Encore user guide
Everything a studio owner, admin or teacher needs to run lessons in Encore — from setting up your studio to billing by term and texting reminders. The same guide is inside the app under Help & guide.
01Getting started
Who's who, and how you sign in.
Encore has four kinds of people:
| Role | What they see |
|---|---|
| Owner | Everything — calendar, timetable, students, billing, settings. |
| Admin | Everything the owner sees. Make a teacher an admin in Settings → Teachers. |
| Teacher | The calendar scoped to their own classes, plus their availability. |
| Parent | Their child's lessons, invoices, payment, and availability. |
New studio? Tap New here? Create your studio on the sign-in page. Nothing is created until you open the emailed link. On your first visit, a short Set up your studio checklist on the calendar walks you through a lesson type, a student, and their first lesson.
Owners and teachers sign in with a password; families use emailed sign-in links. Passwords are set through an emailed link too: invited teachers get one automatically, and Forgot password? on the sign-in page or Email me a set-password link in Settings sends a fresh one. If a link stops working it has expired; request a fresh one.
02The Calendar
The week's real, dated lessons.
Your home screen. A red line marks now, and the grid opens at the current time. Use 1d / 3d / 7d to change how many days show, and ‹ Today › to move between weeks. The + opens Quick add (next section).
- The card edge shows the kind: wine = group class, brass = private lesson.
- A dot + word appears only for exceptions — Done, Missed, Cancelled.
- A dashed grey card is a reserved seat that isn't paid yet.
- A hatched column is a closed day (holiday or closure).
Tap a lesson to mark attendance, credit a missed lesson, book a makeup, or add a substitute teacher (which changes just that one lesson).
03Quick add
Add and enrol without leaving the calendar.
Tap + on the calendar. Each option finishes right there, and the calendar updates behind it:
- Enrol a student — pick the student and a lesson type. For a group type, choose one of its classes (each shows its day, time and seats left). For a private type, pick a day and time.
- Add a student — a name and a parent's email. Once saved, Enrol … now takes you straight to enrolling them.
- New lesson type — tap a template (Piano, Guitar, Violin or Group class) and set a price.
It finds a free time for you. Tap one of the suggested times for the teacher. If the time you pick clashes with the teacher's or the student's other lessons, you'll see a heads-up before you save.
04The Timetable
The recurring plan behind the lessons.
Tap Timetable on the calendar. The calendar shows dated lessons ("this Tuesday"); the timetable shows the recurring schedule ("every Tuesday"). Blocks are your classes — wine group, brass private.
- Tap an empty spot to add a class at that day and time, or use Add class. Choose a teacher and their free times are suggested.
- On a computer: drag a block to move it, drag its bottom edge to change length, drag a name chip onto it to assign a teacher or enrol a student.
- On a phone: tap a block for the same actions as buttons.
- Pick a teacher or student and their free hours shade green.
Encore blocks the mistakes that matter — no double-booked teacher or student, no over-full class, no removing a class that still has students. When it stops you, it says what's in the way, e.g. "Emma already teaches Piano on Mon 16:00–16:30."
Removing a class frees that time for its teacher straight away. Removing a student from a class keeps their billing intact (re-add later with no new invoice); ending the paid relationship happens on the student page.
05Students
Your roster and each student's enrolments.
Add a student with a name and a guardian email (plus a phone for SMS reminders). Open a student to:
- Availability — paint the hours they can attend; powers the green shading and time suggestions.
- Enrol — into a private time (with suggested free times) or a group seat.
- Pause / Resume — holds lessons and billing without losing the seat.
- End enrolment — stops future lessons. An unpaid block of lessons that hasn't started is cancelled and its invoice voided; anything already taught stays billed.
- Deactivate — retires the student and ends all their enrolments the same way; reversible later.
- SMS reminders — turn lesson texts on or off for this student.
06Teachers & availability
Who teaches, and when they're free.
In Settings → Teachers, use Invite teacher — they get an email to set their password. Make admin gives someone owner-level access; Remove takes a teacher off the roster.
Set each teacher's Availability there; teachers can set their own under ⋯ → My availability on the calendar. It powers the green shading and the suggested times.
No availability set? Suggestions fall back to your studio's opening hours (Settings → Hours & preferences), minus the classes that teacher already has — they'll say "within studio hours". Setting real availability makes them exact.
07Billing & payments
How money flows, and how parents pay.
Rolling programs bill in cycles of lessons: enrol → first invoice → once paid, lessons appear. The next invoice goes out automatically near the end of a cycle. The Billing tab lists what is awaiting payment, lapsing soon, and recently paid.
Term-billed programs invoice per term: the amount is the per-lesson rate × that term’s lesson count (dates minus holidays), so a mid-term join pays only for what’s left. A flat term fee is also possible.
Parents pay by card, or by bank transfer if you add bank details in Settings → Payment details. When a transfer arrives, use Mark paid on the Billing page. Download PDF gives you any invoice.
Billing emails are off until you turn them on. In Settings → Payment details, Send billing emails automatically emails each invoice (PDF attached) plus reminders while unpaid. While it's off, nothing is sent unless you press Resend. Add your ABN, address and logo under Invoice details.
| Missed-lesson policy | What happens |
|---|---|
| Forfeit | The lesson is used up. |
| Makeup | The student may move into another lesson that week. |
| Credit | The amount comes off the next invoice. |
08Lesson reminders
A text before each lesson.
In Settings → Hours & preferences, turn on Send SMS lesson reminders and choose the hours of notice (1–168). Guardians with a phone number get a text before each lesson.
- The notice counts waking hours only — no texts between 8pm and 9am, so a 10am lesson with 4 hours' notice is reminded the evening before.
- Switch one student off on their page, or use Turn on / off for all students.
- Each student's page shows the last reminder and whether it was sent.
09Holidays & closures
Skip the days you're closed.
In Settings → Holidays & terms, pick your region and public holidays sync automatically each year. Add school-holiday ranges, and close a one-off day for the whole studio (or tap a day’s header on the calendar).
A holiday never costs a paid lesson. Skipped weeks shift the lessons to the next available week — nobody loses a lesson they paid for.
Each class can opt to run on public holidays (off by default) or through school holidays (on by default). Studio-wide closed days apply to every class.
10Importing your roster
Moving in from a spreadsheet.
In Settings → Import data, download the template and fill in one row per student’s lesson. Upload it: Encore works out the teachers, programs and classes, shows exactly what it will create with problems flagged, and writes nothing until you confirm. Re-uploading a fixed file is safe — nothing duplicates.
11Quick answers
The questions that come up most.
Why is a lesson greyed and dashed? Its cycle isn't paid yet.
Why did a block turn solid? The class is full.
Why can't I book this time? The message names what's in the way — the teacher's or the student's other lesson. Tap one of the suggested times instead.
Why do the suggestions say "within studio hours"? That teacher hasn't set their availability yet, so Encore uses your opening hours. Set it in Settings → Teachers.
A student left — will their family still be billed? Ending the enrolment or deactivating the student voids any unpaid invoice for lessons that haven't started, so reminders stop. Invoices for lessons already taught stay open.
The teacher is sick this Tuesday. Add a substitute on the lesson, or close the day (tap the day header) so every lesson shifts to next week.