Scheduling a Rotational Booking Pattern

Sometimes a child's booking pattern needs to be changed regularly to accommodate their parent's/carer's shift patterns. 

Abacus allows you to book up to 4 different weekly patterns and rotate these weeks between any two chosen dates; this is referred to as a rotational booking pattern. 

To schedule a rotational booking pattern, do the following:

1.  Click on the Children button and select 'Sessions':
   
   
   
   
2.  Select a child from the list:
   
   
   
   
3.  Click on the 'Schedule' dropdown and select 'Regular Booking Pattern'.
    This will display the Schedule Sessions page:
   
   
   
   
4.  Begin by selecting the start date and end date for the booking pattern; by default the start date will be set to today's date and the end date will be set to the child's estimated leave date.
   
5.  Pick the number of weeks the child's booking pattern needs to rotate over.
    For example: If a child attends on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays one week and Tuesdays and Thursdays the next week then you would select 'Repeat every 2 weeks' 
   
   
   
6.  Select the session type or enter the details of a bespoke session
   
7.  Using the example above, click on Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the grid below to schedule the child's sessions for the first week of the rotational booking pattern. 
   
8.  Click on the 'Week 2' tab.
   
9.  Using the same example, click on Tuesday and Thursday to schedule the child's sessions for the second week of the rotational booking pattern. You'll end up with something that looks like this:
   
   
   
10.  Once you have finished scheduling the child's sessions, click on the 'Next' button.
     If you are unsure whether or not you have availability for the sessions you have scheduled, select the 'Check availability whilst booking' checkbox; the system will check your availability and show on the next page if there are any days where the sessions you have selected would cause you to be over-booked.
    
    
11.  The next page shows the child's suggested room movements based on their age and the age limits of your rooms. If you are happy with these room movements, click on the 'Save' button.
    
    
    * Please note: If you have selected the option 'Don't move children automatically' on the Rooms & Ratios section of the Settings then you will need to enter the child's room movements manually. You can create more than one room movement by clicking on the 'Add'  button:
    
    
    
    If you selected the 'Check availability whilst booking' checkbox on the previous page you will see a bookings calendar underneath the room movements. Any days that you would become over-booked are highlighted in red on the calendars:
    
    
    
    
12.  You are able to change any of the suggested room movements by selecting a different start/end date or choosing a different room for the child to move in to from the dropdown list. 
    
13.  Once you have finished reviewing the room movements / availability, click on the 'Save' button.
    
14.  On the child's Sessions tab you will see the sessions you scheduled in the grid. For example: 
    
    
    
    
15.  You can click on the weeks in the calendar to see the child's rotational booking pattern:
    
    
    

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