General questions
What are resources in Petboost?
Resources are the spaces, equipment and schedules your services are booked into. They can be fixed locations such as kennels and rooms, movable assets such as vehicles and equipment, or a separate schedule such as meet and greets.
What types of resources can I create?
You can create three types of resources:
Location: fixed spaces such as kennels, rooms and play areas. The address is optional
Asset: movable equipment and vehicles, such as transport vans and mobile units
Service Schedule: a schedule booked like a team member that is not a person, place or piece of equipment, such as meet and greets
How many resources can I have?
There is no limit on the number of resources. Add as many as your business uses.
Capacity management
What is "Pets at a time"?
Pets at a time is how many pets can use a resource at the same time, not per day. If your play area's Pets at a Time is 6, six dogs can be there at once, and across the day you might serve 20 or more as they rotate in and out. See Resource Capacity Management.
How do I set the right capacity for a resource?
Base it on the space:
Play areas: how many dogs fit safely at once?
Grooming tables: how many tables do you have?
Kennels: how many beds?
Vans: how many crates?
Also consider:
Pet size and temperament: larger or more reactive pets need more space
Staff supervision: more pets at a time needs more staff watching
Safety: leave enough space for pet welfare
Service complexity: more complex services may need a lower number
Can I change a resource's capacity after creating it?
Yes, at any time. Capacity is on the resource's Capacity section, not Details, and a change applies to new bookings only.
Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
Choose Capacity.
Set Pets at a Time.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
What happens if I book more pets than the resource capacity?
Petboost does not offer a time when the resource is already full. To book one anyway, your team can use Quick Force Create on the booking form. Otherwise, raise the resource's Pets at a Time or use a different resource.
Working hours and availability
How do I set working hours for a resource?
A resource has the same weekly hours and sessions as a team member. There are no hour templates to choose from.
Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
Choose Working Hours. Default Hours is selected.
On each day, switch the toggle to Working or Day Off.
On a working day, select Add Session.
Set Start Time and End Time, then select Add Session.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
For a resource that is open around the clock, turn on 24 Hours under Advanced options in its sessions. When you create a resource, Set Default Hours (9-5, Mon-Fri) fills in Monday to Friday. See Working Hours & Blocked Times.
Can I have different hours for different days?
Yes. Each day of the week has its own sessions, and special dates set different hours for a date range, such as holidays or special events. For a day the resource is closed, add a blocked time.
Can I set up a temporary schedule for specific dates or date ranges?
Yes. Special dates give a resource different hours for a date or a date range, while its working hours stay as they are. Use them for:
Holiday periods, such as different hours over Christmas and New Year
Seasonal changes, such as longer summer hours
Special events
Trial schedules, to test new hours before you change them for good
Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
Choose Working Hours, then Special Dates.
Select New special dates, or click or drag across empty days on the calendar. The dialog opens on Create special dates.
On Date Range, set Start Date and End Date.
Select Next: Configure Schedule, then set the hours for each day of that range.
Select Stage for Publishing.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
Special dates take precedence over working hours in their range, and the resource goes back to its working hours when the range ends. A special date needs at least one working day with a session, so to close a room or kennel for a renovation or maintenance, add a blocked time instead.
For a pattern such as every second week, turn on Repeat these special dates. See Repeat special dates.
What are blocked times used for?
Blocked times make a resource unavailable for a period without changing its working hours, for:
Maintenance: equipment servicing and repairs
Cleaning: deep cleaning and sanitisation
Emergencies: unplanned repairs or safety issues
Special events: time reserved for something else
A blocked time has an optional label, such as Maintenance, rather than a type to choose.
Service assignment
How do I assign services to a resource?
Only assign services that match the resource.
Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
Choose Services.
Select Manage. With nothing assigned yet, the button reads Assign Services.
In Manage Service Assignments, add the services that can use this resource, and remove the ones that cannot.
Select Save Changes.
Can a service use multiple resources?
Yes. A service can be assigned to several resources, which gives it more places to book into.
What happens if I remove a service from a resource?
New bookings for that service can no longer use the resource. Existing bookings are not changed.
Resource management
How do I edit a resource?
Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
Choose the section to change, such as Details, Capacity or Working Hours.
Make the change. It waits in Pending Changes.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
Changes are not saved automatically. Services is the exception: it saves in its own Manage Service Assignments panel with Save Changes.
Can I deactivate a resource?
There is no status to switch off. Archive the resource instead: archiving hides it from booking and scheduling, keeps its history and reports, and Unarchive Resource brings it back.
Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
Select Archive Resource.
If Resolve Blocking Appointments opens, cancel or void the appointments still on the resource, then select Continue to Archive.
Tick I understand this will archive and the resource's name, then select Archive Resource.
Skip remaining and archive anyway archives the resource even when some appointments cannot be resolved. The full steps are in Archive a resource.
How do I delete a resource?
Resources are archived rather than deleted, so their booking history stays. Contact support if you need a resource removed.
Troubleshooting
Why can't I book a resource even though it shows as available?
Check these common causes:
Capacity: the resource already has as many pets as its Pets at a Time allows
Working hours: the time is outside the resource's sessions
Blocked times: the resource has maintenance or another block at that time
Service assignment: the service is not assigned to this resource
How do I resolve booking conflicts?
If several services compete for the same resource:
Check which services are assigned to it
Check its Pets at a Time
Review its working hours and blocked times
Consider using another resource
Why is my resource showing as unavailable?
Common reasons:
Outside working hours: check the resource's Working Hours
Blocked time: check its Blocked Times section
Full: check the bookings already on it
Service not assigned: check its Services section
Boarding and kennel management
How do I set up kennels for boarding?
Create a resource for each kennel, then require the kennels on your boarding service.
Open Resources, select New, then New Resource.
On Basic Info, name the kennel clearly, such as Kennel 1 Small or Kennel 2 Large, and choose Location.
On Details, set Capacity: 1 for a single kennel, 2 to 3 for a kennel shared by pets from the same family, and for a play area, what your supervision ratio allows.
Complete the wizard and select Create Resource.
Open Services, then Manage on the boarding service and Manage Service.
Choose Team & Resources.
Under How should resources work for this service?, choose Required, then select the kennels the service can use.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
For overnight boarding, turn on 24 Hours in the kennel's sessions. When customers can check in and out is set by the stay service's Check-in & Check-out Windows on its Duration & Timing tab.
How do I prevent double-booking a kennel?
Petboost prevents it when three things are set:
Each kennel is a separate resource with its Pets at a Time set
The kennels are Required on the boarding service's Team & Resources tab
The number fits the kennel
With these set, Magic Availability Check offers only times when a kennel is free, and check-in and check-out times follow the resource's availability. Quick Force Create still lets your team book a time that is not offered.
If a kennel is double-booked:
Check the resource on each of the clashing appointments
Move one appointment to another kennel
Raise the kennel's Pets at a Time if the pets can share, for example pets from the same family
How do I see current kennel occupancy?
On the calendar, give each kennel its own column.
Open Appointments.
Open Group By and choose Resources.
Optional: switch the view to Week to see stays across several days, and gaps between stays for turnover cleaning.
On Mission Control, the view labelled Resources, or Resources & Team when the day's appointments also have team members, lists the day's appointments by resource. A resource's own page lists its appointments under Appointments, and its maintenance and other blocks under Blocked Times.
How do I manage different kennel sizes?
Create a set of kennels for each size, then a boarding service for each size that uses only those kennels. The full setup is in How do I set up kennels with different sizes?
Resources and team members
What's the difference between a resource and a team member?
Resources and team members do different jobs, even though both affect scheduling and capacity:
Aspect | Resource | Team member |
What it represents | A space, room, kennel, vehicle, piece of equipment or schedule | A person who delivers services |
Capacity meaning | How many pets can use the space at the same time | How many pets one person can handle at once |
Working hours | When the space or equipment can be booked | When the person is available to work |
Skills | None | The services they are qualified to perform |
Time off | Blocked times | Leave and blocked time |
Examples | Kennel 3, Grooming Table A, Transport Van | Sarah Mitchell (groomer), a trainer |
When a service uses both, Petboost checks both at the time asked for: is a suitable team member free, and is a suitable resource free? A grooming appointment that needs a groomer and a grooming table books only when both are free.
Do not create a resource for each staff member. Team members have their own capacity and working hours under Team Members, and resources are for the things your team uses. A resource does not have to be a physical object: a "Meet and greet" resource gives those bookings their own calendar column and their own blocked times without using daycare or boarding capacity. What a resource must not be is a stand-in for a person who signs in and delivers services.
Can I set different working hours for resources vs team members?
Yes. Resources and team members have separate working hours, and this is a common setup:
Kennels available around the clock, staff on 7am to 6pm shifts: the kennels' sessions are set to 24 Hours, while the kennel attendants work standard shifts. Overnight stays sit in the kennel when no staff member is on, because the pet is already checked in
Grooming tables open in business hours, a groomer who works part-time: the grooming station runs 8am to 5pm, but the part-time groomer works Tuesday and Thursday only, and the table stays available to other groomers on other days
A training room open in the evenings, a trainer who works full-time: the room runs 4pm to 8pm for evening classes and the trainer works 9am to 5pm, so they overlap from 4pm to 5pm for after-work sessions
Set a resource's hours under Working Hours on Resources, and a team member's under Working Hours on Team Members.
How do resources connect with team members in the scheduling system?
Resources and team members connect through services. When a service uses both, Petboost checks both when it offers a time:
A customer asks for a service, such as Full Groom
Petboost checks which team members can perform it. A service with nobody assigned can be booked with any team member
Petboost checks which resources are assigned to it
It offers a time only where a team member and a resource are both free
The appointment is created with a specific team member and a specific resource
Under How should resources work for this service? on the service's Team & Resources tab, Required means the appointment cannot be booked without a free resource. Optional means a regular appointment does not ask for a resource and can go ahead without one. On a stay, Room/Kennel still shows, marked Optional.
Setting up specific resource types
How do I set up kennels with different sizes?
Create a resource for each kennel, grouped by size, then a boarding service for each size that uses only its own kennels. For example:
Size group | Kennels | Capacity each |
Small dogs (up to 10kg) | Kennel S1, S2 and S3 | 1 |
Medium dogs (10 to 25kg) | Kennel M1 and M2 | 1 |
Large dogs (25kg and up) | Kennel L1 and L2 | 1 |
Then create a boarding service for each size, such as "Standard Boarding - Small Dog", "Standard Boarding - Medium Dog" and "Standard Boarding - Large Dog", each with its own pricing, and assign each size's kennels only to its own service on the service's Team & Resources tab.
Because each service can use only its own kennels, a large dog is never booked into a small kennel, you can see capacity for each size, and pricing differs by size without manual changes.
Tip: If a kennel can flex between sizes, such as a medium kennel that can take a large dog at a pinch, assign it to both the medium and the large service. Petboost then lets either service book it.
How do I set up 24/7 availability for boarding kennels?
Turn on 24 Hours in the kennel's sessions, so it can be booked at any hour of the day.
Open Resources and select Manage on the kennel.
Choose Working Hours.
Select the session on a working day. To add one, select Add Session.
Switch on Advanced options, then turn on 24 Hours.
Select Stage for Publishing, or Add Session for a new session.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
Stays then run continuously without an overnight gap, and the kennel shows as taken for the whole stay. A kennel open around the clock does not open check-in around the clock: when customers can check in and out is set by the stay service's Check-in & Check-out Windows on its Duration & Timing tab.
To close kennels for a holiday, such as over Christmas, add a blocked time: special dates need at least one working day.
Capacity and double-booking
How do I prevent double-booking a specific room?
Set the room's Pets at a Time to 1 and make it Required on the services that use it.
Open Resources and select Manage on the room.
Choose Capacity and set Pets at a Time to 1.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
Open Services, then Manage on each service that uses the room and Manage Service.
Choose Team & Resources and, under How should resources work for this service?, choose Required.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
With the room at 1, Magic Availability Check offers a time only when the room is free: if Kennel 3 is taken from 9am to 5pm, nothing else can be placed in it then. Online, customers never see a time that would clash. Quick Force Create still lets your team book a clashing time, so use it sparingly.
If pets from the same household share a room, such as two cats sharing a cattery suite, raise the room's Pets at a Time to 2, or switch on Allow more siblings side-by-side on its Capacity section and set the Same-family limit.
What does "Pets at a time" mean for resources?
It is the most pets that can use a resource at the same time, not the total per day. Think of it as the physical limit of the space or equipment:
A grooming table fits 1 dog at a time, so 1
A daycare play area safely holds 10 dogs at once, so 10
A boarding kennel has 1 bed, so 1
A transport van has 4 crates, so 4
A grooming room with 3 tables can groom far more than 3 dogs a day. If each groom takes 90 minutes, it could take 12 or more across a full day, as long as no more than 3 are on the tables at once.
A service can take up more than one place: set Spots used on the service's Team & Resources tab. A large dog daycare service might use 2 spots and a small dog daycare service 1, because a Great Dane takes more room than a Chihuahua. See Resource Capacity Management.
Day-to-day operations
How do I track which resources are in use right now?
On Mission Control, the view labelled Resources, or Resources & Team, lists the day's appointments by resource. On Appointments, grouping by Resources gives each resource its own column, and Group By then offers Owner Admins and Admins Show pets at a time, Show how full and Show hours booked for each resource's column header. A resource's own page lists its current and upcoming appointments under Appointments, and its blocks under Blocked Times.
How do I see resource utilisation across the week?
Open Appointments.
Open Group By and choose Resources.
Switch the view to Week.
Look for:
Lanes that are always empty: the resource may be more than you need, or its services may not be popular. Consider reassigning services or combining resources
Lanes that are always full: the resource is a bottleneck. Consider adding another of the same type, or extending its hours
Gaps between stays: for kennels these are turnover time. Leave enough time for cleaning, and look into gaps longer than you need
For figures, Capacity & Utilisation on the Team tab of Reporting & Intelligence analyses how full your team and resources are.
Can resources have different capacity on different days?
Yes. Set Pets at a time on the sessions of each day, or on the sessions inside special dates for a date range.
For example, a daycare play area might hold 12 dogs on weekdays, with two staff supervising, and 8 at weekends, with one:
Open Resources and select Manage on the play area.
Choose Working Hours.
Select the session on a weekday, set Pets at a time to 12, then select Stage for Publishing.
Select the session on a weekend day, set Pets at a time to 8, then select Stage for Publishing.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
For a date range, such as school holidays when an extra staff member lets you take 15 instead of 12, add special dates for the range and select Manage Overrides on its sessions to set the number. When the range ends, the resource goes back to its usual number.
How do I temporarily block a resource for maintenance?
Add a blocked time. It makes the resource unavailable for that period without changing its working hours.
Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
Choose Blocked Times.
Select Add, then Add Blocked Time.
Set the Start Date, End Date, Start Time and End Time.
Optional: enter a Label (Optional), such as Replacing kennel door latch.
Select Add Blocked Time.
During the block, Petboost does not offer the resource for new bookings. If bookings already sit in that time, Appointment conflict detected lists them, and Check for existing appointments shows the bookings that overlap. In an emergency, add the block straight away, then move any bookings in it to another resource.
For maintenance that repeats, such as a deep clean every Monday from 7am to 8am, repeat the blocked time rather than adding each one:
Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
Choose Blocked Times.
Select Add, then Batch Create.
In Create Blocked Time, set the dates and times of the first occurrence.
Switch on Repeat this blocked time, then choose how many Days or Weeks apart, and whether it ends After a number of times or on an End Date.
Select Create with the number of blocked times.
What happens if I delete a resource that has upcoming bookings?
A resource is archived, not deleted, and archiving checks its bookings first. Your options:
Archive it: Resolve Blocking Appointments lists the appointments still on it, which you cancel or void, or you select Skip remaining and archive anyway. Its history stays, and Unarchive Resource brings it back
Move the bookings first: change each upcoming booking to another resource, then archive
Contact support if you need a resource removed, for example to merge duplicates
Multi-service resources
Can I assign multiple services to the same resource?
Yes. This is common for spaces with more than one use:
A training room for Private Training, Group Classes, Behavioural Consultations and Puppy School
A play area for Daycare, Socialisation Sessions and Exercise Programmes
A grooming station for Full Groom, Bath & Dry, Nail Trim and Teeth Cleaning
Open Resources and select Manage on the resource.
Choose Services, then select Manage.
In Manage Service Assignments, add every service that can use this resource.
Select Save Changes.
Keep these in mind:
Capacity is shared across all its services. If a training room takes 1 and a Private Training session is booked at 10am, no Group Class can be booked in that room at 10am
Service length counts. A 30-minute nail trim and a 2-hour full groom both use the same grooming table, for different lengths of time, and Petboost accounts for both
Assignments cannot keep incompatible activities apart. A noisy group class next to a nervous dog in a private consultation is a problem of the building, not the booking
Tip: If two services must never share a resource at the same time, such as cat grooming and dog grooming in one room, give them separate resources.
Naming and upkeep
How should I name my resources?
Use clear, descriptive names that include:
The type, such as Kennel, Van or Station
A capacity hint, such as Large Dog Kennel or Small Van
A position, such as Kennel 1 or Grooming Station A
A consistent pattern, such as Kennel 1, Kennel 2 and Kennel 3
How often should I review resource capacity?
Review it monthly, and adjust it for:
How often each resource is full
Customer feedback, such as complaints about overcrowding
What your staff see day to day
Changes in demand as your business grows
What's the best way to manage resource maintenance?
Schedule maintenance in quiet hours
Use blocked times for planned maintenance
Plan it around staff schedules
Tell customers about maintenance that affects them
Keep maintenance records for planning
Appointments and reporting
How do resources work with appointments?
When a service uses resources, Petboost checks them before it offers or creates an appointment:
Capacity is respected
Working hours are followed
Blocked times are avoided
The service is assigned to the resource
Can I see resource utilisation reports?
Yes. Capacity & Utilisation on the Team tab of Reporting & Intelligence analyses how full your team members and resources are.
How do resources connect with team members?
Resources and team members are separate, and they meet through:
Services: both are assigned to services
Scheduling: an appointment that needs both needs both to be free
Capacity: each has its own pets at a time
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Need help? Contact support or select Get Help in your dashboard to chat with our team.