The quickest way to set up Bookings is the setup checklist in Stratus Online. Asta asks a few questions about how you work, shapes the checklist around your answers, and checks off each step as you finish it.
Before you begin: You’ll need access to the Stratus Online admin portal. See Accessing Stratus Online. For a quick look at what Bookings can do, see Bookings Overview – Stratus Online.
Open the setup checklist #
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Sign in to the Stratus Online admin portal at Admin.StratusOnline.com.
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Go to Bookings > Setup.
Work through the steps in order. Anything marked Holding go-live must be finished before clients can book. If you aren’t sure what a step means, click Asta, explain this.
Importing settings from Stratus Desktop #
If you already use online booking in Stratus Desktop, most of your settings import into Stratus Online on their own. If a setting is missing, look for the Import button on any page that has matching settings in Stratus Desktop, and click it to bring them in.
Important: Importing replaces what’s already on that page. Click Import before you make any significant changes, or your changes will be overwritten.
Step 1: Answer Asta’s questions #
Click Answer Asta’s questions. Your answers decide which steps appear in your checklist. You can change them at any time.
The most important question is where your booking time slots come from:
| Choice | What it means |
|---|---|
| Stratus Online | Stratus Online creates open times from the schedule you set up in Stratus Online. This adds an availability step to your checklist. |
| Stratus Desktop | The time slots on your Stratus Desktop calendar decide when clients can book. No availability step is needed in Stratus Online. |
If you choose Stratus Desktop, keep creating time slots on your Stratus Desktop calendar and mark them Show Online, just as you do today.
Asta also asks whether you take payment at booking. To take payments online, you’ll need StudioPlus Payments.
Step 2: Choose what clients can book #
Your service types are imported from Stratus Desktop. Go to Bookings > Service types and choose which ones clients can book online. At least one must be bookable online before you can go live.
Step 3: Set your availability #
This step only appears if your time slots come from Stratus Online. Set when your staff and resources are available, and Stratus Online creates the open times for you. Follow the link in your checklist to get started.
Step 4: Publish a booking flow #
A booking flow is the set of pages clients go through to book. Go to Bookings > Flows, then build and publish your first flow. Clients have nothing to book until at least one flow is published.
Tip: Keep your first flow simple. You can add pages such as payment, promo codes, or a form later. To collect client information, see Using Forms with Bookings – Stratus Online.
Step 5: Share your booking page #
Embed your booking page on your website, or use the Link Builder to create a link or QR code to share in emails, social media, or print.
Step 6: Go live #
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Once a flow is published, click Open a test booking and walk through your booking page the way a client would.
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When your first real client books, Asta checks off the final step. You can see every booking in Bookings > Activity.
Fine-tuning your bookings #
Once you’re live, you can adjust rules like minimum and maximum advance notice, same-day cutoffs, buffer time between bookings, and rescheduling limits. You don’t need to hunt for these settings. Tell Asta what you want, such as “Don’t let clients book on the same day,” and Asta will point you to the right place or set it up for you.