Use a training practice, not the live one. If you do not have one, ask before running any exercise here — several of them create records that cannot be deleted.
Before they arrive
- Login created, with the right role
- Practice code written down for them
- A device they will actually work on
- This handbook, opened at Getting started
Session 1 — Finding your way (30 minutes, everybody)
Teach
- Signing in: practice code, email, password.
- Adding a passkey. Do it now, on the device they will use.
- The left bar, and why theirs is shorter than yours.
- The dashboard, and Customise — have them switch off three cards they will never use.
- Profile → Diary. Set the clock format and day start to suit them.
They can do this when they can
- Sign in with a passkey, nothing typed
- Name what each entry in their left bar is for
- Change what their dashboard shows and change it back
Session 2 — The diary (45 minutes, front desk and practitioners)
Teach
- Reading the grid: columns, closed time, the red line.
- Book an appointment.
- Move one. Extend one by dragging its bottom edge.
- The seven states, and that Arrived is the one that matters most.
- Try to double-book somebody, on purpose. Watch it refuse. Read the message.
- Try to book into closed time. Watch that refuse too.
- Diary notes — the coloured strips. Not appointments, never in the numbers.
Exercises
- Book three people into one practitioner's morning.
- Move the middle one to the afternoon.
- Extend the first from 30 to 45 minutes.
- Attempt to extend it over the next patient. Explain what happened and why.
They can do this when they can
- Book, move, extend and cancel without help
- Explain the difference between Cancelled and Did not attend
- Explain why the software refused each of the two refusals above
Session 3 — People (30 minutes, front desk and practitioners)
Teach
- Search before creating. Always. Duplicates are expensive to fix and cannot be undone once merged.
- Creating a record: name, mobile, date of birth, funding type, referrer.
- Alerts — what belongs in one, and that it shows in amber on the booking.
- Archive versus delete.
Exercises
- Create a record and book them in.
- Add an alert and find where it appears.
- Archive a record, then find it again.
They can do this when they can
- Create a person correctly, funding type included
- Say what happens to appointments and invoices when a record is archived
Session 4 — Notes (45 minutes, practitioners)
Teach
- Writing against a template.
- Draft versus signed, and that signing is permanent.
- Amendments.
- Cases — one episode of care, and when to open a second.
- Uncompleted notes on the dashboard.
Exercises
- Write a note, leave it as a draft, come back and finish it.
- Sign it. Try to edit it. Add an amendment instead.
- Open a case and attach a note to it.
They can do this when they can
- Explain why a signed note cannot be edited
- Add an amendment
- Say when a second case is right rather than one long one
Session 5 — Money (60 minutes, front desk and accounts)
Teach
- Draft → issued → paid.
- That the draft stage is the only free stage.
- Issuing, and what becomes fixed.
- Taking a payment, recording the method, and why method matters at five o'clock.
- Credit note versus void versus refund.
- Discounts from the catalogue rather than typed.
- Money in today and reconciling.
Exercises
- Raise a draft, add a second line, issue it, take a part payment.
- Correct an issued invoice with a credit note.
- Apply a catalogue discount and find it in the Discounts report.
They can do this when they can
- Take a payment start to finish
- Choose correctly between credit note, void and refund, and say why
- Reconcile Money in today against a drawer and a terminal
Session 6 — Claims (45 minutes, accounts and front desk)
Teach
- Splitting an invoice between patient and funder.
- That lodgement happens on the terminal; this records it.
- The states, and the dashboard queue in order of urgency.
- Responding with what was approved and paid.
- Pasting a remittance.
Exercises
- Split an invoice, prepare and submit a claim, respond as part approved.
- Explain what "nothing lodged yet" means and why it is at the top.
They can do this when they can
- Work the claims queue in the right order
- Record a short payment with its reason code
Session 7 — Running it (60 minutes, owners and managers)
Teach
- Permissions: roles, locks, least privilege, and that changing a role signs the person out.
- The Security Centre, and the quarterly check.
- The weekly scorecard — switching it on, who gets it, why not everybody.
- Reports worth reading monthly.
- The activity log.
Exercises
- Grant a permission, then take it back. Watch the person get signed out.
- Try to reduce owner access. Explain what happened.
- Run the quarterly security check.
They can do this when they can
- Set up a new staff member end to end
- Explain a locked permission to somebody who asked for it
- Say which report answers "are we getting paid for what we do"
First week checklist
Day 1 — Sessions 1 and 2. Shadow somebody. Day 2 — Session 3. Book real appointments with somebody watching. Day 3 — Session 4 or 5, depending on the role. Day 4 — Work normally. Someone nearby. Day 5 — Work normally. Run the competency checks for their role.
The five mistakes new people actually make
- Creating a duplicate person instead of searching first. Expensive, and merging cannot be undone.
- Marking a no-show as Cancelled. Different events, different reports, different conversation about fees.
- Issuing an invoice too early, then wanting to edit it. Check the draft.
- Signing a note that is not finished. An unsigned draft is fine. A signed wrong one needs an amendment forever.
- Forgetting to mark Arrived. Half the reports read it, and the practitioner's screen does too.
Teach these five explicitly. They are cheaper to prevent than to explain.