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Events in NeatClubs.COM refer to activities that have an on-line registration or on-line payment function associated with them.
NeatClubs.COM supports a range of different types of events from simple information notices posted in a calendar to complex class registrations. In order to view the event defined in the system (referred to as the “Event Listing”), you should be logged into NeatClubs.COM as an administrator. As the administrator, select the “View Event & Classes” option from the “Calendar & Events” menu.
Some examples of event types in NeatClubs.COM are:
| ▪ | A class that recurs weekly that is a part of a spring session |
| ▪ | A Christmas party taking place on December 18th for which we would like to accept on-line registration |
| ▪ | A general inquiry form or waiting list that we would like to make available to members of the general public |
| ▪ | A questionnaire only accessible to our organizations member membership |
| ▪ | An on-line survey or questionnaire |
| ▪ | A simple page to collect on-line donations |
| ▪ | A registration activity that involves pre-authorizing regular payment on a weekly or monthly basis |
| ▪ | Maintaining bookings schedules for squash courts in a recreational complex by allowing players to view dates and times available and reserve them via the web. |
NeatClubs.COM was designed to accommodate multiple on-line experiences. It was also designed to allow multiple types of distinct on-line registration activities to occur at the same time. Because events in NeatClubs.COM are flexible, it is a little rough to get the hang of them, but once you master configuring events, as a facility manager, registrar or club owner, you can save yourself a lot of manual effort.
Events have different properties associated with them. Some common event properties are listed below:
| ▪ | Date and Time: Events may or may not have a date and time associated with them. For example, a summer pool party event will likely have a specific date and time whereas a simple “Contact us” form (that accepts a name, address and phone number and generates and automated e-mail response) will not typically have a time associated with it since it can be completed by a web-site user at any time. |
| ▪ | Recurrence Patterns: some events will occur only once while others events will occur weekly, bi-weekly or monthly or may last for several days. For example, classes will typically recur as will schedules for bookings resources and subscription payments whereas a club competition that we are accepting registrations for may only occur once. |
| ▪ | Event Descriptions: For some events you may wish to provide detailed information so that visitors to your web-site fully understand all of the details about the event and how to go about registering. Some events will have verbose descriptive text, while in other cases text will be minimal or not needed at all. |
| ▪ | Acknowledgements and Notifications: Acknowledgements may optionally be provided to registrants any time a registration is received and notifications may optionally be sent to the club administrator or event organizer. For some events this is very useful. (As an example, a business owner may want to see sales inquiries directed to their handheld device so that they can respond immediately) |
| ▪ | On-line Payment: For some types of events it may be appropriate to accept on-line payment, partial payment or a deposit, whereas for other events (such as a survey) payment would not be appropriate. |
Some events may have multiple instances or streams associated with them. For example, a gymnastics class may last 11 weeks and there may be six different classes running at different times that customers can register for. Rather than express this as 66 separate registration events, we would like to group this event definition as a single event definition with six time slots that occurs 11 times per time slot. This sort of functionality is available using a class style event unique to NeatClubs. (Referred to in the system as “event_class”)
| ▪ | Public vs. Private Events: Some events may require a login account on the system in order to register whereas others may be accessible to any visitor. |
| ▪ | Event Specific Data Collection Forms: Some events may require that specific forms be completed where the questions asked on registration for unique to each event. |
| ▪ | Late Registration: For some event types it may be appropriate to allow registration for some period after the deadline. (a class as an example) |
| ▪ | Deadlines: For some events it may appropriate to disallow responses after a deadline is reached. |
| ▪ | Access controls: For some events we may want to restrict registration only to certain user groups or automatically open registration at threshold dates or times. |
NeatClubs.COM uses some standard event types that start with reasonable settings for several configurable event properties; Club administrators retain the flexibility to customize the events further to meet their registration requirement.
It is easy to get confused when thinking about events. Especially as we start to explore the rich sets of configuration options. Before reading all this in detail, here are a few important things to keep in mind
Visitors to your web-site of course will never see any of this – rather they will simply see the interactive experience that results from an event that you define. Part of the reason there are so many options is that we want to create a very tailorable interface for your web-site visitors to keep things simple from their perspective. A unique numeric identifier will be associated with each of your events. When your web-site is referenced with the “event.php” module and that numeric identifier, the system will know what to do depending on how you define your event.
e.g.: http://myclub.com/event.php?id=15
Event number 15 may be arbitrarily assigned to allow a site visitor to purchase items on-line in which case the user would be guided through a simple on-line shopping experience.
You are probably not going to be setting up events very often – in fact most organizations will have event definitions that persist from year to year. Once you get that event “just right” the system gives you the ability to copy events. (this is useful for classes for example where we might offer basically the same class each season)
Finally, if events seem a little complex to setup, it would be vastly more complex (not to mention expensive) to develop new software every time a new type or registration mode was needed. By providing rich set of functionality in the area of registrations, NeatClubs.COM helps small businesses avoid the very costly process of developing or purchasing a purpose built or custom e-commerce solution.
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