A new look and improved usability for Libacura

Libacura has a smart new look!

And we've taken the opportunity to improve the navigation and usability. Most screens will be familiar to you, although with better layout, clearer content and simpler navigation. We're sure you'll find the new Libacura easier and quicker to use.

There are smart new sortable and searchable tables in several places. You can configure how many rows are displayed and which columns are used for sorting, and any configuration changes you make will be remembered for future visits.

Of course, all your valuable content is still there. A few items have moved, for easier access, notably:

• The pre-completed and blank registration forms are now available from the "Download" menu on the "Accounts" screen.
• The list of transactions and payment schedule for an account are now both on the "Statement" tab, rather than on separate tabs.
• The downloadable statement and individual pre-completed registration form are now available from the "Download" menu for an account.

It's now easier to make or change a booking for any club from an Account screen using the new "Make/change booking" tab which lists all the bookable clubs for the family.

Do let us know what you think! Either post a comment here, or send us an email.

Get more control over bookings by parents

Several of you have asked whether Libacura can be configured to allow parents to create bookings on-line, but not to cancel existing booked sessions. Well, now there's a setting to enable exactly that.

The new setting can be found in the Settings->Booking tab. If the checkbox is ticked, parents who have access to Libacura are permitted to create new bookings and/or add dates to existing bookings, but not to change or delete any dates that are already booked.

More help and a more detailed description can be found in the on-line manual for staff.

Autumn updates

We've made a flurry of small improvements to Libacura over the last few days...

• You can now get a PDF version of the Booking details screen, for printing or emailing. Select the booking you want, and click on the new "Printable report" button.

• There's a new report listing the allergies of your registered children. Might be handy to print it out and stick it up in your club kitchen (if you're happy about confidentiality implications).

• You can now enter free text into the Tetanus date field of the child information screens. This could be good if (as is often the case) parents are not sure of an exact date, but can give you a rough indication such as "Summer 2005".

• When entering payment or fee records, you can save a few keystrokes by omitting the year, and Libacura will automatically assume the current year.

Alternative sign-out sheet layout now available

If you would prefer to print the daily sign-out sheets (registers/attendance lists/sign-in sheets) for a club session in portrait rather than landscape, you can now do so. Simply log in, go to Settings, select the Organization tab, then towards the bottom of that screen is a new selection box where you can choose the Sign-out template you prefer. Currently there are two options -- the original landscape format, and a new portrait format. Note, in order to fit on to a portrait page, some columns are not displayed in the portrait template.

As always, if you have suggestions for enhancements or variations on the existing templates, please do let us know via the support email address.

Check your staffing ratios more easily

It can be tricky to check your staffing ratios, but we've added a new report to make it simpler. Select a club period, for example from the Clubs index screen, and then click on "Bookings by age group" to see the new report. For each club session (date), the report shows the number of 0-3 year-olds, 4-7 year-olds and eights and overs booked, as well as the total number of children.

Smarter statements for printing/emailing

Behind the scenes, we've changed the way we generate PDF statements, for printing or emailing. The new statements are (we think!) smarter and may take up a little less paper. They also now include "fold marks" to make it easier for you to accurately fold the pages in three for DL envelopes, if desired.

As before, the statements are designed for standard windowed DL envelopes: If you post statements to your members you could save time writing out addresses or preparing address labels by using windowed envelopes.

This change puts us in a better position to support customizations to the statements, which some members have requested recently. We're working towards enabling customization of the text, and a facility to include your logo at the top of each statement, and support for printing statement runs double-sided. If you have suggestions, requirements or comments, let us know!

No more accidental duplicates when registering families

When you go to register a new family, you will now get a list of any existing registered families with the same or similar surnames. This should help prevent duplicate family records being created accidentally.