Setting facility rules

Every facility has policies. Some breeds cannot stay at your facility because of insurance rules or space limits. You may also want to turn some behaviors on or off for your whole organization. Petsoft gives you a restricted breed list and a page of organization rules and options to help you enforce these policies.

info

The whole Settings area requires the Petsoft Account Owner permission. This includes Rules, Options, Emails, SMS, Restricted Breeds, Vaccinations, and the Pet Parent Portal. If you cannot see this area, you do not have that permission.

Restricted breeds

Go to Organization > Settings, then open the Restricted Breeds section on the Settings page.

You can keep a list of breed names that your facility does not accept. Petsoft does not check a pet's breed against this list automatically. Petsoft has no automatic lookup that blocks a booking by breed.

Your restricted breed list. When a customer registers a pet through the portal, the portal asks the customer to confirm that the pet is not mixed with any breed on this list.

Instead, when a customer adds or edits a pet in the portal, and your organization has a restricted breed list, the portal shows the customer the list. The customer must check a box to confirm that the pet is not a restricted breed and is not mixed with a restricted breed. Petsoft relies on this self-attestation. Petsoft does not verify the pet's actual breed.

note

Because this is a self-attestation, Petsoft cannot catch a customer who misidentifies or misrepresents a pet's breed. Your intake process should still include a visual check at drop-off.

Organization rules

Rules are switches that turn certain behaviors on and off for your whole organization. Changes take effect immediately when you save. There is no approval step and no delay.

Go to Organization > Settings, then open the Rules section on the Settings page. Set your toggles, then click Save Settings. One save covers the whole page.

Each rule is a toggle in the Enabled column with its description alongside. One Save Settings covers everything you have changed.

The rules below are listed by topic. The order on screen may differ.

Rule	What it does
Require Coupons for Daycare Reservations	Customers must have a daycare coupon before they can book through the customer portal. In the office portal, Petsoft applies a coupon automatically at reservation time if one is available. Even when this rule is off, Petsoft still applies existing coupons on a customer's account at checkout.
Show Check-In/Out Times on Reservation Emails	Adds estimated or actual arrival and departure times to reservation emails. Leave this rule off if your facility does not track exact check-in and check-out times for boarding.
Allow Reservation Editing in the Pet Parent Portal	This toggle currently has no effect. Pet parents cannot edit reservations online, no matter how you set this toggle. Petsoft may use this toggle for a future portal feature. Staff can still edit reservations from the office portal in the usual way.
Check-In Run Assignment	Lets employees change the run assigned to a reservation at check-in.
Enable Daycare Coupon Packages in the Customer Portal	Lets customers buy daycare coupon packages, which include more than one session, in the portal. If this rule is off, customers can still buy single coupons for one session.
Enable New Customer Signups in the Customer Portal	Shows a signup link on the portal so new customers can create their own account.
Allow Dogs	Your organization accepts dogs for boarding.
Allow Cats	Your organization accepts cats for boarding.
Require Pet Review Before Booking	Staff must review any pet that a customer adds through the portal before that pet can be booked. If this rule is off, the pet still appears on the Review tab, but customers can book the pet before staff review it.
Require Trials Reservations	Pets must complete a trial reservation before they can receive other boarding or daycare services. While a pet has "Pending Trial" status, the pet parent portal shows a "Schedule Trial" button instead of the normal booking options.
Coupon Sharing Between Facilities	Lets customers redeem coupons at any facility in your organization, not only the facility where they bought the coupon.
Late Fees Use Daycare Rates	Uses your daycare service rates to calculate fees for late checkout during boarding. If this rule is off, Petsoft uses a flat rate for each pet from the Fees page instead.
Expiring Vaccinations Automated Email	Sends pet parents an automatic email reminder when a vaccine will soon expire.
Disable Daycare Reservations in Pet Parent Portal	Hides the option to book daycare in the pet parent portal completely. This is the only online booking toggle for a single service; Boarding and Grooming have no equivalent toggle. This rule hides every service that lasts one day, not only daycare. If you offer other single-day services, this rule hides those services too.
Send SMS Message for new Customer Signups	Sends a text message to your Account Owners with your organization's name and the new customer's name and phone number when the customer registers in the portal. Your organization must set up SMS first. This message only reaches owners who have a primary phone number on file.

note

No rule on this page blocks a booking for a missing or expired vaccination or for an unsigned agreement. Petsoft handles vaccination status and agreement acceptance in other areas. See the vaccination and agreements documentation for details.

Organization options

Options are different from rules. Instead of on-and-off switches, each option takes a value, such as a number, an ID, or a URL. Go to Organization > Settings, then open the Options section on the Settings page.

Options work differently from rules. There is no single save action for the whole page. Each option has its own Edit link and its own Delete link. You save one option at a time. Any option you have not set shows (not set).

Option	What it does
Boarding Reservation Reminder Days	The number of days before boarding check-in when Petsoft sends a reminder email. If not set, this defaults to 2 days.
Daycare Reservation Reminder Days	The number of days before daycare check-in when Petsoft sends a reminder email. If not set, this defaults to 1 day.
Expiring Coupon Days Before Expiration Email Trigger	The number of days before a daycare coupon package expires when Petsoft emails the customer a warning.
Google Analytics Conversion ID	The Google Ads account ID that tracks new pet parent signups. Used together with the Conversion Label below.
Google Analytics Conversion Label	The value that Google provides to flag when a pet parent becomes a customer.
Low Coupon Count Email Trigger	The number of daycare coupons a customer has left before Petsoft emails the customer a warning about the low balance.
Maximum Reservation Length	The longest a new boarding reservation can run, in days. This only affects new reservations, not existing reservations.
Pet Weight Maximum	Stops pet parents and staff from adding or editing a pet that weighs more than this value.
Pet Weight Minimum	Stops pet parents and staff from adding or editing a pet that weighs less than this value.
Reservation Pet Age Minimum	Stops pet parents from adding a pet or booking a reservation for a pet younger than this age, in months. Petsoft warns staff instead of stopping them.
Unaltered Pet Age Restriction Policy on the Pet Parent Portal	The age, in months, when Petsoft stops pet parents from adding an unaltered pet, meaning a pet that is not spayed or neutered, to a reservation in the pet parent portal.
Webhook - New Customer	A URL. Petsoft sends an HTTP POST request with a JSON payload to this URL whenever Petsoft creates a new customer.
Webhook - Reservation Booked	A URL. Petsoft sends an HTTP POST request with a JSON payload to this URL whenever a customer books a new reservation.

The two reminder-day options have default values, as stated above. The other options have no default value. Until you set a value, Petsoft turns that behavior off.

caution

Setting a reminder option to 0 does not turn the reminder off. Petsoft treats 0 the same as an empty value, so Petsoft uses 2 days for boarding and 1 day for daycare. Customers can turn off reminders for themselves on their Notification Settings tab.

Insurance and liability

Restricted breed lists and organization rules are not only about convenience. Many insurance policies require you to keep certain policies in writing. Keep both up to date. If your insurance coverage changes to include a breed that it did not cover before, remove that breed from your restricted list. If you add a new rule that your insurer requires, turn on that rule immediately. Do not wait for renewal.