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Get ready to take bookings ​

This page is the starting point for the person who sets up go flow for a business — usually the operations manager. It puts the setup tasks in an order that works, from a new, empty organisation to an offer that customers can book online. Each step says what to do and why, and links to the page that explains it in full. At the end you find how to tell which steps are already done, and how to check that a saved change has reached your booking site.

go flow's words do not always match the words of your business. The Glossary translates them, for example teacher, room, class or class card.

Before you start ​

  • Rights. Steps 1, 2 and 4 to 9 need Configuration & settings: Manage; step 10 needs Configuration & settings: Manage and Organisation: Manage (or Manage on the resource whose calendar carries the sessions); step 3 needs Users: Manage. Without the second right the server refuses the sessions and go flow signs you out, deleting changes not yet uploaded. See Users.
  • An email address you can read. The customer test in step 11 signs you in on the booking site with a one-time code sent by email.
  • Know what your customers book. A particular person or room for an individual appointment, any free member of a team, or a place in a scheduled class. The decision table on Resources helps you choose; one business often needs more than one kind.

The worked example ​

Studio Kranich is an invented movement studio. It has one room, Hall 1, and two teachers, Mara and Jonas. It offers a weekly Pilates Basics class (60 minutes, 10 places, CHF 30), private one-hour sessions with Mara (CHF 120) and a CHF 100 gift voucher. It takes card payments online and works in German and English. The Studio Kranich lines below show what the studio does at each step.

1. Organisation and modules ​

Open Configurations > Organisation. On the Profile tab enter the name, address and logo, pick the Languages you serve and the Default language, and check the time zone in the Attributes table: it decides the times your customers see. On the Modules tab every module starts switched on except SMS. Switch off what you will not use, so that menus, settings and the booking site show only what you offer, then save. Details: Set up your organisation and Organisation.

Studio Kranich picks German and English with German as the default. It keeps Payments, Wallets, Vouchers, Products, Promotions, Treatments, Sessions, Emails and Waitlist on, and switches off Feedback forms, Aggregate resources, Video and Weather. SMS stays off.

2. Payments ​

The payment settings sit under the Payments switch on the Modules tab: the Payment provider and, if customers may pay when they arrive, Allow paying at the desk. Currency and VAT rates are rows of the Attributes table on the Profile tab. Select Saferpay, the only provider connected to checkout, and enter its credentials with the pencil icon. A saved provider does not prove that payments work; the test purchase in step 11 does. While Payments is on, a paid checkout cannot complete without the billing address fields, so go flow keeps them selected on a booking template's Fields tab; a new template receives them only when you open that tab before its first save (step 9), or when the organisation is saved again. Details: Organisation and Review orders and payments.

Studio Kranich keeps CHF and the preset VAT rates, selects Saferpay with the credentials from its Saferpay account, and leaves paying at the desk off.

3. Team ​

Open Configurations > Users, add each colleague, choose their rights and send the invitation. The Status column shows who has accepted. Give Configuration & settings: Manage only to people who set up offers or generate and activate sessions; those who generate and activate sessions also need Organisation: Manage. A user is a login to the dashboard; a person whom customers book is a resource (step 4). A teacher can be both. Details: Invite your team and assign roles.

Studio Kranich invites Mara and Jonas with Clients: Manage and access to Hall 1, so that they see the Scheduler and their participants.

4. Resources ​

Open Configurations > Resources. On the Resources tab create a standard resource for each person, room or piece of equipment with its own calendar. A resource that customers book directly needs weekly availability on its Availability tab; a room that only carries scheduled classes does not. New resources start offline: switch Resource is online in the editor, or use Set selected resources online in the list, once the resource is ready. Details: Resources and Create a resource.

Studio Kranich creates Hall 1 without availability, and Mara with availability on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

5. Treatments or sessions ​

This step depends on what customers book; many businesses need both parts.

  • Individual appointments. Open Configurations > Treatments, create the treatment with its duration and price, then assign it to the resources that deliver it and give them availability for it. The Treatments menu appears while the Treatments module is on and at least one standard resource exists (or none exists yet). Details: Create a treatment.
  • Classes and other scheduled sessions. On the Sessions tab of Configurations > Resources, add a Session. This is the reusable definition: Slot duration (minutes), Slot capacity, Slot price, and Reservations possible (how many days ahead customers can book). Under Dependencies select the room or person whose calendar carries the sessions. A session definition also starts offline. Details: Schedule appointments and generate sessions.

Studio Kranich creates the treatment Private session (60 minutes, CHF 120) for Mara, and the session Pilates Basics (60 minutes, 10 places, CHF 30) with Hall 1 under Dependencies.

6. Products ​

Products are what customers buy without booking a time. Under Configurations > Products you can create two kinds: a Wallets product, which tops up the customer's prepaid credit, and a Vouchers product, which sells a voucher. Each product has an Amount type: Fixed, or Flexible, where the customer chooses an amount between a Minimum amount and a Maximum amount. go flow has no other product kinds — no class cards, memberships or merchandise — and products are sold on the booking site only, not at the desk. The Products menu needs the Payments and Products modules, and a new product starts offline. Details: Create a product and Products.

Studio Kranich creates a gift voucher product worth CHF 100.

7. Fields ​

Fields are the questions and declarations customers answer at checkout. Define each field once on the Fields tab of Configurations > Templates, then select it on the Fields tab of each booking template, treatment, session or product that should ask it. A field's Show in profile and Self managed settings decide whether customers see it, and can change their answer, in their own profile later. Details: Configure checkout fields and Template fields.

Studio Kranich defines an emergency contact field and a required health declaration, and selects both on Pilates Basics and on Private session.

8. Message templates ​

Open Configurations > Templates. The Messages tab holds an email template for each automatic message — confirmation, reminders, cancellation and others. Check each one in every language you offer. On the Branding tab create a header, footer and signature and mark one of each as default, then choose them in the Header, Signature and Footer fields of each email template: go flow adds the blocks a template chose at the moment the email is sent, so a later change to a block reaches all emails sent afterwards. The default only preselects the blocks of a template you have never saved. Which messages a treatment or session sends is switched on in its resource's editor. Details: Message templates and Resource details.

Studio Kranich puts its logo into a default header and adds an arrival note to the confirmation email in German and English.

9. Booking template ​

The booking template is your booking page. On the Bookings tab of Configurations > Templates, choose Add template. On Profile enter the name and the Slug, the last part of the page address shown as Public URL. On Resources select what this page offers; on Fields, Texts and Theme set its questions, wording and look. If the page offers treatments, set Booking UI mode to Session picker in the Attributes table on Profile: the default Calendar grid shows sessions only. Details: Set up online booking and Edit a booking template.

The template's Template is online switch is shown in the Online column of the list. In the current version the booking site does not check this switch: the page opens at its address as soon as the template is saved. Share the address only after step 11.

Studio Kranich creates the template Studio Kranich with the slug studio-kranich, selects Pilates Basics and Mara on Resources and sets Booking UI mode to Session picker, so that the private sessions with Mara are offered too.

10. Generate and activate sessions ​

Dated sessions are made in the Scheduler. Select the room or person whose calendar carries the sessions, switch to the Week or Work week view, and use Generate to create the week's sessions from the session definition. New sessions are Planned: drawn with a dashed outline and invisible to customers. Check them, then choose Activate all, or activate them one by one. Generate covers the week on screen, so repeat it for each week you open for booking. An activated session is shown to customers within the definition's Reservations possible horizon and according to its visibility. Details: Schedule appointments and generate sessions, Plan the weekly timetable and Session visibility & bookability.

Studio Kranich selects Hall 1, generates Pilates Basics for Monday and Wednesday at 18:00 for the next four weeks, one week at a time, and activates them.

11. Check as a customer ​

Wait until the cloud icon at the right of the top bar has stopped spinning and shows no "!". Then open the template's Public URL in a new private browser window, so that you see the page as a new customer does. Check the offers, the week shown, start and end times, free places, prices, the languages and the questions at checkout. Sign in with your own email address and the code you receive. For a complete test, book one place and find it in the Scheduler and, for a paid booking, under Finance > Orders and Finance > Payments. Check that the Confirmation email reaches your inbox, and open the session's participant list: your test booking shows its Payment state and the declarations you gave (choose the columns with Columns). go flow records no arrivals; see Arrivals: what go flow records. A test payment goes through your payment provider like any other payment. Details: Online booking checkout, Review orders and payments and Cancel or refund.

Studio Kranich books one place in next Monday's Pilates Basics, finds the booking and its order, then cancels it with a refund.

How to tell what is already done ​

go flow has no setup checklist; the Dashboard page is an empty placeholder. These indicators show the state of each step:

StepWhere to lookDone when
ModulesConfigurations > Organisation, Modules tabThe modules you use are on; their menus are visible.
Payment providerModules tab, under PaymentsSaferpay is selected with credentials, and a test purchase has succeeded (step 11).
TeamConfigurations > Users, Status columnEach colleague shows Active.
Resources, treatments, products, promotionsThe Online column of each listTicked. Customers never see an item that is offline.
Session definitionsConfigurations > Resources, Sessions tabOnline ticked, and Dependencies names the room or person whose calendar carries the sessions.
Dated sessionsScheduler, the weeks you open for bookingNo dashed (Planned) sessions are left; Activate all only appears while planned sessions are on screen.
Booking templateConfigurations > Templates, Bookings tabIt is listed with its URL, and its Resources tab includes your offers. The Online column does not control the booking site (see step 9).
Your own changesThe cloud icon in the top barIt is not spinning and shows no "!".

Check that a change reached the customer site ​

A saved form in the dashboard is not yet proof that customers see the change. A save travels in three stages.

How a save travels ​

  1. Your device. Every configuration editor saves to this device first and then starts uploading at once. While it uploads, the cloud icon at the right of the top bar spins.
  2. The go flow server. When the upload is accepted, go flow stores the change and, in the background, clears the booking site's stored copy of your configuration. This happens for changes to the organisation, booking templates, resources and session definitions, treatments, products, promotions, fields and translated texts. A change to a message template clears the copy used for sending emails and SMS. Dated sessions, bookings and clients are not part of that copy: the booking site reads them fresh every time a customer opens or changes the calendar week.
  3. The customer's browser. The booking site loads your configuration once, when the page is opened. A page that was already open keeps showing the old configuration until it is reloaded. The booking site keeps no offline copy, so a reload fetches the current configuration.

How long it takes ​

  • Online, cloud icon still and without "!": the change reaches a reloaded customer page within a few seconds.
  • Cloud icon amber with "!": the change is stored only on this device. go flow retries about every 30 seconds, when you move to another page and when you return to the tab; click the icon to retry at once. Do not log out until the "!" is gone: logging out deletes everything stored on this device, including changes not yet uploaded.
  • Red message at the bottom, "Sync failed, please check your connectivity!" followed by a reason in brackets: the server refused the change. It stays on this device only. Correct the value named in the message and save again.
  • New dated sessions: once activated and uploaded, customers see them the next time their calendar loads a week, without a reload. A new session definition, a new treatment or a new product appears only after a reload.

What to open and refresh ​

  1. In the dashboard, wait until the cloud icon is still and shows no "!".
  2. Open the template's Public URL in a new private window, or reload the customer tab you already have open.
  3. Go to the place where your change shows: the calendar or offer list for sessions and treatments, the session's detail for prices, descriptions and images, the checkout for fields, the language switch for translations.
  4. For a message template, the change shows in the next message go flow sends.

If the customer page still shows the old version ​

  • Check the cloud icon. Spinning means the upload is still running; "!" means it has not reached the server.
  • Reload the customer page. A page left open does not update itself.
  • Check that the item is online, that the dated session is activated (not Planned), lies within Reservations possible and is not Hidden, and that the booking template's Resources tab includes it.
  • Check that you opened the right template: each booking page shows only the offers its template includes.
  • Rarely, a customer request that arrives at the same moment as your save puts the previous version back into the booking site's stored copy. If the page still shows the old version a minute later, save a small change to the same item again, for example add a tag to it; every accepted save of the organisation, a booking template, resource, session definition, treatment, product, promotion, field or text clears the stored copy again.

Studio Kranich raises Pilates Basics from CHF 30 to CHF 32. Bookings already made keep the price they were made at. From the moment the upload is accepted, checkout charges CHF 32; a customer page that was open before shows CHF 30 on the session until it is reloaded.