Schools Setup - Just setup, not how to use the software. How to’s are next!

1. Complete the Preferences Wizard. Maintenance > Preferences > Preferences Wizard. This will get a lot of the basics out of the way.
2. Create your Client Statuses. Maintenance > Client > Client Statuses. We recommend a School status, a School - Prospect status, and any other types of clients that you want to track. Feel free to be more specific with your statuses.

You are all set to enter school records into the system as client records. The next step is setting up the system to create session/picture day records.

1. Setup your session types if you haven’t already in the Preferences Wizard. Maintenance > Appointment > Appointment Types. These are the different types of visits that you have to schools. Ex: Sales Meeting, Portraits Drop Off, Informational Meeting, etc.
2. Setup your session types if you haven’t already in the Preferences Wizard. Maintenance > Session > Session Types. These are the different types of picture days that you have. Ex: Undergrad, Senior, College, Sports, etc.
3. Setup your Session Statuses. This is your workflow for a session. We recommend you write out your entire workflow for your studio. Include each communication that you want to send to the customer along the way (this will be used later). Based on the workflow, create statuses for each important step that you want to track. Maintenance > Session > Session Statuses
4. Setup Online Booking if you want to use Online Booking to have your schools schedule their own sales appoints, sales calls, or picture days. There are quite a few steps needed to customize your online booking to fit what you need. This includes: session types, website setup, and scheduling time slots. You can find more information on Online Booking setup here: Spectra/myStratus Desktop | Getting Started with Online Booking (studioplussoftware.com)
   1. If you want to take payments through the site, you need our Credit Card provider. You can pre-apply here: Getting Help - Credit Card Processing | StudioPlus Software

       

       

      You are now able to create sessions for all of your schools. Next you can take invoices in the system.

       

       

   2. Setup the software to send text messages. If you want to send text messages using our system, then you will need to signup for a texting plan. We highly recommend trying it out. It’s our most popular add on for a reason! You can learn more here: Stratus - SMS Text Messaging | StudioPlus Software
   3. Setup emails to send. Remember that workflow sheet you made? Hopefully you listed all the communications that you want to send to your customers and when. If not we highly recommend that you do that. We need to enter each one of those emails/text messages as messages into the software.
      1. You can use our Form Letter builder to create simple text emails and text messages. The Form Letter Builder does not support images. It’s more of a text editor. Great for simple emails or text messages. You can learn more about the Form Letter Builder here: Spectra/myStratus Desktop | Form Letter Builder (studioplussoftware.com)
         1. For reference, Tools > Design Tools > Form Letter Builder
      2. You can use our HTML Email builder to create more complex emails. The fun graphical ones you see everywhere. Our HTML Email builder isn’t a builder per se. We recommend you create the emails elsewhere then copy and paste them into our system. Don’t forget the merge fields when you do!
         1. Here is how to import your emails into our HTML Email builder: Spectra/myStratus Desktop | HTML Email Builder (studioplussoftware.com)
         2. Our recommended free builder is Sendgrid. Here is more information on setting up with them: Spectra/myStratus Desktop | FAQ: How to export SendGrid HTML Emails and use them in Stratus (studioplussoftware.com)
         3. For reference, Tools > Design Tools > HTML Email Builder
   4. Next we need to setup the automation to send out these emails and texts automatically. To do this, you need to use our trigger feature. Basically, when something happens, a Trigger will trigger something else to happen. Ex: When it’s two days before picture day, automatically email the photographers and email the school reminders. Another great example is setting up a trigger to create a Task record (also called Todo records) when it’s time to start prepping for a certain picture day. We highly recommend that you learn this feature well. This is the feature that will save you lots of time and money!
      1. There are quite a few template triggers already setup. If you want to use any of them, you just need to tweak them and make them active.
      2. To learn more about triggers, click here: Spectra/myStratus Desktop | Triggers (studioplussoftware.com)
5. If you want to take invoices with the software, there are a number of setup pieces that need to happen. The big one is the Price List. You can find your Price List at Maintenance > Price List > Price Lists. We don’t recommend that you create your entire price list in our tool. We recommend that you create your price list in an excel file then bulk import it. If you sell packages, we recommend that you create each component of the package as its own item. Also create the main package item. Then after the import, you will need to use the components tab of the main package item to link all the items into one package.
   1. Then you can import your price list using the price list importer. Utilities > Price List Import. For more help on how to import your price list, click here: Spectra/myStratus Desktop | Importing a Price List (studioplussoftware.com).
   2. For reference: Maintenance > Price List > Price Lists
6. If you want to take payments in the software, then you need to setup payments methods. You will also need to setup an account with Global Payments Integrated (formerly called Tsys).
   1. Payment Methods can be setup at Maintenance > Invoice > Payment Methods.
   2. We have created a special integration with Global Payments integrated. The integration makes sure that at no point does Credit Card information ever touch your system. This makes it much easier to be PCI compliant. Global Payments Integrated is also very good at meeting or beating the rates you have now, so we highly recommend you apply.
      1. Here is the link to apply: Getting Help - Credit Card Processing | StudioPlus Software
      2. Here is where you setup your Credit Card settings if you do sign up:
         1. Spectra/myStratus Desktop | TSYS (Cayan) Credit Card Processing (US) (studioplussoftware.com)
         2. Here are some recommendations we have from working with credit card companies.
            1. We highly recommend that you keep an eye on your statements. Ask your rep if any fees are required. Also keep an eye on the bottom of your statement for notices about upcoming fees. We will do our best to let you know of new fees coming. The credit card industry is changing rapidly. A big increase in fraud has led to a lot of extra services and fees. You don’t need to use all of them.
            2. If you have trouble contacting them, let us know. We have our own Rep that can contact to try to push things through. However, the entire Credit Card industry is very short staffed.
            3. When it comes time to fill out the PCI Compliance form. Global Payments Integrated has a team that you can work with to make the process a lot easier! Contact their PCI Compliance team to help you fill out the forms. It’s included with your fees.

                

                

               With all that setup, you should be ready to take invoices in the software or online. Next let’s discuss how to setup communications and marketing.

                

7. If you want to email or text your customers, there are a couple of setup pieces you need to do.
   1. Setup your email in our software. Here is how to do that: Spectra/myStratus Desktop | Setting up Email (studioplussoftware.com)
      1. You can use your own email provider in our system to send emails for free (at least free on our side). But we also have a paid service you should consider. It has open rates, click rates, unsubscribes, and confirmation buttons. You can actually see if a customer opened or clicked on an email! Here is more information about our StudioPlus Mail service: StudioPlus Mail Service | StudioPlus Software

Great! We are almost done! This last section is on setting up reports.

You can create a Dashboard of reports to look at to know how your business is doing. It’s great to see how your sales are, your bookings, what orders are falling behind, etc. You can even subscribe to the important reports to get a copy in your email on regular basis. To learn more about Dashboard setup, check out this help page: Spectra/myStratus Desktop | Dashboard Overview (studioplussoftware.com)

Along with reports is accounting. We have an integration with QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online. To learn more about setting this up, please check out this page: Spectra/myStratus Desktop | Setting up the Accounting Link - NEW to 2021 - QuickBooks Online (studioplussoftware.com)

SETUP IS DONE!!!! CELEBRATE TIME!!