice is started it shows the invoice total and Invoice started (and anything already paid). Click Check out or the row.
• Paid and finished today lists today's finished checkouts with the invoice, total, balance and status, and how much was paid in all. Click a row to see it again.
• All invoices opens Invoices; Refresh reloads the desk.

9.2 Opening the invoice

When someone with the edit right opens a visit at checkout, the app starts its invoice (status Being prepared) and copies in everything ordered during the visit: exams, medicines, tests, vaccines, grooming and products. Each time the page opens again, the lines are brought up to date with the visit's orders, so a test added by the vet a minute ago is not missed.

Lines copied from the visit's orders. The right side shows the owner, the totals, payments and finishing.

• Pet and owner alerts are shown at the top. The owner box shows the phone, the email (or No email on file) and any money the owner still owes on other invoices, with a link to their balance.
• Visit record at the top opens the visit (for a boarding stay: Boarding board).
• Change a Qty or Unit price and click away; the line and the totals update. A change to an ordered line also changes the order on the visit.
• Remove takes a line off. An ordered line stays crossed out as Removed at checkout, not charged, with Add back in case you change your mind.
• Add from the catalog: pick an item, set the quantity and click Add line. The list only shows items for this kind of animal, priced for the pet's size. Lines added here are marked added at checkout.
• A Tax tag marks taxable items. Tax uses the sales tax in Settings; if none is set, the totals say Tax (no sales tax set).

9.3 Discount

Open Add a discount, choose Dollars off or Percent off, enter How much, write a Reason (for example senior pet or second pet) and click Apply. A reason is required, a percent can be at most 100% and dollars off can't be more than the subtotal. A percent discount follows the lines if they change. The discount and its reason appear in the totals and on the owner's invoice. Remove takes it off.

Two lines added at checkout, 10% off for a second pet, and a cash payment with change shown.

9.4 Taking a payment

1. Under Take a payment, choose How the owner pays. The amount starts at the balance.
2. Fill in the extra box for that method:
   • Card: the last 4 digits only. The app refuses anything that looks like a full card number.
   • Cash: write the cash the owner hands over. If it is more than the balance, the change is shown and only the balance is saved.
   • Check: the check number.
   • Other: what it was, for example an insurance payment or a gift card.
3. Click Take payment. After cash with change, a box tells you how much to give back.

An owner can pay in parts, for example part by card and part in cash. Only cash can be more than the balance. To undo a payment (a mistake or a declined card), click Void next to it, write Why and click Void payment. The payment stays in the list crossed out with the reason.

9.5 Finishing: paid or bill later

• When the balance is $0.00, click Paid — finish checkout. The visit closes and the invoice is locked as Paid.
• When the owner will pay later, click Bill the owner — pay later. The box under it tells you the due date (today plus the Billed invoices are due after days in Settings, 30 unless changed). The app asks first:

After Bill the owner the visit closes and the invoice becomes Billed (nothing paid) or Part paid (some paid). It then appears in Balances and Statements until it is paid. Payments taken later are recorded in Payments.

9.6 Visit summary, email and print

After finishing: the visit summary on the left, the result and the email and print buttons on the right.

The finished page shows the Visit summary for the owner, exactly as the owner gets it: the reason for the visit, instructions for home, medicines going home with how to give them, vaccines given with the next due date, test results with normal ranges, the recheck date, any files marked for the owner (sent as attachments), and the invoice with payments.

• Email to owner sends the summary and invoice to the owner's email address. If the hospital has turned on Email the visit summary and invoice to the owner when checkout is finished in Settings, this happens by itself when you finish.
• Print opens a print preview; click Print in it to print the summary for the owner to take home.
• Open invoice opens it in Invoices; Back to the desk returns to the list.
• Emails lists each attempt to email this visit, with the address, who sent it, when, and the result (Sent, or the reason it was not sent).

9.7 Boarding stays at checkout

When a boarding guest is checked out on the Boarding Board, the stay comes to the desk as a Boarding stay. Its invoice already holds the nights and the extras from the stay. Check it, take payment or bill the owner, and give the stay summary exactly as for a visit. The Boarding board button takes you back to the stay.

Visits

The Visits page is where the clinical team records each visit: notes and vital signs, diagnoses, orders, test results, files and the take-home summary for the owner. Vets, technicians and groomers work here. Opening the page needs the V right on Visits, recording needs E, and signing notes needs the extra right X Sign records.

Open visits now, and Find a visit underneath.

10.1 How a visit moves

A visit is made when the front desk checks a pet in. It then moves through four steps. Each step is shown as a coloured label on the cards and in the visit header.

10.2 Finding a visit

• Open visits now shows a card for every pet in the building: in a room first, then waiting, then ready for checkout. The line at the top counts each group. Each card shows the pet, any alert, the reason, the owner, who sees the pet, the room and since when, and the check-in time. Click a card to open the visit.
• Find a visit searches every past visit. Type a pet name, owner name or visit number in Search, and narrow the list with From and To (the last 7 days at first), Status, Type (clinic visit, surgery or dental, grooming) and Seen by. The list shows 25 visits a page. Click a row to open it.
• Inside a visit, ← All visits brings you back, and the links at the top (Notes, Diagnoses, Orders, Results, Files, Take-home) jump to each part of the page.

10.3 The visit header

The header of a visit in a room.

• The pet's name, animal, breed, sex, age, the latest weight and when it was taken, and the owner with a phone link. The owner's name opens the client record if you may see Clients.
• A red Alert bar shows the pet's alert (for example Can nip when ears are touched). An Owner note bar shows the client's alert, and Passed away shows when the pet has died.
• The facts: visit number, type, status, room and since when, who sees the pet (Groomer on a grooming visit), check-in, start, ready and closed times, and the appointment code. The Reason comes from the booking.
• Previous visits, beside the diagnoses, lists the pet's last five visits. Click one to open it.

Move room shows every room by type. Busy rooms are greyed out with the pet that is in them. Pick a free room and Who looks after the patient, then click Move patient. When you move a patient into a recovery room, the visit keeps its vet.

10.4 Starting a waiting visit

You can start a visit with Start visit in the header, from the Today Board or from the Room Board. If you begin recording on a visit that is still Waiting (a new note, a diagnosis, an order, results, a file or the take-home summary), the Start visit box opens first.

Pick a free room and who sees the patient.

1. Check Who looks after the patient. It starts with the person on the booking. Staff set to own patients only can only pick themselves.
2. Pick a free room. Rooms in use are greyed out.
3. Click Start visit. The visit moves to In room, and what you were doing carries on: the note form opens, the order is added or the file uploads.

If someone takes the room at the same moment, the box says That room was just taken. Pick another room.

10.5 Notes and vital signs

Click New note in the Notes panel. Notes are listed oldest first, each with its kind, author, time and whether it is signed.

A new note.

• Kind of note: Exam, Surgery, Grooming, Progress or Phone call. It starts as Grooming for groomers and grooming visits, Surgery for surgery visits, and Exam otherwise.
• Vital signs (all optional): Temperature in °F (90 to 110), Heart rate per minute (10 to 400), Breathing per minute (2 to 200) and Weight in lb. A weight entered here is added to the pet's weight history and shows in the header.
• Four boxes: What the owner says, What we found, Assessment and Plan. Fill in at least one box or one vital sign, then click Save note.

While a note is not signed, its author can Edit or Delete it on an open visit. Nobody else can change it.

10.6 Signing and addenda

A signed note on a closed visit, with an addendum under it.

• Sign locks a note: A signed note is locked. Later changes are made with an addendum. Signing needs the X Sign records right. On someone else's note the button reads Sign for and their name, and the note shows who signed it.
• Sign all my notes (2) signs every unsigned note you wrote on this visit at once.
• Add addendum appears under a signed note. Write in any of the four boxes and click Save addendum. The signed note stays as it was, and the addendum is shown under it with your name and the time. An addendum is signed like a note.
• Signing and addenda still work after the visit is closed. Unsigned notes are marked on the patient chart, so they are easy to find later.

10.7 Diagnoses

1. Type in Add a diagnosis. Diagnoses used before are offered as you type.
2. Pick a Status: Active, Rule out or Resolved.
3. Click Add (or press Enter). The same diagnosis can't be added twice to one visit.

Change a status with the list on each row. The × removes a diagnosis added on this visit. Other open problems lists active and rule-out diagnoses from the pet's earlier visits; changing a status there records it on this visit, for example to mark an old problem Resolved.

10.8 Orders

Orders are everything done or given during the visit: exams and procedures, medicines, tests and imaging, vaccines, grooming, products and fees. They become the invoice lines at checkout.

Orders grouped by type, with a total for each group and for the visit.

1. Click Add order. Search by name, code or category, or pick a Type. The list shows items for this animal, priced for the pet's size. Tick Show items for every species to see the rest.
2. Click an item. Check the Quantity. For medicines and products, choose Given: Here at the clinic or Goes home with the owner. Medicines show Dose and Instructions (printed for the owner), filled in from the catalog. A Note for the team is optional.
3. Click Add to orders. The line starts as Ordered.

Pick an item, then set the quantity, dose and instructions.

• Done marks a line as done; Back to ordered undoes it. Edit changes the quantity, dose, instructions, where it is given and the note. The price stays as it was when ordered.
• Cancel crosses the line out; it stays on the visit but is not charged. Cancelling a test that has results removes the results. Restore brings a cancelled line back.
• When a vaccine is marked done, a vaccine record is added to the pet with today's date and the next due date from the vaccine's months in Items and Prices (12 months if none is set). Setting it back or cancelling it removes that record. These records drive Reminders and the boarding vaccine check.
• If an item is normally for another animal, the form says so; you can still add it.

10.9 Test results

Every test in the orders gets a card under Test results. A test that is still Ordered shows its form straight away, labelled Waiting for results.

Results in for two tests, one still waiting.

1. Type each value. The boxes come from Test Fields for this animal, with the unit and Normal range beside each one. A box turns red as you type a value above the range, and orange for a value below it. Last time shows the pet's previous value for the same field.
2. Click Save results. At least one value is needed. The test is marked Done, values outside the range are flagged High or Low, and a message says how many values are outside the normal range.
3. Change results reopens the form while the visit is open.

A test with no fields set up gets one free-text Result box. Tests still waiting after the visit is closed can be entered here or on Pending Results; once entered on a closed visit, they can't be changed.

10.10 Files and the take-home summary

A lab report sent to the owner, and the summary as the owner will get it.

Files holds X-rays, photos, lab reports and other documents for the visit.

1. Click Choose a file: a PDF, a photo (JPG, PNG, WebP), TXT or CSV, up to the size set in Settings (Largest file upload on visits, 15 MB at first).
2. Check the Title (it starts as the file name). Link it to a test in For test if you like.
3. Tick Send to the owner with the take-home summary to attach it to the summary.
4. Click Upload. A bar shows the progress.

View opens the file in a new tab. Delete is for the person who added the file, or a manager, while the visit is open. Staff set to own patients only can open files only on their own visits.

Take-home summary is what the owner gets after checkout:

• Write Instructions for the owner: care at home, what to watch for and when to call.
• Pick Recheck around if the pet should come back (today up to two years ahead). The recheck appears in Reminders once the visit is closed.
• Click Save summary.

What the owner gets shows the summary as the owner will see it: medicines that go home with dose and instructions, vaccines given with the next due date, your instructions, the recheck date and the attached files. It is emailed to the owner after checkout, or printed at checkout when the owner has no email address.

10.11 Finishing the visit

1. Check the orders: mark what was done, cancel what was not.
2. Click Ready for checkout and confirm. The room is freed and the visit moves to the front desk, where Checkout makes the invoice from the orders.
3. After checkout the visit is Closed. The header says This visit is closed. The record is read-only; you can still sign notes and add addenda.

Patient Charts

A patient chart shows one pet's whole medical history on one page: every visit with its notes, diagnoses, orders, results and files, plus active problems, medicines, vaccines, weight and lab trends. The chart is for reading; you record in Visits. It needs the V right on Patient charts.

11.1 Finding a pet

Search results show the owner, phone, microchip and alerts to tell pets apart.

• Type a pet name, owner name, phone number or microchip in Find a pet. Up to 20 matches are shown; type more to narrow it down. Inactive pets and pets that have passed away are marked.
• Seen today and Seen this week list recent patients with the time and reason, so you can open them in one click.
• You can also open a chart with Patient chart on a visit, a stay or a reminder.

11.2 Reading the chart

The newest visit is open; the summary is on the right.

• The top shows the pet, colour, microchip, latest weight, the owner and any alerts. Book opens a new appointment (needs A on Appointments), Pet record opens Pets, and Print chart prints the whole history with every visit open.
• The right side sums up: Active problems (diagnoses whose latest status is Active, with when first and last noted), Medicines sent home in the last 12 months, Vaccines marked Up to date, Due soon or Overdue, Weight with a small chart, and the Next appointment.
• Visit history lists visits newest first. The newest is open; the others are closed up. Click a visit to open or close it, or use Expand all and Collapse all. Boarding stays show as one line with their dates. Cancelled visits are not shown.
• A closed-up visit shows tags such as 2 flagged results and Unsigned note. An open visit shows the notes with vital signs and addenda, diagnoses, orders, test results with flags, files, take-home instructions and the recheck date. Open visit jumps to the visit.

11.3 Filters and search

Searching for “kidney” opens and highlights every matching visit.

• Type, Year and Staff show only matching visits. The count above the list says, for example, Showing 3 of 8 visits.
• Search this chart finds words in notes, diagnoses, orders and results (two letters or more). Matching visits open and the words are highlighted; the count reads 6 of 8 visits mention “kidney”. Clear the box to go back to how the visits were before.

11.4 Lab trends

One value over time, with the normal range shaded.

The Lab trends tab follows number results over time. Pick a value in Test to follow; the list shows how many results and how many were flagged. The chart shows each result with the normal range shaded, high values in red and low values in blue, and the Latest value. The table underneath shows every value of that test, one column per date, with flags.

Pending Results

Pending results lists every test that was ordered and is still waiting for results, across all visits, and what came back this week. Technicians and vets use it to enter lab results as they arrive, even after the pet has gone home. It needs V on Pending results to look and E to enter results.

Counts at the top, then tests waiting for results.

12.1 Tests waiting for results

• The three boxes count tests Waiting for results, tests Flagged this week (a value outside the normal range) and tests Entered this week.
• Waiting for results is split into Ordered today and Older. Each row shows the pet and owner, the test, the visit number with its vet and status, and who ordered it and when. Filter by Test or Vet or groomer.
• Tests on closed visits stay on the list until their results are entered. Cancelled tests and cancelled visits are left out.
• Click the visit number to open the visit (needs the right to see Visits).

12.2 Entering results

A value above the range turns red as you type.

1. Click Enter results on the row.
2. The window shows the pet, owner, visit and any alert. Type the values. The Normal range and the pet's Last time value are beside each box.
3. Click Save results. The test leaves the waiting list and moves to Entered in the last 7 days, and the visit shows the results too.

Results work the same way as on the visit (10.9). If someone saves the same test a moment before you, the list refreshes and says so.

12.3 Entered in the last 7 days

The lower list shows the last 50 tests with results this week: the pet, the test, the flagged values (or All normal), who entered them and when, and the visit. Tick Only tests with flagged values to see just the ones that need a look, for example to call the owner.

Reminders

Reminders lists pets that are due for vaccines, rechecks and wellness exams, either overdue or due soon, grouped by family so one call covers every pet. The front desk and technicians work through it to get pets booked. It needs V on Reminders to look and E to log contacts.

Each family with its pets due, and the buttons to reach them.

13.1 What makes a reminder

• Only active pets that are alive are listed. Rows show the due date and Due in 5 days, Due today or 99 days overdue in red.
• Pets with a clinic or surgery appointment coming up are taken off the list and shown under already booked, with the date.
• There is no button to mark a reminder done: it goes away when the vaccine is given, the recheck happens or the pet is booked. Logging a contact keeps a record and lets you hide pets you contacted lately.

Two settings in Settings drive the list: Remind this many days before something is due (30 days at first) and Wellness exam every (12 months at first).

13.2 Searching and filtering

• Search by pet, owner, phone, email or what is due.
• What is due: everything, vaccines, rechecks or wellness exams. Show: overdue and due soon, or overdue only.
• Not contacted in: hides reminders logged in the last 7, 14, 30 or 60 days, so you don't call the same family twice. The summary says how many were hidden.
• Families are sorted by their earliest due date, 25 families a page. Download list (CSV) saves every reminder in the current list, with contact details and the last contact, for a spreadsheet or a mailing.

13.3 Contacting owners

Each family shows the owner, their contact preference (Prefers a call, Prefers email or Prefers text), phone and email.

• Call dials the owner on a phone or computer that can make calls.
• Email opens your email program with a friendly message already written for every pet in the family, with the hospital's phone number.
• On each pet row, Book opens a new appointment for the pet (needs A on Appointments) and Chart opens the Patient Chart.

13.4 Logging a contact

1. Click Log on one row, Log contact for all 2 on a family, or tick several rows (or families) and click Log contact for selected in the bar at the bottom.
2. Choose How did you reach out?: Phone call, Email, Text message or Letter. It starts with the owner's preference.
3. Choose What happened, for example Talked to the owner, Left a message, Booked a visit or Owner declined, and add a short note if you like.
4. Click Save contact. Each row then shows the last contact, when and by whom.

The Recent contacts tab lists the last 50 contacts logged, newest first, with the pet, owner, what was due, how, the note and who logged it.

Boarding Board

The boarding board shows who is staying, who arrives and who goes home, and every run for the next 14 days. The front desk and kennel team book stays, check pets in and out and keep the care log here. Rights on Boarding board: V to look, A to book stays, E to check in, check out, move and change stays, and X Cancel to cancel stays.

Today's lists at the top, the runs for 14 days below.

14.1 The steps of a stay

14.2 Today and the board

• The line under the title sums up today: pets in house, arriving and going home, and any past check-out.
• Arriving today: stays due in today (and any still not checked in from the last two weeks, marked Was due), with the time, run and nights, and Vaccines OK or Missing: with the names. Check in opens the check-in window. A stay whose check-out day has come without a check-in shows No-show instead.
• Going home today: pets due out today with Check out, and pets already checked out with Take payment, which opens Checkout.
• In house now: every pet staying, with its run. Past check-out: pets still here after their check-out day.
• The grid has one row per run, grouped by run type with the nightly price and how many runs are free each day (Full when none). Each stay is a bar coloured by status; a striped bar means vaccines are missing. Shaded days are weekends; striped days are closed days or holidays. Hover over a bar to see the details, click it to open the stay.
• Move with ← Today → (a week at a time) or pick a start date. With the A right, click an empty day on a run to book that run from that day.
• All stays lists stays with a search (pet, owner, phone or stay code), Status and From/To dates, showing dates, nights, run, pet, owner, status and the estimate.

14.3 Booking a stay

A new stay: free runs, extras, the vaccine check and the estimate.

1. Click New stay (or an empty day on the board). Find the pet by pet name, owner or phone. Only dogs and cats can board; new owners and pets are added in Clients first.
2. Pick the Check-in day and time and the Check-out day and time. The hint shows the rules: check-in and check-out hours, the longest stay, and no check-in or check-out on days the clinic is closed.
3. Pick a Run. Only run types that suit the pet's animal and size are shown, and runs taken on any of the nights are crossed out.
4. Tick any Extras, such as daily playtime or a bath before going home. Extras are charged per night or once.
5. Add the owner's Care notes (food, medicines, habits) and choose Booked: By phone or At the desk.
6. Check the Vaccines box and the Estimate, then click Book the stay. Give the owner the stay code shown.

Stays booked here are Confirmed. Stays booked by owners on the website (Booking Online) arrive as Booked; click Confirm on the stay when you have spoken to the owner.

14.4 A stay record

A pet in house.

• The top shows the pet, the stay code, the run, the status and any alerts, then the buttons for what you can do now.
• Pet and Owner boxes, with links to the pet record, the patient chart and the client, and how and when the stay was booked.
• Stay: check-in and check-out, nights, run (and earlier runs if the pet was moved) and extras. Vaccines: each required vaccine, Good until or Not on file, checked against the check-out day.
• Estimate before check-out; after check-out, Charges sent to the front desk.
• Care notes from the owner and a Desk note only staff see (Save desk note).
• Care log while the pet is in house: tap quick notes (Ate well, Walked, Medicine given…), write how the day went, and click Add to care log. Entries show the time and who added them.
• History: every step with who did it and when.

Before check-in, Change opens the same form as a new stay to change the dates, run, extras and care notes; the history notes what changed.

14.5 Checking in

1. Click Check in. It works from the check-in day until the day before check-out.
2. Check the pet alert, the vaccines and the owner's care notes.
3. If a vaccine is missing, write Why is it OK to check in anyway? (for example, the owner showed proof from another clinic). The reason, your name and the date are added to the desk note and the history.
4. Click Check in (or Check in anyway). The pet moves to In house.

Check-in is refused if the pet is already staying on another booking, or if the run still has another pet in it: check that pet out or move it first, or Change the run.

14.6 Moving a run and changing check-out

• Move run lists the runs that suit the pet and are free from today to the check-out day. Pick one and click Move. Nights are charged at each run type's price for the nights spent there.
• Change check-out sets a new check-out day and time, for example when the owner is late or comes early. It is refused if the run is booked for another pet on the new nights; move the pet first or pick an earlier day. The estimate is updated.

14.7 Checking out

1. Click Check out. The window shows the charges: the nights from the check-in day to today (at least one), at the price of each run type, plus the extras. If today is not the planned check-out day, a note says so.
2. Click Check out and send to the front desk. The run is free, the stay is Ready for checkout, and the charges become order lines.
3. Click Take payment to finish in Checkout, where the invoice is made and paid, or billed later.

14.8 No-shows and cancelling

• No-show appears after the check-in day when the pet has not come. The run is free again.
• Cancel stay needs the X Cancel right. Write a Reason and click Cancel the stay. Inside the cancel window set in Settings (Owners can cancel a stay online up to, 48 hours at first), the window warns that it is a late cancellation and the history notes it.
• Only booked or confirmed stays can be changed, marked a no-show or cancelled.

The boarding rules are set in Settings: Check-in from, Check-in until, Check-out by, Longest stay, the cancel time and the vaccines needed. Runs, run types and nightly prices are set in Rooms and Room Types and Items and Prices.

Clients

Clients are the pet owners. This page lists every owner with how to reach them, their pets, their last visit, what they owe and what they have booked next. The front desk uses it to add new owners, keep contact details up to date and look up a family before a call.

The client list, sorted by last name, 25 owners per page.

15.1 Finding a client

• Search by first or last name, phone number (any 3 or more digits, with or without dashes), email, client number (for example C01016) or the name of one of their pets. The list updates as you type; press Enter to search at once.
• Show picks Active clients (the default), Inactive clients or All clients. Inactive owners are greyed out.
• Each row shows the name and client number, an Alert tag when the owner has an alert (point at it to read it), phone, email, active pets with their species, the last visit and the next appointment.
• Open balance appears only for people who may see Invoices or Balances. An amount in orange means money is owed on billed invoices.
• Use Previous and Next at the bottom to page through.

15.2 A client's record

Click a row to open the client. The window shows everything about the family in one place.

Contact details, pets, upcoming appointments, recent visits and invoices with a balance.

• Top: the name, client number, Inactive if they are, and client since. The buttons are Edit, Add pet, Invoices (all of this owner's invoices) and Delete, each shown only if you have the right.
• Alert: a red bar with the owner's alert, for example prefers no phone calls before 10 am.
• Contact: phone (and other phone), email, how they like to be reached, address and the note.
• Pets: each pet with species, breed, sex and age, any alert, and Passed away or Inactive tags. Click a pet's name to open it in Pets. Book starts a new appointment for an active pet.
• Upcoming appointments and Recent visits (the last 10 of each). Click one to open it.
• Invoices with a balance: each billed invoice still owing, its total, when it is due (or past due since), and the open balance. Shown only to people who may see Invoices or Balances.

15.3 Adding or changing a client

1. Click Add client at the top of the page (or Edit on a client).
2. Type the First name and Last name.
3. Add a Phone and/or Email, an Other phone if they have one, and pick How they like to be reached: Phone call, Email or Text message.
4. Fill in the address if you have it.
5. Use Alert for something everyone must see (it shows in red wherever the client opens), and Note for anything else.
6. Click Add client (or Save changes).

A new client gets the next client number, for example C01573. The window then says … is saved as C01573. Add their pet now so you can book a visit. with an Add a pet button.

A new client with a phone number that is already on file.

Before saving, the system looks for other clients with the same email or the same phone number. If it finds any, a box lists them: This may be a client you already have. Check it is really a different person (families sometimes share a phone), then click Save anyway, or click Cancel and open the existing client instead.

15.4 Inactive clients

Mark a client inactive when they have moved away or left the practice. They drop off the normal list but all their history stays. Untick Active client on the edit form and save, or use Mark inactive in the delete window (see below).

To bring a client back, choose Show → Inactive clients, open them, click Edit, tick Active client and save. Cancelled appointments are not restored; book again if needed.

15.5 Deleting a client

Delete is only for a client added by mistake. A client can be deleted only when nothing refers to them: no visits, no appointments (for them or any of their pets), no invoices and no payments.

• If there is history, the window says … can't be deleted. This client has history: 3 visits, 2 invoices… Medical and money records must be kept. and offers Mark inactive instead.
• If there is none, it asks Delete …?. Their pets, with weights, vaccines and reminders, and their email log are deleted too. Delete for good cannot be undone; Keep goes back.

15.6 Who can do what

The Add pet and Book buttons need Add on Pets and Appointments; the open balance and invoice parts need View on Invoices or Balances. Every add, change and delete is written to the Activity log.

Pets

Every patient, with the profile, weights, vaccines, what is booked next and the last visits. Vets, technicians and the front desk use it to check a pet before a visit, record a weight or vaccine given elsewhere, and keep the pet's details right.

The pet list, sorted by pet name, 25 per page.

16.1 Finding a pet

• Search by pet name, owner name, owner phone (3 or more digits) or microchip number.
• Species shows one kind of animal only.
• Show: Active pets (the default), Inactive pets, Passed away or All pets.
• Each row shows the pet and any alert, species and breed, sex (for example Female, spayed), age, owner (click to open the client), last visit and Vaccines: None due, 2 due soon or 2 due · 1 overdue. Due soon uses the number of days set in Settings (Remind this many days before something is due).

16.2 A pet's record

Click a row to open the pet.

Profile, weight chart, vaccines, upcoming appointments and last visits.

• Top: photo, name, species, breed, sex and age, the owner and their phone. Buttons: Book (active pets only), Patient chart (opens Patient Charts), Edit and Delete, each only with the right.
• Alert and Owner alert bars in red, so nobody misses them.
• Profile: species, breed, sex, spayed or neutered, born (with age), colour, size (for species with sizes), microchip and alert.
• Weight: the latest weight, how much it went up or down since the one before, a chart once there are two or more weights, and the full list. From says whether it came from a Visit or was entered By hand.
• Vaccines, Upcoming appointments and Last visits (10 of each).

16.3 Adding or changing a pet

The pet form. Active pet and Passed away on appear only when you edit.

1. Click Add pet (on this page or on the client's record, which fills in the owner) or Edit on a pet.
2. Owner: type the owner's name, phone, email or client number and pick them from the list. If they are not found, the link Add a new client takes you to Clients. Change picks another owner.
3. Pet name and Species. The species list comes from Settings (Species).
4. Breed: start typing and pick a suggestion for that species, or type your own (for example Labrador mix).
5. Sex (Not known, Male, Female), Born on (a guess is fine) and Spayed or neutered.
6. Colour and markings, and Size (Small, Medium, Large). Size only shows for species that use sizes, such as dogs; it sets how long visits take and which price applies.
7. Microchip number: letters and numbers only, up to 30. Spaces and dashes are removed for you.
8. Alert: shown in red to everyone, for example bites when nervous.
9. Click Add pet or Save changes. A new pet shows Book a visit straight away.

• The birth date can't be in the future or more than 80 years ago.
• When you change the owner, the pet's upcoming appointments and any visit in progress move to the new owner as well.

16.4 Weights

Weights taken during a visit are added from the visit. To add one by hand (for example from another clinic), fill in Weighed on and Pounds under the weight list and click Add weight.

• The date can't be in the future or before the pet was born. The weight must be between 0.01 and 500 lb.
• Delete appears only on weights entered by hand. A weight from a visit is changed in the visit record (Visits).

16.5 Vaccines

Vaccines given during a visit are recorded from the visit. Use Add vaccine for vaccines given elsewhere, for example when an owner brings papers before a boarding stay.

Picking a vaccine fills in the name and the next due date.

1. Pick the Vaccine. The list shows the vaccine items for this species from Items and Prices, with how often each is given. Pick Other (type the name) for anything else.
2. Check the Name on the record.
3. Set Given on. Due again on is worked out from the vaccine's interval; change it if the papers say otherwise.
4. Add a Note if you like (for example the clinic that gave it) and click Add vaccine.

The given date can't be in the future or before the pet was born; the due date must be after the given date and no more than 10 years ahead. Edit and Delete appear only on vaccines entered by hand. These vaccine records are what Boarding checks at check-in and what Reminders uses.

16.6 Passed away, inactive and deleting

• Passed away: edit the pet and fill in Passed away on. The pet becomes inactive, shows Passed away with the date, its age stops at that date, and vaccine statuses are no longer shown.
• Inactive: untick Active pet (for example a pet rehomed out of the area).
• Both cancel the pet's booked and confirmed appointments from today on, noted Cancelled: Pet passed away or Cancelled: Pet marked inactive.
• Delete works only for a pet with no visits and no appointments. It removes the pet with its weights, vaccines and reminders. Otherwise the window explains Medical records must be kept and offers Mark inactive.

Invoices

Every invoice the hospital has made, with its status, totals and payments. Invoices are made at Checkout from the orders of a visit or boarding stay. Here you look them up, take payments on billed invoices, email or print them, add a note and, when needed, void them.

The invoice list filtered to money owed.

17.1 Invoice numbers and statuses

Each invoice gets a number like INV2026-00927: the year and a running number that starts again each January.

A billed or part-paid invoice past its due date is overdue: the due date shows in red with Overdue.

17.2 Finding invoices

• Search by invoice number, owner name or pet name.
• Status: All, Money owed (billed or part paid), Overdue, Being prepared, Paid, Part paid, Billed or Void.
• From and To limit the list to invoices made on those dates.
• The newest invoices come first, 25 per page. Each row shows the invoice, date, owner, pet, kind of visit, total, paid, balance, status and due date. Click a row to open it.
• The last row adds up the whole list (not only the page). Void invoices are left out of the totals, and invoices still being prepared are left out of the balance.
• Opening Invoices from a client shows only that owner, with a chip Owner: …; click × on the chip to see everyone again. The chip also links to the owner and their Statement.

Download list (CSV) saves the list as it is filtered (up to 5,000 invoices) as a spreadsheet with the columns Invoice, Date, Owner, Pet, Visit, Total, Paid, Balance, Status and Due date.

17.3 An invoice

A part-paid invoice with one payment.

• Lines: each item with quantity, unit price and amount. Tax marks taxable items; Added at checkout marks lines added at the desk rather than ordered in the visit. Below: subtotal, discount (with its reason), tax, total, paid, and the Balance box.
• Payments: each payment with method, reference, payment number, time and who took it. Voided payments are crossed out with the reason.
• Details: status, when it was made, billed, due and closed or voided, the reason it was voided, and the visit with its number and vet.
• Owner: name, phone and email, and how much they owe in all, with a link to their Statement.
• Notes: a note printed on the invoice. Type it and click Save note.
• Emails: every time this invoice or the visit summary was emailed, to whom, by whom and whether it was sent.

Buttons on the right: Email invoice to …, Print, Open the visit, Open the checkout (while it is being prepared) and Void invoice. At the top, All invoices and This owner's invoices.

17.4 Taking a payment on an invoice

Use this when an owner pays a billed invoice later, in person, by phone or by check.

1. Open the invoice and click Record a payment.
2. Pick How the owner pays: Card, Cash, Check or Other.
3. Check the Amount (it starts at the full balance).
4. Fill in the reference: Last 4 digits of the card, the Check number, or What it was for Other (for example an insurance payment). For cash it is an optional note.
5. Click Save payment. The balance and status update at once.

• Card, check and other payments can't be more than the balance.
• Cash can be more: only the balance is saved and the message says how much change to give, for example Cash saved. Give $5.70 change.
• Never write a full card number. If you type 9 or more digits for a card, it is refused.
• Invoices still being prepared are paid on the checkout page, not here.

Payments get their own number, like PAY2026-00907, and appear in Payments.

17.5 Emailing and printing

• Email invoice to … sends the invoice to the owner's email with the lines, payments, balance and due date, how to pay and your note. It needs the Edit right and a valid email on the client; otherwise the page says No valid email address for this owner, so the invoice can't be emailed. A void invoice can't be emailed.
• If the email could not be sent, a window explains why. Email must be set up first (see Going Live).
• Print opens a preview of the same invoice; click Print in the preview.

17.6 Voiding an invoice

Void an invoice made by mistake, for example for the wrong pet. It stays in the list as Void with the reason, and nothing is owed on it.

1. If the invoice has payments, void them first: click Void next to each payment, write why and confirm with Void payment. This needs the Void payment right on Payments.
2. Click Void invoice, write Why (for example made by mistake) and click Void invoice.

Payments

Every payment taken, at checkout or later against a bill, by day. Use it to count the cash drawer at the end of the day, see what was taken by card, cash and check, find a payment, take a payment on a billed invoice and void a payment made in error.

Payments for the last 7 days, with totals by method and the cash drawer for each day.

18.1 Choosing the days

• The page opens on today. Set From and To for a range (up to one year).
• The arrows move back or forward by the same number of days, for example one day at a time, or one week at a time when a week is shown.
• Today, Last 7 days and This month are quick choices.
• Narrow the list with Method, Taken by (anyone who has taken payments) and Search (owner, pet, invoice or payment number, or reference).

18.2 Totals and the cash drawer

• The tiles show the amount and number of payments for Card, Cash, Check, Other and the Total for the chosen days and filters.
• Cash drawer shows all cash taken by all staff on the chosen day, ignoring the Method, Taken by and Search filters, so it always matches what should be in the drawer. For several days it lists each day's cash.
• Voided payments stay in the list, crossed out with the reason, and never count in any total.

The list shows each payment with its number, time (or date and time for a range), owner, invoice, pet, method, reference, amount and who took it, 100 per page. Click the owner or invoice to open it.

Download CSV saves the payments for the chosen days and filters (voided ones included, marked Yes in the Voided column with the reason) for your bookkeeping.

18.3 Recording a payment

For an owner paying a billed invoice, for example by phone or with a check in the post.

1. Click Record a payment. The most recent invoices with money owing are listed.
2. Type the owner, pet, phone or invoice number in Find an invoice and click the invoice. Each shows the balance and when it is due or Past due since.
3. Check the total, paid and balance, pick How they pay, check the Amount, fill in the reference and click Save payment. Back returns to the search.

The message confirms the payment, for example PAY2026-01060: $64.30 card. Invoice paid in full. The same rules apply as on an invoice: only cash can be more than the balance (the change is shown), and invoices still at checkout are paid on the checkout page.

18.4 Voiding a payment

Void a payment that was entered by mistake, charged twice, or a check that bounced.

1. Click Void on the payment.
2. Read the summary, write Why is it voided? (required) and click Void payment. Keep it closes the window.

Balances and Statements

Balances lists every owner who still owes money on billed invoices, how old the debt is, and when they last got a statement or paid. From here you open an owner's statement, take a payment, and email or print statements, one owner at a time or many at once.

Owners sorted by oldest due date, with three owners selected for statements.

19.1 How old a balance is

Only Billed and Part paid invoices with money left count here. Each one is due on its due date (set when it was billed, using Billed invoices are due after in Settings). Its age is the number of days past that date.

19.2 The owner list

• Each row shows the owner and client number, phone and email, how many invoices, the Total due, the Oldest due date, the Age (Current, 8 days late, 113 days late), the Last statement emailed (Never, a date, or a date with Failed) and the Last payment.
• An owner's age is the age of their oldest invoice, so the Age filter and the age tiles show owners by their oldest debt.
• Search by owner, phone, email, pet or invoice number. Age limits the list to one age group. Sort by Largest amount or Oldest due date. Tick Past due only to hide owners who are not late yet.
• The list shows 50 owners per page.

19.3 An owner's statement

Click an owner to open their statement.

Two open invoices, one of them over 90 days late.

• The top shows the owner's contact details and the buttons Email statement, Print statement, Open client and All invoices.
• The boxes split what they owe by age, with the Total due. Late amounts are shaded red.
• Open invoices lists each unpaid invoice with the pet and visit date, its status, how late it is, the due date, its first five lines, total, paid, balance and payments so far. Click the invoice number to open it in Invoices.
• Statements sent shows the last five statements emailed, when, to which address, by whom, and whether they were Sent or Failed.

19.4 Taking a payment from the statement

1. Click Record payment under the invoice being paid.
2. Pick the Method, check the Amount (it starts at that invoice's balance) and fill in the reference.
3. Click Save payment. The statement refreshes and the message confirms it, for example PAY2026-01061: $160.00 check. Invoice paid in full.

If an owner pays toward several invoices, record one payment on each. The rules are the same as in Payments. This needs the Add right on Payments.

19.5 Emailing and printing statements

A statement lists every invoice with a balance, with its total, balance and due date (late ones marked), a table of how old the balance is, the total due and how to pay. The email subject is Your statement from and your hospital name.

• Email statement sends it to the owner. It is greyed out when the owner has no valid email; the window then says the statement can only be printed. Add the email on the client page to send it.
• Print statement prints the same statement, for posting or handing over at the desk.

Several owners at once (for example at the end of each month):

1. Tick the owners in the list. The box in the heading ticks every owner on the page; Past due only or an age tile first narrows the list to the owners you want.
2. A bar shows how many are selected. Click Email statements (or Clear to untick).
3. The window shows how many will be emailed and how many have no email on file and are skipped. Click Email … statements.
4. The result shows how many were sent and lists owners with no email (print theirs) and any that failed with the reason. Owners who paid in the meantime are skipped.

Reports

Six reports show how the hospital is doing: Sales, Payments, Visits, Clients, Money owed and Boarding. Each has summary tiles, a bar chart and tables, and can be downloaded as a spreadsheet. Reports need the View right on Reports, which only the hospital manager has to start with.

The Sales report for last month, by day.

20.1 Dates and grouping

• Pick a report with the buttons at the top. It opens on Sales for This month.
• Dates: Today, This week (Sunday to Saturday), This month, Last month, This year or Choose dates, then set From and To. A chosen range can be up to 3 years.
• Group by: Day, Week (weeks start on Sunday) or Month. When you change the dates it is picked for you: by day up to a month, by week up to about six months, by month beyond that. You can change it, but a range over about three months can't be shown by day, and one over two years can't be shown by week; the report then says Grouped by week because the range is long. (or by month). The Boarding report has no grouping.
• Tables leave out periods with nothing in them. Point at a bar in a chart to see its number; the same numbers are in the table below it.
• Download CSV saves the whole report shown (every table, with the dates and when it was made) as one spreadsheet, for example report-sales-2026-10-01-to-2026-10-31.csv. To print or share a report, open the CSV in your spreadsheet program.

20.2 Sales

Invoices made in the date range. Void invoices are left out; invoices still at checkout are counted.

Tables: Sales by day/week/month; By kind of item (exams and procedures, medicines, tests, vaccines, grooming, boarding, products, fees; line amounts before discount and tax); By kind of visit (clinic visits, surgery and dental, grooming, boarding); By vet or groomer (the person in charge of the visit); and the Top 15 items by amount.

20.3 Payments

Payments by the day they were taken. Voided payments are left out.

• Tiles: Payments taken (amount and count), Card, Cash, Check and Other with their share, and Voided (how many, and the amount not counted).
• Tables: payments by period split by method, By how owners paid, and Who took the payments.

20.4 Visits

Visits by check-in date. Cancelled visits are left out.

Tables: visits by period and kind, wait and time in the room By kind of visit and By vet or groomer, and Appointments starting in the range: upcoming, arrived, no-show, cancelled, with the no-show and cancel rates.

20.5 Clients

• New clients and New pets added in the range.
• Clients seen and Pets seen: owners and pets with a visit in the range (with how many of those owners are new).
• Pets on file: active pets that have not passed away, as of today.
• Tables: new clients and pets by period, and Pets by species (new in the range, all active pets and their share).

20.6 Money owed

Money owed on billed and part-paid invoices as of today; the dates do not apply and are hidden. It matches Balances.

• Tiles: Owed in all, Invoices (and owners), Late (past the due date, with its share) and Over 90 days late.
• By age: not yet due, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and over 90 days late.
• Top 10 owners by amount owed, with their oldest due date. Click an owner to open their statement in Balances.

20.7 Boarding

Boarding nights by run type. Cancelled stays and no-shows are left out; a stay that ended early counts until the day the pet went home. Future bookings in the range are counted too.

The table Occupancy by room type gives the same numbers for each run type set up in Rooms and Room Types.

Items and Prices

Items and prices is the hospital's price list. Everything that can go on an order or an invoice lives here: exams and procedures, medicines, tests, vaccines, grooming, boarding, products and fees. Vets and technicians pick from this list when they add orders to a visit, the desk adds lines from it at checkout, and booking types and boarding runs take their price from it. Open it from Catalog › Items and prices.

The Vaccines tab. Each vaccine shows how often it is due again.

21.1 Finding an item

• Tabs across the top pick a type: All, Exams & procedures, Medicines, Tests, Vaccines, Grooming, Boarding, Products and Fees. The small number on each tab is how many items it holds.
• Search finds items by name or code. Press Enter or just keep typing.
• Category narrows the list to one category, like Dentistry or Surgery.
• Show switches between Active items (the normal view), Inactive items and All items. Inactive items are greyed out and marked Inactive.

The list shows 30 items per page, sorted by type and then by sort order. Each row shows the code, the name (with its note or usual dose), the type, the category, the price per unit (with taxable and any medium and large prices) and the species it is for. Click a row to open the item.

Download CSV saves the items in the list as it is filtered now (tab, category, search and Show) to a spreadsheet file named with today's date. It includes every detail: code, name, type, category, unit, the three prices, taxable, species, dose, instructions, vaccine months, sort order, status and note.

21.2 Adding or changing an item

An item window. The blue line shows how often it was used in the last 12 months.

1. Click Add item (the type of the tab you are on is picked for you), or click an item in the list.
2. Fill in the boxes below and click Add item or Save changes.

When you change a price, name, code or the active tick, the Activity log records the old and new values. Prices already on orders and invoices do not change; the new price is used from the next order.

21.3 Prices by pet size and species

Some work costs more for bigger pets, like grooming. Pets of a species that has sizes (dogs) have a size on their record: Small, Medium or Large. When an item is ordered for a medium pet, the Medium pet price is used; for a large pet the Large pet price. If that price is 0, or the pet has no size, the main price is used.

The species ticks decide which items the vet sees first. When orders are added to a visit, the list shows items for that pet's species and items for every species. The vet can tick Show items for every species to see the rest; the order form then says which species the item is normally for.

21.4 What each type does

21.5 Changing many prices at once

Change prices (needs E) raises or lowers every item in the list as it is filtered now, so pick the tab, category or search first. It works on up to 200 items at a time.

Raising all grooming prices by 5%, rounded to the nearest dollar.

1. Choose Raise prices or Lower prices, then A percent or A fixed amount ($), and type how much. You can raise by up to 100% and lower by up to 90%; a fixed amount can be up to 10,000.
2. Pick how to round the new prices: the cent, the nearest 0.05, 0.50 or 1.00. Raised prices round up and lowered prices round down.
3. Click Preview new prices. Each item shows the old price crossed out and the new one. Medium and large prices change the same way.
4. Click Apply. Every price change is written to the Activity log.

Free items, and medium or large prices of 0, stay as they are. An item is skipped if rounding leaves the price the same, or if the price would drop to $0 or below. If someone changes a price after your preview, nothing is changed and you are asked to preview again.

21.6 Inactive or delete

An item that is no longer sold should be made inactive. It stays on old visits and invoices, but it can't be added to new orders. Untick Active and save, or use the button offered when you try to delete. If an active booking type or run type still uses the item as its price, you are warned first: they will show no price until you link another item.

Delete is only possible for items that were never used.

Delete (needs D) removes an item for good, and only when it was never used: not on any order or invoice line, not the price of a booking type or run type, and without result fields. Otherwise the window explains why and offers Make inactive instead.

Test Fields

Test fields are the boxes a vet or technician fills in when a lab test's results come back, for example WBC, RBC and HCT for a blood count. Each field can have a unit, a number of decimals and a normal range. The normal range is what flags a result as high or low. Open it from Catalog › Test fields.

The blood count has a cat-only WBC range that replaces the general one for cats.

22.1 Tests and their fields

The left list shows every item of the type Test, with the number of fields on each. Inactive tests are greyed. New tests are added on Items and prices with the type Test; they then appear here. Click a test to see its fields.

The table shows each field's name, unit, normal range, decimals, species and how many results were entered in it. Fields show in this order on the result form; use the up and down arrows to move a field. A test without fields shows one free-text box called Result.

22.2 Adding or changing a field

A cat-only range for WBC.

1. Click Add field, or click a field to change it.
2. Name: as printed on the lab report.
3. Species: leave on All species, or pick one species to give it its own range (see 22.3).
4. Tick Text only for answers in words, like Negative or a written finding. Text fields have no unit, decimals or range.
5. For numbers, fill in the Unit (like mg/dL), the Decimals shown in results (0 to 4), and the Normal low and Normal high. Leave one blank for no limit on that side. The high value must be more than the low value.
6. Click Add field or Save changes.

A test can't have two fields with the same name for the same species.

22.3 Ranges for one species

Normal values differ between animals. Add a second field with the same name and pick a species: for that species it replaces the all-species field. It is placed right below the general field and marked Cat range, replaces the general one (or the species you chose). Every other species keeps the general range.

22.4 How fields drive result entry

Preview for a dog and a cat shows the result form each animal gets.

• When results are entered for a test on a visit (see Visits and Pending Results), the form shows the fields for that pet's species, in order, with unit and normal range next to each box.
• A value below the normal low is flagged Low; a value above the normal high is flagged High. The box changes colour as you type, and the flag is saved with the result and shown in the visit and the patient chart.
• Each saved result keeps its own copy of the unit and range. Changing a range later only affects new results.

22.5 Deleting a field

Open the field and click Delete, then Delete field. Results already entered in it stay in the pet charts, but new results for this test won't have this field.

Booking Types

Booking types are the things that can be booked: a wellness exam, a vaccine visit, a spay, a full groom. Each one says how long it takes, who can do it, which room it needs, what it costs and whether owners can book it on the website. The desk uses them when booking appointments, and the website shows the ones marked online on the Services page and in Booking Online. Open it from Catalog › Booking types.

Booking types are grouped by team, the same groups owners see on the website.

23.1 The list

Use Search, Visit type (Clinic, Surgery or Grooming) and Show (active, inactive or all) to narrow the list. Each row shows the name and short text, visit type, time, price, room type, how many people can do it and the website setting. Nobody in red under Who means nobody can do it, so it can't be booked. Click a row to open it.

23.2 Setting up a booking type

A surgery booking type with its drop-off day.

Species, the people who can do it, and the website settings.

23.3 Drop-off rules for surgery and dental

Surgery and dental bookings are a drop-off day: the pet arrives in a morning window, the vet operates after drop-off ends, the pet wakes up, and the owner collects it. A surgery booking type needs all three times:

• Drop-off from and Drop-off until: the morning window. Until must be later than from.
• Pick-up from: when owners can collect. It must leave room for the surgery and at least 60 minutes of recovery after drop-off ends. If it is too early, the window tells you the earliest time that works.
• Before surgery instructions: one per line, sent to the owner (for example, no food after 10 pm).

23.4 Inactive or delete

To stop a booking type being booked, untick Active and save. Appointments already booked keep it. Delete (needs D) removes it for good, but only if nothing was ever booked with it; otherwise the window offers Make inactive instead. The top line of the window shows how many appointments were booked with it so far.

Pages

Pages is where you change the words and pictures of the public website, page by page, without any technical help. Each page is built from blocks: a page top, text, pictures, cards, steps, questions and so on. You edit them right where they sit, move them, hide them or add new ones, and the page goes live when you click Save page. Open it from Website › Pages.

The Home page in the editor. Click any text to change it.

24.1 Picking a page

The tabs pick the page: Home, Services, Vets, Boarding, Pet owners, Emergency, Media and Contact. Two more tabs, Questions and Vaccine chart, hold lists shown on the Pet owners page (see 24.6). If you switch tabs with unsaved changes, you are asked whether to leave without saving.

Open page opens the live page in a new tab. It shows what is saved, so save first to see your changes there.

24.2 Changing words and buttons

• Click any title, small label or text and type. In paragraph text, a small toolbar appears for B (bold), I (italic), Link, • List and Clear. To add a link, select some words first.
• Buttons have two boxes: the button text and the link. A link can be a page name like Services, Book or Contact#form, or a full address starting with https://. A button with text but a wrong link can't be saved.
• Write {name}, {town} or {phone} in any text and the website shows the hospital's name, town or phone from Settings. For example: Call {phone} to book.
• Blocks with a list (cards, steps, numbers, checklists, people, questions) have + Add under the list, and arrows and a bin on each line. A block can have up to 12 lines.

24.3 Moving, hiding and adding blocks

Each block has a bar on top with its name. Drag the dotted handle on the left, or use the up and down arrows, to move it. Hide keeps the block but takes it off the website; click Show to bring it back. The bin removes the block when you save.

Blocks marked From your data are filled in by the system: teams, vets, boarding runs and prices, opening hours, albums, the contact form and so on. You can change their title, move them or hide them, but not remove them. Their content is edited where it comes from, for example teams and services in Booking Types and vets in Staff.

At the bottom of every page: the blocks you can add.

Click a block type at the bottom of the page to add it; it appears at the end of the page, ready to fill in and move. A page can have 1 to 40 blocks.

24.4 Pictures and videos

Click a picture, or Add a picture or video, to open the picker. It shows the photos and videos in the media library; search by name or tag, pick a type or tag, and click one to use it. Upload a photo adds a new photo to the library from your computer and shows it in the picker. Remove takes the picture out of the block. Quotes and portraits take photos only.

The picker. Photos tagged pages come first.

24.5 Saving and versions

Click Save page. The page is checked and goes live on the website straight away. If someone else saved the same page while you were working, your save is stopped: reload to see their changes, then make yours again.

Each save keeps the page as it was before.

Versions lists the page live now and the last 20 saved versions, with who saved them and when. Click Restore and confirm to put an older version back. It goes live right away, and the version you replaced is kept in the list, so you can switch back. Pictures that are no longer in the media library are left out of a restored version.

24.6 Questions and the vaccine chart

• Questions: up to 20 questions with answers for the Pet owners page. A question can be up to 120 characters, an answer up to 500. Use the arrows to order them.
• Vaccine chart: one row per vaccine and animal, with the first doses, how often after that, Remind after (months) (1 to 120) and a Core vaccine tick. Core vaccines are shown first and marked as recommended for every pet. Up to 40 rows.

Click Save page to save these lists; they go live at once. They don't keep versions.

Media Library

The media library holds the photos, videos and PDF documents of the website. Pages, albums, staff portraits, pet photos and boarding runs take their pictures from here, and videos and PDFs can be listed on the public Media page. Open it from Website › Media library.

Three upload panels on top, then the library.

25.1 Uploading

1. Open a panel and click the box to choose a file.
2. Give it a name. For photos, write a short description of what is in the picture: screen readers read it out to visitors who can't see it.
3. Add tags, separated by commas (up to 8). Tags help you find things, and the tag media-center puts a video or PDF on the public Media page.
4. Click Upload photo, Upload video or Upload PDF. Videos and PDFs are sent in small parts with a progress bar; a video's cover picture is made from its first second.

You can run up to three uploads at the same time.

25.2 Finding things

The chips pick All, Photos, Videos or PDFs. Search looks in names, tags and descriptions, Tag shows one tag, and Used shows only what is used on the website or not used yet. The library shows 24 items per page, newest first. Each card shows the type, size, the tags and Used ×N or Not used.

25.3 Changing an item and seeing where it is used

Used on lists every place that shows this photo.

Click a card to open it. You can change the Name, Tags and, for photos, the Description for screen readers, then click Save. The window also shows the type and size, who added it and when, and Used on: the pages, teams, booking types, staff, room types, pets and albums that show it.

Replace the file (needs E) swaps in a new file of the same kind. The name and tags stay, and every place that uses it shows the new file at once. This is the easy way to update a photo that is used in many places.

25.4 Deleting

Click Delete (needs D). Something that is still used can't be deleted; a box lists where it is used, so you can choose another picture in those places first.

Used items are protected.

An item that isn't used is removed for good after you confirm. Old page versions may still point to it; if you restore such a version, the missing picture is left out.

Albums

Albums are photo collections shown on the public Media page, like Inside the hospital or Patients of the month. Each album picks its photos from the Media Library, so a photo can be in several albums. Open it from Website › Albums.

Each card shows the cover, the number of photos, the date and whether it is on the website.

26.1 Making or changing an album

The first photo is the cover unless you pick another one.

1. Click New album, or click an album card.
2. Fill in the Title, the Date and a Short line shown under the title on the website.
3. Click Add photos and tick photos in the picker, then click Add. You can also upload a new photo there (needs A on the media library).
4. Under each photo: the arrows move it, Cover makes it the album cover, and × takes it out of the album (the photo stays in the library).
5. Tick Show on the website to publish it, or untick to keep it hidden while you work on it.
6. Click Save.

A published album needs at least one photo. An album can hold up to 200 photos.

26.2 On the website

The Media page shows every published album that has photos, newest date first. Visitors open an album to see its photos in your order. View on site opens the Media page in a new tab. The Photo albums block on the Media page can be moved or retitled in Pages.

26.3 Deleting an album

Open the album, click Delete and confirm. The album leaves the website; its photos stay in the media library.

Messages

Messages are what visitors send with the contact form on the website. Each message has the sender's name, email, phone (if given), a topic and the text. The team reads them here, answers by email or phone, writes a short note and marks them done. Open it from Website › Messages.

All messages. New ones have a dot and a New label.

27.1 The list

• Status: Open (not done) is the normal view. You can also show only New, Read or Done, or Everything.
• Topic: Appointments, Boarding, Grooming, Prices, Records, New client or Other, as the sender chose on the form.
• Today, 7 days, 30 days and All, or a From and To date, pick when it was received.
• Search looks in the name, email, phone, the message and the team note.

The newest messages come first, 20 per page. The status column shows who handled a message and Note when it has a team note. Click Open to read one.

27.2 Reading and answering

An answered message with its team note.

Opening a new message marks it Read (if you have E). The window shows when it came in, the topic, the email and phone, and a Possible client when the email or phone matches a client in Clients. Check it is really the same person before you share anything.

• Reply by email opens your email program with a new email to the sender, titled Your message to and the hospital's name.
• Call dials the number on a phone or a computer set up for calls.
• Mark done when it is dealt with. You are recorded as the person who handled it. Reopen puts a done message back in the open list; Mark unread makes it new again.
• Team note: a short note only staff see, like Called back on Tuesday, booked two cat condos. Click Save note. Saving a note marks the message read and you as the person who handled it. Clear the box and save to remove the note.

27.3 Deleting

Click Delete in the message (needs D) and confirm. The message and its team note are removed for good. Marking messages done is usually better, so the history stays.

Staff and Permissions

Everyone who signs in to the admin has a staff record here: their user name, role, what they do, whether they appear on the website, and which menus they may open. Managers use this page to add new people, reset passwords, make leavers inactive and set each person's rights. You need the Staff and permissions menu to open it.

The staff list with search, role and status filters.

28.1 The staff list

The list shows each person's name and job title, user name, role, provider type (with their colour on the schedule), status, last sign-in and whether they are on the website. A person who still has to choose their own password shows New password at next sign-in under the status.

• Search finds a name, user name or title as you type.
• Role shows one role only. Show switches between Active (the default), Inactive and Everyone.
• Click a row to open the person's page.

28.2 Adding a person

Click Add staff (needs A). The window has four parts.

The details window for a technician. Provider fields only show for vets, technicians and groomers.

Click Add staff at the bottom. For a provider the page says Added. Set their weekly hours in Hours and time off. A vet or groomer can only be booked once they have weekly hours (see Hours and Time Off) and are linked to the services they do (see Booking Types).

28.3 A person's page

The page shows the person's Details (role, provider type, the animals they see, home room, whose records they see, contact details, website settings and profile) and their Sign-in (user name, status, last sign-in and on how many devices they are signed in now). Below is the Permissions box.

A technician's page with two permission sections opened.

• Edit details opens the same window as adding, without the password. Changing the Role also resets their rights to that role's defaults. Setting the provider type to None clears the home room, species and credentials.
• Their activity opens the Activity Log filtered to this person (if you may see it).
• All staff goes back to the list.

28.4 Passwords, inactive and deleting

• Set a new password (for someone who forgot theirs): type it twice, at least 8 characters, and click Save password. They are signed out everywhere at once. Tell them the new password in person; they must choose their own the next time they sign in.
• Sign out everywhere appears while the person is signed in somewhere. Use it when a shared computer was left signed in.
• Make inactive is for people who leave. They are signed out at once, can't sign in, and are left out of new bookings and schedules. Their records keep their name. Make active again undoes it.
• Delete (the link Added by mistake? Delete …, needs D) only works for someone who never did anything in the system. If they signed in, booked, saw a patient, took a payment or did anything else, the window lists what they have in the records and offers Make inactive instead. Deleting also removes their hours, time off and rights. It can't be undone.

You can't use these buttons on your own account. To change your own password, use My account.

28.5 Permissions

The Permissions box lists every menu, grouped by the sections of the side menu: Front office, Clinical, Boarding, Clients, Invoices, Catalog, Reports, Website and Administration. Each section is closed at first and shows how many of its menus the person can open, for example 3 of 5. Click a section to open it; its menus show under a line on the left.

Each menu shows its rights as buttons. A ticked button is a right they have.

1. Open the section and tick or untick the buttons. Ticking any right also ticks View; unticking View clears the others in that row.
2. Click Save permissions. The new rights apply the next time the person opens a page.

Reset to … defaults ticks the defaults of their role (see 28.7). It changes nothing until you click Save permissions.

28.6 Rights in each menu

Not every menu has every right. The table shows the rights each menu has, and the defaults each role starts with. Managers always have all of them. Dashboard and My account are open to everyone.

Role defaults as the system starts. Your hospital may have changed them on the Roles tab.

Separate from the menu rights, Only their own records (in the person's details) limits a person to their own appointments and visits, whatever menus they can open.

28.7 Roles and default rights

The Roles and default rights tab lists the roles with how many people have each. Click a role to see and change its default rights.

The Vet role's default rights.

• Tick the defaults and click Save … defaults (needs E). This changes the defaults only: people who already have the role keep their own rights until you use Reset to … defaults on their page, or give them the role again.
• Add role (A) creates a role with a name and an order in lists. A new role starts with no rights; tick its defaults after saving.
• Rename (E) changes the name or order.
• Delete (D) works only when nobody has the role, active or inactive. Give those people another role first. The Manager role can't be deleted and has nothing to set.

28.8 Rules that keep rights safe

Someone who is not a manager can be given the Staff and permissions menu, for example a practice lead. These rules stop rights from being widened by accident:

• You can only give rights you have yourself. Rights you don't have are greyed out. If you try, the box says You can only give rights you have yourself. Untick: …
• Only a manager can give someone the Staff and permissions menu, add or change a manager, or make someone a manager.
• Only a manager can change a person who can manage staff, a person who has rights you don't have, or (if you see only your own records) a person who sees everyone's. Their page says why.
• When you add or change someone, you can only pick a role whose defaults you could give yourself.
• Nobody changes their own role, rights or password here, makes themselves inactive or deletes themselves. Ask another manager.
• At least one active manager must stay. The last active manager can't be made inactive, given another role or deleted. Make someone else a manager first.

Rooms and Room Types

This page sets up the real rooms of the hospital: exam rooms, the surgery suite, recovery cages, grooming tables, dog runs and cat condos. A room type says what a room is for, its colour on the boards and which animals it suits. A room is one real place of that type. You need the Rooms and room types menu: V to look, A to add, E to change and reorder, D to delete.

Room types with colour, the animals they suit, the number of rooms and, for boarding, the nightly price.

29.1 Reading the page

The summary line counts active room types, active rooms and rooms in use now. Show switches between Active only, Inactive only and Everything.

Below the room types, the Rooms part has a box for each type with its rooms. A room with a patient in it shows In use and the pet's name; an empty one shows Free.

Rooms grouped by type, each with its note for staff.

29.2 Adding or changing a room type

Click Add a room type, or Edit on a row.

Click Add room type or Save changes. Changes show on the boards and booking pages straight away.

29.3 Boarding run types

When What it is for is Boarding, more fields appear.

A boarding run type with its dog size, nightly price item and website text.

• Dog sizes for this run: small, medium and/or large; none means any size.
• Price for one night: required. Pick one of the boarding items from Items and Prices. The owner is charged this item once for every night.
• Show this run type on the website: shows it on the Boarding page and in online stay booking (see Booking Online).

29.4 Rooms

1. Click Add a room here in a type's box, or Add a room at the top.
2. Type the Name (different from every other room), pick the Room type (active types only), and add a Note for staff if useful, for example scale by the door.
3. Set the Order or leave it empty to put it last, and click save.

Use the up and down arrows next to a room type or a room to change the order (needs E). The boards, lists and room pickers follow this order.

29.5 Inactive and delete rules

• Make inactive by unticking Active in the edit window. This is refused while a patient is in the room (or in a room of that type) or a booked or confirmed appointment still uses it. The window lists the patients and bookings: wait until they have left, or move the bookings first.
• A room can't move to another room type, and a type can't change between boarding and other use, while it is in use in the same way. A type also can't change between boarding and other use while booking types use it; change those in Booking Types first.
• Make active appears on inactive rows. A room can only be made active again when its room type is active.
• Delete (in the edit window, D) only works for something that was never used: a room with no appointments, visits or staff home room, or a room type with no rooms, booking types or appointments. Otherwise the window says what still uses it and offers Make inactive.

A room with history can't be deleted; make it inactive instead.

Hours and Time Off

This page holds when each vet, technician and groomer works, the days they are away, and the days the whole hospital is closed. Online booking and the schedule follow these. You need the Hours and time off menu: V to look, E to change weekly hours and holidays, and the extra right X Time off to see and manage time off.

Clinic opening hours at the top, then each provider's usual week.

30.1 How hours limit booking times

A time can only be booked with a person when all of these allow it:

• The hospital is open that day (Settings → Opening hours). Staff hours outside opening hours don't count: the weekly table marks them Outside clinic hours or Clinic closed.
• The person works that day, outside their break.
• The person has no time off that day, and the day is not a holiday.
• The person has no other appointment then, and (for services that need one) a room of the right type is free.

30.2 Weekly hours

The Weekly hours tab shows every active vet, technician and groomer with their hours for each day, their break and the total hours a week. Time off in the next 30 days shows under the name. Click a row to change it (E).

One person's usual week. Each day shows the clinic's hours for that day.

1. Tick Works for the days they work and set From and To.
2. For a break, fill in Break from and Break to, or leave both empty for none. The break must sit inside the working day.
3. Copy Monday to Tuesday – Friday fills the weekdays from Monday.
4. Click Save hours.

Office staff without a provider type are not on this tab. A new provider shows here once added in Staff and Permissions.

30.3 Time off

The Time off tab (needs X Time off) lists planned time off with the dates, number of days and note. Away now marks current time off. The Appointments column shows None booked or how many appointments are still booked with that person on those days; click it to see them. The latest 40 past entries show under Past, and Person filters the list.

1. Click Add time off.
2. Pick Who (anyone active, office staff too), the First day off and the Last day off, and a note if you like, for example conference.
3. The window lists any appointments already booked with them on those days, each with Open.
4. Click Add time off.

Saving does not move existing appointments; open each one to move it.

• Time off can be at most a year, and can't overlap another time off of the same person; change that one instead.
• Edit changes an entry; Delete removes it and the person can be booked on those days again.

30.4 Holidays

Holidays are days the whole hospital is closed: nobody can be booked, online or at the desk. Adding and deleting needs E.

A holiday with appointments still booked that day.

1. Pick the Day (today or later, within three years). The box says right away if appointments are already booked that day.
2. Type a Name, for example Thanksgiving, and click Add holiday.

A holiday with bookings shows … appointments are still booked that day; click it to see them. Adding a holiday does not cancel or move them. Delete opens the day again. Past holidays stay for the record and can't be deleted.

Settings

Settings hold the hospital's details and the rules the whole system follows: opening hours, booking, boarding, reminders, tax and invoices, time zone and the list of species. Each tab is saved on its own with the button at its bottom. You need the Settings menu: V shows the values, E lets you change them. If a value is not accepted, the field is marked in red and nothing on that tab is saved.

Changes apply in the admin at once. The website shows them within about half a minute.

31.1 Hospital

The hospital's name and contact details, emergency partner, accent colour and insurance list.

31.2 Opening hours

For each day tick Open and set the opening and closing time, or untick it for a closed day. Online booking, the schedule and the website use these hours. Each person's own hours are set in Hours and Time Off; they only count inside opening hours. Click Save opening hours.

31.3 Bookings

31.4 Boarding

• Check-in from, Check-in until (must be later) and Check-out by: the times owners can drop off and must collect.
• Longest stay: 1 to 90 nights.
• Owners can cancel a stay online up to: 0 to 336 hours before.
• Vaccines needed for a stay: for dogs and for cats, tick the vaccines the pet must have up to date until the day it goes home. The list comes from the active vaccines in Items and Prices.

31.5 Reminders

• Remind this many days before something is due: 1 to 180 days. Vaccines and rechecks show on the Reminders list this long before they are due.
• Wellness exam every: 1 to 60 months. A pet with no visit for this long shows as due for a check-up.

31.6 Billing & email

• Sales tax: a percent from 0 to 30, for example 7.25. Added to items marked as taxable, for example products. Use 0 for no tax.
• Billed invoices are due after: 0 to 365 days. Sets the due date of invoices billed for later (see Balances and Statements).
• Note on every invoice and statement: up to 600 characters.
• Email the visit summary and invoice to the owner when checkout is finished: see Checkout.

The box below says whether email is set up. If it says Email is not set up yet, invoices and visit summaries can't be emailed; print them or hand them over until the person who looks after the website sets up the mail server. The mail server is not changed on this page.

31.7 Other

• Time zone of the hospital: all times in the admin and on the website follow it. The hint shows the time there now.
• Show times with the 24-hour clock (14:30 instead of 2:30 PM).
• Largest video upload (1 to 500 MB) for the media library, and Largest file upload on visits (1 to 100 MB).

31.8 Species

The Species tab lists the kinds of animals the hospital sees, with their plural name, whether they have sizes, the number of pets on file, the order and the status.

• Add a species: a Short key (2 to 20 lower-case letters, can't be changed later), the Name, the Plural (empty means name + s), the Order, Has sizes (small, medium, large, used for dogs) and Active.
• Edit changes everything but the key. An inactive species can't be picked for new pets, booking types or staff; pets already on file keep theirs.
• Delete only works when nothing uses the species. The window lists exactly what still uses it: pets on file (including inactive and passed-away pets), staff who see it, test result ranges, booking types, room types and items. Then make it inactive instead with Edit species.

A species in use can't be deleted; the window lists what uses it.

When nothing uses it, Delete species removes it for good, together with its breed suggestions and its boarding vaccine setting. This can't be undone.

Activity Log and My Account

The Activity log records sign-ins and important changes, newest first: who did what, to what, when and from which IP address. Managers use it to check who changed a price, voided a payment or tried to sign in. You need the Activity log menu (V). My account is open to everyone.

Each entry shows when, who, the action, its target and whether it worked.

32.1 What is logged

The target says what was changed, often with the old and new value, for example a permission change lists each menu with its rights before and after.

32.2 Finding entries

• Who: everyone, Website (not signed in), or one person (inactive people are marked).
• From and To: a date range in the hospital's time zone.
• Action or target: type part of an action or target, for example permissions or a pet's name. Known actions are suggested as you type.
• Failed only: shows only failed entries.

The list shows 50 entries a page; use Previous and Next. Download list (CSV) saves the entries that match the filters (up to 5,000) as a spreadsheet file. Their activity on a person's page in Staff and Permissions opens the log for that person.

32.3 Failed sign-ins and refused actions

Entries that did not work are shaded and marked Failed.

• A wrong password is logged as a failed signin with the user name that was typed. If that user name belongs to nobody, the entry shows Website as who.
• After 6 wrong tries for the same user name within 5 minutes, sign-in stops for a few minutes with Too many attempts. Please wait a few minutes.
• Actions refused because the person lacks the right, or because something was in use, are logged as failed too.

32.4 My account

My account at the bottom of the side menu shows your name and user name, lets you change your password, and lists what you can do.

A technician's account page with the menus and rights they have.

1. Type your Current password, then the New password twice (at least 8 characters).
2. Click Save new password. You stay signed in here; other places where you are signed in are signed out.

What you can do lists each menu you can open with your rights, for example Room board (view, edit), and says if you see only your own appointments and visits. Managers see every area, plus staff, rights and settings. Your name, title, photo and other details are changed by a manager in Staff and Permissions.

Going Live

This chapter is for the person who installs the system and sets up a new hospital. It covers the server, the database, the settings file, the first sign-in and the order in which to fill in your hospital's details.

33.1 What you need

• A Windows server with IIS and the .NET 10 Hosting Bundle (or any host that runs .NET 10 web apps).
• Microsoft SQL Server (Express is enough for one hospital) and SQL Server Management Studio to run the setup script.
• An email account the system can send from (server name, port, address and password), for visit summaries, invoices and statements.
• A web address with HTTPS. Staff sign-ins and owners' details travel over it, so never run the live site on plain HTTP.

33.2 Create the database

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to your server.
2. Open AnimalHospital_Schema.sql and run it. It creates the database AnimalHospital, all its tables and the starting set of settings, menus, roles with their default rights, species and breed suggestions.
3. Create a SQL sign-in for the website with read and write rights on that database (or use one you already have).

33.3 The settings file

The file appConfig/application.cfg holds the few settings that belong to the server rather than to the hospital. Open it in a text editor and change these lines:

app.app.runmode | 1
app.Settings.encryptkey | (a long random text of your own)
app.mail.server | smtp.office365.com
app.mail.port | 587
app.mail.addr | hello@yourhospital.com
app.mail.id | hello@yourhospital.com
app.mail.password | (the email account's password)
app.mail.title | Your Hospital Name
app.sqldb.source | (your SQL Server name)
app.sqldb.catalog | AnimalHospital
app.sqldb.id | (SQL sign-in)
app.sqldb.password | (its password)
user.admin.user | admin
user.admin.passhash | (see below)
user.folders.vault | vault
user.trust.proxy | 0

To make the password code for user.admin.passhash, run this in PowerShell, type the password and copy the 64-character result into the file:

$p = Read-Host "Password"; [BitConverter]::ToString([Security.Cryptography.SHA256]::Create().ComputeHash([Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($p))).Replace("-","").ToLower()

33.4 Folders the website writes to

Give the website's account (on IIS, the application pool identity, for example IIS AppPool\AnimalHospital) Modify permission on these folders:

33.5 The first sign-in

1. Open /AdminLogin and sign in with the user name and password from the settings file.
2. That account becomes a Manager with every right.
3. Open Staff and Permissions and add each person who will use the admin, with their role and a starting password. The first time they sign in, they are asked to choose their own password.

33.6 Set up your hospital, in this order

1. Settings: name, address, phone, email, emergency partner, colour, time zone, opening hours, booking rules, boarding rules, reminders, tax rate, invoice terms and the species you see.
2. Rooms and room types: your exam rooms, surgery and dental suites, recovery, grooming tables and boarding runs.
3. Staff and permissions: every person, role and rights; vets, technicians and groomers with their species and website profile.
4. Hours and time off: each person's weekly hours, planned time off and the days the hospital is closed.
5. Items and prices: exams, procedures, medicines, tests, vaccines, grooming, boarding nights and extras, products and fees.
6. Test fields: the result fields and normal ranges of each test.
7. Booking types: what owners can book online, how long it takes and who does it.
8. Pages, Media library and Albums: your own text, photos, videos and forms on the website.
9. Book a test visit and a test stay on the website, check them in, run them through to checkout, and cancel them.

33.7 Keeping it safe

• Back up the database every night, and the vault/ and images/ folders with it. A backup you have never restored is only a hope: try a restore on a spare machine once.
• Staff sign-ins last up to 8 hours and renew while the person keeps working. Signing out ends the sign-in at once.
• After 6 wrong passwords within 5 minutes, that user name is paused for a few minutes.
• Changing or resetting someone's password signs them out everywhere.
• Every change that matters is written to the Activity log with who did it and when, including refused attempts.
• Check your local rules for keeping client details and medical records, and for how long you must keep them.

Reference

Lists to look things up quickly: statuses, numbers, rights and the default rights of each role.

34.1 Statuses

34.2 Numbers and codes

34.3 Rights on each page

Rights are given per person and per page: V view, A add, E edit, D delete and X an extra right that each page names for itself. A page only offers the rights that make sense for it.

34.4 Default rights of each role

A new person gets the rights of their role. You can change them for that person at any time; a dash means no access.

Quick Answers

Short answers to the questions teams ask most. Each one points to the chapter with the full steps.

35.1 At the desk

An owner walked in without an appointment.

Use the walk-in button on the Today board. Find the pet (or add the client and pet first in Clients) and the visit opens as waiting.

I checked in the wrong pet.

Undo the check-in on the Today board while the visit is still waiting (not started). The appointment goes back to the arrivals list, then check in the right pet.

The owner wants to pay part now and the rest later.

At Checkout, take the payment for the part they pay now, then finish with Bill later. The rest appears in Balances with a due date.

A payment was entered by mistake.

Void it with a reason in Payments or on the invoice. You need the Void payment right. The invoice balance is worked out again straight away.

The owner didn't get the email.

Check the owner's email address in Clients, then send it again from the invoice. You can always print the visit summary, invoice or statement instead.

35.2 In the exam room

I can't add a note: a box asks for a room.

The visit hasn't been started yet. Pick the room and who sees the patient, click Start visit, and the note form opens. See Visits.

I need to change a signed note.

Signed notes are locked. Add an addendum to the note instead; it shows under the note with your name and the time.

Results came back after the visit was closed.

Tests that were still waiting can be entered in Pending results even after the visit is closed.

Where do I see everything about one pet?

In Patient charts: every visit with notes, diagnosis, orders, results, files and weight and result trends.

35.3 Setup and rights

A colleague can't see a page.

A manager opens the person in Staff and Permissions and ticks V for that page. The page appears in their menu the next time it loads.

Someone forgot their password.

A manager resets it in Staff and Permissions. The person signs in with the new password and is asked to choose their own.

We stopped selling an item or seeing a species.

Make it inactive. It disappears from the lists you pick from, and everything already on file keeps it. You can delete only things that were never used.

The hospital is closed on a holiday.

Add the day in Hours and time off. No online booking times are offered that day.

How do I change the text on the website?

In Pages. The hospital name, phone, address and hours come from Settings and update everywhere at once.