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QikKids 4 supports several different types of booking. This section contains a general overview of the different booking systems and examples of where they are commonly used, followed by a detailed description of each type.
One of the most important functions of QikKids is to provide a register of attendances for planning, billing and general record keeping. QikKids does this via the Rolls screen, where attendances are broken down day by day into various "rolls". A roll typically corresponds to a particular service or room; for example Toddler's Room or After School Care.
There are 3 possible types of attendance listed on the roll:
At it's simplest, the Rolls screen can be used in a completely manual fashion. Every day, for each roll, the list of children attending is entered, and QikKids calculates the relevant charges. This type of system works well for centres that operate on a casual or drop in basis, but most centres need to plan for, and often bill, attendances well in advance of the current day.
The booking system is concerned with managing future attendances, and it does so by listing these attendances as pencil bookings on the roll. It's purpose is to provide a way to quickly and easily manage these future attendances including the waiting lists.
Permanent Bookings
Most centres accept permanent bookings - that is a fixed attendance that recurs on a weekly or fortnightly pattern. This pattern is entered for each child or family, and the booking system then automatically shows these names on the appropriate rolls and days as pencil bookings. Permanent bookings always have a starting date and optionally an ending date. The ending date is typically used for rolls that take bookings on a yearly basis. For example, you may operate placement or waiting lists for the following year(s); entering these into the permanent bookings system enables QikKids to generate and manage those lists.
Whenever you view a roll for a particular day, QikKids will always refer back to the current permanent bookings. If a permanent booking is modified or deleted, there is no need to make any modifications to the pencil bookings on the roll, as this is handled automatically
Casuals and Altered Attendances
If a family requests just a few days of future attendance (or alternatively cancels attendance on a few days), it may be simpler to directly add or delete the attendances to the roll rather than changing any permanent bookings. On the Rolls screen, move to the roll and day concerned, if you are adding an attendance click Add and select the names you wish to add as casuals. Unless you wish to immediately charge for those attendances leave Insert As set to Pencil Bookings.
If you are cancelling an attendance for a permanent booking and you don't charge for or record absences, simply highlight the name and click Remove - the system will remember that you have cancelled the attendance for that day, ignoring the permanent booking. If they change their mind and attend, you will need to add them back as a casual.
If you charge for absences, highlight the name and click Edit. You can then modify the attendance to your absent fee, though again the system will not charge them until you are generating charges for that period.
Block Bookings
In some situations a booked attendance pattern is too random to fit into a permanent booking. In this situation you can insert the pattern as casuals (see Casuals and Altered Attendances above) or you can use the Block Bookings screen to quickly input an attendance pattern. The Block Bookings screen allows direct input of a pattern for up to 14 weeks in one go.