What Dev does
A community center, hired by the hour.
Dev runs Brookside Community Center: a main hall, two meeting rooms and a kitchen, open eight in the morning to ten at night, and from nine on Saturdays. People book it for whatever hours they need.
Most of the week belongs to regular groups who book the whole term. Carla runs Zumba in the Main Hall on Tuesday evenings. Sue runs Knit & Natter in a meeting room on Thursday mornings, and always wants the tea urn. Around them, Dev books in parties and celebrations for the wider community, like Jess’s daughter’s birthday party on a Saturday afternoon. Mike, a volunteer, does the books.
Regular groups pay the community rate. People hiring for a party pay the hire rate, put down a deposit, and pay the balance before the day.
What he charges
| What is booked | Regular groups | Hiring for a party |
|---|---|---|
| The Main Hall | £10 an hour | £30 an hour |
| A meeting room | £8 an hour | Not for hire |
| The kitchen | Free, but booked | £10 an hour |
| The tea urn | £5 a booking. There is one. | |
The words on this page
| Word | What it is | What it does | Why it is useful |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resource | Anything people book. For Dev, the hall, the meeting rooms and the kitchen. | Gives each one its own diary, so nobody can double-book it. | Everything else is built on your resources. |
| Rate card | A price list. | Sets what each resource costs for the people on it. | Regular groups and party hirers pay different prices for the same hall. |
| Default card | The price list everyone starts on. | Every new member is put on it automatically. | For Dev, it is the community rate. |
| Price (the app's Add product) | One way of paying for a resource: for Dev, by the hour. | Tells me what to charge, and shows the person before they book. | Nobody is surprised by a bill. |
| Group | Resources someone can have only one of at a time. | Lets someone book things from different groups together. | A party can have the hall and the kitchen at once. |
| Extra | Something booked with a room, like the tea urn. | Adds its price to the booking, and stops two people having the only one. | No more arguments over the urn, and it is paid for. |
| Member | Someone who books: for Dev, the people who run the regular groups. | Puts their name on their bookings, and their bookings on one bill. | I know who is in the hall, and they can book from their own phone. |
| Guest booking | A booking for someone with no account, made by Dev after a phone call. | Holds the room for them on the right price list, with a deposit and a balance if he takes them. | A party hirer never has to sign up, and Dev still talks to them first. |
| Finance admin | An admin who sees the money, not the settings. | Gives the treasurer statements and payments, and nothing else. | Mike can do the books without being able to change the hall. |
| Statement | A member's bill for the month. | Lists their bookings and the total. | One bill a month, and nobody chased. |
The order, every time: the resources, then their prices, then, only if you need them, more rate cards, groups and extras. Then your members, and each person onto their price list. Members are part of setting up, not something for later: until I know who books, nobody can. The longer story behind these words is in How pricing works (bookwithdoris.com/guides/how-pricing-works).
Step 1
Opening hours, how people book, and guests.
Why: I need to know when the center is open and what a booking looks like before anything else.
Where: Settings, Hours & closures: eight till ten, Saturdays from nine. Settings, Booking rules, Booking style: Venue hire mode, so people book any start and end time. On the same page Dev switches on Guest bookings, so he can book in people who have no account, like a party hirer.
Step 2
The rooms.
Why: each one gets its own diary.
Where: Settings, Resources, Add resource for each: the Main Hall, Meeting Room 1, Meeting Room 2 and the Kitchen.
Step 3
The community rate, on the Default card.
Why: this is what the regular groups pay, and everyone starts here.
Where: Settings, Pricing, with Default chosen. On each room,Add product, By the hour: the Main Hall £10, each meeting room£8, the Kitchen £0. A free price still matters: the kitchen is still booked, so nobody double-books it.
Step 4
One group: the kitchen on its own.
Why: rooms in no group count as one: a person can hold only one of them at a time. A party needs the hall and the kitchen together, so the kitchen goes in a group of its own.
Where: Settings, Pricing, Groups on this card, Add group: call it Kitchen, tick the Kitchen, and leave Interchangeable off (people book this kitchen, not “a kitchen”).
Step 5
The tea urn, as an extra.
Why: there is one urn, and two groups used to want it at once. As an extra it is booked with a room, charged on the bill, and once someone has it nobody else can.
Where: Settings, Resources, Extras, Add extra: Tea urn,£5, and how many you have: 1. An extra goes on a one-off booking. More inExtras (bookwithdoris.com/guides/extras).
Step 6
A second price list, for parties.
Why: someone hiring the hall for a party pays more than a regular group.
Where: Settings, Pricing, Add rate card. Dev calls it Hire and leavesStart from Default on. Then on the Hire card he changes the prices: the Main Hall£30 an hour, the Kitchen £10. The meeting rooms are not for hire, so he takes them off the card with the cross beside each: a room that is not on a card cannot be booked on it.
Step 7
Add the people who book, and the treasurer.
Why: I need to know who is booking. That is why adding members is part of setting up: until they are in, nobody can book. Each regular group’s organiser is a member; their bookings come together on one bill.
What you need: each person’s email address. You can paste several at once.
Where: the Members page, Add member. UnderWelcome email, choose Hold it until I’m ready: Carla and Sue are added straight away and told nothing yet, so Dev can book their terms in first. They stay on the Default card, the community rate, with nothing more to do. When he is ready, Send invitationson the Members page sends their welcome emails. I never send a held email on my own. More inAdding your members (bookwithdoris.com/guides/inviting-members).
Mike is added the same way with the role Admin, then made a finance admin on his own member page: he sees statements and payments, and nothing he could break. More inRoles (bookwithdoris.com/guides/roles).
Step 8
A party, after a phone call.
Jess rings about her daughter’s birthday party: Saturday, two till five, the hall and the kitchen. Dev books her in as a guest on the Hire card. That is two bookings, one for each room, and each carries its own money: a £50 deposit and a £40 balance on the hall, the kitchen’s £30 on the kitchen. The Guest bookings page shows what is still owed. More inGuest bookings (bookwithdoris.com/guides/guest-bookings).
The month
What it comes to.
| Booking | Amount |
|---|---|
| Carla: four Tuesdays, an hour at £10 | £40 |
| Sue: four Thursdays, two hours at £8, and the urn each time at £5 | £84 |
| Jess’s party: the hall, three hours at £30, and the kitchen, three at £10 | £120 |
