Getting started with the Bookings module

Introduction to the Booking Module

Welcome to the ChurchSuite Bookings module! This module enables you to handle all your resource bookings, from adding bookings and managing customers to sending booking confirmations, maintaining a list of prices, raising booking charges and collecting payments.

We encourage you to read this article in full to familiarise yourself with the module's key features and customisation options and to acquaint yourself with some of the basic concepts and terminology you'll see within the module and our other Bookings module support articles.

Next Steps

Review the module's settings: Head into the module settings via the cogwheel icon in the top right-hand corner of the page. Review the settings, including the default planner view, who can approve clashes, default status of bookings and consider if you require any custom fields for your booking customers.

Add Booking Types and Resources: This Support Article takes you through the process of creating booking types and booking resources, including the ability to add custom fields for both booking types and booking resources.

Add Customers: In the Customers section, add some customer details. If you already have regular customers whose details you want to add, you can use the Import customers button to upload a CSV file, our Support Article contacts some further details on how to do so.

Add Bookings and Charges: Check out our Support Article on Adding and viewing Bookings.

Check out the Customer facing Booking Page: This Support Article provides further information about the booking page, which enables you to share booking details with your customers and allows your customers pay any charges online if they wish.

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Terminology

Here's a list of terms you may see across the ChurchSuite modules and in our support articles:

Bookings are entries in the Booking module. They hold the information about the date, time description, type and customer relating to the booking.
Planner is how we refer to the view detailing when your resources are booked, and is the first page you see when clicking into the Bookings module.
Booking Types are a way to categorise your bookings. Booking types can have questions associated with them so that you get the correct detail for the type of thing that's being booked.
Charges can be added to bookings and booking sequences to determine the cost of the booking.
Customers are people associated with a booking - usually the person requesting the booking. A customer can be linked to an Address Book contact, or can be some who isn't in the Address Book.
Prices are pre-determined costs associated with specific resources or booking types.
Resources are the things (rooms, equipment, vehicles, people) that can be booked. Resources can have questions associated with them so that you get the correct detail for the thing that's being booked.

Bookings module features at a glance

Add or import customers
Add your booking types: e.g. life events - like weddings, funerals, baptisms - and all your other internal and external bookings, each with custom questions for collecting the customer's related booking responses
Add your resources and categorise them: e.g. rooms, equipment, key people and vehicles; each with custom questions for collecting related customer booking responses
Easily manage resources that have a limited or unlimited quantity e.g. tables and chairs, with clash detection to alert if the available quantity is exceeded
Optionally assign overseers to a booking type and resources - overseers can be notified when bookings are added, edited or deleted, and receive a weekly digest email of all their upcoming bookings
Add single-date and multi-date sequence bookings
View resource bookings in a Day/7-day/28-day-to-view Planner, with granular type/resource filters
Manage booking management to-dos with checklists to ensure everything required happens before and after the booking
Manage internal-use resource bookings by linking to Calendar module events and manage external-use unlinked resource bookings
Factor in set up and set down time to the resource booking times
Built-in clash detection with clash approval option for permitted users
Manage the status of each of your resource bookings - from 'pending' to 'confirmed' or 'cancelled'
Maintain details of all your booking and resource-related prices - prices can be fixed, per hour and per day
Raise booking charges, assign a due date and collect payments online
Send bookings to customers by email, enclosing a link to their customer-facing booking page confirming all the booking details and charges
Manage customer admin processes using Flows and receive reminders when tasks become due and overdue
Subscribe to a range of booking iCal/Google Calendar feeds to see resource bookings in your preferred personal calendar app

Got a question?

You’ll find the answers to most questions in our support articles - they're all available through the Support beacon located in the bottom-right corner of each page in the Bookings module - just search by topic, phrase or keyword. You can also access the Support Article library on our website. And if you still can't find something you're looking for, click to get in touch with one of the ChurchSuite team - we’re happy to help!