Creating and managing a group event

The Group Events module is for managing sessions that several people attend at the same time: workshops, seminars, group walks, special events and similar one-off or recurring organisations. For classes that run on a regular weekly pattern, the Class Management module is a better fit.

Turning the module on

The Group Events menu only appears while the module is on. On the My Business → Pi Store page, click the Group Events card in the Special Modules section and press Activate. The page reloads by itself; Group Events appears in the left menu (shown to users allowed to view group appointments) and customer cards get a Group Events tab. Turning the module on requires the permission to set up integrations (the business owner can always do it). To turn it off, use Disconnect in the same window.

The event list

When the Group Events page opens, the list shows events starting from today that are not cancelled, sorted by date from oldest to newest. To see past events, open Filters and clear the Start Date or move it back; to see cancelled events, add Cancelled to the Status field. The cross button at the end of the filter panel and the Clear Filters button on an empty list reset the filters to this default (from today, without cancellations) — they do not show every event.

• Filters: Search (title or description), Start Date, End Date, Status (multiple), Staff, Resource/Room, Sort and Per Page.

• Table: Group Event (title and services), Date & Time, Staff, Resource, Capacity, Price, Status and Online columns. An event with online requests awaiting approval shows an "N awaiting approval" badge.

• Row: clicking a row opens the event's detail page; the ⋮ menu on the row holds Details, Participants, Edit and Cancel.

The event creation wizard

Press Create Group Event at the top right; a six-step wizard opens. You move between steps with Next and Back or by clicking the numbers on the step bar at the top; you cannot pass a step whose required field is empty.

1. 1

   Basic Information

   The title is required. Pick the Calendar Color from the swatches or the custom colour picker and, if you like, write a Description.

   Choose an Image from the Library in the Images section only lists images you have already added to other events; for your first event that list is empty. New images are not uploaded in the wizard: you upload them after creating the event, on the Event Photos card on the detail page (see below).

2. 2

   Date and Time

   Date, Start Time and Duration (minutes) are required; the defaults are today, 09:00 and 60 minutes.

   If you turn on the Recurring Appointment switch, choose a Repeat Type: Every day, Every week (same weekday), Every month on the same weekday position, Every year (same date), Every weekday (Monday - Friday) or Custom. The ready-made types repeat for one year from the start; with Custom you set the frequency, the days and the end (a date or a number of repeats). All occurrences are created as separate events at once. Recurrence can only be chosen when creating.

3. 3

   Capacity

   Enter the Minimum Attendees (1 by default) and the Maximum Participants (required, 10 by default); the minimum cannot be greater than the maximum. The minimum is for information only: when it is above 1 it shows as "Min: N" in the list and as Minimum on the Capacity card of the detail page; the event is not cancelled automatically and no warning appears if that number is not reached. When the maximum is reached, the event becomes Full and no new participants can be added.

4. 4

   Staff and Service

   Staff is required. Resource/Room is optional. Select at least one of the Services: the list shows the selected staff member's services as "Service [customer type]", so pick the staff member first; changing the staff member clears the selected services. One of these services is chosen when you add a participant.

5. 5

   Pricing

   Under Pricing Type choose Per Person or Fixed Total and enter the amount; enter 0 for a free event. With Fixed Total, the Per-Person Calculation is the total divided by the maximum number of participants, and that is each participant's fee.

6. 6

   Online Booking

   If you turn on Online booking enabled, the event opens for sign-up on your customer site and in the customer mobile app. Four settings then appear: Automatic approval (on by default; when off, requests wait for your approval), Show remaining spots (on by default), Booking Cut-off (min) (how many minutes before the event online sign-up closes, 60 by default) and Subscribers only (only customers with an active subscription can join online). When "Show remaining spots" is off, no number appears on the customer page or in the mobile app; the event is only shown as "Available" or "Full".

   Finally press Create; the message "Group event created successfully." appears and the event is added to the list with the Open status.

Event photos

On the Event Photos card in the right-hand column of the event's detail page you upload photos by dragging them in or clicking (PNG, JPG, WEBP; at most 10 MB). Choose from Library lets you reuse images already uploaded to events. The photos appear on the event card on your customer site (the first photo becomes the cover) and in the event detail.

Editing an event

Choose Actions → Edit on the detail page or Edit from the row's ⋮ menu in the list; the same wizard opens as Edit Group Event and you press Update on the last step. Completed and cancelled events cannot be edited. Recurrence and image selection are not available when editing.

• The services of an event with participants cannot be changed, and the maximum cannot be set below the current number of participants. A price change only applies to participants added from now on.

• When you press Update, the Update Scope window opens: This Event Only, Update the Following Events Too or Cancel. Update the Following Events Too also applies the change to the later (not completed, not cancelled) occurrences of the same series; if the date or time changed, they are shifted by the same amount. The window also appears for an event that does not repeat; in that case choose This Event Only.

• If the event has participants, a Notification Settings step is added to the wizard as step 7 (see below).

With Notify attendees when the date or time changes turned on, changing the event's date or time sends your When an Event Is Rescheduled automation (under Automations) to the participants awaiting approval and the approved ones; you can use the old date in the message with the {groupAppointmentPreviousStartDateTime} variable. If that automation is not set up, no message is sent and you see a warning when you save. With "Update the Following Events Too", each participant gets a single message with the old and new date of their earliest shifted occurrence.

Adding participants

On the detail page press Add Participant at the top right (or Add Participant on the Participants card). Type at least 2 characters in the Customer field to search by name or phone and pick the customer; the Service field comes with the event's first service selected. The price comes from the event's per-person fee ("Using the group price"); with the Use a custom price switch you can enter an amount specific to that person. The VAT and VAT Status fields in the window do not change the participant's fee; the fee is the amount in the Price field. Add a staff note in the Note field if you like and press Add Participant.

The person joins the list with the Approved status and your "When a Participant Joins an Event" automation runs (if it is set up). Adding a participant does not open a receivable; the fee shows as the Outstanding Balance on the participant's row and is closed by taking payments. The same customer cannot be added to an event twice, and nobody can be added once the capacity is full.

The participant list and attendance

The Participants card shows each person's status (Pending Approval, Approved, Attended, No-show, Cancelled) and payment details (Fee, Paid, Receivable Record, Outstanding Balance, payment status). The ⋮ menu on the row holds Customer Details, Approve Participation / Reject Request for a pending request, Take Payment while there is a balance, Mark as Attended, Mark as No-Show and Cancel Attendance. Event attendance does not use package session credits or cancellation rights.

• There is no bulk attendance in the web panel; you mark each participant from their own menu (bulk marking exists in the mobile app).

• Once a participant is marked Attended or No-show, the attendance cannot be changed in the web panel and the attendance cannot be cancelled, so check before marking. In the mobile app you can switch between Attended and Not Attended.

• In the Cancel Attendance window you can add an optional reason. When a participant's attendance is cancelled, their unpaid (pending) receivables are cancelled too; payments already taken stay in place. A cancelled participant's row no longer shows a remaining balance or a payment status; if a payment had been taken, a "Payment was received; a refund may be needed" notice appears — deciding on and making the refund is up to you. The Group Events tab on the customer card does not show a cancelled attendance as owing either.

Payments

Take Payment in the participant's ⋮ menu opens the Add Collection window. The amount comes filled with the outstanding balance; pick the Payment Method (it is not preselected), add Notes if you like and press Add. You cannot enter more than the outstanding balance. To record an amount that has not been paid yet for a later date, turn on Receivable Record: a Scheduled Payment Date (with the 1 Week, 15 Days, 1 Month, Start of Month and End of Month shortcuts) and a Scheduled Payment Method are required, the record shows as "Receivable · Pending" and your "When a Receivable Is Created" automation runs (if it is set up).

Online participation requests awaiting approval

When automatic approval is off, a customer who joins over the internet or from the mobile app enters the list as Pending Approval and holds a place in the capacity. These requests are also gathered in the Event Requests tab of the Pending Approvals panel in the top menu; the tab only appears while there is a pending request. In the event list, an event with pending requests shows an "N awaiting approval" badge.

• Approve: the attendance is confirmed and your "When a Participant Joins an Event" automation is sent to the customer (if it is set up). Until it is approved, the request does not get the "When an Event Is Approaching" reminder.

• Reject: the attendance is cancelled, the pending receivable opened for a paid event is closed too, and your "When an Event Participant Is Removed" automation runs. You can write a reason for the rejection; the person stays in the list with a "Request rejected" label.

For a paid event the receivable is opened at the moment of joining, so it also appears in the receivables list while the request awaits approval. The customer cannot cancel an event registration over the internet or from the mobile app; before joining they see a confirmation window saying so, saying that the fee will be recorded on their account as a balance due and, where needed, that your approval is awaited. To cancel, they contact you.

Event status

• While the event is open or full, you take it live with "Start Event" in the Actions menu.

• Once an event has started, a "Complete Event" option appears in the menu; completed events cannot be edited. Both actions are confirmed in the browser's confirmation window.

• An event you do not complete yourself completes automatically 24 hours after it ends. That time is for entering the attendance: on a completed event the attendance cannot be changed and participants cannot be removed. Participants whose attendance was never entered keep their status as it is.

• You can keep taking payments from participants on a completed event.

• Actions → Cancel opens the Cancel Group Event window: you see the number of active attendees and can add an optional cancellation reason. For a recurring event you choose the cancellation scope: Only this appointment, This and the following ones, or Cancel the whole series. Cancelling an event that is in progress asks for an extra confirmation.

When you cancel an event, only the participants awaiting approval or approved, and their pending receivables, are cancelled. Participants marked as attended or no-show keep their record and their balance, and you can still take their payments. When you cancel the entire series, occurrences that have already taken place are left untouched; only the ones that have not started yet are cancelled. When you cancel the series, your “When an Event Is Cancelled” automation sends each participant a single message about their earliest cancelled occurrence.

Calendar and customer card

• Events appear on the main Calendar under the Group Events type. Clicking an event on the calendar only opens a summary window; adding participants, attendance and payments are not done there — use the Event Details button in that window to open the detail page.

• The Group Events tab on the customer's card (shown only while the module is on) holds the Group Event Attendance table: Event, Date, Attendance Status, Total Fee, Paid, Remaining and Payment Status. The Remaining column is the amount of the pending receivable record; for an unpaid attendance with no receivable record it can show 0, so read the balance from the difference between Total Fee and Paid and from Payment Status. The Details button opens the event's detail page.

Permissions

• Turning the module on: setting up integrations.

• Menu, event list and detail: viewing group appointments. Staff without the permission to see everyone's calendar only see, in the list, the events they are the staff member of or created themselves.

• Creating events: creating group appointments.

• Adding participants, approving/rejecting, attendance and cancelling attendance: managing group appointment participants.

• Editing, starting and completing an event: editing group appointments; cancelling an event: deleting group appointments.

• Taking a payment from a participant: taking payments; cancelling a payment line: deleting payments.

On the detail page, buttons and menu items for actions you are not permitted to do are hidden. If you use an action shown in the list that you are not permitted to do, you get a permission warning when saving.