CHANGELOG

Additions, Removals and Updates

Added

Rostering Option: Introduced a new rostering feature that allows you to add practitioners to sessions based on their availability and priority status. This includes a fully automated process to assign practitioners.

Geolocation-Based Assignment: Added the ability to assign practitioners to clients based on geolocation, including zipcode/postal code, city, state, or country. This feature can be accessed on the Active Clients List page.

Integration with Rostering: Integrated practitioner assignment within the new rostering feature. When using the add session form with rostering enabled, selecting an Automated Roster Assignment option will automatically assign practitioners and display their availability, provided client and practitioner address information is saved.

Removed

Service Report: Removed the service report from the reporting tool due to performance issues. Alternatives are available in the client services and practitioner services reports.

Changed

Attendance Tracking: Cancelled sessions will no longer generate an absent record for attendance. Only completed and missed sessions will be tracked.

Email SPF Setting Update: Updated the SPF setting for emails. When enabled, emails will now be sent from no-reply@bizstim.com with the business name included in the FROM field, improving user recognition of the sender. AI is increasingly being utilized on both outbound and inbound mailing platforms, leading to a rise in false positives. To enhance your email deliverability, we strongly recommend enabling our SPF settings and allowing Bizstim to send emails from our designated address. This adjustment will significantly improve your chances of successful email delivery. You can review this setting at: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > The SPF SETTING is on the right-panel of the page.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Bulk Assigning Tutors/Instructors to Students/Clients

You can assign practitioners to your clients from the client and practitioner ADD and EDIT pages. However, this process can be slow. To assign faster you can use the bulk assign tool. To use the bulk assign tool navigate to the CLIENTS LIST at:

• CLIENTS from the main menu
• CLIENTS LIST from the main menu
• Click on the checkboxes for the clients you are interested in assigning
• From the drop down option select, ASSIGN PRACTITIONER (remember the word PRACTITIONER will be your unique word, for example: tutor, coach, instructor)
• From the ASSIGN TYPE, select the method you want. You can choose from: GEO-LOCATION, ZIPCODE/POSTAL CODE, CITY, STATE and COUNTRY
• Click SUBMIT
• Follow our visual guide below for additional assistance

MAKE SURE THE ASSIGN COLUMN IS SHOWING:

ASSIGNED PRACTITIONERS ARE LISTED IN BULLET FORMAT:

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF A CLIENT WITH NO PRACTITIONER'S ASSIGNED:

SELECT THE CHECKBOX FOR THOSE CLIENTS YOU WANT TO ASSIGN:

CHOOSE ASSIGN PRACTITIONERS/TUTOR:

CHOOSE AN ASSIGN TYPE FROM THE LIST OF OPTIONS:

CLICK THE SUBMIT BUTTON TO HAVE THE SYSTEM ASSIGN PRACTITIONERS/TUTORS TO THE CLIENT/STUDENT:

ANY PRACTITIONERS/TUTORS THAT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS WILL BE LISTED:

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Enhancements and New Functionalities

Subscriptions and Session Constraints/Limiting

We are excited to introduce several new features and improvements that enhance our service offerings and user experience. Below are the key enhancements:

• Added a new subscription service type to enhance our offerings.
• Improved the subscription workflow for a better user experience.
• Introduced a subscription option for word translation.
• Implemented a service constraint that limits the number of sessions that can be scheduled on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.

Bug Fixes and Improvements

In addition to new features, we have addressed several bugs and made improvements to ensure a smoother experience. Here are the fixes made:

• Corrected the products module to ensure it is no longer incorrectly enabled.
• Defined a successful message when updating a session via the bulk tool from the sessions list pages.
• Adjusted the trigger event for the income statement to wait until the submit button is clicked, ensuring proper functionality.

Conclusion

These updates reflect our commitment to continually improving our platform and providing the best possible experience for our users. We appreciate your feedback and look forward to introducing more enhancements in the future.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Scheduled Downtime Notification

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Exciting Updates to Bizstim Software!

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

July 2024 Product Update: Session Management, Reporting, and Inactive Account Enhancements

Added Features and Improvements

• Collate totals by practitioner for tutor services report
• Collate by service for the client services report
• Add clients to group sessions quickly by tag(s) assigned
• Added a group report for all participants in a group session. AI Helper is available here too
• Added a report button to the groups session view page for admin, staff, practitioners and clients. There is a BACK button that will return you to the group session view page

Session Management Updates

The session management logic has been updated to align the handling of individual sessions with that of group sessions. Effective immediately, if a student's scheduled session is cancelled, they will be marked as absent in the system.

This revised policy will be applied consistently across all sessions going forward from this point in time.

Inactive Account Management

When a client or student account is marked as "INACTIVE" in the system, the email and text reminder permissions will be automatically turned off for that account. This change will apply to all inactive accounts moving forward.

However, it's important to note that when an inactive account is reactivated, the email and text reminder permissions will need to be manually re-enabled. This will ensure that the client or student receives the appropriate communications once their account status is changed back to "ACTIVE."

This approach provides a more user-friendly experience by automatically disabling unnecessary notifications for inactive accounts, while still allowing administrators to selectively re-enable those features when needed.

Additional Improvements

• Added additional options for 3D Secure cards
• Added additional feedback to the client import tool. When a client record has an issue, when possible, the system will list their name and the issue.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Efficiency Elevated: Missed Session Alerts Optimized and Invoices Made Easy

We are excited to share with you two new features that have recently been added to our platform:

Missed Session Notification Alerts

Previously, the missed session notification alert system allowed you to set a policy based on a number of missed sessions within a given time period, triggering an alert to be sent to an administrator or staff member. The alert email was fixed and could not be edited, and a to-do and note were added for the sales manager.

We have now increased the flexibility of this feature, providing you with more options to better reflect your business and its workflow processes. The notable new options include:

• The ability to customize the notification email template, which can be found in the notifications area under Session Notifications.
• The option to automatically send the missed notification alert to an agent, parent, or district, rather than a member of your team. This can be particularly useful if you are contracted by a school or school district that expects attendance compliance and alerts when their students do not attend a session.
• The capability to define a specific email address to which the missed notification alert should be sent, allowing you to create a dedicated email for these alerts.

We would like to extend our gratitude to EmpowerEd Education for their valuable suggestions that contributed to these enhancements.

Payment Processing of Invoices Alternative

Introducing our newest feature, Quick Pay, which offers an anonymous Stripe payment option for invoices.

Instead of directing your clients to the login page, where they would need to enter their username and password and navigate to the payment page, Quick Pay provides a link in the invoice email that leads to an encrypted page. On this page, clients can enter their credit card details and make the payment without the need to remember their login credentials or be granted access to the platform.

This streamlined process makes it easier for your clients to pay their invoices, as all they need to do is review the invoice, enter their credit card information, and press the "Pay" button.

If you would like to use Quick Pay navigate to your Stripe settings page and select, "Quick Pay," found under the heading: "Pay Button Destination?"

Make sure you add the Quick Pay shortcode to your pending invoice and overdue invoice templates.

These changes are available to all users as of today's software update. If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Tiered Services Add-On: Modify Cost Based On Credentials

As of June 2024 we added a tiered services options.

Tiered Services allows you to set a client (student, patient, customer) cost for a service based on a custom tier of your choice and assigned to a practitioner (tutor, coach, consultant).

Consider the following example:

• You own a tutoring company
• You have a service that charges $50.00 per hour
• You have a tutor with a PhD and your clients are willing to pay an extra $20.00 for the tutor's knowledge and expertise
• With tiered services, you can charge that client $70.00 for the service

This is the first time you have had the flexibility to change your service cost based on the practitioner without having to create a separate service!

To find tiered services navigate the main menu as follows:

1. Click on ACCOUNTING
2. Click on RATES & REPORTS
3. Click on CUSTOM WAGE RATES
4. Click on the name of the practitioner you're interested in

You find tiered services within the custom wage rates because this feature associates the practitioner and the service to determine a modified cost.

Once you are on the custom wage rates page and you have selected a practitioner, look to the right-most panel and find the TIERS button. Click on the TIERS button. Here you can create your own service tiers by providing a label and an amount to add to the default cost of the service.

Custom tiers may look like this:

• Premium +10.00
• Expert +20.00

Once you have created your custom service tiers click the CLOSE button and refresh the prior wage rate screen.

Under the heading SERVICE TIERS there will be a dropdown select that will list the available service tiers you created. For the practitioner you are viewing, find the service they have special credentials for and select the premium or expert tier. After you have made your selection click the blue button with the tier icon.

That's it!

When a session is saved and there is a service tier present, the software will automatically adjust the price for you. You can view these service tiers from the account balances page for any of your clients (click on the services icon) or from any invoice that is created. The label for the service tier will be added to these areas. As time goes on, we will likely add the tiered service label to other areas of the software.

These changes are available to all users as of today's software update. If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

AI-Powered and Other Enhancements

New Features:

• Added an AI Helper for after-session reporting. Admins, staff, and practitioners/tutors can use it to correct spelling and make session reports more professional.
  
• Added a colors plugin to the text editor. Users can select a background and a foreground color when using the editor. This change has been made system-wide.
• Added a button to add the session to the user's calendar within the session reminder email, This feature is compatible with calendars that use the ICS standard. Therefore users who use Gmail, Outlook and Apple calendars can have the session information recorded within their own calendars.
• When an agent/district/parent is trying to save a credit card on a client's/student's/child's account and no email exists for the them, the parent can now add an email and then save the credit card. This helps the user experience and will cut down on management oversight.
• Implemented a system-wide setting that allows practitioners/tutors to enable or disable the updating of their availability. If you don't want your practitioners/tutors to change their availability, you can set this setting to 'No'. The default setting is 'Yes', which maintains historical consistency in allowing updates to availability.

Changes:

• Changed "JOIN" to "BOOK" on the groups and courses marketplace pages.
• Changed the "ATTENDANCE" column to "ENROLLMENT" on the groups and courses pages.
• Changed code for $0.00 wages. When a session is completed and a practitioner/tutor has earned $0.00 wages, a 0 minute, wage time record is added. This prevents extra hours from being recorded and keeps the hours worked consistent with their wage earnings.
• Changed code for single sessions, the system will now create a $0.00 client cost record even if the client does not owe anything. For businesses who use a membership system, this allows the service history to be tracked in reporting and invoicing.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where staff with "hide costs and wages" permissions were still able to see costs and wages when adding a session or reviewing the totals for a client.
• Fixed a bug where staff permission for timesheets was not saving correctly from the staff edit page.
• Fixed an incorrect redirect link when editing or viewing an assessment from the moderation page.
• Fixed an issue where changing a session day or time from the calendar did not update the email and SMS reminder flags.

These changes are available to all users as of today's software update. If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Software Update: Session Reminders and Recurring Session Frequency

We're excited to announce two new improvements to our scheduling and session management features:

1. Session Reminders Option

• You can now turn off session notification emails and text messages for individual services.
• This is useful if you offer monthly tutoring plans or other services that use session placeholders, and you don't need reminder notifications for those sessions.
• To enable/disable session reminders, go to the settings for each of your services and toggle the "Send Reminders" option.

2. Expanded Recurring Session Frequency

• We've updated the options for recurring session frequency, adding monthly and yearly recurrence in addition to the existing weekly option.
• For monthly and yearly recurrence, sessions will now occur on the same day number for each month or year (e.g. the 15th of the month for each month).
• This provides more flexibility in scheduling recurring sessions that align with your business needs.

These changes are available to all users as of today's software update. If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Software Release Notes: Timesheets and Online Marketplace Enhancements

Update 1: We have added timesheet notes functionality to the timesheet popup when viewing timesheets from the calendar in the Timesheets module. This new feature is available to both practitioner and staff user roles.

Update 2: The layout of the Groups and Courses Online Marketplace has been reorganized. The columns have been rearranged, with the Session Description and Service fields now appearing in the first column. This provides a more visually appealing and mobile-friendly display. Additionally, the filter options have been hidden behind a collapsible button to optimize the interface for smaller screens.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Enhanced Client Username Recovery Notifications and Workflow Management

Enhanced the system's notification capabilities for administrators regarding client username recovery. Administrators will now receive email notifications if clients attempt to recover their username without having login credentials. These notifications will be sent to administrators who are set to receive system notifications. Additionally, the system will create a to-do item, generate a sales manager note, and pin the to-do item to their dashboards.

This new feature greatly assists in managing client access to the software. In cases where administrators may have forgotten to provide login credentials, clients can now easily notify them of their inability to login. The feature is automatically activated when a client uses the 'Forgot Credentials' page to recover their username.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Software Updates and Fixes: Email Tracking, Session Editing, Course Enrollment, Stripe Payments, and Client Page Enhancements

The software has undergone several updates and fixes, which encompass the following improvements:

1. Modification to email tracking functionality: Previously, the software saved the last viewed date for sessions, payments, and invoices. Now, the software has been enhanced to save and retain the first viewed date instead.
2. Resolution of the group session edit page issue: Previously, the software failed to save changes made to a single session's data on the group session edit page. This issue has been resolved, and the fix has been implemented across the admin, staff, and practitioner pages.
3. Rectification of open group course session listing: The system now correctly displays sessions with a date at least 24 hours in the future for open group courses, while adhering to the enrollment deadline. Previously, users were unable to join a session if its time was less than the current time.
4. Enhancement of Stripe payment processing: Stripe payments now include a check for floating point numbers, ensuring that the amount is appropriately formatted.
5. Improvement to the assigned clients page for practitioners: The software underwent enhancements to the assigned clients page. However, an incorrect logic was initially applied to the display of past session reports and assessments. This issue has been rectified.

By implementing these updates and fixes, the software has been enhanced to deliver a more efficient and seamless user experience.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Updates: conflict audits, duration tracking and anecdotal reports in data exports

We are pleased to announce the recent additions to our software, which include the following features:

1. Introduction of the "CLEAN AUDIT" button in the conflict center: This feature allows you to perform an audit of your session conflicts and eliminates any false positives. It is particularly useful as conflict checking had to be temporarily disabled during bulk session deletion.
2. Implementation of offline "CLEAN AUDIT" processing: This feature automatically conducts a comprehensive check of all business accounts once a day to ensure that any orphaned conflicts are promptly removed from the conflict center. This helps maintain data integrity and accuracy.
3. Inclusion of anecdotal (text) records in the session export tool: With this enhancement, you now have the ability to display a report column in the session export and include any text records associated with the sessions. For group sessions, all reports for each client are consolidated, providing valuable insights. The exported data includes the client name, the question's label, and the written report.
4. Enhanced handling of zero-cost or zero-wage sessions: To streamline the account statements for clients and practitioners, the software now avoids generating $0.00 records when a session has no associated cost or wage. Consequently, the system no longer displays a duration for sessions without any cost or wage applied, eliminating unnecessary clutter.

These new features are designed to enhance the functionality and usability of our software, ensuring a seamless and efficient experience for our valued users.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Introducing Our Newest Micro-tool: Bizstim's Password Generator

We are thrilled to announce the release of an innovative new tool from Bizstim: Our Password Generator. In today's digital landscape, where online security is paramount, this tool aims to empower individuals and businesses with the ability to create strong and secure passwords effortlessly.

With cyber threats becoming increasingly sophisticated, the importance of robust password protection cannot be overstated. Weak passwords can leave sensitive information vulnerable to unauthorized access and compromise personal and professional accounts. Our Password Generator addresses this critical need by generating complex and unique passwords that are difficult to crack.

Key Features of Bizstim's Password Generator:

1. Strength and Complexity: Our Password Generator generates passwords that incorporate a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. This ensures that the passwords created are strong, resilient, and resistant to various hacking techniques.
2. Customizable Options: We understand that different online platforms may have specific password requirements. Our tool allows users to customize the length and complexity of their passwords, ensuring they meet the specific criteria of each platform while maintaining a high level of security.
3. Ease of Use: We have designed our Password Generator with a user-friendly interface, making it simple and intuitive for individuals, regardless of their technical expertise, to create strong passwords quickly.
4. Enhanced Security: By using our Password Generator, users can significantly enhance their online security. Strong passwords act as a crucial line of defense against brute force attacks, dictionary-based attacks, and credential stuffing, protecting sensitive information and safeguarding digital identities.

We are committed to empowering our users with the tools and resources they need to navigate the digital world securely. With the release of our Password Generator, Bizstim aims to contribute to a safer online environment, where individuals and businesses can operate with confidence and peace of mind.

Stay tuned for more updates and exciting developments as we continue to innovate and provide cutting-edge solutions to meet your digital security needs.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Improvements and Fixes: Enhanced Editing, Performance Boost, and Bug Resolutions

We are pleased to announce several enhancements and fixes to our system. Here are the details:

1. Enhanced Editing Capability for Assessments/Reports:
   • Admin, staff, and practitioners can now edit after-session assessments/reports directly from the view page, eliminating the need to navigate back to the assessment list page.
   • The system now remembers the last page you were on when you return to the assessment/report list page. You no longer have to manually navigate to the previous page if it wasn't page 1 before the redirect.
2. Modifications to Assessments/Report Overview:
   • Sliders and switches no longer have a required field, as they provide null answers when not expressly selected.
   • Some assessment questions were not behaving as expected when they were not active. This issue has been fixed.
   • The overview page now lists ALL questions, not just active ones, providing a comprehensive view of the assessments/reports.
3. Performance Improvements:
   • Admin and staff dashboards now load faster due to performance improvements in the page load speed. Specifically, the query for calculating accounts receivables has been optimized.
   • The practitioner dashboard page speed has been increased by converting the UPCOMING SESSIONS table from a static generation to a dynamic one. All features from the previous method have been ported to the new method.
4. Fix: Invoice Update Issue:
   • An issue where an invoice marked as a draft could not be updated to unpaid has been resolved.

These updates and fixes aim to enhance the user experience, improve efficiency, and address known issues within the system. We appreciate your feedback and continued support in making our system better.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Recent Enhancements and Features Update

We are thrilled to share the latest enhancements and features that have been implemented to enhance the functionality and user experience of our platform. In this update, we are excited to introduce new additions that include service groups and payment packages integrated into the Individual Plan, a dedicated "CONNECT NOW!" button for on-demand access to Lessonspace meetings, and a practitioner monitoring page exclusively designed for on-demand management. Read on for a detailed overview of these valuable enhancements:

• Streamlined Services with Service Groups and Payment Packages: To provide users with more flexibility and streamline the payment process, we have expanded the capabilities of our Individual Plan. Users can now easily organize services into specialized service groups and offer customized payment packages. This enhancement ensures a seamless and efficient experience for service providers and clients alike.
• On-Demand "CONNECT NOW!" Button for Instant Access to Lessonspace: We understand the importance of quick and convenient access to on-demand services. To facilitate this, we have introduced a dedicated "CONNECT NOW!" button on the on-demand page. This button enables clients to effortlessly join their scheduled Lessonspace meetings directly through the on-demand feature. Whether a client's browser supports automatic redirects or not, they can simply click the "CONNECT NOW!" button to instantly enter their lesson.
• On-Demand Practitioner Monitoring Page for Enhanced Management: To enhance management and oversight of our on-demand feature, we have developed a comprehensive practitioner monitoring page. This feature is specifically designed for admin and staff users, providing real-time visibility into the on-demand request process. Users can now easily track practitioners who are awaiting acceptance of on-demand requests, identify practitioners with access to the feature, and monitor those currently engaged in lessons. The monitoring page also displays essential information, such as practitioners' connection time and their current 5-star rating based on client reviews. This valuable tool enables efficient evaluation and resource allocation for on-demand services.
  

We are confident that these recent updates will significantly elevate the user experience and optimize the functionality of our platform. As we continue to evolve and meet the evolving needs of our valued users, we remain dedicated to delivering innovative solutions and seamless experiences.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Resolved: Email Issue - Normal Service Restored

We are pleased to inform you that the recent email issue we experienced has now been fully resolved. We want to assure you that our team has diligently worked to address the problem, and normal email service has been restored.

During the issue, you may have noticed unusual characters or encoding problems in the emails you received from us. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused. Please rest assured that we have taken immediate action to rectify the situation, and steps have been implemented to prevent such issues from recurring in the future.

Our technical team has thoroughly investigated the root cause of the problem and implemented necessary measures to ensure the integrity and reliability of our email communication. We have conducted extensive testing to verify that all emails are now being delivered correctly, with the appropriate formatting and encoding.

We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding throughout this process. Your support and cooperation have been instrumental in helping us identify and resolve the issue promptly.

If you have any concerns or questions regarding the recent email problem or any other matter, please do not hesitate to reach out to our dedicated support team at mail@bizstim.com. We are here to assist you and provide any necessary assistance.

Once again, we would like to express our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused. We remain committed to delivering the highest standard of service and ensuring a seamless experience for all our valued clients.

Thank you for your continued trust in our services. We look forward to serving you with excellence in all future communications.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Update: Managing Service-Specific Questions and Global Reports

We have implemented a modification to enhance the management of global and service-specific reports. Previously, a global report question would be included in all service-specific reports. However, this posed a challenge for services that preferred to display only service-specific report questions, excluding the global report question.

To optimize the usefulness of reports, any service that has a service-specific report question will now exclusively display report questions that are specific to that particular service. Consequently, the global report questions will no longer be presented upon session completion for services that have at least one service-specific report.

It is important to note that this change will affect only a minimal number of our business clients. We are committed to collaborating closely with you to update your report questions and ensure that you achieve the desired outcomes. Please feel free to contact our support team for any further inquiries or additional information you may require.

We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding throughout this process.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Optimizing the On-Demand Request Page: Subject-Based Filtering and New Request Chime Feature

ON-DEMAND REQUEST PAGE: SUBJECT-BASED EVENT LIMITATIONS

Please ensure that subjects are assigned to your instructors. The on-demand event list now implements a filtering mechanism for client requests based on these assignments. Consequently, if an instructor is not assigned to a particular subject, the corresponding request will not be displayed on their screen. This ensures that client requests are only accepted by instructors possessing the necessary skills.

To restrict the instructors who can review and accept on-demand requests from clients, we recommend creating subject-specific categories. If an instructor is not assigned to the relevant subjects, they will not see the corresponding requests. This allows you to exercise control over the on-demand requests page visible to your instructors.

NEW REQUEST CHIME OPT-IN

The on-demand request page, where instructors monitor incoming requests, now features an optional chime button. By default, the chime is disabled and must be manually activated by clicking the button. This is necessary to comply with browser standards set by companies such as Google.

Instructors no longer need to continuously monitor the screen. When a new request that they are qualified for arrives, the chime will ring, grabbing their attention. Rest assured that the chime will automatically turn off once a request is accepted, allowing instructors and students to have a peaceful session. After completing the end-of-session report, instructors can reactivate the chime. Repeat this process as needed.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Enhancements to On-Demand Feature: Simplified Session Completion, Pricing Blocks, and More

We have implemented several enhancements to the on-demand feature:

1. Streamlined session completion types: When completing or saving on-demand sessions, you will now only be able to select "Cancelled" or "Missed" as completion types. The "Missed" and "Custom" completion types have been removed since they were not relevant to on-demand sessions. We retained the "Cancelled" session completion type to accommodate situations where a session meeting was initiated but quickly abandoned. In such cases, it is appropriate to complete the session without incurring any costs or wages.
2. Introducing block pricing: We have introduced a new feature called block pricing. Block pricing allow you to charge your clients based on a minimum block of time. For instance, if you set a 15-minute block time, a session with a duration between 1 and 15 minutes will be charged for the entire 15 minutes. Similarly, if the session duration is 17 minutes, the client will be charged for 30 minutes. This pattern continues for longer durations as well.
3. Impact on client costs: Block pricing only affect the calculation of costs for clients. Your practitioners or tutors will continue to have their wages calculated based on the actual duration of the session, either by the minute or according to the normal calculation method.
4. Fixed services and hourly cost determination: When a block pricing is used, fixed services will be treated as hourly services for determining the cost to the client.

To configure block pricing for your account, follow these steps:

• Access the administrator's panel and navigate to SESSIONS > ON-DEMAND > SETTINGS.
• For an existing agent, select the agent from the list on the right and click "EDIT." Otherwise, scroll down to "Block Pricing" in the left-side panel.
• Enter the desired number of minutes for your pricing blocks in the provided space.
• Scroll down and click "SUBMIT" to save your changes.

These improvements aim to enhance the efficiency and flexibility of the on-demand feature for your convenience.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Introducing Enhanced Edit Form for Group Sessions: Empowering User Control and Minimizing Disruptions

We have implemented a comprehensive revision of the edit form for group sessions, aiming to enhance its functionality and user experience. The previous form allowed simultaneous updates of multiple fields, whereas we have transitioned to a new model where each field can be updated individually. This approach grants users greater control over the changes they make, particularly when dealing with sessions belonging to recurring series.

Previously, we employed a system to track whether a session had been previously modified, offering users the option of a "gentle" update, which only affected sessions that had not been altered before, or a "hard" update, which applied changes to all sessions within the recurring series. However, we encountered a challenge when it came to clients. For instance, if a client was removed or canceled from a session, a subsequent update to another session could inadvertently reintroduce that client into the recurring series, including sessions from which they had previously canceled. Clearly, this outcome was not desirable.

To address this issue, we have introduced a recent update that significantly reduces such occurrences. Users are now able to update specific fields without disrupting the participants, mitigating the risk of unintended client additions. Consequently, utilizing group sessions—be it open sessions, group sessions, or courses/classes—will become more user-friendly. Administrators, staff, and practitioners/tutors will observe the presence of the new form field when attempting to edit a group session.

These improvements aim to streamline the editing process, enhance user control, and ultimately provide a more efficient and reliable experience for all users involved.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Surveymania: Unleashing the Power of Surveys for Invaluable Insights

Introducing a Revolutionary Addition to Our Business News Blog: Share Your Valuable Feedback!

We are thrilled to announce the launch of a groundbreaking new feature on our business news blog. Now, you have the opportunity to actively engage with our content by providing us with your feedback and insights on each article's overall rating, length, and other essential elements.

Rest assured, participating in this brief survey will only take approximately 10 seconds of your time, yet it will equip us with the vital knowledge we need to better cater to your business information requirements.

We cordially invite you to explore our news area and experience this exciting new feature firsthand. Your patronage and input are immensely valued, and we sincerely appreciate your continuous support.

Join us today and help shape the future of our business news blog. Together, we can create an unparalleled platform that meets and exceeds your expectations.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Bulk Edit Tool Added for Changing Billed Session Data

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new feature, specifically designed to streamline the process of editing service costs for individual clients whose sessions have already been marked as complete, inactive, or missed.

With this newly introduced bulk edit feature, you no longer need to reopen sessions and redo them in order to make comprehensive modifications to their costs.

This feature empowers you to easily search for specific costs and promptly update them to reflect the desired changes. The system does not perform any calculations on your behalf, so it is essential that you possess the accurate, full cost information, as well as any partial costs that may have been added due to custom completion types.

For instance, if you intend to modify the cost of group sessions, you will need to locate the previous service cost and replace it with the updated value. It is crucial to bear in mind that the cost pertains to each individual client within the session, rather than the group as a whole.

To illustrate, if a group session incurs a service cost of $69.00 per hour per student, the $69.00 figure does not represent the cost for the entire group session, but rather the charge for each individual client participating in the session. Therefore, if you wish to apply a $69.00 service cost to the entire group session, considering there are three students involved, the actual service cost should be adjusted to $23.00. In this scenario, the BULK EDIT tool proves invaluable, as it enables you to search for instances of $69.00 and effortlessly replace them with $23.00.

Fortunately, this new tool operates with impressive efficiency, allowing you to swiftly make adjustments across thousands of sessions that may have experienced incorrect service cost allocation. It is worth noting that if you charge partial amounts for missed sessions, you will need to perform a separate check for those service costs and provide the appropriate replacement values. For example, if there is a late cancellation option that charges the client 50% of the service cost, based on the aforementioned example, you would need to execute a BULK EDIT search for instances of $34.50 and replace them with $11.50.

Undoubtedly, this new feature proves particularly advantageous for group sessions that necessitate adjustments in service costs.

To find this new tool navigate to: SESSIONS > SERVICES LIST (from the main menu) > Click on the Edit Icon (pencil) for the designated service (from the table) > Click BULK EDIT (from the top of the edit service page).

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Introducing New Client/Student Services Report for Tracking Hours and Service Costs

We have recently made an update to the balances tool, which involved the removal of the date range selector. However, we have introduced a new report that enables you to conveniently review the hours and service costs associated with your clients within a specified date range. If you would like to explore this report, kindly navigate to: ACCOUNTING > RATES & REPORTS > REPORTING, and click on the Client/Student Services tab

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Unveiling the Latest Enhancements: What's New and Improved!

We have some exciting miscellaneous updates to share:

1. We have disabled the session conflict check when deleting sessions.
2. We have added a 'Remove Credentials' option within the 'Do Not Hire Practitioners' list.
3. We have changed the name of the report button to 'Problem'.
4. We have added an account balance format to the practitioners' wages and earnings page on the Practitioners/Tutors side.
5. We have added an account balance format to the Wage Manager for Staff and Administrators. This enhancement enables you to view the same account balance format that practitioners/tutors see.
6. We have enabled the Individual Account Plan to access payment processing through Stripe.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Text Messaging For Everyone!

Text messaging with ClickSend is now available to all accounts: Individual, Small Business and Enterprise. If you live in a country that requires 10DLC registration you must fill out the appropriate forms with the SMS provider before text messaging will commence. The registration process appears to take approximately 1 week in most cases. Keep that in mind.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

URL Shortener & API Improvements

The following additions and improvements were added to the software:

• Added a URL shortener tool. If you are subscribed to our newsletter we'll show you 100 of your past URL's and the number of times they were clicked!
• API: Updated the Clients endpoint. You can now search for a client via first name, last name, username, email address and ID.
• API: Added a Clients endpoint DELETE method.
• API: Additional endpoints are in development and forthcoming.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Enhanced Tutor Wage Calculator!

We hit another grand slam! Introducing our enhanced tutor wage calculator. Experience the convenience of saving your previous calculations and effortlessly comparing and contrasting them. If you're subscribed to our newsletter we'll reward you with this enhancement.

Check it out here

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

New & Improved Balances Tool

Please review the following list of updates:

• Revamped the balances tool. Took away the date range, the BALANCE column is the all-time amount owing on the account and added an account statement list in descending chronological order (much like a bank account)
• Added the ability to change the practitioners within a single course session without having to make the change to all sessions in the course. This impacts courses only!
• There was an unpublished change to the Stripe API and we updated our code to reflect that change. You're able to charge credit cards successfully when creating a one-off invoice. This did not impact Pay Assist or Automated invoicing in any way!
• The trial period has ended for small business accounts who wanted to test the new on-demanded services feature. You must upgrade to an Enterprise account to use on-demand services.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Allergies, Meal Nutrition & More

Please review the following list of updates:

• added allergies and meal nutrition management categories to the records manager as easy click buttons
• added additional filtering options for the client records page. You can now locate records based on upload date, category and record type. This is for admins, staff and practitioners
• improved open session list pages for admin, staff and practitioners. They can now bulk delete from the sessions list page when viewing a 0 participant group session
• added the ability to remove all assigned clients to practitioners using the agent list page. This is a bulk tool addition

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

DOB Tracking, Service Security & Reporting

Please review the following list of updates:

• Added date of birth (DOB) field to client accounts. Within the Information tab you will see a DOB field for adding and editing clients. From the view page the DOB will be displayed and the age of the client will be calculated for your convenience.
• Phase 1 of the birthday module released. You can ask for the date of birth in the inquiry and book now pages when a new account is created. To enable this feature you must turn on the Birthday module at: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > MODULE CONTROL
• Added the service security option to the bulk services tool. You can change the security level of one or more of your services at the same time without having to edit each service individually! Awesome, am I right?!?
• Added the ability to add a fee percentage or fixed amount to the "services by agent" report. This is the report that looks like an itemized invoice after the system completes its construction during an offline process. This report is very helpful if you invoice large groups of client sessions for a 3rd party.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Assign Services In Bulk To Clients

We've added the ability to assign services to your clients in bulk. To do so navigate to:

• CLIENTS (main menu)
• CLIENTS LIST (main menu)
• Select the service you want from the drop down options at the top-right of the page
• Select those clients you want to edit by clicking on their checkboxes in the table
• From the drop down bulk tool select ASSIGN SERVICES
• Click SUBMIT

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

On-Demand Technical Guide

The following technical guide will show how to setup and use our new On-Demand Services feature.

We are making this new feature available to Small Business plans until October 31, 2023. After that, you will require an Enterprise Plan to continue using the feature

Download On-Demand Technical Guide PDF

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Searching For Inactive Clients & SCA Update

FIND INACTIVE CLIENTS FAST!

You can locate inactive clients using our new client inactive tool. To use this exciting new feature go to the active clients list. Above the list of clients there is a date picker, a filter button and a reset button.

Choose your inactive date. By default we will display a date that is 3 months in the past. Click the FILTER button.

The system will check for those clients who have not had a session on the calendar since the date selected. The resulting list is your inactive clients that you can quickly mark inactive using our bulk edit tool.

OTHER UPDATES

The following updates are also available:

• clients and their agents must use strong customer authentication when saving credit cards to their accounts
• added an offline process to make sure the waiting list is up-to-date and accurate
• added an offline process to send a daily waiting list report to the administrator or staff users

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

On-Demand Available to Small Business Plans *

We're allowing Small Business Plans to try our new on-demand service without an Enterprise Plan until October 31, 2023

Your students / clients will not be able to upload file attachments to the records manager but all other functions are available to you.

In the coming days we will be releasing a detailed guide for setting up this amazing feature. In the meantime, if you are interested in trying on-demand tutoring / services please notify support and we can schedule training seminars.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

New Waiting List Module & Presentation

In the past when a session was full there was no way to know if a client was not able to join. They could have contacted you but let’s face it, many clients won’t do that! With the waiting list feature you make it easy for your clients to notify you when there is excess demand for your services. Now you can easily manage your supply & demand and determine if additional services should be provided.

Waiting List Module Presentation:

This feature also came with a couple changes to Module Control.

These changes are as follows:

• On-Demand Services must be enabled within Module Control
• Check-Ins and Check-outs must be enabled within Module Control
• Waiting Lists must be enabled within Module Control

To enable any of these module navigate to:

• SETTINGS (main menu)
• SETTINGS (main menu)
• SYSTEM (sub-menu bar)
• MODULE CONTROL (horizontal tabs)

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Changes To Bizstim's SMS Service

Due to changes in the regulatory landscape for SMS text messaging we are shutting down the Bizstim SMS Gateway as of September 15, 2023. The changes that are being made are from the telecom providers in the USA. They have increased the cost of SMS as well as added barriers to entry for existing businesses.

In the past month we've noticed a considerable decrease in the deliverability of SMS messages. This reduction in deliverability means we cannot continue to guarantee an acceptable level of service for our clients. As such, we cannot continue to provide a service that does not meet our standard of quality.

You are encouraged to switch to one of our other 3 SMS providers. At this time we are recommending ClickSend.

To use ClickSend do the following:

• click on the provided link above
• sign-up for an account
• go to SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > TEXT MESSAGING
• cut and paste the username and API key from ClickSend in the appropriate fields
• click on SUBMIT CLICKSEND SETTINGS

We apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. We are quite disappointed too!

Please make sure to switch to one of our SMS partners before September 15, 2023 to prevent service disruption.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

On-Demand Tutoring/Services Presentation

Here is an article we recently published about on-demand tutoring. We list the top 10 reasons why on-demand tutoring is so popular.

You don't have to have a tutoring company to use on-demand services either. If you provide services to your clients and they could benefit from a "drop-in" virtual environment you could use this feature too.

On-Demand Tutoring/Services Presentation:

Refunds, Check-Ins & Improvements

The following updates were recently added to the software:

• added the ability to issue refunds for Stripe transactions from within the software. You may not issue refunds that are greater than the transaction amount but you can issue partial refunds. This is charge and payment intent aware for legacy accounts
• added scrollbar for skill list when viewing the practitioner pairing geocoding list
• added a check-in and check-out feature for businesses with a front-desk. A full screen option is provided if you choose to use a small screen or tablet which is helpful if clients are allowed to monitor their own in's and out's
  
• added an option to add or remove clients from recurring group sessions, excluding courses. This overcomes some of the limitations caused by our Hard and Soft Edits. You find this option within the group session EDIT page.
  
• when a payment is edited it will display the edit page after submission instead of redirecting to the payments list
• the package payments notification alert will now send an email to the administrator if the remaining package credit is less than $100.00. This should give you extra time to upsell your clients when payment packages or tiered services are used
• when viewing or editing expenses from the expenses module, a new browser window will open. This prevents the date interval selected on the expenses list from resetting. This should be a quality of operation change for users
• fixed: when a client canceled from a recurring group session, the session is now flagged with having an edit. This impacts the SOFT EDIT feature. SOFT EDIT will not change previously updated sessions of this type
• fixed: when deleting a recurring expense schedule an error was thrown saying the record does not exist. The incorrect ID was being queried. You can now delete recurring expense schedules without issue

If you’re interested in this feature and would like a demonstration on how it works please contact us via our support page.

Phase 1: On-Demand Service

We have released Phase 1 for our new on-demand service. Phase 1 is open to Trial and Enterprise accounts only.

The on-demand service allows businesses to offer services at specific times during the day. Clients fill out a request form. Practitioners (teachers or tutors) see the requests in real-time and accept the requests.

When a request is accepted both parties are redirected to a Lessonspace meeting. Lessonspace is our solution for online meetings and white-boarding. These meetings can be recorded and reviewed at any time.

At the conclusion of the online meeting the client is asked to review the service and practitioner. The practitioner is redirected to a session complete page where a report can be generated.

The on-demand service comes with an exhaustive suite of reporting tools. If the business is providing the service to 3rd party institutions like school districts reports can be generated for specific schools and billing is extracted away from the client’s account towards the 3rd party.

To enable the on-demand service go to SESSIONS from the main menu and select ON-DEMAND. Next, click in the SETTINGS link located within the sub-menu bar.

If you’re interested in this feature and would like a demonstration on how it works please contact us via our support page.

Refunds have come at last!

We’ve added the ability to issue refunds for Stripe transactions from within the software. You may not issue refunds that are greater than the transaction amount but you can issue partial refunds. This is charge and payment intent aware for legacy accounts. That’s pretty cool, right!

To issue a refund go to the payment edit page and click on the Refund button. We’ll communicate the refund with Stripe for you and the payment amount will be automatically adjusted. Don’t worry, a descriptive note will be added too.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Early August Cool Updates ...

This is the early August update to the software. You're going to love some of these changes. Thank you Eric, Belvinder and Juli for the great suggestions! It's client feedback like this that's made Bizstim so special.

The changes are as follows:

• for the online booking tool the skills listed for filtering practitioners now reflects the service's assigned skills and NOT all skills!
• for the online booking tool agents/parents can now use their username and password when using the single session and group session booking form. The agent/parent will be asked to select an assigned client before proceeding
• the add payment icon was removed from the unpaid invoices hamburger options list. This was leading to confusion around the client's account balance and invoices. Adding payments do not change the status of an invoice unless the option is provided to check
• the system automatically "maps" the phone number to the mobile number when using the inquiry form. This is the inquiry form from the white labeled, branded pages
• we added additional logic for selecting assigned practitioners first when a client sends an on-demand request. If no "favorites" or assigned practitioners are set all waiting practitioners are shown the on-demand request
• for tiered service groups, when a client purchases a package deal from the online booking tool, the packages are now listed based on their hours rather than their cost. This allows businesses to use the same base price and still have the packages listed by hierarchy
• a scrollbar will appear when a practitioner has many assigned subjects and the client is looking at the list of practitioners on the online booking page (single booking)
• the mass e-mail tool now remembers the page number you were on after an e-mail batch is sent. It will not longer reset itself to page 1
• the mass e-mail tool now allows a maximum of 50 e-mails to be sent in a single batch. This number represents an increase from 25 to 50. Please keep in mind this number of e-mails could result in throttling by destination servers
• added a total hours and total amount column to the Tutor Services report within the reporting module
• added a client summary to "Services By Agent" report. The report now itemizes a summary of hours and amount for each client and then itemizes a summary of sessions for the given date interval

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Features, Resources, Patches Galore!

This update encompasses a variety of changes to the software. There are a number of feature addons, backend framework improvements, fixes and a deprecation.

The changes are as follows:

• added: ability to see the canceled or missed session reason from the canceled or missed session list pages
• added: an option to the client import tool. You can now add custom text input data to your client imports. Instructions can be found within the clients CSV template
• added: an option to the client import tool. You can now add tag assignments to clients. Instructions can be found within the clients CSV template
• added: you can add multiple e-mails separated by a coma when using the add client inquiry form
• added: you can add additional options for the following custom fields: checkboxes, radios and dropdown input types
• added: you can add additional secondary API keys and select specific endpoints they have access to. If you work with 3rd party applications this allows them to only access data you allow
• added: when a client uses the online booking tool and selects one or more skills/subjects to filter through the available practitioners/tutors, the selection will be added to the public notes. You practitioners/tutors will now see the selection
• added: you can filter by assigned tags when sending custom text (SMS) messages
• added: on-demand API method created for creating encrypted links for users. The API documentation was updated to reflect and describe this API method
• added: add clients API method created for importing many clients to your business account. The API documentation was updated to reflect and describe this API method
• increased the API limits for all endpoints from 100 to 1000 calls per hour per endpoint. A new maximum API limit of 10 was set for trial accounts
• increased server resources by 25% due to an increased in overall demand
• fixed: canceled sessions list on the staff side had an error when generating the tabular data
• fixed: the client report feature from the check session status page. The client information could not be found
• fixed: the correct time zone displayed when a practitioner confirms a session and notifies the client via the check session status page
• DEPRECATION: the WordPress plugin has been deprecated and is at its end of life cycle. Due to massive changes in the WordPress core our enhanced plugin will have to be completely rewritten. We do not currently have plans to replace it

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Mass E-Mail Templates Added

We've added custom templates to the mass e-mail tool for all user types.

You can add your own e-mail templates and then select them at a later date. Inversely, if you crafted the perfect e-mail and you would like to save it for later, you can save the e-mail with a single button click.

You can find the mass e-mail tool at: COMMUNICATION > MASS E-MAIL

From left to right here are your options:

• refresh/clear the editor's subject and message areas
• add an e-mail template
• edit or delete existing e-mail templates
• list of available templates for selection

• the SAVE TEMPLATE button at the bottom of the image will save the subject and message within the editor. This is handy if you didn't think to make a template until you wrote the e-mail.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

BCC Setting & Custom SMS Filtering

The following features were added:

• added a bcc e-mail setting for payments, invoices and pay slips. If you would like to receive a bcc e-mail for any of these events go to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS from the main menu > Check or Uncheck the BCC E-mail Policy option on the right-panel
• added a new filtering feature for custom SMS text messages. You can now filter by agent/parent/district. The list of active clients/students with mobile phone numbers will be selected automatically

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Report Feature Added & More

Report session feature has been added. This new feature will allow users to tag a session for investigation by management. Here are more details:

• added send report (investigation) option to session complete pages allowing practitioners, admin and staff to flag a session for review by management
• added send report (investigation) option to session status page and session view pages which can be accessed by clients to flag a session for review by management
• a todo will be added to the sales manager module and be present on the administrator’s and staff users dashboards
• a note will be added to the sales manager module where management can review the report and the message left by the reporting user

Other updates:

• changed default switch report option to NO and OFF instead of YES and ON.
• fixed Lessonspace error when building links for sessions that were previously deleted
• improved query optimization for large data sets with respect to agent accounts and their assigned clients
• temporarily removed the blind-carbon-copy (bcc) email for payments and invoices sent to the administrator. We will be adding an opt-in setting soon if you want to continue receiving these bcc’s. Overall the feature was not well received and may result in spam filters being triggered.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

May 2023 Updates & Fixes

This month has a number of updates and fixes. They include:

• added STATUS indicator field to the CSV output when doing a data export for: EXPORT PRACTITIONERS ASSIGNED CLIENTS
• added a district filter to the attendance report within the accounting module
• fixed: removed link for SMS settings from staff user accounts because they lack the security permission to access that area. No violations took place. This prevents a logoff when a link is clicked.
• fixed: incorrect link when a staff user viewed a client's record. When a sales manager link was clicked the staff user was logged off due to an improper security violation
• fixed: staff users who are not allowed to use the practitioner pairing tool can no longer see the pairing link from the practitioner view page, client view page and main menu
• fixed: staff users who are not allowed to edit practitioner and client permissions can no longer see the edit option from the users view page
• fixed: records manager viewer would not load if a record was viewed from a page other than the first.

We are currently beta testing a new feature called on-demand tutoring. On-demand tutoring will allow clients to choose from a list of services and specializations and request a session in real-time.

Practitioners who are in waiting can review the request which includes the form information along with an optional comment and uploaded document. Accepting the request creates a Lessonspace online meeting where each of the participants are redirected to.

After the session the client is asked to leave a review where they can grade the tutor out of 5 stars and provide an additional comment about the service.

The practitioner is automatically redirected to the session completion page where they save the session and leave a report for the client. Next the client and practitioner are free to repeat this process if desired.

We look forward to providing this feature in the coming weeks. If you are interested in this new feature please send us an e-mail so we have a better understanding of its demand.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Lessonspace Integration & Updates

We’ve integrated with Lessonspace.

Lessonspace is an online classroom where teachers and students share a collaborative workspace, with digital whiteboards and shared document and code editors, while being able to see and hear each other through video. Use a variety of theme-specific multiplayer game tools for visual teaching on unlimited whiteboards.

You can integrate with Lessonspace by navigating to:

• SETTINGS > SETTINGS from the main menu
• Click on CALENDAR / SESSIONS from the sub-menu bar
• Click on the LESSONSPACE tab at the top-right

If you already have a Lessonspace account select, I HAVE A LESSONSPACE ACCOUNT button. You will be asked to provide your API KEY. Next you will have the opportunity to configure Lessonspace to your liking. Make sure to scroll down and click SUBMIT when done.

When a session is added, navigate to ONLINE MEETINGS and select Lessonspace if it is an interactive session. You also have the opportunity to make this your default.

If you would like to consider using Lessonspace, you can click on our sign up link from this page within Bizstim and review the pricing structure. As a Bizstim client you will receive preferred pricing should you choose to use Lessonspace.

Our Meeting Link sharing feature remains unchanged and you may continue using that feature even if you use Lessonspace.

Other updates included:

• added company name in text format to invoices, reports and receipts. This is displayed in addition to your logo
• added an export option where you can export a list of all of your practitioners and their assigned clients
• fixed an error on the practitioners reports page when a special character was present for the first initial of a client's name
• fixed an error with the practitioner pending sessions on the dashboard. Pending sessions will now show within the pending sessions panel
• fixed the add and edit session pages, service add modal was not showing validation errors

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Reports & Mass E-Mailing

Added a filter option to the mass e-mails tool for practitioners/tutors. You can now filter for open and past due sessions on the calendar. The resulting practitioners/tutors list will only show those users who have open and past due sessions. This makes it very easy to contact practitioners/tutors who need to complete sessions. You can find the mass e-mail tool at: COMMUNICATION > MASS E-MAILS

Added the ability to read all anecdotal records for a specific client from the client view page. This allows you to see the written reports for a client on one page without having to navigate to a new report for each completed session.

Individual/Parents Plan Update

As of April 27, 2023 individual and parents plans are undergoing a change to their e-mail process. E-mails that are sent by the system will have a from e-mail address of no-reply@bizstim.com and a from name of Bizstim Business App.

Make sure any notification e-mails that are sent have your business name and contact information in the subject or message of the e-mail. You can find notifications by navigating to: SETTINGS > NOTIFICATIONS from the main menu.

This change brings these plans more in-line with the feature offerings across the plans hierarchy. Furthermore, this was necessitated by our newly added SPF setting feature and our dedication to increased e-mail deliverability.

This pertains to our clients with an individual plan or parents plan only.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

New SPF Setting & Updates

If you do not have control over your Domain's SPF policy you can have Bizstim send emails using no-reply@bizstim.com with a sender’s name of Bizstim Business App. The subject and body of the email will still have your branded, business name and contact information. Your clients will still know who the email is being sent by.

If you don’t add bizstim.com to your email SPF policy and we send emails on your behalf without that policy update many of your emails may not be delivered or may be sent to spam folders.

For those Bizstim clients who have not updated their SPF policy and continue to experience email errors, Bizstim will select the SPF setting for you.

This new setting will help to increase your email deliverability.

Other updates to the software include:

• Practitioners can now review written reports for their assigned clients using the Assigned Clients page. This allows the practitioner to see all written reports for a client on one page. From the practitioners dashboard go to: CLIENTS > ASSIGNED CLIENTS to find this feature
• batch email payment receipt is now available from the payments page batch tool
• you can now filter your reports by practitioner and client from the view reports/assessments page (added for admin and staff users)
• the reporting module now has all services available including those services that have been changed to inactive status or deleted
• when a session is saved and a report is sent out to the client, we are now emailing the client in an offline module so we can better stagger the number of emails sent
• reports can now be sent to all participants in a group session when the group session is completed. There is a checkbox available to turn this on or off
• added SPF policy step to the process flow helper
• fixed an error when a staff user attempted to open a document from their dashboard

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Server Upgrade & SPF Policies

The server has been upgraded successfully. We are seeing a 2x to 3x improvement in page load speed and queries with extensive calculations. This server upgrade is expected to launch Bizstim into the next phase of its growth and development. We have access to a plethora of horizontal and vertical scaling options that will allow us to meet your needs and demands well into the future. We’re so excited!

We thank all of our clients for their continued patronage.

If you haven’t already done so, please update your SPF policies. On March 20, 2023 we released an update explaining how to add our new server to your email policy. Your SPF policy is important because it has a direct impact on email deliverability.

Please add the following text into your SPF policy:

include:spf.bizstim.com

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Dark Color Scheme & Custom SMS

A couple updates were recently added:

• Minor changes to the dark color scheme. We lightened the page background and on-page panels because they were a little too dark and may have caused eye fatigue. Try the dark color scheme and let us know what you think. You can test out the dark color scheme by clicking on the circular icon at the top-left of all pages when logged in.
• If a custom text message is more than 136 characters in length the system will not send the message. Instead, a warning message will describe the error and allow the user to edit the message length.

If you haven't read the previous update, the software will be down for upgrades on Friday March 24, 2023 at 12:00 noon EST for approximately 4 hours. During this time the software will not be available. This upgrade is expected to improve performance and have a positive impact on the user's experience.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Batch Invoices, SPF & Additions

The following features are available:

• added batch invoices feature that is much like automated invoicing and billing but allows the user to define the date interval and perform the invoicing actions while present. You can find this feature at: ACCOUNTING > ACCOUNT METHODS > INVOICES (main menu) > BATCH INVOICES (sub-menu bar) . This allows you to create many invoices at once. The manual invoice creation is still present and remains unaffected.
• added the ability for individual plans to see their e-mail history without accessing other features in the mass e-mail tool
• added Phone To Mobile option on the active practitioners list page. You can map the primary or secondary phone number field to the mobile phone number field in a batch.
• added Phone To Mobile option on the active clients list page. You can map the primary or secondary phone number field to the mobile phone number field in a batch.
• added Phone To Mobile option on the active staff list page. You can map the primary or secondary phone number field to the mobile phone number field in a batch.
• Email SPF policy update is required for our new server. Please add the following to your SPF policy before the "-all" flag: include:spf.bizstim.com Here is an example SPF policy:
  • v=spf1 include:spf.protection.outlook.com +ip4:162.223.228.110 include:spf.bizstim.com -all

If you haven't read the previous update, the software will be down for upgrades on Friday March 24, 2023 at 12:00 noon EST for approximately 4 hours. During this time the software will not be available. This upgrade is expected to improve performance and have a positive impact on the user's experience.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Server Upgrades & Downtime (March 24)

On Friday March 24, 2023 @ 12:00 noon EST the software will be unavailable for approximately 4 hours.

During this time the software will be migrated to a newer and more powerful server architecture. You will not be able to access the software during this time. We rarely shut down the software and only do so when it is absolutely necessary.

Thank you for your patience.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Performance Improvements & Fixes

The following performance improvements and fixes were applied recently:

• Improved loading time for the view, edit and complete group session pages. Query optimization was performed to increase page loading speed.
• Added the ability for Club-Z! staff to interact with the Club-Z! module if they have the following permissions: 1. Manager Revenues & Payments and 2. Manage Clients. Both of these permissions are necessary for staff to interact with the Club-Z! module.
• Removed cancelled and missed session reason from the session list pages due to performance issues. You can view the session and read the reason if one is available. We understand having the reason visible from the list page was convenient but this meant significantly longer load times for all data sets, large and small.
• Fixed dashboard pending sessions list for admin and staff users. The client name was not being displayed properly.
• Fixed payment history and service history lists on balances page. When the client had a single or double quote in their name the tables did not generate due to a parsing error.
• Removed unnecessary files from the file system that are no longer in use. This was done in an effort to streamline the file system in preparation for larger styling changes to come. If you notice missing or odd styling of pages please notify Bizstim support. We don’t expect this to happen but we wanted you to be aware of these changes.
• We are working very hard at optimizing the software to make your experience even better. There are a number of significant improvements coming that will be discussed in a future update. We can’t wait to share that information with you.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Mixed Updates and Changes

There was a price change to SMS text messaging. Enterprise accounts will incur a charge of $0.05 per text message. This change added $0.02 per message for Enterprise accounts. SMS providers have increased their per text message in conjunction with increases in carrier fees and text length or segmentation charges.

The end result was x3 to x5 increases in costs for our Bizstim SMS gateway fees. We have instituted a hard cap on message length. No text message will have more than 136 characters. Make sure your default SMS messages do not go over the 136 characters per message count. If the message is more than 136 characters the message will be cut off.

For the past 6-8 weeks your text messages did go out without being cut off and you were only charged the fee for one text message. The text message history table may appear to be cut off but that is because we have a character count limit on that table field. Again, those messages were sent in their entirety and you were not penalized with respect to price.

The cost for Small Business accounts did not change. Small business accounts still incur a cost of $0.10 per text message.

The following is a list of other updates to the software:

• added meeting link column option to the practitioners lists for admin and staff users
• updated business summary report to show hours for the given date interval
• updated business summary report to calculate average cost per hour instead of average cost per session
• session view pages under statistics now shows hours for duration instead of minutes
• added red indicator for missed and cancelled sessions for the practitioner's calendar
• improved page loading for the security audit module
• improved page loading for the wage manager
• improved exporting of session data
• improved exporting of payment data. Changed debits from reporting as negative amounts to positive amounts since this was confusing users
• added Club-Z! module for business clients who are Club-Z! franchise owners
• added zip code tracking and revenue reporting for the Club-Z! module
• small change to the address output on invoices and payments
• made performance changes to the session pages for admin and staff users. Removed redundant features to decrease load time
• the inquiry form for clients will now save the client provided message to the client's notes section in addition to the sales manager. This message can then be shared with their assigned practitioner/tutor
• changed text phone field example to: Country code and number instead of 1-605-555-7979. This impacts all users add and edit pages. Keep in mind the text phone numbers are formatted before they are sent to the SMS carrier. You can add spaces, dashes and parenthesis as desired
• fixed incorrect invoice template message sent when an invoice state was manually changed. Invoice ready message was being sent for paid invoices. This has been fixed. For paid invoices the “Thanks For Payment” message will be sent

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

SMS Text Messaging Update

SMS carriers in the United States have doubled and sometimes tripled their fees over the past few months. For this reason we are forced to increase the cost of SMS text messages. Moving forward small business accounts will pay 10 cents per text message and enterprise accounts will pay 5 cents per text message.

We understand this is not welcome news. We thought very carefully before making this decision and delayed this change for as long as possible. To continue bringing you an excellent SMS product the price increase is necessary.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Welcome Message Change

We’ve made a change to the welcome message feature and we know you’re going to love it!

When you use the batch tool for welcome messages or you’re sending a welcome message from the users view page, a new password will be generated and sent to the user. If the user doesn’t already have a username one will be generated.

This change means your users will never again get the dreaded **Password Encrypted** message within the welcome message. This led to a lot of confusion and extra work on your part and we want to reduce your workload not create more.

When a username is generated we’ll use the user’s first initial from their first name and concatenate it with their last name. For example, if the user’s name is John Doe their username will be jdoe. Since usernames must be unique a number will be added to the end of the username until the username is unique. You could have users like the following: jdoe1, msmith3 and cjohnson5.

Be advised, if you send a welcome message to an existing user their old password will be reset for a new one. Make sure you want to send a welcome message to the user before you “pull the trigger.” As always, your users are free to make a new password for themselves if they so desire.

For those Bizstim clients that have been with us for a while you may need to modify your welcome message templates to reflect this new change. In the end this change will be far more user friendly.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Fun With Geocoding …

The following update introduces geocoding to the pairing process, a small improvement to the balances page, a practitioner note displayed during the session completion process and other minor changes.

Here’s what you can expect:

• added a geocoding module where the software retrieves geographic co-ordinates for users based on their address information
• added geocoding of clients (students, customers, patients)
• added geocoding of practitioners (tutors, therapists, instructors, coaches)
• when the admin contact information is changed geocoding co-ordinates will be saved/updated for the business automatically
• added automatic geocoding lookup at the user level for paid subscription plans
• when geocoding is initiated from the user level (client and practitioner edit pages) we’ll also recommend a time zone for the user based on the results. This is a fantastic feature if your business is online and you often add users from time zones you don’t recognize. This will make that procedure a little easier
• added automatic geocoding lookup in batches for paid subscription plans. Who doesn’t like automatic batches?!?!
• changed the name of pre-scheduling to practitioner pairing. We should’ve done this a long time ago. Better late than never
• moved the practitioner pairing tool from the clients menu to the practitioners menu
• added a header icon and link to the practitioner pairing tool from the top header of all pages
• added a quick link option to the practitioner pairing tool from the practitioner view pages for admin and staff users
• added map and markers to the practitioner pairing tool
• added the ability to leave a practitioner note at the bottom of each session complete page. This note can be used to remind your practitioners of responsibilities and duties related to the session reporting process. The note is not shared with clients
• minor styling changes to the session complete pages
• the balances page was re-worked for faster page loading performance. You can now select your filter options and then calculate balances. Added the option to select a specific client too. This change will save you time when you want to audit a specific client’s service history

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Agent/Parent Cancellations

We made some changes to the Agent/Parent user type. These changes are as follows:

• Agents can cancel sessions for their assigned clients. For example, a parent can review the sessions for any of their children and cancel from sessions as per your cancellation policy. If you do not allow cancellations this feature will not be available. This feature is fully time zone aware. The agent must check a checkbox entitled, "I agree to your cancellation policy," before they are allowed to cancel from the session. A corresponding e-mail will be sent out to the practitioner/tutor and anyone else designated in your cancellation policy
• The agent sessions pages will save/remember your date range, client selected and session status selected as the agent moves from page to page within the software. Therefore, if the agent views a session and returns to the sessions list it will reflect the filter options previously selected. This will cut down on page manipulation and lead to a better customer experience. This addition is the same type of feature that was added to the administrator and staff session pages
• A small visual change to the agent dashboard was made. This does not impact agent features at all
• Fixed: a logical error was preventing clients from dropping out of a class that has not yet past the drop deadline. This has been fixed

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Semi-Annual Updates

The following change log is a semi-annual update and encompasses all changes made to the software from September 2022 to January 2023. If you have questions regarding this extensive update please feel free to contact us.

• system setting added allowing administrators to enable and disable conflict checks for clients and practitioners
• removed records manager overview page from practitioners since it allowed them to see records for clients that were not assigned to them
• added additional logic when a home URL, login URL and terms URL is provided and the http:// component is missing the software will automatically prepend it to the URL string.
• improved assigned client list for practitioners when assigned only setting is disabled
• improved the staff list pages for staff users. They will only see dropdown options they have permission to use
• you can now assign agents to services. When a session is completed where the service has an assigned agent, the software will make sure the clients are assigned to the agent and if they are not they will be assigned to the agent
• you can now assign agents and tags to client add and edit forms
• you can now assign tags to the agent add and edit forms
• the agent view page shows a list of assigned tags
• added additional formatting options to the text editor
• added breaks and notes to the calculation for available time when a client uses the online booking tool. Breaks and closures will not affect those times that are available within the dropdown start and end time fields
• added notification warning if X sessions for a client are missed in an X number of days
• added ability to complete all old, open to-dos from the dashboard that are more than 10 days old
• added the ability to save different session completion types for group sessions. This option is present within the session completion page. Each participant/client in the session can have their own session completion type
• added the ability for clients to cancel group sessions and have your cancellation policy applied to them specifically. In the past we did not allow clients to leave a group session after X hours designated by your cancellation policy
• added the group session note to the bottom of the view session page for clients
• added offline and automated management of courses so only the next session by date is shown within the online groups and courses list. This ONLY applies to courses with more than 1 vacancy/slot
• added session complete link to the practitioner’s dashboard when a session is past due. For upcoming sessions the session view link is present. This will make it easier to direct your practitioners to the appropriate page
• added a visual “Duration” field for all session complete pages. The hours/minutes updates whenever the start or end times change
• added a new agent report that will sum totals and provide an itemized session report for all clients under the agent. This report looks much like an invoice but cannot be paid like an invoice
• fixed: save cancel session reason was disabled when there was already a reason present, this has been changed and the save button will be enabled
• fixed: when a practitioner is selected from the session list pages the add break and add note drag and drop options will show on the calendar quick navigation menu

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Practitioner/Tutor Saving Sessions Protocol

If a session has a start date more than 1 day in the future the practitioner/tutor will not be able to save/complete the session. This only applies to “completing” a session and does not apply to canceled or missed sessions.

This protocol reduces the number of times your practitioners/tutors mistakenly completes the wrong session. When this protocol is triggered they will receive the following message:

• You may not complete a session that is in the future. You need to edit the session and change the date before you can complete it.

For bulk completing of sessions they will receive the following message:

• You are not allowed to do that or there was an error with 1 or more sessions.

OTHER CHANGES

A dropdown list of practitioner/tutor names was removed from the wage payment edit page. You will no longer be able to change the practitioner/tutor assigned to the wage payment. This change was made to prevent the wage recipient from being changed accidentally and the earnings data from becoming compromised.

If you need to change the recipient of a wage payment you must delete the old record and create a new one. This change may seem verbose but it protects data integrity.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Session List Persistence

SESSION LIST PAGES & CALENDAR OPTIONS

The session list pages and calendar options have additional persistence features added. This means when you change the date interval, select a service, practitioner or client the filtering will be applied to all session list pages and the calendar options.

The calendar persistence is more limited than the session list pages and in this case only the practitioner and client selections are “mapped” over.

This persistence will remain as long as the user is logged in to the software. The persistence will be reset after the user logs off or the browser window is closed.

SUMMARY BUSINESS REPORT FIX

When generating a summary business report the total revenue for all services is summed and provided at the bottom of the report. An all services summary report was showing the total revenue correctly, but if a single service or a group of services were selected the total revenue collected was still shown rather than the total revenue restricted by service. This has been fixed.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Full Service Restored

At 9:06 am EDT today a client notified us they were unable to login to the site. At 9:39 am EDT the site was fully restored and operating within expected parameters.

The issue was related to the file system at the server level. No information was lost and this will not impact your business data. A solution was implemented by our server maintenance team and service was restored.

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Editor, Reports, Inactive Tracking. Oh My!

Out with the old text editor and in with the new text editor. The new text editor has a full screen option.

An inactive tracking feature was added. It records the the date made inactive, reason for the change of status and the user's name who made the change is stored and shown on the client view page

You can now filter sessions on the calendar via a service

The calendar filter options for locations, services, and session status is now a multi-select and this means you can select any combination of options from these categories. For example, if you want to see those sessions for two of your locations at once you have that option. You no longer have to view all or one of these options at a time. This will make the calendar much more dynamic and revealing.

An account system setting was added to enable/disable the check session status page for your practitioners and clients. If you do not want them to use this feature, where there is a real-time chat tool, you can prevent these users from accessing it all together.

To enable/disable the check session status page go to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > SESSION CONTROL > Scroll down to: "Allow Instructors And Students To Use Lesson Status Page?"

New Report Added: there is a new practitioner/tutor services report available. This report will show each practitioner's services rendered for a given time interval and display the total hours and wage pay for that period.

You can locate this report at: ACCOUNTING > RATES &REPORT > REPORTING > "Practitioner Services" tab. Where you see practitioner your word translation for the word will be present. For example, practitioner may be tutor, instructor, coach, therapist etc.

FIX: calendar overview page for staff users was not updating the pie chart when a different month was selected.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Wage Manager Paid Indicator

We added a wage paid indicator to the HISTORY tab within the wage manager. The image below depicts a "Paid" indicator. When a pay slip is created the system will add a paid indicator to each session in the date interval selected up to the pay slip amount.

This indicator should make it easier for you to manage wage payments especially if sessions are completed late and didn't have wages present during the scheduled pay slip payout. If the pay slip is deleted the system will update the wage manager's history tab so previously paid sessions will be marked as unpaid. If pay slips are edited there is no change to the paid indicator.

The wage paid indicator will only be present for pay slips that are generated after August 18, 2022. Sessions listed within the HISTORY tab prior to August 18, 2022 and were paid out will have an unpaid indicator. Please keep this in mind if you have a number of saved pay slips within the system prior to August 18, 2022.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Assign Services To Custom Completion Types

We've added the ability to assign services to custom completion types. This means you can have different custom completion types with different cost and wage modifiers and the software will only show the appropriate custom completion type on the session complete/save page based on the service selected.

This new option will help reduce user error; users will not be allowed to select an incorrect session completion type, since those options will only be shown where applicable.

If no services are selected, as seen in the image above, all custom completion types will be shown on the session complete/save page. If you do not want to use this new feature no additional actions are required.

If you want to use this feature, you must select those services associated with the custom completion type.

To update your settings go to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > CALENDAR / SESSIONS > Custom Session Status tab > Click on the SERVICES ICON from the OPTION column.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

August 11, 2022 Updates

The following updates and changes to the software took place recently:

• performance improvements when adding, editing, completing and recovering sessions
• performance improvements when checking session conflicts
• client view page assigned information shown in a list
• practitioner view page assigned information shown in a list
• wage manager primary table export options will show all columns regardless of hidden columns
• manual checking of session conflicts is only available to businesses with fewer than 1000 sessions in a current month. Automatic checking of conflicts has NOT changed. This change will not negatively impact businesses.
• income statement now generates a report to the nearest day instead of nearest month
• added agents drop down select to the services report. If you are generating a report for an agent user, selecting an agent will provide a performance increase to loading time
• added the option to enable/disable conflict checking. If disabled, there will be a significant performance boost to the software. Practitioners/Tutors and Clients/Students are still prevented from adding conflicting sessions to the calendar.
• added exception to duplicate session check for clients and practitioners. You can set a client placeholder within the client ignored list of session conflicts that will bypass the duplicate check
• added a sales manager todo and note when a client creates an account and is requested to make a payment, the todo and note are added in case the user does not send a payment and abandons the process
• added start date to the client list pages. If you want to see it click on the column visibility icon to reveal it
• removed $0.00 dollar amounts from the services report. Clients with $0.00 owing will no longer be present in the tabular data
• removed bcc e-mail for adding and completing tasks

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Chrome Update Issue Aug 4, 2022

Google Chrome updated their browser recently and introduced errors. If you are experiencing issues with Chrome in window mode or your bookmarks bar is not displaying properly etc then we recommend you do a manual update. In our testing updating Chrome manually fixes the odd behavior. This issue is entirely Google Chrome and is NOT related to the performance of our software.

To manually update Google Chrome do the following:

1. Click on the 3 horizontal dots at the top-right of your browser
2. Select HELP from the menu (2nd-last option)
3. Select About Google Chrome
4. Click the button to Update Chrome (if one is available)
5. When complete, click the Reload button
6. The latest version as of the writing of this update is: 104.0.5112.81

After applying this update we did not experience any issues with the browser. If you need help, as always, contact Bizstim support and we will assist you.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

August 3, 2022 Updates

We have a few improvements to existing features, they include:

• added login page to white, label branded pages
• added wages report to audit session duration over an x number of minutes
• added checking of constraints when editing and saving sessions from the practitioners/tutors side of the software
• added persistence to wage manager custom interval tool, the date interval will be saved until you logout or your session expires (8 hours)
• added session completion date and indicator for HISTORY tab when viewing a practitioners/tutors earnings in the wage manager

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Handling Session Conflicts

PRACTITIONER/TUTOR CONFLICTS

When a practitioner/tutor adds or edits a session we are performing a check for scheduling conflicts. If a conflict is found it will not be added and the practitioner/tutor will be provided a message on screen communicating as much. In the event there are recurring sessions involved, each session in the series will be checked for conflicts. Multiple conflicting dates will be displayed in a warning message to the user.

Conflict checks will be performed when using the add, edit pages and when a session is dragged and dropped or the session times resized from the interactive calendar. Furthermore, adding an additional recurring session option will also undergo a conflict check.

This strict checking for session conflicts is done when a practitioner/tutor adds/edits a session or when a client/student requests a session. Overall, these changes will greatly cut down on the number of session conflicts added to the calendar which will reduce the workload on staff and administrators.

Please communicate to your practitioners/tutors the need to be diligent against double bookings and why the software will no longer allow them to add sessions that conflict with other sessions. Administrators and staff will continue to be allowed to add sessions that may conflict with other sessions. They will receive a warning before the session is added or the conflict session will flag these conflicts for your future review.

SESSION LIST ORDER DEFAULTS

The open sessions page now has default ordering set to ascending. This means you will see your oldest sessions first and your newest sessions last. This change was made because some practitioners/tutors were completing/saving sessions first on the list without checking their session dates. While this might help some it is important that all practitioners/tutors be instructed to check the session details before saving the session.

All other session pages will have their default ordering set to descending. For all, cancelled, missed and completed sessions the newest dates are shown first. This is done so those sessions that were most recently completed will likely appear at the top of the page.

Please keep in mind, the session tables saves preferences in cookies and for those practitioners/tutors that have the settings saved in their cookies will either have to manually adjust the column ordering or clear their browser's cache if they want sessions to be ordered in such a way.

CALENDAR TOTALS BY MONTH

When you navigate to the calendar overview page you are greeted by the number of sessions for the current month and their sessions status. We've added the ability to switch to any given month or year to review historical data from this page. This allows you to see if the session count is increasing or decreasing over time and identify trends with respect to cancellations and missed sessions.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

July 2022 Updates and Fixes

PARTNER PROGRAM UPDATED

The Partner Program has been updated and is available to all Bizstim clients with a paid subscription plan.

When you refer a client to Bizstim and that referral purchases a paid subscription plan your account will be credited based on the subscription purchased. For more information click here.

To get your Vendor ID or link to a Vendor go to: CLICK-YOUR-NAME-AT-THE-TOP-RIGHT > CLICK PARTNER PROGRAM > FOLLOW THE ON-PAGE INSTRUCTIONS

LARGE VOLUME COSTS REMINDER

This is a reminder that Bizstim instituted a large volume cost structure in June 2022. This will impact those accounts that have 2500 sessions or more in a single month. These costs will start to appear on your next or subsequent subscription payment receipt and are typically delayed by a month.

Large volume costs were added to meet the demands of medium to large businesses that use a lot of server resources and require additional technical support and maintenance. In addition, these costs will help us add additional resources to the server and improve the performance of the software.

An additional charge of 3 cents per session is applied to accounts with 2500 sessions or more. This charge is added in blocks of 2500 sessions. Therefore an account that has 2500 sessions in a month will pay an extra $75 per month in addition to their subscription fee. An account with 5000 sessions in a month will pay an extra $150 per month and so on and so forth.

PAYMENT SOURCE ADDED TO PAYMENTS

When adding a payment you can identify the payment source. Payment sources include: credit card, cash, check, crypto, direct deposit and other.

You can see the payment source from the payments list and the payment add/edit forms.

SET EARNINGS INTERVAL FOR WAGE MANAGER

If you use a non-standard earnings interval, something other than monthly, you can set that interval when reviewing the earnings for your practitioners/tutors/instructors. When this is set, you can use the previous and forward buttons and quickly move to other intervals without having to set the new dates each time. Overall this will save you a lot of time.

CANCELLED/MISSED REASON RECORDING

When a session is cancelled or missed the software will ask you to leave a reason. You can review the reasons from the cancelled/missed sessions list pages or going to the sessions view page.

Saving a reason is mandatory for practitioners/tutors and voluntary for staff and administrators. If a session is completed using a batch method no reason can be saved.

COMPLETE A TODO FROM THE DASHBOARD

Staff and Administrators can complete todos directly from the dashboard. Click on the orange circle for an open todo and the todo will be marked as completed and turn green. The next time you reload the dashboard the completed todo will disappear.

This will make it easier for you to manage open todos without having to reload pages and should be a real time saver!

DISPLAY SETTING FOR OPEN GROUP SESSIONS/COURSES

For those of you that use the Group Sessions feature on the online booking tool we made it easier for you to determine which sessions are shown.

Go to the edit page of the open group session and there will be an eye icon within the recurring sessions table. Click on the eye icon and you can toggle between display and no-display.

FIXES

• fixed an incorrect link to the calendar settings page for staff accounts
• fixed procedure for checking session conflicts from the practitioners/tutors add session page

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Scheduled Downtime for July 10, 2022

On Sunday July 10, 2022 @ 9:00 am EDT the software will be unavailable while performing an update. You will not be allowed to log in or use the software for approximately 2 hours.

There are a number of exciting new features coming and we can't wait to share them with you.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Scheduled Downtime for June 18, 2022

On Saturday June 18, 2022 @ 6:00 pm EDT the software will be unavailable while performing an update. You will not be allowed to log in or use the software for approximately 1 hour.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Custom Fields, Wage Manager & Improvements

This update communicates a number of additions and improvements to the software and they include:

• added a dropdown option for custom fields
• visual improvements to the client view page custom fields tab. The custom fields are displayed in a more compact fashion that will be easier to read and visualize
• improved page loading for the client view page. The client dropdown list is delayed allowing the page to load before the data is populated. Also, the client reporting and attendance data is populated upon request
• a batch "Add Payslips" option was added to the Wage Manager. This allows you to add payslips in bulk if you have a large number of practitioners. This option does not send payslip PDF's via e-mail. See the next update
• a batch "E-mail Payslip" option was added to the Wage Payments list/table. You can now send a large number of e-mails to your practitioners notifying them of their payslip with an attached PDF of the wage payment amount
• added a jump to user, next and previous user feature for clients, practitioners and staff. This allows you to review user information quickly without having to return to the users table list. A couple of seconds are saved with each query
• when viewing the calendar overview page additional performance improvements were made with the client and practitioner dropdown selects. These dropdowns have delayed population allowing the page to load faster. In addition, the dropdown provides a list of "Active" users and not "All" users
• added a practitioner viewable setting for custom fields. With this setting you can reveal custom fields to your practitioners. When a custom field is "Practitioner Viewable," the data can be accessed by your practitioners from the "Assigned Clients" page on the practitioner side of the software
• the "Upcoming Sessions" table on the practitioner dashboard will show overdue sessions updated to the minute. This means the practitioner will see a red background for each session that has an end date of at least 1 minute in the past. Historically this was accurate to the day but now it's accurate to the minute
• FIX: the "All Reports" from the practitioner side of the software was not loading properly and this has been fixed. We also added the ability for practitioners to search for a client from the dropdown list

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Bizstim SMS Gateway Phone Number

There is a phone number change for the Bizstim SMS text messaging gateway. Your clients will see the following phone number when a text message is sent to them: +1(631)710-7569. We chose a number very similar to our old one to limit confusion. No additional action by you is required.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

New Calendar Features

The calendar has been improved with better user design (UX) and new features.

Added a copy option for sessions. When you click on a session cell there is a copy button that duplicates the session and marks it as pending. You can drag and drop the new session to another day and time and confirm it when ready. Administrators and staff users can access the copy button with valid permissions.

Added a confirmation step when deleting a session from the calendar. If you click on a session cell and click the delete button your users will be asked if they are sure they want to delete the sessions. This should cut down on accidental deletions. Closures, breaks, notes and messages will still delete automatically when their delete button is clicked.

Added a recover option for deleted sessions from the calendar. Before, if you wanted to recover deleted sessions you had to go to the security module and that meant staff users had to have the security management permission. Now, staff users can recover deleted sessions from the Calendar with the appropriate manage sessions permissions. This feature is available to administrators and staff users.

The session popup information has been modified. We changed the color scheme, size of the popup and added buttons and icons for link options. We grouped similar options together for ease of use and made sure to move the delete option away from the complete option. We hope these changes will make the calendar easier to navigate and improve the user experience.

A splash screen was added to the initial entry into the calendar. This splash screen allows administrators and staff users to filter the calendar before loading the calendar. For companies with several hundred sessions per month this change will have a positive impact in loading times. Moreover, a donut chart was added to the splash screen showing the number of open, completed, canceled and missed sessions for the current month. This information should be extremely helpful if you want to ensure sessions are being completed or saved.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Wage Manager Search & Export

A couple changes have been made to the Wage Manager.

Firstly, you can now search by practitioner/tutor name from the primary wage manager table. Previously the wages were listed by wages earned but this has been changed to last name. By doing so we were able to provide a search function by name. This should make it a lot easier to find specific practitioners/tutors during your wage payment intervals.

Secondly, we've added COPY and PRINT export options. Instead of downloading and opening a CSV or EXCEL sheet, you can copy the data from the table and quickly paste it into a spreadsheet. If you like to see the information on paper you can use the print option with a single click.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Session List Pages Improvements

An ADDED column was added for all session list pages for admin and staff users. To see this column do the following:

• go to SESSIONS
• click SESSIONS LISTS
• click on the column view icon at the end of the export button options
• select ADDED

The ADDED column will appear as a column in the table. This will show the date and time the session was added. This date and time is time zone aware for sessions created after May 4, 2022.

Furthermore, we've made some improvements to the download options. If you were to hide columns using the column view icon, the downloadable output will only show those columns selected. Prior to this update all columns would appear.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

E-mail Delivery Tracking & Updates

The latest update has a number of new features and a minor fix. The following is a list of changes:

• e-mailed invoices are now being tracked for delivery. From the unpaid invoices list you can see if your client has viewed the invoice from their inbox
• e-mailed payment receipts are now being tracked for delivery. From the payments list you can see if your client has viewed the payment receipt from their inbox
• e-mailed session reminders are now being tracked for delivery. From the session list view page you can see if your client(s) have viewed the session reminder from their inbox. You will also be shown the number of times the e-mail was viewed and the last day and time the e-mail was viewed
• added a text area custom field for clients. This custom field can be found within the CUSTOM tab for the add, edit and view client pages. You may also show this custom field within the online booking tool and inquiry forms
• when a username is removed from any user account (client, practitioner, staff, agent) the software will also remove the saved password on the account. This was not previously done. The user could not log in without a username anyway but this change resets the password present indicator which otherwise would have been impossible
• removed country, state and city from the account creation process in the online booking tool and the three inquiry forms. The software is now using geo-location technology to provide this information. This reduces the number of form fields required to be filled out and ensures the location information is as accurate as possible
• added an information text area for sessions. Now there are public notes, private notes and information notes. This new note section was added for those accounts that sell courses or open group sessions and need a dedicated area to describe the course or service. Moreover, since we now offer a real-time chat between participants, the public note is used to store a record of the communication. If you offer open group sessions or courses and previously used the public note to describe the course, you will need to cut and paste that public note to the new information note area
• fixed broken links from the practitioner and staff contact list view pages

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Enterprise Plan SMS Cost Change

As of April 25th 2022 there is a change to the cost of SMS text messaging for Enterprise clients. Due to price increases by U.S. carriers we must increase our cost as follows:

• The single text message cost is increased from 2 cents to 3 cents
• There is no longer 100 free text messages per month

These changes apply to Enterprise clients only. Bizstim is dedicated to bringing you the highest quality of service at competitive rates. That hasn't changed. Unfortunately, because of market forces, we were forced to make this price increase.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Confirm All Added | Report Moderation

A CONFIRM ALL button was added to the report moderation page. When clicked, all unmoderated reports awaiting approval will be approved and released to your clients.

You may want to use this feature if you haven't moderated reports for some time and become inundated.

When the CONFIRM ALL feature is used the reports will NOT be e-mailed to your clients.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Practitioner Record Created Upon Inquiry

When the practitioner (tutor, teacher, coach, instructor, therapist) inquiry form is submitted, a contact list user record will be created within the software. You will still get a notification e-mail. To review the new practitioner navigate to: PRACTITIONERS > PRACTITIONERS LIST > Contact List Practitioners.

Their form information and message will be saved within their notes area. You can read the notes by navigating to the practitioners list and clicking on the view icon (magnifying glass).

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Custom Schedules Rework And More

Custom Schedules Rework

You can now create custom schedules without having to assign practitioners upon creation. This will allow you to have custom schedules that are reused year after year.

Practitioners can be added and removed from custom schedules at any time. Practitioners can also add and remove themselves from custom schedules.

If the date range for the custom schedule does not match the practitioner's availability you can change it. Of course, the software will make sure custom schedules do not intersect each other at the practitioner level.

This rework allows you to have common themes for custom schedules.

For example, you could have a SUMMER SCHEDULE that encompasses the months of June to August. Before June 2022 you would make sure the date range for the custom schedule is set to 2022-06-01 and 2022-08-31.

Next, you add all of your practitioners to the SUMMER SCHEDULE and ask them to update their hours of availability.

Practitioners could update the days and times they are available during the SUMMER SCHEDULE, they could adjust the start and end dates, or they can remove themselves from the custom schedule if their default schedule still applies to them.

The result of this rework will reduce the number of custom schedules exponentially. We noticed some of our larger clients had 40+ custom schedules. This update could reduce that number to less than 5. Managing custom schedules should be a lot easier and user friendly.

Added Batch Welcome E-mails

We added the ability to send Welcome E-mails in large batches. If you want to send a welcome e-mail to multiple clients, practitioners, or staff users you can do so from the list pages.

Within the Select dropdown box choose, 'Welcome Message,' checkmark the users and then click the submit button.

Added Batch Payments Feature

We added the ability to add manual payments in large batches from the BALANCES page.

You may want to add manual payments if you have a large number of clients with amounts owing that you have not updated. This occurs when a business accepts checks and cash for their services. If a couple months pass before you update payments there could be a lot of tedious work to do. This feature adds payments in seconds.

You select the date interval from the balances page to calculate the amount owing during that billing period. Then you choose those clients you want to create a payment for. Choose ADD PAYMENTS from the dropdown box and click Submit.

Manual payments will be added for each client selected in the amount of the services rendered for the billing period. A payment date will be back-dated to the last day in the billing interval. Alternatively, you can choose ALL-TIME for the billing interval. If all-time is selected the payment date will be the date for the current day.

Improved Zero Balances Features

The zero balances feature is similar to the add payments feature. With it you can create credits and debits automatically in order to "zero-out" the account balance of multiple clients.

Prior to this update the feature was not date interval aware. This meant it took the entire service and payment history of the client and added a credit or debit on the account.

If you want to zero out the entire history of a client you can select the ALL-TIME date interval option.

Fixed Vehicle Mileage Expense Recording

When a client debit derived from a vehicle expense is deleted from the Payments List the software will check for a mileage expense record and remove it.

Previously this check was not done and meant a manual correction had to be applied to the vehicle mileage table. You no longer have to perform this correction.

Fixed Practitioners Account Information Issue

When a practitioners tried to update their contact information with a personal meeting ID (PMI) and a primary phone number an error was displayed. This has been fixed. This error occurred when a practitioner was logged into the software (Practitioner Side) only.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Stripe | Strong Customer Authentication

Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) through the Stripe payment processing gateway has been explicitly added. In the past we checked for specific payment failures and attempted a secure payment transaction. Now, all payment failures using the less secure process will result in an attempt to charge cards with the more secure process.

This change will result in less payment declines. Furthermore, you have the option to force SCA and always perform more secure payment transactions. If you force SCA your clients will be required to re-enter their card information. They MUST re-enter their card information personally as additional questions may be asked! You cannot do this for them. To force SCA go to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > ONLINE PAYMENTS > STRIPE > Force Strong Customer Authentication.

If you are happy with your current payment processing statistics no further action is required.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Earnings & Payslip Dating

Are you back-dating your payslip dates to the last day in the wages/earnings interval? If you aren't sure, we recommend you watch our video on the subject. If you use date intervals to calculate amounts owing for your consultants/tutors/coaches/therapists the following video may be helpful.

Watch video here

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Added Agent User Type

The most recent update to the software added an additional user type, features and fixes. Here they are listed:

• agent user class added, Agent User Type Video
• added agent permissions and profile at SETTINGS > PERMISSIONS > AGENTS
• added agent/agents word translation at SETTINGS > WORD TRANSLATION
• added a delete recurring series of sessions from the session edit page for a recurring session
• added a recurring session indicator and ID for sessions list pages
• added a display option for open group classes/courses in order to limit those sessions that are viewable from the Group Sessions page of the online booking tool. You can access this display variable by editing an open group class and clicking on the CLASSES tab
• added the ability for a client to save their credit card through Stripe without having to make a payment first. When a client does not have a credit card on file with Stripe they will see a button entitled, "Save Card Details"
• fix: when a recurring series of sessions is undeleted the Recur ID was not checked for uniqueness. This has been fixed so undeleted recurring sessions will not find themselves associated with another recurring series. This error was found before it affected clients

For more information on agents please use the online helper under the "Clients" category and search for "What are agents?" Alternatively, you can watch this information video on the new agent user type.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Update Unpaid Invoices With Payment

Code was added that will update unpaid invoices when a client, administrator or staff user makes a payment. The check is done automatically for clients. For administrators and staff users there will be an option to select if you want to update unpaid invoices.

When a payment is made and there are unpaid invoices on record, the unpaid invoice(s) will be marked as paid if the payment is sufficient to pay the invoice(s) in full. In the case where there are multiple unpaid invoices, all invoices will be marked as paid if the payment covers the cost of the invoice. The software will cycle through each unpaid invoice in ascending order from oldest to newest.

The following depicts occasions when this check runs:

• client makes a payment and invoices are checked, when logged in to the software
• client makes a payment and invoices are checked, when booking from the online booking tool with prepayment mode active
• admin or staff user makes a payment from pay assist, if "Update Unpaid Invoices" is selected, unpaid invoices will be checked. You can save your selected or unselected preference from the Pay Assist Settings page
• admin or staff user makes a manual payment from the Add Payment page, if "Update Unpaid Invoices" is selected, unpaid invoices will be checked

This feature was added to the software to reduce the steps required when a payment is made against an unpaid invoice. Instead of tracking the payment and then changing the status of the invoice, both actions can be completed with the add payment operation.

This feature does not impact the automated invoicing process and it does not override the manual invoice creation process when used with Stripe. If you create a manual invoice and place an amount in the Stripe field, if the payment is successful, the invoice will be updated accordingly regardless of the Update Unpaid Invoice selection.

More specifically, when a client has an outstanding invoice and logs into the software they are met by a PAY NOW invoice button and a Make A Payment form. Many clients go to the payment form instead of clicking on the green PAY NOW button. When they do this their payment is recorded but the invoice was not updated. This leads some clients to surmise an error and attempt a duplicate payment. Obviously this behavior is not optimal. Hopefully this feature will prevent that type of behavior and improve user experience.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Record Payment With Invoice Creation

When you create a manual invoice and select, PAID as its status, you'll be asked if you want to record a payment. This will create a payment record in the amount of the total invoice value. After creating the invoice, go to: ACCOUNTING > ACCOUNT METHODS > Payments to view the newly added payment. A note is added referencing the invoice number the payment was created from.

The option to record a payment will only be available if PAID status is selected. Unpaid and void invoices will not generate a payment record. Overall, this option was added to reduce the steps required when generating a manual client invoice. As always, automated invoicing and client-initiated, invoice payments will still record a payment.

Bizstim uses the invoicing feature as a means to provide receipts and act as a call to action for revenue collection. Invoices are NOT directly connected to a client's balance in any way.

A use case example of this option is as follows: you use a 3rd party payment processor and your client makes a payment then wants an itemized receipt for the purchase (invoice). You manually create the invoice and e-mail it to the client. Next, you have to record the payment so the client's balance is updated. Now, you can choose the RECORD A PAYMENT option and the software does all of that work for you. You're welcome!

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Chat Integration With tawk.to

We've recently integrated with tawk.to a sales and support chat application. You can host the tawk.to chat application on your website, our branded pages and any user type when logged in to Bizstim. This chat is great for answering sales questions or handling support tickets from your clients, practitioners and staff.

tawk.to has a free plan and a number of very interesting services. For example, tawk.to has a $1/hr service whereby one of their staff can be trained to answer sales and support questions for your business. tawk.to also has screen sharing capability as an upgrade to their free account.

To enable tawk.to go to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > Click the CHAT tab and follow the instructions on the page. It's that simple!

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Accounting Email & Records Manager Viewer

This update encompasses two changes to the software: 1. the accounting e-mail address has been expanded to allow comma separated e-mails and 2. the records manager has an updated document viewer.

Multiple Accounting E-mails

You can save multiple e-mail addresses within the accounting e-mail field for the business. Only administrators have access to this field.

The first e-mail address in the list will be visible for payments receipts, invoices, and pay slips. Additional e-mail addresses will not be listed/visible on the aforementioned documents.

All e-mail addresses found within the accounting e-mail field will be Bcc'd when an e-mail is sent. This means all accounting e-mails will receive a "blind carbon copy" of the generated document.

You may want to have multiple accounting e-mails for storage purposes or for integrating with 3rd party vendors.

You can find this field at SETTINGS > SETTINGS from the main menu.

New Records Manager Document Viewer

This update affects Trial and Enterprise accounts only. If you do not have one of these account types you are not impacted in any way.

The records manager has a document viewer now. From the client's records page or the record view page, electronic records are viewed from a document viewer. There is no need to download any records prior to viewing them. Simply click on the hyperlink for the record and it will be made available on the screen in a modal window.

In the event the record extension is not recognized the document viewer will attempt to open the record in an iframe or prompt you to download the record.

To date the document viewer is able to open videos, images, text files, word and PDF files. If you are unable to view a document please notify support and provide us the unique record id for the electronic file(s). We will do our best to determine if special instructions are required to open the file. This will have priority and will be investigated right away.

The document viewer has been added to all user accounts. You can access the records manager by navigating to CLIENTS > RECORDS MANAGER from the main menu.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Chat & Report Updates

The CHECK SESSION PAGE has had an update. This is the page that shows if a session is confirmed or pending with additional session information. Participants could leave notes for each other. We added functionality turning the page into a real-time chat. Every 10 minutes, if there is a new message the participants will be notified via e-mail. The e-mail is sent since participants may not be viewing the page from their browser. You can access this page from the dashboard, or the session view page within the NOTES tab.

If you use end of session reports/assessments, you can have a generic note added to the bottom of the report/assessment. This note is shown when the session is being saved and at the bottom of the report/assessment PDF. To add or remove this note go to: CLIENTS > REPORTS > click on the button entitled ADD GENERIC NOTE.

Performance upgrades were made to the session list pages. These pages will load faster. Drop down select filters are fetched after the page loads to improve user experience. Date and time fields have been separated into their own columns to provide better reporting with respect to ordering your data.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Wage Manager Default Interval Change

We recently made a change to the wage manager default earnings interval. By default the earnings interval is the current month. If you would like to see the earnings interval for All-Time you can select All-Time from the list of options. Click in the date interval and select ALL-TIME. This was a necessary change due to some datasets being extremely large and negatively impacting server performance. There is a prominent note placed at the top of the wage manager page explaining this recent change. If you want to view All-Time activity you may choose that option at will without any worry or issues.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Vehicle Module Added

We've added a vehicle module. This new feature allows you to do the following:

• store detailed information on vehicles
• assign vehicles as a business asset or consultant asset
• track mileage within sessions/lessons
• charge clients for mileage based on custom expenses
• pay out mileage to consultant owned vehicles
• vehicle assignments are shown on the calendar and session pages
• costs and pay outs are show on the session view page
• mileage costs are added to the client's balance as debits
• group sessions with mileage costs are charged across all clients in the session
• consultant pay outs will be appended to the wage manager when calculating session earnings

The vehicle module is a must have for driving school businesses. However, any service-based business that requires consultants/practitioners to drive to a location could benefit from this new feature.

To turn the vehicle module on navigate to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > MODULE CONTROL > Set VEHICLE MODULE as ACTIVE.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Attendance Reporting Added

We've added an attendance report so you can see the complete attendance history for each of your clients/students. To generate this report, go to: ACCOUNTING > RATES & REPORTS > REPORTING > Select the ATTENDANCE tab > Choose your date interval > Click Create Report

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Allow Practitioners To Assign Skills

We've added a system setting whereby you may allow your practitioners to assign their own skills. When logged in, practitioners can go to their assigned skills from their account settings page and claim skills not currently assigned to them.

This option affects the pre-scheduling tool and the online booking tool. If you enable this setting your practitioners will have full control over what skills they are proficient at.

To enable this setting navigate to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > SESSION CONTROL > click Allow Practitioners To Assign Skills? OR SESSIONS > ONLINE BOOKING.

Turning this option on has also been added to the Online Booking Helper.

This setting could reduce administrative time required to set up and run the online booking tool since it puts more responsibility on practitioners.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Online Booking Tool Helper

We've added a helper for setting up online booking. To access the helper go to: SESSIONS > ONLINE BOOKING from the main menu. If you want your staff users to access this page make sure they have the following permissions: manage practitioners, manager skills, manage services and manage locations.

Within the helper you are shown what needs to be enabled and what needs to be assigned. If there are additional settings you will be provided links to navigate there quickly and effortlessly. Take your time and become familiar within each of the four sections.

Overall, the Online Booking Tool will make it much easier for you to setup and configure the software so you can start growing your business online.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Update Improvements Sept. 2021

This update is comprised of a number of small additions and improvements to preexisting features.

The Online Booking tool

• truncated the practitioner's bio/excerpt if it is more than 386 characters in length after selecting the tutor from the online booking tool
• added the practitioner's schedule to their biography page as depicted within the online booking tool
• added a practitioner listing feature with a "More Info" button when a user selects a service and location on the online booking tool. This link will open in a new window
• added a "Select" button option to populate a practitioner's information when using the online booking tool
• added practitioner list button to return to the practitioners list when using the online booking tool
• added radio and checkboxes for custom fields when viewing the "Create Account" within the online booking tool and Inquiry forms
• added "inquiry" word translation to the software to allow you to use the British spelling of the word or any other word you prefer
• added custom CSS for all online booking pages. You have much more control over the color and style of your online booking pages. If you need unique CSS selectors to make additional changes to styles please contact support and we will do our best to accommodate you

Sessions

• if services are assigned to a client's account from the edit page, the software will also look for tiered services to show during a session creation. If there is sufficient credit on their account for the payment package it will be listed with the assigned services. Therefore, when a client has purchased a payment package, you do not have to assign the service to their account. Now the software will check for this condition automatically. This does not refer to Package Mode
• added practitioner confirm/pending setting to restrict practitioners from adding confirmed sessions to the calendar. By default this setting is set to "Unrestricted." If you do not want your practitioners adding confirmed sessions to the calendar go to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > SESSION CONTROL > Scroll down to "Session Confirmation By Practitioners" and select the "Pending Only" radio option
• tiered services group names can be retired or made 'inactive.' You would use this when you raise your prices and need to associate the new pricing structure (services) with a new tiered service group. Since you do not want to prevent existing clients from using the "retired" packages they have credit in, making the group inactive will prevent clients from purchasing additional packages for the old service group

Mass E-Mail

• improvement to e-mail history table: when an e-mail notification is sent via an automated process and no specific user is available as the sender the sender will be marked with dashes like so " - - "
• the mass e-mail history table now lists "welcome messages" sent via e-mail
• the mass e-mail history table now lists "after session reports" sent via e-mail

Reports

• when generating a summary report we've added the total number of canceled sessions for each service type present during the time interval to the end of the report. Previously only sessions with client dues were shown

Payments & Pay Assist

• ignored list added to the Pay Assist tool to remove client placeholders from the list. If you use client placeholders or client accounts that are not actually clients, you can remove those placeholders from the Pay Assist list. This should de-clutter the Pay Assist table and give you a better understanding of those clients who have their credit card information on file with Stripe and those who do not

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Updated Inquiry Form

The Inquiry Form has been updated. You have a lot more options, such as: show up to three (3) different forms (Client, Practitioner, General), add custom fields, and append additional instructions for each form. With instructions you can clarify your policies and procedures or add links to your terms or other important information.

We've created a helpful How-To Video for setting up the new inquiry form.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Updates & Fixes: August 2021

The following lists additions and fixes to the software that occurred in August 2021.

• Dashboard
  • you can hide dashboard panels from the dashboard. Click on the X key to remove them. You can show the hidden dashboard panels by navigating to SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > DASHBORD. This is available to administrators only
  • the pending sessions panel will only show pending sessions for the next 30 days. This was changed to increase loading times and performance
  • you can hide your financial credentials on the dashboard by clicking on the Hide Credentials icon present in the page header. It's the icon with an eye and a line through it
  • in rare circumstances a practitioners HR panel was showing when the admin user turned off the dashboard panel. This is now fixed
• Payments and Invoices
  • when a payment is made by a client the software will now redirect the user to a payment page. This was added because some clients did not notice the success message and attempted to initiate a duplicate payment. Now there is little doubt as to the status of a newly created payment
  • the payment list for administrators and staff have a payment indicator added under the options column. This indicator will color code by payment gateway and when you hover over the indicator you will see the gateway used and the unique ID for the transaction. For manual payments the color is clear. This was added to help you see manual payments from payment processors
  • the account balance adjustment (ABA) header text for invoices have been changed to ADDITIONAL SERVICE HISTORY. This was done to clarify to clients what the column describes. It was brought to our attention that some clients were confused by the ABA section. In addition, we removed the column entitled TYPE but a description of type was kept
  • in some cases invoice emails were being sent to the client when the setting for no email was selected. This has been fixed
  • there is a MAX THRESHOLD setting added to automatic invoicing. This threshold is intended to be a security precaution in the event calendar data was incorrectly saved. For example, if a tutor saves a sessions with a start time of 5 am to 6 pm but meant to save the session as 5 pm to 6 pm the cost of the session will be far greater than expected. If you know the average maximum a client is likely to pay for any invoice interval, you can set that amount as the max threshold to ensure you clients are not overcharged
  • your clients can now purchase tiered services / package deals from within the software. They can review their past package deals and audit their session history. This should cut down on the administration surrounding the management of tiered services
• Mass E-mail
  • a skills filter option was added when mass emailing practitioners
• Practitioners
  • you can see a practitioners headshot, position and bio from the white-labeled, branded pages. A link to the practitioners bio pages can be shared with your clients by navigating to: PRACTITIONERS > PRACTITIONERS LIST > VIEW PRACTITIONER. You can click on the bio button to view the page or click on the copy button to copy the link to your clipboard. In the future, we intend to add a meet our practitioners section to the branded pages so your clients and prospects can review bio pages on their own (this will be optional). Keep an eye out for future updates
• Calendar
  • calendar cells now have a PC icon to indicate if they have a personal meeting ID link present for online meetings. You can quickly see if a session is an online meeting. In addition, we've changed the location of session cell icons. Icons are grouped together below the session description
• Reports
  • a location report was added to allow admin and staff users to audit the number of participants per location/room at a given day
  • changed the main menu section entitled, Service Reports to Reports to better reflect the information that can be found within
• Branding and Colors
  • added a custom style editor to colors and branding. You can create custom styles to further customize the appearance of the software. For example, you can change the background color and remove box shadows in order to mimic a flat design appearance. You can edit the style sheet by navigating to: SETTINGS > BRANDING AND COLOR> click on the CUSTOM STYLES tab
• Services
  • services now have a visibility setting. You can choose if a service can be seen by all users, clients cannot see the service, and administrators and staff users can see the service. You may want to use this setting if you have a free session service that you do not want clients to see when they request a session. You can see this setting from the add or edit service pages found at: SESSIONS > SERVICES LIST
• Data: Importing and Exporting
  • added the ability to import skills data
  • added the ability to export skills data
  • additions made to services are reflected in the importing of services
  • additions made to services are reflected in the exporting of services
  • when you export client data custom fields have been added to the data

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Courses & Attendance Tracking

In the last update we added: a course session, attendance tracking, uploading an administrator pic/headshot, and word translations for course/courses and report/reports.

COURSES

A course can be any type of single session, group session or open group session. Courses have an enrollment deadline and a drop deadline. If you allow your clients to add themselves to open sessions, a client can join a course up to and including the enrollment deadline. Similarly, a client can drop from a course on our before the drop deadline.

When a course is a recurring series; more than one session date, when a client joins the course they are automatically enrolled in all sessions. When a client drops from a course they are dropped from all courses in the recurring series.

Within the online booking tool, the group bookings will display courses that your clients can join. The information button will reveal a modal window with the session notes and a list of all sessions in the course/recurring series. Furthermore, your clients will see the total cost of the course. The cost of a course is calculated by taking the hourly or fixed cost of a single session multiplied by all sessions in the recurring series.

You can select a unique name for this new type of session. Possible names include: course, class, seminar, webinar etc.

ATTENDANCE

When a session is saved the client's attendance will be tracked. You can review a client's attendance from their view page. Clients can review their attendance by navigating to: SESSIONS> ATTENDANCE. Admin, staff and client users can download the attendance report to PDF, CSV, Excel or print the report.

Single or 1:1 sessions that are cancelled or missed are tracked as absent. Completed sessions are tracked as present. For custom completion types follow the same rules based on their cancelled, missed or completed type.

Group sessions now have a setting for attendance for each client. By default the client will be marked as present. In the event the client was not present for the group session you can easily select the absent option.

WORD TRANSLATION

Two new word translations were added, they are: course/courses and report/reports.

The report/reports word translation replaces the "assessments" label. For existing accounts we kept assessment/assessments but moving forward report/reports will be used. If you would like to change this navigate to: SETTINGS > WORD TRANSLATION.

ADMIN HEADSHOT/PIC

Admin accounts can now upload a headshot/pic. We plan on adding pics to various communication modules like the sales manager. That will take place in subsequent updates.

If you would like to have the option to upload headshots/pics to client accounts please let us know.

NEXT UPDATE

Our next update will be a GoCardless integration. GoCardless is a debit card processing company that is available in 30+ countries. We like GoCardless because the transactions fees are usually better than credit card processors. More information will follow.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Scheduled Downtime July 25, 2021

There is a scheduled downtime for Sunday July 25, 2021 at 8:00 am EDT for approximately 1 hour.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Staff Permission Updates

A few changes were made to staff user permissions. They are:

• to see the accounts receivable panel, the staff user needs to have the manage balances permission. This is a reduction in requirements. We removed the need to have manage service taxes and manage payments
• we fixed the security module from being accessible from the quick nav, in some cases, when the staff user does not have the security permission. Furthermore, the software will do a permission check if the staff user attempts to manipulate the URL directly
• the ability to manage custom client rates required the manage balances permission only, now it also needs: manage clients and manage services permissions
• the ability to manage custom wage rates required the manage balances permission only, now it also needs: manage practitioners and manage services permissions
• we fixed the improper display of the custom fields link from the main menu when the staff user did not have the manage clients permission. This may change in the future when we provide custom fields to other user types
• a new permission for using payment processing gateways was added. When this permission is checked, the staff user can use payment gateways like: Stripe, PayPal and GoCardless. If unchecked, the staff user will not be permitted to initiate payments via an integrated payment processing gateway

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Add Session Protocol & Recurring Series

We added a couple new features that did not make it in time for yesterdays update release. They are:

• add session protocol: you can define X days in the past when your practitioners / tutors / coaches / instructors are unable to add sessions to the calendar. For example, if you place a 5 for the number of days, any session that is attempted to be added that is more than 5 days in the past, the software will throw an error not allowing the session to be added. Administrators and staff users can still add sessions to the calendar. You can set this at: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > SESSION CONTROL > Add Session Protocol
• you can add sessions to a recurring series of sessions. In the past you were unable to add sessions to a recurring series. If you want to add one or more sessions to a recurring series all you need to do is EDIT one of the recurring sessions and select a date within the field marked, "Add Additional Session To Series." That's it. At least one of the sessions in the recurring series must be open. If you want to add a session and all previous sessions are completed, you can re-open one of the sessions or create a new recurring series

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Delete Protocol And New Updates

The following is a list of updates or minor changes were recently added to the software:

1. session delete protocol (see below for more information)
2. PDF session reports now have the session title added to the header information
3. wage, wages, payslip and payslips were added to Word Translation throughout the software
4. the admin name was removed and replaced with the business name for contact us for practitioner and client dashboards
5. the session {TITLE} shortcode was added to session reminder notifications for practitioners and clients. This is for email notifications found at SETTINGS > NOTIFICATIONS
6. there is a bypass setting for practitioners when completing a session and leaving a report. You can now force your practitioners to leave a report. You can enable this setting by navigating to SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > SESSION CONTROL > Locate the Allow Report / Assessment Bypass. By default this is on or set to YES. To force reports set this to NO
7. you can save a default message for the end of all manually and automatically generated invoices. You may want to provide government compliant information like tax numbers using this feature. You can create default additional instruction by navigating to: ACCOUNTING > ACCOUNT METHODS > INVOICES > SETTINGS
8. when a payslip notice (wage payment) is sent to a practitioner we are also attaching the PDF of the payslip with the e-mail. They no longer have to log in to view their official payslip
9. we are beta testing a QuickBooks integration. More information can be found at: ACCOUNTING > QuickBooks

SESSION DELETE PROTOCOL

The session delete protocol limits the deleting and opening of completed session X days in the past. This protocol applies to practitioners/tutors/coaches only. For example, if you set this to 10 days, completed sessions that are more than 10 days old cannot be deleted or re-opened by practitioners.

This new protocol is an optional feature that attempts to provide better protection of your financial data from accidental user error or nefarious actors. This is an optional feature and you do not have to enable it.

If you would like to use the session delete protocol navigate to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > SESSION CONTROL > find the Delete Sessions Protocol (in days) panel > Enter the days you want to set and you're done.

When a practitioner is viewing the calendar or session list pages the software removes the opportunity for them to delete or re-open the session. For bulk changes the open option is visible but an error will be displayed if the protocol is triggered.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Currency Descriptor Added

We added the ability to set your own currency descriptor or currency icon. You can choose from a number of currency icons available or create your own. By default the "$" icon is displayed. To change your currency descriptor go to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > GENERAL. Select or define your own currency icon and click the SUBMIT button. Done! Too easy, right?

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Text Gateway Added, ClickSend

We've added a new text messaging gateway, ClickSend. This text provider is available in over 100 countries and has very competitive rates. If you were unable to send text messages because you are not located in the USA or Canada you now have an option available.

You can use the following link to: signup for ClickSend. To enable ClickSend go to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > TEXT MESSAGING > CLICKSEND > Enable ClickSend and provide your e-mail and API Key. If you require help reach out to Bizstim Support. We're here to help.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Inquiry Form Added

We've added an inquiry form. The form is displayed on your branded pages where your users can request sessions, check pending sessions and retrieve login credentials. The inquiry form is optional.

If you would like to show the form go to SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > SESSION CONTROL > select YES under the "Show Inquiry Form."

The inquiry form asks if the user is a client, practitioner or other. If the user is a client and does not already have an account on file (based on first name, last name and e-mail) a new client will be created with the status of "prospect."

When an inquiry is sent a todo and note will be added to the Sales Manager module. The sales note saves the inquiry information in full. In addition, you will be notified of the inquiry via e-mail. Notifications are sent to users who are set within the "Who to notify for the following user actions" panel.

To check the notification setting navigate to the panel as described above. This setting is in the same place as the "Show Inquiry Form."

Overall, the inquiry form provides your users the opportunity to contact you if they are having difficulty requesting a session, resetting their credentials or have a question.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Maintenance May 16 @ 8 am EST

Sunday May 16, 2021 @ 8:00 am EST the software will be unavailable for 1 hour. This is for routine maintenance.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Time Zone Update & More

The time zone update conducted on May 2nd 2021 was launched successfully. This update allowed for user specific time zones; users see session times in their time zone. For example, if a 12:00 am EDT session start time is added that same session will show a 9:00 am PDT session start time for any user with Pacific Daylight Time.

If you do not have users in different time zones the software will appear to operate in the same way it did before the update. You may notice time zones added to session reminders and/or text reminders.

There were a number of other feature additions and fixes. Here is a list of add-ons and fixes:

• user specific time zones (for all user types)
• session dates and times displayed given user time zone preference
• new pre-scheduling tool added (v1 removed. Custom schedules aware)
• improved dashboard workflow
• improved dashboard load timing
• updated 3rd party plug-ins
• updated code interpreter (load performance)
• added practitioner headshot to header
• added practitioner ability to reset and upload headshot
• added staff headshot to header
• added staff ability to reset and upload headshot
• added inactive client e-mail notification (thanks for choosing our services e-mail)
• added inactive client e-mail notification template (use the default template or create your own)
• fixed: login error when a client attempted to add a session from the online booking tool
• fixed: add session from online booking tool upon account creation (create account method)
• fixed: practitioner can edit a break or a note from the calendar

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Update May 2, 2021 @ 8 am EST

There will be a scheduled downtime Sunday May 2nd 2021 at 8:00 am EST to 10:00 am EST for 2 hours. During this update we will be introducing timezone support for users, a new pre-scheduling tool that is aware of custom schedules, and a number of other performance upgrades and user experience improvements.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

New & Improved Login Form

We've created a new login form. The new form does not have links for 'Forgot password' or 'Forgot username.' Instead, it has a 'Forgot login Credentials' link. This link is a much better solution. When your users click on the link they are sent to web page that has your company's information, color scheme and logo.

The 'credentials' page is a better user experience design. This one page is capable of assisting your users to retrieve their username and reset their password. They can do all of this without leaving the page. There's a handy login link that will take them back to your login form hosted on your website.

This new solution keeps your brand consistent throughout the process without introducing them to any Bizstim pages.

To use this new login form all you need to do is replace the older JavaScript code with the new JavaScript code. You can find the code by navigating to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS and copying the code at the bottom-right of the page. Replace the code. All done!

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

100 Gift Cards For Reviews

Great news! We are launching a review campaign to get feedback regarding our service. We want to know how we are doing and how we might do better. The first 100 reviews will quality for a gift card with a value of approximately $20.00. More information will follow. We will be contacting you if you would like to have your staff and customers to be included in the campaign.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Add Session Link Fixed

Fixed an incorrect URL. We fixed a bad link within the pre-scheduling tool. If you filtered for practitioners based on availability and then selected a practitioner, there was an add session link that was wrong. When you clicked on the link it sent you to a 404 Page Not Found. The link has been updated and you will be directed to the proper add session page.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Additional Features Added

We've added a number of features to the software, they include the following:

• Invoices can now be marked as VOID. This adds an additional option to Paid and Unpaid invoices. An invoice may be marked as void if it is used as an historic receipt
• We completely redid the Expenses Module. This was done to provide additional features for our upcoming QuickBooks Integration. The opening page of the expenses module now shows a color coded table of expense groups you can customize. Furthermore, you can view your expenses based on an interval of dates. This addition allowed us to remove unused pages that were not servicing our clients well
• If you run your business in AC Filter Mode (available credit mode) you can now exempt clients from having to pay in advance for your services. To add an available credit exception go to the clients permissions and select the ACE permission. If ACE is ticked the system will not force these clients to pay in advance for services
• We added additional endpoints to our API. You can access payments, discounts, services and add payments remotely. You can view these additional endpoints from our API support page found on our website by clicking on the INFO > API DOCS menu options
• If you are using our Automated Invoicing Feature, we added an ignored list. This allows you to exempt some clients from receiving an automatic invoice. You may want to do this if you're billing clients in different ways. This add-on feature will give you more control over your billing process

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Scheduled Downtime Dec. 20 @ 10 am

The software will be down on Sunday December 20, 2020 at 10:00 am EST for 1 hour. This update has an improved expenses module and an available credit exception permission for clients. More information will follow after the update.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

General Updates and Additions

The following is a summary of changes affected by this update:

1. first name last initial for practitioners displayed on online booking tool
2. you can choose which online booking tool form to show
3. for preferred pricing (service groups), show the highest cost option only for the online booking tool
4. client cost calculated for group sessions on completion when preferred pricing (service groups) present
5. added accounting email to admin account

FIRST NAME & LAST NAME INITIAL

We will only show the practitioners first name and last name initial when viewing the online booking tool. This was changed for two reasons: firstly to protect the privacy of the practitioner and secondly to prevent potential clients from contacting the practitioner without your approval.

ONLINE BOOKING FORMS

By default clients see the Single Bookings form and Group Bookings form when they arrive at the online booking tool. You can limit which forms your clients see. To manage this setting navigate to the following: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > SESSION CONTROL > scroll to the bottom of the page and under Online Booking Forms select those forms you want to show by clicking on the checkboxes.

WHAT SERVICES TO SHOW FOR ONLINE BOOKINGS?

When you add or edit a service and it is part of a service group and you are using the Online Booking Tool, only select "Show In Client Bookings" for the highest cost service in the service group. You do not want to allow clients to select lower cost tiered services without paying the tiered pricing. When the client provides their log in credentials, the online booking tool will select any tiered pricing the client has and assign that lower cost service to the session.

CALCULATING TIERED PRICING (PACKAGE PRICING & SERVICE GROUPS)

The software will calculate cost on completion when a group session is saved and participants have preferred pricing. This applies to those accounts that are using service groups for tiered package pricing and are using group sessions. Single client sessions remain unaffected since the relevant service is selected upon session creation.

For example, Jane Smith has purchased a 12 hour package at a rate of $50/hour. The default rate for the service is $75/hour. Before the session is saved the cost will be shown to be $75/hour. When the session is saved the cost per hour will be $50/hour for Jane Smith and $75/hour for any other participant of the group session without preferred pricing.

Similarly, when using the Online Booking Tool, the client would select the higher cost service when requesting a session, however, when the session goes to a payment layer or is saved to the database, the lower cost service will be applied to the session. This is the case with the Online Booking Tool since we do not know who the client is before they log in.

In the case of group sessions, since there are more than one participant, we use the default service (higher cost service) and apply preferred pricing when we record the results for each client upon session completion.

ACCOUNTING EMAIL ADDED TO ADMIN ACCOUNT INFO

An accounting email has been added to all administrator accounts. You can define your accounting email by navigating to: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > Accounting E-Mail on the right side of the form.

The accounting email will be displayed on invoices, receipts, timesheets and pay slips. The company email is used for reports and other forms of correspondence.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Discount Codes Are Here!

Discount codes have come to Bizstim! Market your services more effectively by employing discount codes. These codes can be used within the online booking tool, PayAssist and the regular payment process.

Clients can check and apply discount codes when requesting a session or making a payment. Administrators can apply these codes on the backend too. You can choose any combination of the following:

• percentage discounts
• dollar amount discounts
• discounts that reduce the service price
• discounts that add credit to the account
• publicly available discounts
• secret discounts
• discounts that expire
• discounts that can be used 1 or more times
• discounts that are service specific
• discounts that are not service specific

There is a discount for everyone.

When combined with a payment gateway you incentivize your clients to purchase additional services and increase your revenue.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Service Groups and Packages

We've added the ability for you to group services based on tiered pricing. Tiered pricing occurs when a client purchases 2+ hours at a time to receive a lower price point. For example, if a client purchases 1 hour of service you may charge them $50/hour, but if that same client purchases 10 hours you charge them $400, or $40/hour. That would be an example of tiered pricing with a 20% discount.

To group your services go to: SERVICES > SERVICES LIST > click on SERVICE GROUPS. Add a service group name and then apply the tiered services within that group name using the data on the service groups page.

When a client purchases a "tiered package," go to ACCOUNT > ACCOUNT METHODS > PAYMENTS > click on Payment Packages. Select the client, the service they purchased, and the amount of the purchase. The software will associate their account with the lower cost service.

Do not confuse this feature with Package Mode. Package mode is much stricter whereas this new feature works with all modes of revenue collection other than Package Mode. You must record the package purchase in addition to the client's payment.

We do intend to add additional functionality over time, such as, selecting packages from the online booking tool, selecting packages from the client side, and automating the package purchase. More information will follow as these improvements are made.

For group sessions, the low cost tiered pricing will be calculated when a session is completed. The correct pricing will appear on the page after the submit button is pressed and the group session is completed.

To view package purchases and a breakdown of the client's package balance and history click on the hour glass icon for any of the client's package purchases within the OPTIONS column. This makes it easy to see how your clients are using their package purchase.

We will be adding Help topics soon if you would like to learn more about this new feature. In addition, please feel free to email or call us if you have questions.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Open Groups & Recover Deleted Sessions

This update introduced the following changes to the software:

• Open group sessions
• Recovering deleted sessions

OPEN GROUP SESSIONS

Open group sessions allows you to add group sessions to the calendar without having to assign participants.

Your clients can add themselves to these open group sessions if you give them the add session permission.

Open group sessions have also been added to the online booking tool.

You have the ability to set the maximum number of participants allowed to join these sessions.

To add an open group session follow the same process for adding a session. From the client select field choose Add Open Group Session. Set the maximum participants and complete the remainder of the add session form. That's it.

Clients who are logged into the software can see these open group sessions from their dashboard, from the add session form, and their calendars.

RECOVERING DELETED SESSIONS

As of September 6th 2020, you can recover deleted sessions from the security audit tool.

You can ONLY recover deleted sessions after September 5th, 2020. If a session was deleted prior to this date it cannot be recovered.

To recover deleted sessions do the following:

• click COMMUNICATION from the main menu
• select the SECURITY AUDIT option
• click on the DELETED SESSIONS tab from the top-left
• to recover a deleted session click on the record's row on the table
• a green background will highlight the table row when selected
• click the green RECOVER SESSIONS button

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Assigned Services and Constraints

• service constraints added: max and min duration
• service constraints added to client session requests
• service constraints added to online booking tool
• reworked client add session form: more guidance and prompts
• removed 24 hour time select for add and edit session pages: 12 hour format displayed
• added assigned services to clients: more control over what clients see when requesting a session
• added custom fields: input fields for clients. More features coming soon
• custom fields can be added to the account creation within the Online Booking Tool
• you can change the Book Now button color display in the client header when Online Booking is enabled
• added filter by specific service to the Summary Service Report
• fixed pending session status page not displaying if client booking was disabled

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Additional Features and Fixes

• mass edit default schedules for practitioners
• book now button added to header of client side when online booking is enabled
• disable client permission to ADD SESSIONS to force the use of the online booking tool (if enabled)
• enhanced search for services, locations, and practitioners (online booking tool)
• mobile friendly start and end times (online booking tool)
• black color theme added (white background with black highlights)
• added Meeting URL to the practitioner add, edit and view pages
• get link and update link added to add and edit session pages (Meeting URL)
• text editors have a link building feature
• fixed error when attempting to download a summary report

Default Schedules

Added a mass edit option for practitioner default schedules. Hurray! You can use the schedule tool to edit default schedules in addition to custom schedules.

Leave the LABEL field empty and the software will apply the schedule to all selected practitioners default availability.

You can find this option at PRACTITIONERS > SCHEDULES

Book Now Header Button

If you have online booking enabled, there will be a book now button added to the header of all pages when a client is logged into the software.

Force Use of Booking Tool

Moreover, if you want your clients to use the online booking tool to request sessions, rather than the logged in method, remove the ADD SESSIONS permission from the client. When this is done your clients will be forced to use the online booking form only. This makes the session request procedure far more user friendly.

Enhanced Search Online Booking Tool

The dropdown selects for services, locations, and practitioners has been enhanced. We added a search feature. If you have a large number of options your clients can find them quickly by typing in a portion of the word and the results will automatically populate.

Mobile Friendly Times

To increase the user experience we have added a new selector for start and end times on the online booking tool. Overall it is much more mobile friendly.

Instead of clicking on the military time for hours and minutes we added a dropdown select option that has a human readable time with AM and PM indicators.

Additionally, times that are blocked off from the practitioners schedule will appear gray and unselectable.

Meeting URL Added To Practitioners

When you add a practitioner there is a meeting url field. This field is for saving personal meeting url's for the practitioner in the event they conduct online meetings.

This field is handy if you are using meeting platforms like Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams or Google Classroom.

For practitioners that already exist in your business you can add a meeting url to their account by heading to the edit page. The meeting url is display in the contact information of the view page.

Get Link and Update Link for Sessions

When adding and editing a session we added a GET LINK and UPDATE LINK option to the online meetings tab.

If the practitioner is selected, the GET LINK will search for a Meeting URL for that practitioner and add it to the meeting link field. If no link can be found it will notify you. The same feature has been added to the edit page as UPDATE LINK.

This feature makes it easy to prepare a session to be held online.

Make sure to add the meeting url shortcode to your e-mail and text message notifications.

On a side note, the software will shorten your meeting links to ensure they fit into text messages along with the session information.

Links for Text Editors

We added a link plugin for all text editors. If you want to create a human readable link, especially if you are adding long character links to the editor, you can add the link with a short description. This should make reading text with links much easier.

Fixed Error Downloading Summary Reports

If you attempted to download a CSV, PDF or EXCEL Summary Report with a lot of data, you may have received a server error. This occurred because of the size of the data package.

We have since changed the process for generating these reports so this does not happen.

Summary reports can be accessed by navigating to: ACCOUNTING > RATES & REPORTS > SERVICE REPORTS > SUMMARY.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Payment Layer Added To Online Booking

We've added a pay layer to the online booking tool. If you are operating the software in a pre-payment mode, a "payment is required" step has been added to the process. This payment layer works with Stripe and PayPal.

The following additions and fixes are in this update:

• You can no longer book a session at the same date and time with a different practitioner using the online booking tool.
• Added time interval setting for the online booking tool.
• Automated messages within the sales manager notes and todos can be deleted by admin and staff users.
• Added reset option to add multiple payments tool.
• Fixed online meeting links from being generated when no meeting link was provided.
• Fixed rounding error when automatic payment of an invoice goes through Stripe.
• Fixed error when generating add multiple payments tool. Now the correct balance will be shown.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams Integration

We've added a number of online meeting integration and a number of other feature improvements and fixes.

Here is a list of integrations:

• Add Zoom link and password to sessions
• Add Skype link and password to sessions
• Add Microsoft Teams link and password to sessions
• Add Google Classroom invitation and password to sessions
• New built in URL shortener for links. You can send the link with text message reminders and not take up too many characters
• Meeting links can be added to e-mail reminders (automated process)
• Meetings links can be added to text message reminders (automated process)

A list of additions and fixes include:

• Added a "Select All" option for all user types when sending a custom text message
• You can send an attachment when using the mass e-mail for all user types
• A password set and not set indicator for all user types viewable from edit and view pages
• Fixed text message from session view page. The default message was used when a custom message was set

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Invoicing and Pending Session Additions

• Charge clients via Stripe when creating an invoice (manual and automatic)
• Account balance adjustment for invoices
• Pending sessions omitted from invoices
• Pending sessions used as placeholders
• Clients can cancel pending sessions at any time
• Setting added for x hours notice a client must give when requesting a session

Billing Invoices Using Stripe

For manual invoice creation and automatic invoice creation you can bill your clients via Stripe without having to add the invoice and then going to Pay Assist. The two steps are now merged into one.

For automatic invoicing, invoicing that is conducted by the system offline, you have to enable the AUTO BILLING setting. You can activate this setting by navigating to: ACCOUNTING > INVOICES > AUTO INVOICES (dropdown) > AUTO SETTINGS > AUTOMATIC BILLING=YES > SUBMIT.

Account Balance Adjustment

We have added an account balance adjustment (ABA) when creating invoices. By default this setting is turned on. ABA is like a previous balance indicator; whereby it calculates the total services due and subtracts that by the total payments made.

Thus, when viewing an invoice with ABA active you will see a column that creates a credit or a debit in the case the client has prepaid for services or has an outstanding balance, respectively.

ABA is essential if you plan to invoice your clients based on scheduled sessions on the calendar (pre-payment) or if you allow clients to cancel sessions.

Pending Session Rules

Pending sessions will not be added to invoices. The logic is: if a session is pending then it has not been confirmed. If a session is not confirmed it should not be billable. Therefore, when creating an invoice, pending sessions will not populate the session list. If you want the session to be billable you must mark it as confirmed.

Since pending sessions are not added to invoices you can use this feature to add placeholders to the calendar and session list pages.

Some Bizstim clients use placeholders for tracking room reservations or practitioner/client reservations. There are other ways to track these reservations such as notes and messages but they prefer to have the reservation added to the session list pages in addition to the calendar.

Seeing clients develop creative ways to use Bizstim features and tools is highly rewarding and we will support you in any way we can to promote such activities.

Clients can cancel pending sessions at any time. This will save you a lot of time. If a client requested a session and then 10 minutes later realized they made a mistake, you don't want to have to step in and correct the issue. It would be better for them to cancel the session and reschedule with the correct time.

Remember, you also have control over client cancellations at the client level. If you have a client that abuses this option you have the ability to prevent that specific client from cancelling sessions.

Student Session Request Delay (in hours)

When we added the ability for clients to request sessions we added a 1 hour advance notice into the software. This may not work for some of you. Therefore, we have added a setting that allows administrators to set this delay in hours.

This setting applies to client requests for sessions when logged into the software AND requesting sessions from the online booking feature.

If the requested session is within the delay time you set the client will receive a message that more than x hours of notice is required to request a session. They will not be allowed to create a pending session that does not meet this criteria.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Improvements to Mass E-Mail Tool

We've made some improvements to the mass e-mail tool. They are as follows:

• failed e-mails will show on the e-mail history table with a brief explanation
• added tags filter for client mass e-mails
• added funnels filter for client mass e-mails
• added status filter for all user mass e-mails
• added search bar to user lists
• added print, copy and download options for user lists
• add column visibility to show primary and secondary phone numbers
• added pagination to the user lists
• added 25 e-mail cap per batch for better deliverability
• added processing delimiters for better deliverability
• added processing indicator for User Experience (UX) design

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

New Pre-Payment Mode: AC Filter

We released a new pre-payment option called, AC Filter. The Available Credit (AC) Filter is more restrictive than our Minimum Threshold option but less restrictive than Package Mode. With the addition of this mode you have three pre-payment options to choose from.

The AC Filter determines a clients available credit by calculating total payments and subtracting the sum of completed session costs and scheduled session costs. When a session is added, if the client does not have enough credit to pay for the new session, the session will not be added to the calendar. A message will pop-up informing the user of insufficient funds.

Clients and Practitioners who attempt to add a session without available credit will NOT be allowed to do so. Staff and Administrators will be given the warning message, but they will be allowed to add the session.

The AC Filter mode works very well with our new AUTO BILLING option that works in tandem with auto invoicing. With this mode, auto invoicing, and auto billing, you can invoice your clients each month, biweekly, or weekly based on their future scheduled sessions. With Stripe enabled, auto billing can charge your clients, record the payment, mark the invoice as paid, and send the client their receipt. All of this is done automatically and we have a handy history tool to review the results.

IMPORTANT CHANGE TO LOCATIONS AND SERVICES

If you allow your clients to request sessions this is VERY IMPORTANT TO READ:

To control the locations and services your clients can select when requesting a session you MUST apply the appropriate setting. You can do that by editing your location or service, clicking on the tab marked CLIENT BOOKING and selecting YES for SHOW IN CLIENT BOOKINGS?

This process refers to clients requesting a session when logged into their account. Without this setting enabled the client will not see the location or service as an option.

Don't forget to click the ENABLE EDIT button before you SUBMIT and save.

ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS

• New Pre-Payment Mode Added
• Auto Invoicing Completed & Scheduled Sessions
• Added Auto Billing Option to Auto Settings
• Auto billing with Stripe and Invoices
• Auto billing history tool for auditing
• Service Report Summary Added
• Improved Add Session Prompts for Availability & P-P Mode
• Income Statement Improvements
• PayPal IPN Improvements
• Added Delimiters to Stripe Processing

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Client Cancellations & Auto Invoicing

We added a new client cancellation feature and improved auto invoicing.

CLIENT CANCELLATIONS & POLICY

To allow your clients to cancel sessions you must enable client cancellations from Session Control AND give each client permission to Cancel Sessions. If you want all of your clients to have this permission use the Bulk Permissions Edit.

When a client is allowed to cancel a session they will see an orange icon on their dashboard under Upcoming Sessions, the session list tables, the calendar popup feature, and the session view page.

You are allowed to set your own cancellation policy based on default and custom session completion types. Up to 3 policy levels can be saved. For example, if you have a 24 hour cancellation policy, clients can cancel with no penalty 24 hours before a session. When a session is less than 24 hours in the future, the client will be charged according to the session completion type you set.

You can enable client cancellations and set your cancellation policy here:

• click on SETTINGS from the main menu
• click on SYSTEM from the submenu
• choose the SESSION CONTROL tab
• scroll down to STUDENT CANCELLATIONS & POLICY

The typical cancellation policy would have 24 in the Before in hours field and 'Missed - Full Costs and wages' for the session status field.

To use the bulk permissions tool go to:

• click on PERMISSIONS within Settings from the main menu
• click on the CLIENTS panel
• click on the BULK PERMISSIONS button
• select CLIENT CAN CANCEL SESSIONS
• choose your clients OR select all
• click on the checkbox
• click on SUBMIT BULK PERMISSIONS
• check the table below to ensure the permission was granted

AUTO INVOICING IMPROVEMENTS

Auto invoicing can now be used to invoice your clients for future 'scheduled sessions.' Invoicing completed sessions will continue as normal.

With this change it is possible for you to enact a pay-in-advance model for your business without having to use Package Mode.

We added an auto invoice history page so you can review the results of an auto invoicing cycle. On that page you will be shown which clients were invoiced, how much they were invoiced, the invoicing interval, and the result of the attempt.

Any errors in the invoicing process will be shown to you. Therefore if there was an invoice error; like sending the e-mail, you can quickly determine what happened and fix the issue or follow up with the client.

We added additional information to the auto invoicing settings page to show when scheduled sessions are invoiced. For example; a monthly invoicing frequency occurs on the last day of the current month for scheduled sessions. On that day at specific times the software will run the auto invoicing tool and generate invoices.

To review your auto invoice settings and history pages:

• click on ACCOUNTING from the main menu
• choose INVOICES
• select AUTO INVOICES from the top-right submenu
• select AUTO SETTING or AUTO HISTORY from the menu options

Invoicing completed sessions pulls completed session data from the calendar based on the previous weeks or month. Invoicing scheduled sessions pulls scheduled session data from the calendar based on future weeks or month.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Improve E-mail Deliverability

Updated May, 2023

If your website hosting company allows you to edit your SPF e-mail policy you can add Bizstim to it and improve e-mail deliverability.

Add include:spf.bizstim.com to your SPF policy. With this line present, other mail servers like Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo will not reject the e-mails because they are not included in your SPF policy. This is one way mail servers cut down on phishing and spoof e-mails.

If you would like more information please contact support or give us a call at 1-844-588-2200.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Packages & Tags Added

Bizstim now has a package mode. This will allow you to sell session packages to your clients and the system will track remaining packages. Sessions can only be added if sufficient packages remain.

For more information on packages please refer to the help topic, DO YOU HAVE A PACKAGE SYSTEM?

We also introduced the concept of client tags. Tags can be used to label clients in a variety of ways. For example, you may assign a client the tags: Class of 2020, ACT, SAT. There is no limits to the tags that can be assigned to a client. Additional features are coming for tags. We will be adding tags to mass e-mailing which will allow you to build e-mail lists and phone number lists for sales retention and marketing purposes.

You can create and assign tags within the Sales Manager.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

ZOOM Integration Development

Due to the global pandemic we hope and trust you and your family are safe. If there is anything we can do to help decrease the burden of these times please let us know.

Since many of our clients are turning to online collaboration platforms we have started to integrate with ZOOM. ZOOM is the largest platform in the world offering video, audio, screen sharing, and whiteboarding.

Moreover, ZOOM has a free option allowing you to use their services right away without additional cost. You can hold meetings between your staff, or use the technology to perform online teaching and tutoring.

When the integration is complete you will be able to add sessions to your calendar within Bizstim and if the location is a ZOOM meeting and the practitioner is authorized through ZOOM, Bizstim will add the meeting to the ZOOM software and handle notifying your clients with a unique join meeting link.

More information will follow when we have completed the integration. We expect to have this new feature available within 1-2 weeks. We're moving as fast as possible.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Added Online Booking Tool

There has been a lot of requests for an online booking tool and we are happy to announce our online booking form has been released.

A number of changes were made to locations and services to facilitate this addition and we'll describe them here with additional information added to the Help Center.

Here is an overview of this new feature:

• clients can request sessions from a white labeled webpage. The webpage is hosted by bizstim.com but the url address will have your company url/address in it. In addition, you will be able to display your large logo/banner at the top of the page and your company contact details appear in the top-right-hand corner
• you can add a BOOK NOW button to any page on your website. We provide an html/script snippet to copy and paste from the SYSTEM > SESSION CONTROL page. Additionally, you can style the button to match your exact website design
• services have assigned skills which are used to map practitioners to services. This means you must assign skills to services and skills to practitioners. This is how the online booking form knows which practitioners to show based on the service selection
• locations have assigned practitioners. When you add or edit a location you are given the opportunity to assign practitioners to that location. This must be done to determine which practitioners operate out of which locations
• the online booking tool allows current clients, prospective clients, and guests to request sessions using an encrypted page without having to log in to the software. Current clients or clients who create an account and request a session are redirected to an encrypted confirmation screen. This confirmation screen is identical to the check status screen you may have seen with a previous update
• if enabled, the online booking tool allows your current clients to request sessions but you can also choose to allow clients to create accounts or send guest requests. This is a setting within the SESSION CONTROL
• based on your settings participants can be e-mailed and/or text messaged pending session requests
• session requests and client creations are stored in the client record and sales manager
• sales manager notes and todos are created to help you keep track of pending session requests as well as manage your sales process/funnel
• the secondary phone number was changed to mobile phone number on the admin account information page to clarify its significance. If you have chosen to send session requests to the administrator please make sure to update this field with your mobile phone number
• added home url address to the admin account information page. This is used to provide a Home link on the online booking pages that link back to your webpage. If this link is not provided no Home option will be displayed. This option helps with branding the page to your business
• added a calendar setting to change the first day of the week for the calendar. You can now choose Saturday, Sunday or Monday to be the first day of the week when viewing the visual calendar by month or week

To enable the online booking tool go to SETTINGS > SETTINGS from the main menu. Click SYSTEM from the sub-menu. Click on the SESSION CONTROL tab. Scroll down to Allow Online Booking and ENABLE the switch.

By default the Login option is selected. You can also choose to enable Create Account and Guest. Read the information popups for more information on each option.

To add a BOOK NOW button to your website click on the BOOK NOW BUTTON CODE, the orange button to the right. There you will find a snippet of code you can paste to your web pages. As per the instructions, you can select your own button class to style the button to match your brand and color design.

We welcome feedback on this new tool after you have a chance to experiment with it. Please contact us if you need help or clarification of any kind.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Bizstim Text Messaging Deployed

Bizstim now has its own text messaging gateway option. You do not have to have an Enterprise plan to send text messages. If you do have an Enterprise plan this new gateway can be used as a backup to your current text messaging provider.

Here are the details of the text messaging update:

• we deployed a Bizstim text messaging gateway available to all service plans
• 10 cents/text message for individual and small business plans
• 2 cents/text message for enterprise plans
• enterprise plans get 100 free text messages/month and can use it as a backup to their 3rd party gateway if applicable
• this option is available to U.S. and Canada clients only
• the from field displayed to recipients will be: +1 917-810-7569
• texting is limited to outbound SMS only with no reply capability
• trial accounts are allowed 20 free text messages for testing
• text messages are delivered within 2-10 minutes on a queuing system
• a text message counter was added for the current billing cycle. If the Bizstim gateway is selected the cost is also shown with the counter
• added the option to send text messages to mobile numbers using the custom text messaging tool in addition to selecting users with accounts
• added reset session reminders on edit to system settings page (default=Yes). If a session is edited and it had e-mail or text reminders sent out, the default setting is to reissue reminders after the edit. You can now decide if your want the reset to occur or not

If you want to enable the Bizstim texting gateway go to SETTINGS > SETTINGS from the main menu and select SYSTEM from the sub-menu. Click on the TEXT MESSAGING tab. Click on 1. BIZSTIM TEXTING. Click on the ENABLE BIZSTIM TEXTING checkbox.

Once you have enabled the Bizstim texting gateway you will be able to send session reminders, invoice reminders, task reminders, and custom text messages.

If you would like the software to send automated messages click on the SETTINGS tab. There you will be able to choose the settings you want. As always, if you would like assistance with this configuration please contact support. We're just a phone call away and we would be delighted to help.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Update Scheduled February 23, 2020

There will be an update on Sunday February 23rd, 2020 at 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm EST. During this time the software will not be available. We will be adding a Bizstim Text Messaging Gateway available to all subscription plans and a number of small improvements and fixes to the software. More detail will be provided after the update has been applied.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Module Control Additions

3 additional modules have been added to module control. The new modules added are Service Taxes, Expenses, and Sales Manager. If you do not use one or more of these features you can choose to make the modules inactive. When a module is placed in an inactive state you will not see it as an option within the software's menus. This is intended to declutter the application and only show features you want.

To find Module Control you must be the administrator and click on SETTINGS > SETTINGS > SYSTEM > MODULE CONTROL. Select the "Inactive" option for any of the modules you do not want. The software will automatically save the changes for you. Refresh the browser page to finalize the changes.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Bulk Permission Editing

We added a bulk permission editing feature. Instead of editing each user one at a time, you can now use the PERMISSIONS module and select 1 permission to edit any number of users per user type.

To use this feature go to SETTINGS > PERMISSIONS, choose the user type you want to edit (client, practitioner, or staff) and click on the BULK PERMISSIONS button in the top-left-hand corner. Select the permission you want to edit, select ON or leave the permission blank to remove it, select the user or users to edit and then submit the change. The permission will be edited and you can review the changes within the permissions table below.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Sunday Update Completed

The February 2nd update was successfully deployed. Below is a list of feature add-ons:

• added permission to allow clients to add sessions to the calendar
• clients can add sessions to the calendar
• clients can see the availability of tutors assigned to them from the calendar in both month and week views
• clients can see their assigned practitioners skills if they are given the show practitioner information permission
• floating action bar added for clients who are allowed to add sessions
• when a client adds a session they receive an e-mail with a link to an encrypted page to check the status of the session
• added a setting to send e-mails to practitioners, staff, administrator or others when a client requests a session
• added a setting to send a text message to practitioners, staff, administrator or others when a client requests a session
• added a page on the frontend of the website that does not require a secure login but is encrypted for clients and staff to review the status of a pending session and add public notes, confirm the session, or confirm and notify the client of a confirmation of the session
• added a pending sessions information panel on the dashboard for administrators, staff, and practitioners. From there they can view the pending session or view the check status page that is provided in e-mails as links
• when a public note is added, the software will automatically append the name, time, and date of the user who added the note
• when a private note is added, the software will automatically append the name, time, and date of the user who added the note
• upgraded the permissions tables for clients, practitioners, and staff to reduce lag when viewing large data sets
• added available indicator when adding sessions for all users. This checks the practitioner's schedule as well as client sessions, breaks and closures.
• when the available indicator is orange, a sticky message will display the reason why there is a conflict
• added a skills list when a practitioner is selected for all users
• sent e-mails and text messages for pending sessions are recorded on the mass e-mail table and sent SMS text messages table. To review these records, click on the COMMUNICATION main menu option

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Update Scheduled February 2, 2020

There is a scheduled downtime for February 2, 2020 from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm. During this time the software will not be available.

We are introducing a new feature that allows your clients to add sessions to the calendar. This feature will only be made available if a client permission is granted, otherwise the software will look and operate the same.

This update will allow clients to add sessions to the calendar. These sessions will be marked as pending. You will be able to send e-mails and/or text messages to users responsible for handling pending session requests. Additionally, there is a front end check status page that all participants can access that does not require a secure login (it is an encrypted page). From that page your clients will be able to check the status of the request and add additional notes. On the other hand, managers will be able to add public session notes, confirm the session, or confirm and notify the client of a change in the session status.

E-mail correspondence that occurs will be tracked and recorded within the Mass E-mails history table.

This is the next step in a group of feature additions that will eventually allow you to better integrate your services, your website, and our software into an overarching business platform. More information will be made available after the update is applied.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Added Confirmed/Pending Feature

When adding a session you can choose to make it a "Confirmed" session, which is the default, or you can choose to make the new session "Pending," by deselecting the "Confirmed" checkbox.

Having a session in pending status will not prevent you or your users from completing the session. As well, 36 hour e-mail session reminders and text message reminders will still be sent to the session participants as per normal.

This new feature is intended to be a visual queue for those sessions that are not 100% confirmed; either by a client or practitioner.

There are several ways to toggle the status of a session, they include:

1. from the calendar click on the session cell and choose PENDING OR CONFIRMED
2. from the edit session page select or deselect the Confirmed checkbox to the right of the submit button
3. from the ALL and OPEN session list pages click on the green or orange icons to the right of the table found under the OPTIONS column

This feature is the first step in a series of new feature add-ons that are coming. We are expanding the software to allow, through permission control, clients to request sessions from the backend (when logged in) and eventually from the frontend (when on your website using a script snippet).

These new features will expand the duties of the software to help you manage client acquisition from the top of your sales funnel if you so choose.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Bizstim v3.0 Update Launched

Bizstim v3.0 update was completed Sunday January 5th, 2020.

Here is a list of features added:

• Sessions can have more than one practitioner (tutor, coach, teacher, consultant). Now you can assign any combination of practitioner and client to a session.
• One session add form. The software will determine if you are creating a single session or a group session based on the participants selected and act accordingly. This will decrease click errors from users.
• When adding a session the start and end times are pre-populated with 0:00. This cuts down on the number of clicks required to select a start and end time. Additional form validation was added to prevent user errors. The start and end times can no longer be identical and the start time must come before the end time.
• The session table listing has been updated to show all participants involved in a group session. To cut down on table clutter, one participant name is listed for a group session and a popover lists all participants in the session on mouse hover. A plus sign and the number of additional participants follows the name. For example, a session with 3 clients would appear as follows: John Smith +2.
• We have added an additional color scheme for the calendar. Instead of displaying session cells with the practitioner's calendar color, you can choose to display a customized open session color and a customized completed session color. By default this alternative calendar color scheme is light green for open sessions and light blue for completed sessions. However, you can select your own colors if you wish.
• The calendar session cells display the session status, start and end times, and session description. We added additional options for this display. You can choose to show any combination of the following session data: client name, practitioner name, service description, and location description. Therefore, if you or your users find yourselves clicking on the session cell to see this data in a popup, you can choose to show the information without having to click on the session cell. This should reduce clicking and increase the usability of the calendar.
• Clients can now see company closures on their calendars.
• Two extra permission levels were added to the session control permission setting for practitioners. You have more control over the level of access practitioners have with respect to viewing, saving, editing, adding and deleting sessions. Each of the levels listed here now has its own setting. This will give you more control over session security. If you want your practitioners to have the same level of access they already had no additional action is required. When we performed the update we mapped the new security levels to the old ones.
• Since you can have more than one practitioner in a session we added a practitioner permission that allows the practitioner to add other practitioners to the session. This permission setting is turned off by default. If you want your practitioners to add group sessions with more than one practitioner, you will need to give them permission to do so. If you do not want to enable this setting no additional action is required.
• Support was added for the display and use of Chinese characters.

If you would like help enabling any of these new features please contact us and we would be delighted to offer assistance.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Session Creation Improvements

There will be an update on Sunday January 5th, 2020 at 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm EST. During this time the software will not be available.

This update will add a number of session creation improvements, for example:

• 1 form to add a single session or a group session
• You will be able to assign more than 1 practitioner for each session. This is great if you have sessions with trainers or you run a business that sends out more than one consultant per meeting (cleaning services, legal services)
• You can change the calendar color scheme to reflect a custom color set for open and closed sessions
• additional improvements to assessments/report like viewing and editing group session reports
• a number of other smaller improvements were added
• a number of small fixes were administered

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Custom Practitioner Schedules

You can now create custom practitioner schedules in addition to the default schedule.

To add a custom schedule to a practitioner do the following:

• go to the practitioners list
• click on the edit icon
• click the AVAILABILITY tab
• click the plus icon to the right of the DEFAULT schedule
• provide a schedule label
• add a start date
• add an end date
• submit the new schedule

After you add a new schedule you will be able to set the start and end times for each day as usual. You can review the custom schedules for each practitioner from the practitioners list page, the practitioners view page, and the practitioners edit page.

Furthermore, when you are viewing the visual calendar; and viewing a single practitioners sessions, their availability will take into account any custom or default schedules.

For example; if you have a DEFAULT schedule for September to June and a SUMMER schedule for July to August, when you are viewing sessions that are within September to August the DEFAULT schedule times will show. On the other hand, if you are viewing a month on the calendar that is July or August, the SUMMER schedule times will show.

This feature is extremely helpful if you typically schedule sessions many months in advance and your practitioners have different availability from month to month. Each unique schedule can be a little as 1 day in duration so you can also use this feature to keep track of vacations or designated days off.

The adding, editing and deleting of custom schedules are done within the edit page of the practitioner. We would like to get your feedback with respect to managing custom schedules en masse. For example, adding or revoking schedules to all practitioners at once with a couple clicks. If you have some ideas for this, please contact Bizstim. We welcome your suggestions.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Custom Client Rates & Wage Rates Added

We have added custom client rates and custom wage rates. Prior to this update, you could only set the client cost and default wage rate via services. Services still have a client cost and default wage rate, but you can over ride those settings if you want to have unique rates for specific clients and/or practitioners.

The software uses the following hierarchy when determining the client cost and wage rate upon session completion:

1. Has the user enabled cost over ride? If yes, use those numbers to determine the cost and wage
2. Does the client and/or practitioner have a unique rate associated with the service? If yes, use those numbers to determine the cost and wage
3. If the above were not satisfied, use the client cost and default wage rate associated with the service to determine the cost and wage

You can set custom client rates here:

1. click ACCOUNTING > BALANCES from the main menu
2. click CUSTOM RATES from the sub-menu
3. choose the client you want to set a custom rate for
4. enter the UNIQUE RATE for the specific service
5. click the green button with a checkmark to save

After you set a custom rate, the software will follow the hierarchy above to compute the client cost and wages due.

You can set custom wage rates here:

1. click PRACTITIONERS > WAGE MANAGER from the main menu
2. click ADVANCED OPTIONS > CUSTOM WAGE RATES from the sub-menu
3. choose the practitioner you want to set a custom rate for
4. enter the UNIQUE RATE for the specific service
5. click the green button with a checkmark to save

We have added links to these pages when administrators and staff are viewing, adding, or editing clients and practitioners. There is also a link on each of these pages to the other page for easy switching between the two.

Practitioners can view any unique rates they have within their EARNIINGS page.

If you do not want to use this feature no further actions are required. If you want to use this feature and you have questions, or would like help setting unique rates for your clients or practitioners, please e-mail support or give us a call at 1-844-588-2200.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Report Moderation Feature Added

A report / assessment moderation feature was added. This feature, if enabled, will require the moderation of end of session reports before they can be viewed by the client. When a session is marked as COMPLETE and a report is made, the report will appear on a moderation list. Administrators and staff users can accept the report or make changes to the report if needed.

Until the report is moderated, you are not allowed to download a PDF copy of the report or e-mail the report to the client. Instead, there is an orange message saying, "report awaiting moderation."

Staff must have the permission, "Manage Assessments" to moderate reports. Administrators and staff will see an icon at the top-right of all pages, that looks like a page with an eye. When there are no reports to moderate the icon will be green or white. If there are reports to moderate, the icon will be red, orange, or black. The color depends on your color scheme.

When the eye icon is clicked you will be taken to a list of reports that are awaiting moderation. You can view and edit reports from the list. When you are happy with the report, there is a green checkmark option that will release the report. Once the report is moderated the client will be able to see and download the report. In addition, you will be able to e-mail the report to the client.

We added an option to e-mail the report to the client on the assessment table list and when you are viewing an assessment.

To enable report moderation do the following:

• click on your name at the top-right
• choose ACCOUNT SETTINGS
• click SYSTEM from the sub-menu
• click the SESSION CONTROL tab
• scroll down to ASSESSMENT / REPORT MODERATION DEFAULT
• select YES

From this point onward, all sessions added to your calendar will require moderation before reports are shown to the client.

If you have open sessions on the calendar before this feature was added and you want to enable report moderation on them, please contact Bizstim support and we will help you flag those open sessions. We need your business name and whether you want all open sessions to be moderated or sessions after a specified date.

Alternatively, you can give us a call at 1-844-588-2200.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Security & Service Reports Update

The security and service reports update was successfully deployed on Sunday evening.

The security aspect of the update further hardened the software. This was a proactive step we took. You will not notice any negative effects to the security update.

The service reports update added a feature that will allow administrators and staff with the proper permission to audit the session completion types for each client. You can choose the date interval, all clients or active clients or inactive clients, and select one or more of the session types. You can select default session types and custom session types. Each session completion type will have the total amount spent for the date interval and sum all within a TOTAL heading.

Service reports are an excellent way to see how clients are consuming your services on any given time range. Furthermore, the service report simplifies a timely process and will help you better understand your business.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Downtime Sept. 15 @ 7 pm EST

There will be an update Sunday September 15, 2019 at 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm EST. During this time the software will not be available.

The update will include: a security update to further "harden" the application from tampering, and a new service reports feature.

More details regarding the reports feature will be made available after the update.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Balance Page Additions

The balances page has addition improvements and features. Here is a list of the additions or changes:

• removed active client balances page
• removed all client balances page
• removed balance column
• added filter for account status
• added filter for date interval
• added balance (interval) column
• added balance (all time) column
• all columns are orderable
• all columns are searchable

The client balances page will appear almost the same as it did, however, the functionality is greatly improved.

Instead of clicking on links to view the balance information across 2 pages, you can now use the filtering options to view the balance information from one page. This will improve the user user's experience when working with client balances.

A date interval filter has been added. By default, the date interval displays the current month. You can select presets for the previous month, current year, or choose to select your own date interval. Since we are looking at date intervals, a second column for BALANCE was added.

BALANCE | INTERVAL displays the client balance given the date interval selected. BALANCE | ALL TIME displays the client balance for the entire history of the client. There was some confusion in our testing with the interval balance so we decided to add the all time balance as well.

Remember, the balance columns take the billable sessions from the calendar and uses the following calculation: cost + tax + debit - payment - credit. For the date interval, the session dates and payment dates are used to determine the balance for the specific date interval. If you typically invoice your clients, there may be a delay between the service rendered and the payment for the service applied.

If you do not collect payment from your clients right away, you may want to record payments with a payment date occurring in the same month of the session. If you do not do this, there may be a positive or negative balance for the BALANCE | INTERVAL amount on display. That's why the ALL TIME balance column exists.

If you use the "Search..." option, you can search any column. You can search by first name, last name, or type the mount for due, paid, or balance.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Session List Filters

We've added additional filters for the session list pages. Now you can filter based on start date and end date, the service used, and session status. This is helpful if you choose to export session data for use with reporting or integrating with other software programs.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Defaults f/Closures, Breaks, Notes, Messages

You can set a default color and default description for closures, breaks, notes and messages.

You may want to set a default for one of these session events if you find yourself using one for the same reason over and over again.

For example, if you usually use a message to depicts a practitioner's training time, then you might want to create a default description for all messages that would read, "Scheduled training time. Do not book this person during this time."

As always, you can edit the color and description at any time from the calendar or the Closures and Breaks page.

To set a default for one or more of the session events, click on the "settings" icon from the calendar. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. There you will see options to change session event colors and descriptions.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Server Upgrades Aug 12

There is a scheduled downtime for Monday August 12th, 2019 at 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm EST. During this time you will not be able to login. Bizstim will be upgrading its server hardware and software. Thanks for your patience.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Todos show on dashboard

The sales manager panel on the dashboard has been improved. In addition to seeing clients that have a status of "prospect," you are now shown a list of Todos that are open. An OPEN TODOS tab and a PROSPECTS tab appears in the top header allowing you to switch between the two.

Since the OPEN TODOS are shown first, you don't have to go to the sales manager overview and look for open todos. Now you can locate those todos that are open quickly and take appropriate action.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Upgrade to Sales Manager

The Sales Manager tool has been upgraded with emphasis on user design and ease of use. The overview and client view pages have been changed. Overall, the functionality remains similar but there are a number of additions and improvements.

The overview page has been redesigned for user design and faster loading times. The old overview page loaded far too slowly with 50 or more clients. Furthermore, when a change was made, the entire page had to reload. The new overview page now loads fast and changes to the data can be done on screen without a page reload. This means you will be able to update your client data quickly and effortlessly.

The client view page is very similar to before but we have added additional options for changing the client's status, contact information, and position in your sales funnel. These changes were made to prevent needless clicks and having to navigate to other modules within the software. Overall, managing your clients within your sales funnel is easier. The end result is a more useful and efficient sales tool.

We are contemplating an option that will allow you to toggle to the next client in the current sales funnel from the client view page. If this is something you would like to see, please let us know. If there is a demand for a feature addon, we will work faster to bring it to you.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Calendar Message Feature

We've added a calendar message feature that is similar to the closure feature but is labeled as a message.

This will allow you to add a cell to the calendar with a message that is viewable to the administrator, staff, and practitioners only. Clients will not be able to see the message.

Additionally, we are considering adding a visibility option to determine who can see the specific closures or message. If you would like this option added, please let us know.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Zero Balance Tool

We have added a Zero Balance tool. If you want to zero-out a client's balance, you can use the Zero Balance tool to create a debit or credit on the client's account. Debits and credits are forms of payments that are either a positive amount or a negative amount. The software will apply the appropriate payment type and leave a note.

To use the Zero Balance tool click on ACCOUNTING from the main menu, then click on BALANCES. You will see a list of active clients and their account balances. The Zero Balance tool can be used by clicking on 1 or more checkboxes, selecting ZERO BALANCES from the dropdown menu, and clicking SUBMIT. Clients that already have a $0.00 balance will be ignored. On the other hand, clients that have a positive or negative balance will be zero'd out.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Security Audit Added

We have added a security audit feature. This feature provides the following information:

• date and time of the logger
• the user name of the logger
• the user type of the logger
• the location of the logger

This feature will reveal which users are using the software, and when they are using the software. You may choose to use this information to make proactive decisions that help your business.

By default only administrators can use the Security Audit feature. Staff users can be granted permission to manage this feature. You can find the permission for this new feature within the Communications section of a staff users permissions.

To access the feature click on the COMMUNICATIONS tab on the main menu and select SECURITY AUDIT.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Additions, Updates, Fixes

June 15, 2019 had a large software update. Below is a list of additions, updates, and fixes:

• added: private notes for sessions
• added: calendar length user setting (default 1200)
• added: unused services can be deleted
• added: create clients from add/edit session pages
• added: create practitioners from add/edit session pages
• added: create services from add/edit session pages
• added: create locations from add/edit session pages
• added: private note shortcode for practitioner session reminder e-mail

• updated: data import and export to excel for services and locations
• updated: users API instructions and output
• updated: practitioner dashboard panel views (grid CSS)
• updated: client dashboard panel views (grid CSS)
• updated: length of textarea boxes (larger - 200px)

• fixed: logo will appear in header of pdf's that are e-mailed and automated
• fixed: add location from edit session page (practitioner's side)

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Calendar Closures & Notes

A number of improvements were made to the calendar. In addition to adding closures, breaks, and notes from the calendar, you can now edit their descriptions and cell colors directly from the calendar.

All you need to do is drag and drop the closure/break/note to the calendar, click on the cell, and select "Edit." This will open a modal window that will allow you to change the description of the event and give you the opportunity to select a unique cell color.

Just a reminder, to see breaks and notes, you need to be in the practitioners view by selecting their name from the dropdown at the top-left.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Session Conflict Warning

A session conflict dashboard warning has been added. By default this setting is turned off. When this settings is turned on, and there is a session conflict, a warning message will appear on the dashboard for the administrator and staff users.

To enable this feature:

• you must be the administrator
• click on your name at the top-right
• choose Account Settings
• click on System
• scroll down to the SESSION CONTROL panel
• click Yes to the Show Session Conflicts Warning

Now, when there are session conflicts present, you will get a warning message on your Dashboard.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Adding Clients to Sessions

We added a system setting that will allow your practitioners to add clients to sessions that the practitioner has not been assigned to. Typically, a practitioner can only add a client to a session they have been assigned to, or were previously paired with (session created by a staff member or administrator).

You can use this feature by navigating to the main menu: SETTINGS > SETTINGS > select 'System' from the sub-menu. Scroll down to the bottom-left of the page to the SESSION CONTROL panel. Click the option you want under 'Show All Students.' Be advised, when Yes is selected, all of your practitioners will be able to see all active clients when creating or editing sessions. This feature does not effect the records manager or client notes.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Change to Costs & Wages

We added a permission for practitioners for costs and wages. Before the change, you could restrict costs from the practitioner but not their wages. Now, you can restrict them from seeing their accumulated wages. This effects what the practitioner can see from the calendar, session information, wages dashboard panel, and the costs and wages page.

If you choose to restrict all costs and wages, you will have to communicate their wages by another means. If you have an Enterprise Plan and you pay practitioners via timesheets, they will still be able to access their wage information and timesheets. This change only effects practitioners who are paid via the hours saved from the calendar / sessions.

If you were fine with allowing your practitioners to access their wage information, you do not have to do anything. If you do not want your practitioners to access their wage information, you will have to edit their "Costs & Wages" permission setting. To change permissions to several practitioners, we recommend you use the Permissions tool. You can access the Permission tool by navigating on the main menu: SETTINGS > PERMISSIONS + select practitioner permissions

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Documents Manager Added

You can host your policies and procedures, client handbooks, employee procedures or any other business information files within the software. Files that are uploaded can appear on the users dashboard and can be associated with specific or all user types.

To upload your business documents go to: COMMUNICATION > DOCUMENTS. If there are files that are set to be shown on the dashboard, a documents panel will appear to the user. You can choose to show specific documents for the administrator, staff, practitioners and clients.

If you have a cancelation policy, you may want to upload that policy within the documents manager and display it on client dashboards. This makes it very easy for your clients to gain access to the policy.

Quick and easy access to this information can help your business become more efficient, improve client satisfaction, and lower mundane managerial responsibilities.

There is a 100 MB limit to file storage on the server. If you need more space please contact support.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Wages Manager Added

We have re-worked Hours & Wages and replaced it with a Wage Manager.

With the wage manager you can filter wages for a specified interval of time. The payment date will automatically set itself for the last day in the interval, unless you want a different date. While reviewing a practitioners earnings, their wage history and past payslips can be seen without leaving the page. When a payslip is created the wage manager will not allow additional payments to be created thereby minimizing user input error.

You can still send multiple wage payments by clicking on "Advanced Options" and selecting Multiple Payments. Furthermore, you can still see All-time Wages, Wage Payments, and a practitioner's Wage History.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Session Upgrades Completed

Custom session completion types have been added to the software. Custom session completion types allow you to create new session completion options. You have control over the client's charges and the practitioner's wages based on a percentage of the service fee or a fixed amount.

For more information we have added a detailed explanation of custom completion types in our support center.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Session Upgrades Downtown

There is a scheduled downtime for Monday April 29, 2019 @ 10:00 pm EST.

We will be adding new custom session completion types. You will be able to create your own session completion types other than the three that are currently available (canceled, missed, completed). You will also be able to turn off any and all of the default options if they do not meet your specific requirements.

The downtime will last for approximately 30 minutes. You will not be able to access the software during this time.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Fix for Previous Update

This is an update for the April 23rd update. We have implemented a fix for clearing your browser cache. Moving forward, we will force an update to the affected files for you. You will NOT have to clear your browser cache.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

URGENT News Update

We upgraded an important plugin today because of a potential security exploit. The exploit did not effect any clients using our software and you do not have to be concerned in any way. As soon as we were notified of this issue, we got to work updating the impacted plugin.

We are bringing this to your attention because you may need to clear your browsers cache so you are taking advantage of the upgrade. If you notice strange behavior please clear your browsers cache and refresh your page.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

News Update April 11

We have released a records management tool.

This tool will allow you to store physical records, electronic records and data records to the software.

The tool is HIPAA and InfoSec compliant and therefore comes with a plethora of record security protocols and access control.

The records manager can be used to share client information within your team and your clients based on permissions you choose.

For more information about the records manager, please check out this support topic: Records Management

The records manager is available to Trial and Enterprise accounts only.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

News Update February 18

There are 2 updates today:

• Team Assessments Feature Added
• Timesheets Module Added To Module Control

TEAM ASSESSMENTS

This will allow you to give your practitioner's access to all assessments belonging to clients they are assigned to. You will have to give permission to each practitioner for this feature to be available.

When your practitioner's have access to Team Assessments they will see an additional link within their main menu (left-side menu) labeled, "Team Assessments." Once they go there they can select a specific client and that client's assessments will appear. They can now click on the magnifying glass (view) icon to see the assessment details.

They may only edit assessments they are responsible for and they still have access to a list of assessments they created.

TIMESHEETS ADDED TO MODULE CONTROL

Some users confuse Timesheets with Wages & Hours and we completely understand why that happens. In an attempt to make the software easier to use we have decided to move Timesheets to the Module Control Center and make it "inactive" by default.

Moving forward, if you subscribe to our Enterprise Plan and you want to pay your salary practitioners / staff, you need to make the timesheets feature active within Module Control. If you do not have an Enterprise Plan, or you do not pay salaries, please ignore this update.

If this change affects you, please reach out to us via e-mail and we will explain this update in detail.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

News Update February 10

A new and improved invoicing feature has been added to the software. With this new invoicing feature you are able to:

• Invoice for completed or scheduled sessions
• Toggle a session list
• Toggle a payments list
• Add line items
• Mark as paid or unpaid
• Create invoices for many different revenue collection patterns
• Automate invoice creation
• Automate pending and overdue invoice e-mails
• If you are using a payment gateway and allow clients to make payments, we've streamlined the process with a PAY button that will handle the payment through Stripe or PayPal, record the payment, track the invoice as paid, and allow the client to download their receipt and paid invoice.

Invoicing can be a SET AND FORGET automated system for your convenience, should you choose to use it in that way.

If you have any questions, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

News Update January 28

Based on client feedback, we are in the midst of revamping invoices. We will replace the current invoicing feature with one that is capable of invoicing completed sessions or open sessions. Furthermore, you will be able to add line items. In addition, you will have the option to show payments for a given date range. This new invoicing system will be able to meet a myriad of schemes.

We expect the change will take approximately 2 additional weeks and will be completed sometime in mid-February.

If you have any questions, or would like to make a request with respect to invoicing, please contact support at mail@bizstim.com.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

News Update January 21

The scheduling conflicts feature was added successfully over the weekend. When a session is added, edited, or deleted, the software will check and notify you of possible conflicts. We added a new alert icon to the header of all pages. The icon looks like a ringing bell. If they bell is highlighted, you have a conflict scheduled. You can also add practitioners and clients to an ignore list if you do not want them to trigger a conflict. There is a manual conflict check button on the conflicts page that will search for conflicts for the next 30 days. You may want to use the manual conflict checker if you had a lot of sessions on the calendar prior to the feature being added. Otherwise, you do not have to do anything to take advantage of this new feature.

A second invoicing method was added. In addition to creating invoices based on completed sessions, you can choose to create invoices based on open / scheduled sessions. This new invoicing method is perfect for businesses that choose to invoice their clients for pre-payment of services. In the future, we are thinking about adding an invoicing option based upon a predefined client schema, and a manual invoice option. If any of these future options interests you, please contact support. We would like to hear more about your needs.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Scheduled Downtime for Jan 19

On Saturday January 19, 2019 @ 10:00 pm - 11:00 pm EST the software will be unavailable for an update. You will not be allowed to log in or use the software for approximately 1 hour.

We are adding a session conflicts feature. The software will monitor, up to 30 days in the future, any session conflicts scheduled.

When a conflict is found there will be a notification at the top of the page header. You will be able to see what sessions are in conflict with one another and take action.

If you have any questions about the use of this feature, please contact support.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

News Update January 14

Over the weekend we updated some of our dependent libraries. You will more than likely need to clear your browser cache. If you can't see session information using the session list tables, please do the following:

• clear your cache:
  • on chrome go to settings | On Firefox go to options
  • on chrome go to advance | On Firefox go to Privacy and Security
  • on chrome click on clear browser data | On Firefox go to Cookies and Site Data > Clear Data
  • on chrome select all | On Firefox select all
  • on chrome submit | On Firefox Clear
• close your browser window
• reopen your browser window
• log back in

You may need to forward these instructions to your staff and clients if they have login rights.

If you experience any further issues, please contact us and let us know.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

News Update December 23

We have rolled out a number of improvements over the last month. We'll list them below but if you have any questions about the additional features, please contact us. We look forward to speaking with you and getting feedback.

• At session completion the e-mail client the report is set to YES by default. It was previously NO.
• Practitioner's availability shown on the calendar week and day view when reviewing a specific practitioner's calendar. Times available are listed and the times are blocked off with a background color.
• You can now add breaks for practitioners and see them listed on the calendar
• You can now add business closures and see them listed on the calendar
• Removed the practitioner's secondary phone number from the table list and added a popup window displaying availability.
• Tweaked the country selection order when adding clients, practitioners, and staff. USA, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia are at the top of the list. This reflects Bizstim's client base.
• 12-hour time format for displaying times added application wide. 24-hour time formatting is present for data input. This change ensures the output is shown in a 12-hour AM and PM format.
• When adding sessions, we changed formatting to ensure the title and description fields are case sensitive.
• An ADD SESSION button was added to the pre-scheduling tool when you drill-down to a specific practitioner
• Added feature where you can set an inactive date for a client. When that date passes the software will automatically change their status to inactive.
• Fixed an omission on the practitioners side. Practitioners can now see client notes from the Assigned Clients section.
• Added feature where you can cancel all sessions on the calendar for a day or a range of days and the participants (clients and practitioners) are sent e-mails / text messages.
• Feature added to recurring sessions. You can now set a Last Date for the recurring sessions and the software will create sessions given your settings until it reaches the last date. You now can use the last date or a total number of sessions.
• SimpleTeting text messaging provider added to the list of SMS gateway options.

We are working on the following which will be made available soon:

• More options to edit recurring sessions as a group
• New feature alerting you to scheduling conflicts
• New feature alerting you of possible duplicate clients, practitioners, and staff
• A complete record management system that will allow you to store information on physical records, electronic records, and data input records. There will be full audit functionality and built in retention strategies to promote Security and Privacy compliance.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

News Update October 31

There was some confusion around the term: Language Translation. We've decided to change the term to Word Translation.

This feature allows you to change some of the core words the software uses. For example: Practitioner can be changed to tutor, therapist, or consultant. Cllient can be changed to student, or patient. There are a number of core words than can be changed.

This feature can be found by navigating to SETTINGS > WORD TRANSLATION.

You can also select from 3 presets for tutoring, health care and therapy industries

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

News Update Oct 20

1. Last week's update was successful. A text messaging feature was added. Trial and Enterprise accounts can register with a 3rd party gateway (Twilio or EZ Texting) and send text messages to their clients, practitioners, or staff. Text messages can be sent via an automated process, manually, or using a custom manual feature. For more information you can navigate to SETTINGS > SYSTEM and review the information within the SMS Text Messaging panel. You can also jump into a support chat or send us an e-mail.

2. More improvements to assessments. We took away client and practitioner assessment list pages. Instead, we added an All Assessments list page. Now you can see all of your business's assessments without having to review them via a specific client or practitioner. This should help you see your business data more clearly. We also made some minor improvements with respect to the assessment navigation. We understand the assessment module can be a complicated array of pages and configurations and we are working hard to simplify it for you.

3. More assessment improvements are planned for the near feature. We plan to add a feature called, Client Records. This will allow you to save information on your clients outside of the session process. You will be able to make notes public or private and place viewing restrictions based on roles. If you would like to make any requests to this new feature, please contact us via e-mail. We can arrange some time to speak in more detail.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Update Scheduled For Oct. 14

There will be a significant update to the software on Sunday October 14 at approximately 12:00 noon EST. We expect the update to take 2 hours. During this time, the software will not be available and you will not be permitted to log in.

Here are the highlights of the update:

1. added text messaging options for Trial and Enterprise Plans
   • automated/manual session reminders
   • automated/manual invoice pending and overdue alerts
   • automated/manual task/request alerts
2. main navigation reorganization (added a communications tab. Combined Mass E-mail, Text Messaging, and Tasks/Requests)
3. minor user experience (UX) tweeks
4. API documentation updated to reflect the addition of text phone numbers

As always, we welcome your feedback when you have a chance to review the changes. Additionally, if there are features you would like to have added to the software, send us an e-mail detailing your request.

Sincerely,

The Bizstim Team

Pre-Payment Feature Added

A service pre -payment option has been added to the software. It is an optional setting.

If you do not want to schedule a session (single or group) if the client has not pre-paid for the session all you have to do is enable "Pre-payment of services" and set a single session threshold and group session threshold amount.

The single and group thresholds are amounts that you define and represent a minimum credit on the account required to allow the client to be added to the session. For example; if Client A has an account credit ( prepaid amount ) of $50.00 and the single threshold value is $25.00, Client A can be added to the session. Alternatively, if Client A has a $0.00 credit balance, then Client A can NOT be added to the

session.

Those clients who do not have sufficient credits on their account will be grayed-out or disabled from the dropdown list. In addition, there is a warning, " *** PAYMENT REQUIRED *** " that is clearly visible next to their names. This feature also extends to editing sessions (single and group sessions).

This feature prevents sessions from being added when a minimum credit balance is insufficient. It is up to you to take follow-up actions to rectify the issue. This is the extent of this feature.

To access this feature click SETTINGS from the main menu, then select SYSTEM from the sub-menu. Towards the bottom of the page you will see the "Service Pre-Payment" options.

Module Control Center Added

We added a Module Control Center to the software. The Module Control Center allows you to deactivate some modules that are not core modules. Currently you can deactivate / activate the products module, tasks module, and the mail module.

You can access the Module Control Center by navigating to SETTINGS > SYSTEM. Click the inactive radio button option to deactivate the module, and click the active radio button to activate the module. When you deactivate a module, the module will no longer appear as a clickable link on the main naviagation or side-bar navigation. In most circumstances, users will be prohibited from using these modules programmatically. However, for the tasks module, users will still be able to access the module if there are outstanding tasks that are awaiting completion.

We added this feature to help administrators declutter the navigation menus and improve the overall user experience. Only administrators have control over this feature. Staff do not have the ability to use Module Control. This feature affects the visual appearance of all user sides, for example: practitioners, clients, staff, and administrators.

If you would like to suggest other modules to be added to Module Control, please send us an e-mail and we will consider your request.

Added A Product Module

We have added a product module. The product module allows you to sell products, monitor inventory, track sales and profits.

This is a backend solution for selling products. You can assign staff users to one of three roles; Product Manager, Cashier Manager, and Cashier.

If you have any suggestions for exapanding upon this modules features, please send us an e-mail. We plan to implement API options that will allow you to build a front-end component for your website. This will be added later if the demand arises.

You can review the Product Module by clicking on the box icon from the main menu or quick launch icon menu.

Forgot Username Page Added

We have added a new login feature. Previously, if you forgot your password, you were required to provide your username. Given your username, a password reset e-mail was sent. Unfortunately, some users also forget their username.

If you forgot your username, you were required to contact an administrator or Bizstim Support. This is not ideal. We added a Forgot Username option for users. Now, on the Reset Password page, there is a link for Forgot Username.

The Forgot Username page asks a couple questions and will provide the user their username right away. With the username, you can go back to the Reset Password page and request a reset password e-mail.

This new feature should drastically reduce downtime and/or inefficiencies.

Kind regards from the Bizstim Staff.

Assessment Overview Page Updated

We updated the assessments overview page. This is the page you see when you click on CLIENTS > ASSESSMENTS. Since the process of creating assessment templates is quite complicated, we redesigned the overview page to help you get a better understanding of the assessment questions you have.

You will be able to see at a glance what types of questions you are asking and if they are global questions (asked after every session), or service specific questions (only asked for sessions with a specific service type).

Additionally, we made the PRE-MADE TEMPLATES option more visible and moved the assessment order off the page (it can still be reviewed when clicking on the ORDER link). Please let us know if this makes understanding assessments easier for you.

As always, if you need help creating your assessment templates, contact support via e-mail and we would be happy to help. Provide us with the questions you would like and we'll either create a new template or develop a custom solution for you.

Bizstim WordPress Plugin Available

We have released our first WordPress plugin. DOWNLOAD DEPRECATED. More information can be found on our official WordPress Plugin page(DEPRECATED).

Trial and Enterprise accounts who have access to the API can use the plugin. If you would like to use the plugin and you do not have an Enterprise plan, you can upgrade your account at any time within your account settings > service plan page.

At this time, we have the following features:

• Show your client testimonials (light and dark styles)
• Show a "Meet Our Team" section (shows active practitioners)
• Provide a login form (vertical / horizontal and light / dark styles)
• Provide a sales inquiry / contact us form (light and dark styles)

More features will be added over time. We welcome suggestions for future features.

Added Practitioner Photo and Details

We added the ability to add a practitioner photo, position, and excerpt. You can see the practitioner photo by navigating to the practitioner's view page. You can access this page by clicking on PRACTITIONERS > PRACTITIONERS LIST then clicking on the search icon.

To add a photo for your practitioner go to the view page, and click on the OTHER sub-menu tab. Here you will be able to upload an image, set a position (200 character maximum), and add a brief excerpt (500 character maximum).

We will be adding functionality to our API so you can easily develop a MEET OUR TEAM section on your own web site. In addition, we will be publishing a WordPress plugin that will allow you to display this information with minimal effort. We expect the plugin to be completed by September 2018. More information will follow.

As always, we welcome any feedback you have. Thank-you.

API and API Documentation Updated

We have added a total of 5 GET requests to the API. PUT, POST, and DELETE requests will be added over time. If you have requests for API methods, please send us a contact e-mail and we will review your request.

If you do not know what an API is, it allows you to program scripts and display your business data from our servers on your website. Possible applications may include: showing client testimonials, displaying a 'meet our team,' or grabbing your financial data for reporting purposes. An API gives you complete control over your business data.

You need a trial account or Enterprise account to use the API. If you have any questions about the API, please contact support and we will answer any and all of your questions.

Save Client Testimonials

We have added a new feature for testimonials. You can now save 'active' client testimonials to the software. You can access this feature by navigating to CLIENTS > TESTIMONIALS

In the future, testimonials will be added to our API where you can access the information. In addition, we have a WordPress plugin in development that will also use this data to create Testimonial widgets or shortcodes.

Bizstim v2.0 Update / Change Log

• complete overhaul of the graphic user interface (GUI)
• improved user experience (UX) with GUI and in-browser programming prompts
• PayPal integration for payment processing
• credit and debit features added to payment options
• added Application Program Interface (API). Currently in beta testing. More methods will be added over time
• added update center for admin and staff users
• added floating action bar for commonly used functions
• expanded pdf view, copy, print, and e-mail options for wages, payslips, receipts, reports, and invoices
• expanded branding and color options
• assessments / reports can be e-mailed upon session completion
• getting started helper is now on all pages when the right-quick launch sidebar is viewed

Software Upgrade Complete

We have completed the software upgrade. Over the next few days we will be monitoring the software for unforeseen issues and correct them as they arise. If you notice anything odd, please bring it to our attention and we'll get on it right away!

We will be releasing a list of added features soon.