How to Set Up Boarding Spaces and Capacity in PawsAdmin

Your kennel setup tells PawsAdmin two things: how many pets you can board, and what to charge for each stay. Whether you have rows of kennels, a few luxury suites or a cage-free play area, you set it all up on one page.

How a stay gets its price

A boarding invoice gets its price through three links:

• Each kennel belongs to a kennel group.
• Each kennel group is linked to an invoice item.
• Each invoice item is a price you created on the Boarding price page.

For example, Standard Kennel 4 belongs to the Standard Kennels group, and that group is linked to Standard - Per Night. A stay in Standard Kennel 4 is invoiced at the Standard per-night price. If you price by dog size, the group's invoice item is your size-based price, and PawsAdmin still charges each dog the amount for its size.

If any link is missing, the invoice falls back to your lowest per-night boarding price, which is usually not what you meant to charge. The page warns you when that can happen (see Check your setup).

Before you begin

Create your boarding prices first, so you have invoice items to link to. Go to Boarding price and add one price for each way you charge, for example a standard kennel, a suite and a cat condo. See How to Set Up Boarding Prices.

Then open the kennel page: go to Settings & Reports > Accounts & Schedule > Capacity: Kennels/facility space, or go straight to pawsadmin.com/manageKennel.html. The page has two parts: 1. Kennel groups at the top and 2. Kennels below.

1. Add your kennel groups

A kennel group is a set of kennels that are charged the same way, such as Standard Kennels, Royal Suites or Cat Condos.

1. Click Add group.
2. Type the group's name.
3. Choose its invoice item: the price that goes on the invoice for a stay in these kennels.
4. Click Add group.

Don't see the invoice item you need? Add it on the Boarding price page first, then come back.

Your groups appear in the table, with how many kennels are in each one.

Change a group

• Rename it: type the new name in its box and click Save. Its kennels stay in the group.
• Change its price: choose another invoice item and click Save. Invoices created from then on use the new price.
• Remove it: click the trash icon. PawsAdmin tells you how many kennels are in the group before you confirm. Those kennels are left without a group, so move them to another group afterwards.

If a group's invoice item ends in (archived), the group is still linked to a price you archived, and its invoices still charge that old price. Choose a current price and click Save.

2. Add your kennels

Add each kennel, run, suite or room you can book a pet into. If your facility is kennel free, add one space for each pet you can take, so PawsAdmin knows your capacity.

1. Under 2. Kennels, click Add kennels.
2. Type a Kennel name.
3. In How many, enter how many kennels to add. Leave it at 1 to add a single kennel with exactly the name you typed.
4. Choose the Kennel group they belong to.
5. Add a Room and Description if you like. Both are optional.
6. Click Add kennels.

When you add more than one, PawsAdmin numbers them for you. Adding 10 kennels named Standard Kennel gives you Standard Kennel 1, Standard Kennel 2, and so on up to Standard Kennel 10. Adding to a set you already have? Set Start numbering at to the next number, for example 11.

Change your kennels

Every kennel is listed under 2. Kennels. To change one, edit its name, description or kennel group in its row and click Update. To remove one, click its trash icon.

To move several kennels to a group at once:

1. Tick the kennels you want to move. To tick every kennel that has no group, click Select kennels with no group.
2. Choose the group next to Move selected kennels to.
3. Click Move.

Check your setup

When a kennel has no group, or a group has no invoice item, a yellow warning appears at the top of the page. It says how many need fixing.

The rows that need attention are labelled No group or No invoice item. Fix them, and the warning goes away.

Fixing your setup changes the invoices you create from then on. Invoices that already exist keep the price they were created with, so update those by hand or create them again.

See your setup

Click Preview next to 2. Kennels to see your kennels and which are free. You can also click the calendar icon at the top of any page and choose Boarding Booking View.

Pro tips

• One group for each way you charge. If two kinds of kennel cost the same, they can share a group. If they cost different amounts, give each its own group.
• Name kennels the way your staff talk about them. The names show on the boarding calendar and on run cards.
• Check the page after adding kennels. If the yellow warning appears, something was added without a group.

Next steps

• How to Set Up Boarding Prices
• Boarding workflow overview

Need help? Contact our support team at support@pawsadmin.com. We're happy to help.