Booking HandbookPlan bookings for sessions and courses.
First checks
- Name the booking unit
Choose a private session, one class place, one course occurrence, or program access before applying capacity or recurrence rules.
- Separate the people
The person who books or pays may differ from the participant; the instructor, substitute, administrator, and message audience are separate roles.
- Keep stable identities
The program, each occurrence, participant registration, instructor allocation, attendance, delivery instructions, and entitlement reference need traceable relationships.
- Reconcile every change
An instructor substitution, participant move, delivery change, cancellation, or completion must reach every dependent view.
Do the program, people, instructor, delivery, and handoffs still agree?
Choose one invented program state. The checker identifies the first record boundary that needs repair and points you toward the shared guide that owns the deeper rule.
Compare the dependent views
The core records may align, but the dependent views have no stable link or have not been checked. Reconcile them before closing the change.
- Check next
- Session-program cross-view reconciliation
Booking unit
mixed
The model determines whether private-session, occurrence, and participant rules apply.
Session lifecycle
rescheduled
The current occurrence state determines which dependent records remain active.
Booker and participant
separate linked
Separate roles need an explicit stable relationship and permitted visibility.
Instructor allocation
current session
The current occurrence must point to its current instructor or release the allocation.
Delivery instructions
aligned
The location or remote mode must follow the current occurrence.
Entitlement reference
linked
Any package or membership reference must point to the correct participant and session.
Roster or attendance
current session
Group and course participants must follow the current occurrence.
Cross-view handoff
not checked
Dependent views need a stable link and an explicit reconciliation path.
Synthetic record-consistency logic only; no booking, credit, capacity, recurrence, attendance, message, calendar, or named-product result was observed.
Understand the complete consistency rule
Map one session program without ranking booking software.
A session-based business can sell one-to-one appointments, places in group classes, a course with several dates, or access through a package or membership. Before comparing software, define what is being booked, who is involved, and which records must change together.
The program can look scheduled while the participant, instructor, or delivery state is wrong.
A calendar block may show the right time but the wrong instructor. A participant can appear in the old session after being moved. A remote link can stay attached after the class changes to a studio. A package can show value without proving which participant and occurrence it belongs to.
The consistency rule
Consistent session program = declared booking unit + separate actor roles + stable program and occurrence identities + current instructor + current delivery + linked entitlement reference + current roster or attendance reference + reconciled changes
In the invented fixture below, an adult participant completes one private introduction and then joins five group sessions. The third occurrence gets a substitute instructor and the fourth switches from Studio 1 to a synthetic remote link. The checker asks whether every linked record follows those changes.
Follow the complete session-program workflow
- Declare the booking unit
State whether the customer is reserving one private appointment, one seat in one class occurrence, a place across a course series, or access granted by a separate package or membership.
- Separate every actor
Record who books, who pays, who attends, who teaches, who may substitute, who administers, and who receives each message or calendar invitation.
- Create the program and occurrences
Give the overall program one stable identity, then give each date or private session its own identity, lifecycle state, instructor allocation, and delivery instructions.
- Attach the participant
Link the participant to the correct occurrence or private session. Keep the registration, class seat, attendance state, and any entitlement reference distinct.
- Apply the shared rules
Use the recurring, package, class-capacity, waitlist, availability, money, calendar, and messaging guides for their detailed calculations; this page checks only their handoffs.
- Change and reconcile
After a substitution, participant move, delivery switch, cancellation, or completion, compare the participant, instructor, administrator, roster, entitlement, message, calendar, delivery, export, and audit views.
Compare the four booking units
Private session
One participant reserves one instructor or eligible instructor pool for a declared service and time.
Watch for
Do not force a one-to-one lesson into a class roster merely because the business also runs groups.
Class occurrence
Several separately identified participants reserve places in one capacity-controlled session.
Watch for
The class definition and the occurrence are different records; capacity and attendance belong to the occurrence.
Course or series
One program groups several occurrences while each date keeps its own instructor, delivery, participant, and lifecycle state.
Watch for
A series edit must not silently rewrite completed, cancelled, substituted, or intentionally exceptional dates.
Program entitlement
A package, membership, subscription, or other rule may grant access without becoming the booking or participant record.
Watch for
Keep the entitlement ledger separate and link only the current reference to the participant and session.
Review the seven connected records
Program
Owns the overall offer, audience, delivery model, and relationship among private and group sessions.
Failure to test
Several unrelated calendar events replace the program and no one can explain which dates belong together.
Session occurrence
Owns one date, time, lifecycle state, location or remote mode, and current instructor allocation.
Failure to test
A substitution or delivery change updates only one view while other records stay attached to the old occurrence state.
Booker and payer
Owns the request and permitted money relationship without automatically becoming the attendee.
Failure to test
The account holder is treated as the participant and receives the wrong history, instructions, or access.
Participant registration
Owns the person's relationship to one private session or class occurrence, including movement and cancellation outcome.
Failure to test
Moving the participant creates a duplicate or leaves an active registration in the old occurrence.
Instructor allocation
Owns the eligible instructor or substitute assigned to the exact occurrence.
Failure to test
The staff calendar changes but participant instructions, organizer state, or attribution still names the old instructor.
Delivery and attendance
Owns current in-person or remote instructions and the separately recorded attendance state.
Failure to test
A studio or remote change leaves stale directions, links, reminders, or attendance on another occurrence.
Entitlement reference
Points to the separately owned package, membership, subscription, or credit state used for this participant and occurrence.
Failure to test
The reference follows the wrong participant or changes value without an explainable ledger outcome.
Inspect the complete invented mixed program
This six-stage example uses adults and invented records only; it represents no real learner, class, course, gym, tutor, or price.
Program
Stable parent identity
PROGRAM-1 contains one private introduction and five group occurrences for invented adult participants.
People
Roles declared
BOOKER-1 and PARTICIPANT-1 are separate synthetic adults; INSTRUCTOR-A is assigned initially.
Substitution
Current allocation required
Occurrence 3 changes from INSTRUCTOR-A to INSTRUCTOR-B while earlier and later occurrences stay intact.
Delivery change
Old instructions withdrawn
Occurrence 4 switches from Studio 1 to a synthetic remote link without changing the program identity.
Participant change
No duplicate registration
PARTICIPANT-1 moves between two invented occurrences; the old registration receives an explicit outcome.
Reconciliation
Same current session
Participant, instructor, roster, entitlement-reference, message, calendar, delivery, export, and audit views are compared.
Review program changes and demo warning signs
When the program changes
The instructor changes
Move the current allocation
Preserve the original history, update the current occurrence, and recheck participant instructions, organizer, messages, calendar, location access, and attribution.
The participant moves
Close the old registration
Give the old occurrence an explicit outcome, create or move one current registration, and link the correct roster, attendance, and entitlement reference.
The delivery mode changes
Replace stale instructions
Update the occurrence, participant view, instructor view, location directions, remote link, reminder, calendar event, and recovery path.
One occurrence is cancelled
Keep the program intact
Apply the recurrence, class, entitlement, money, waitlist, message, and calendar outcomes owned by the shared guides without rewriting unrelated dates.
A participant completes a session
Preserve fulfillment history
Record completion or attendance separately from payment and credit value, then reconcile the participant and administrator views.
A handoff fails
Repair without duplication
Keep the stable program, occurrence, actor, instructor, delivery, roster, and entitlement references while retrying or correcting the dependent record.
Warning signs in a software demo
Everything is called an event
The demo never distinguishes a private appointment, one class occurrence, a course series, or program access.
The account holder is always the attendee
The system cannot safely represent a separate adult booker or payer and participant.
Instructor substitution is a calendar edit
The old instructor, organizer, participant message, location access, or meeting link remains elsewhere.
A program has only one delivery setting
One occurrence cannot switch between in-person and remote without changing the whole series or leaving stale instructions.
Package value and registration are one record
Staff cannot explain the participant, occurrence, held or redeemed value, or recovery path independently.
The roster is correct only in one view
Participant, instructor, administrator, attendance, message, calendar, export, or audit state disagrees after a change.
Prepare the next controlled rehearsal
One mixed-program rehearsalTest the handoffs a feature list will not show.
Use one invented adult booker, adult participant, program, private introduction, group occurrences, instructor substitution, delivery change, and entitlement reference.
- Write the booking unit and record owner for the program, each occurrence, booker, participant, instructor, delivery instructions, attendance, and entitlement reference.
- Move one participant, substitute one instructor, change one occurrence from in-person to remote, cancel one registration, and complete another.
- Compare every participant, instructor, administrator, roster, entitlement, message, calendar, delivery, export, and audit view; record any stale, missing, duplicate, or ambiguous state.
Keep the rehearsal controlled
- Use invented adults, programs, sessions, instructors, locations, links, attendance, entitlements, messages, and records only.
- Do not use real students, minors, customers, health data, payments, accounts, invitations, messages, calendars, or external writes.
- Do not convert documentation or checker output into a product claim, recommendation, purchase, affiliate route, or implementation approval.