Any service type can carry a prerequisite, not only an Initial one. For drop-in services, Petboost checks it when it builds the service list. For courses, it also checks again when the pet is enrolled.
Require another service first
Set a prerequisite when a pet must book or sit one service, such as an assessment, before it can book another.
Open Services, select Manage on the service that needs the prerequisite, then Manage Service.
Choose Who Can Book and switch on Advanced options.
Under Service Prerequisite, switch on Require Prerequisite Service.
Pick the service that must come first. You can pick more than one.
Under What counts as met, choose Completed, Booked or Completed all sessions.
If you picked two or more services, choose an option under How they combine.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
What counts as met starts on Completed. With the switch on, the change cannot be saved until at least one service is picked (Required to save this setting). If you have no other service, the card reads No other services available.
Set a prerequisite on a course template
A course template carries the same rule, on the Course Prerequisite card at the top of its Who Can Book tab.
Open Courses, select Manage on the course template, then Manage Template.
Choose Who Can Book.
Under Course Prerequisite, switch on Require Prerequisite Service.
Pick the service that must come first. For a course progression, pick the previous course's lesson service.
Choose an option under What counts as met, and under How they combine if you picked two or more services.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
What counts as met
Type | When the prerequisite is met |
Completed | The pet has at least one appointment for that service in a completed status. |
Booked | The pet has at least one appointment for that service that counts as booked, including upcoming ones. Sibling services of the same type can also satisfy Booked. |
Completed all sessions | The pet has at least one completed appointment for that service, and has no active future appointment of that service left. |
A cancelled or declined appointment does not count as booked or completed. If the pet's only Initial booking was cancelled, that Initial service is available again. Regular services that require the Initial to be Completed stay locked until the pet sits it.
Completed all sessions is the type to use when the prerequisite is a course. Enrolment creates one appointment per session up front. The next course stays locked while future sessions remain. If the remaining sessions were cancelled (a dropout), the next course unlocks. Use a Not satisfied override if that pet still should not continue.
Booked sibling-equivalence does not apply to Completed all sessions. Completing a different service of the same type does not finish a course.
How they combine
If you select two or more prerequisite services, How they combine appears. What counts as met still applies to each selected service. How they combine decides how those results combine.
Match | When the pet can book |
Has completed any / Has booked any / Has finished any | The pet meets at least one of the selected services. |
Has completed all / Has booked all / Has finished all | The pet meets every selected service. |
If you select one service only, How they combine is hidden. One service with either match is the same rule.
Use any when two gateway appointments should unlock the same return service. Example: a local drop-off assessment or a bus assessment, then boarding.
An any return service does not consume the unused alternative. A dog that sat the local assessment and then boarded can still book the bus assessment.
Which gate to use
Use one gate, then stick to it.
Attendance. The pet must have sat the earlier service. Turn on Require Prerequisite Service. Under What counts as met, pick Completed or Completed all sessions.
Gateway appointment. The pet must have booked or sat a named assessment or consult. Make that assessment the prerequisite, with Booked or Completed.
Judgement with no gateway appointment. Your team decides from a badge, not from an appointment. Add that badge under Required badges, then award or revoke it on the pet.
Standing bar. A badge that should keep the pet out, for example a restriction you do not want pet owners to see. Add it under Blocked badges.
If you set a prerequisite and required badges on the same service, the pet must pass both. Use one gate unless you mean to stack them.
Require or block a badge
A badge is a pet attribute. Set it on the service when your team decides who may book, rather than an appointment.
Open Services, select Manage on the service, then Manage Service.
Choose Who Can Book and switch on Advanced options.
Under Animal Type, Age and Breeds, select Edit beside Required badges (all of these) or Blocked badges (any of these).
Pick the attributes under Your custom attributes or Shared library, then select Stage Changes.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
On a course template, the same two lists sit on the Pet Eligibility card of its Who Can Book tab. Badges on a course template are the same badges as on its lesson service. Required badges, blocked badges, custom attributes and the owner-facing reason work the same way on both.
Required badges use all of the listed attributes: the pet must have every one. Blocked badges use any: one matching attribute is enough to refuse the booking. Shared library attributes and your custom attributes both count. A Business Only custom attribute still gates booking even though the pet owner never sees it. Do not use tags for this.
If a pet is blocked by a badge, that drop-in service is hidden from online booking. A blocked course stays on the list with the reason Not available for this pet. Staff booking still lists both and marks the pet not eligible. Open the service's or course template's Required badges or Blocked badges list to see which attributes apply.
Award or revoke a badge on a pet
Open Customers & Pets and select Manage on the pet.
On the pet's card, select the pencil beside its attributes, or Add attributes if it has none.
In Edit Attributes, add or remove the attribute under Manage Attributes.
Select Save.
What a prerequisite is not
A prerequisite gates on a service the pet has already had, or on a badge you award. It does not gate on a detail of the pet.
Age, weight and breed are eligibility rules, set under Who Can Book on the same service. Age lives under Age Restrictions.
A required birthday is a third thing again. Require pet birthday on Settings > Policies & Paperwork makes a date of birth mandatory before any booking, with a per-service override. You do not need it to enforce an age range: once a service carries Age Restrictions, a pet with no date of birth recorded cannot book that service until one is added, because Petboost cannot tell whether the pet is inside the range.
When the first service can't be booked
A prerequisite has its own Who Can Book rules, and they must take every pet that the services behind it take. The booking form hides a service from a pet that falls outside its weight, age or animal type. A pet outside the prerequisite's rules never sees the prerequisite, and every service that needs it shows locked with a blue Prerequisite First badge.
For example, your assessment takes dogs up to 16kg and your daycare takes dogs up to 35kg. A 23kg dog sees daycare locked and has no assessment to book. Set the assessment's maximum weight to 35, the highest maximum of any service that requires it.
To check that a prerequisite covers the pets its services take:
Open Services, select Manage on the prerequisite, then Manage Service.
Choose Who Can Book.
Under Weight Restrictions (kg), set a minimum no higher and a maximum no lower than those on each service that requires it. A service with no maximum takes every weight, so its prerequisite needs no maximum either.
Switch on Advanced options. Under Animal Type, Age and Breeds, check that Eligible Animal Types and Age Restrictions take every pet those services take.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
An excluded breed or a badge rule on the prerequisite shuts a pet out of every service behind it in the same way.
A prerequisite customers can't book online
If the prerequisite has Online booking off on its Booking Settings tab, no new pet can book it online, so every new pet sees the services behind it locked. That can be on purpose, for example when you arrange a meet and greet by phone. The pet owner sees the locked service with Prerequisite First and cannot continue with that pet, so tell new customers on your booking page how to arrange the first visit. Your team books the prerequisite from the calendar. Once the pet has it, the services behind it unlock.
Warnings on Who Can Book
These warnings are being switched on business by business. If you do not see them, ask us in chat.
On a service that requires another, an amber warning under Service Prerequisite names the pets the prerequisite shuts out, for example Dogs over 16kg can book this, but they can't book Assessment (up to 16kg), so they can't book this online. Select Open Assessment to change the prerequisite's own Who Can Book. When the prerequisite has Online booking off, a note says new pets will be asked to contact you to book it first. That note needs no action if you arrange the first visit yourself.
On the prerequisite, an amber warning under Weight Restrictions (kg) names the services that need it and the heaviest dog they take. Set max weight to 35 fills in the maximum for you and does not save. Select Publish Changes as for any other change.
The Account Health Check lists the same gaps, and its Fix button opens the prerequisite's Who Can Book.
On a business with these warnings, the booking form also tells the pet owner what to do. When a pet cannot book its prerequisite online, the owner reads, for example, Little Paws needs to meet Bowie first, with a line naming the service to book with you and your contact buttons. The locked services stay on screen below it.
Record a pass or fail on an assessment
On an appointment for an assessment (an Initial service, or any service another service lists as its prerequisite), you record whether each pet passed. The result shows on the report card and decides what the pet can book online next.
Open the appointment and choose Notes & Attachments.
Under Assessment result, select Passed or Not yet beside the pet and the assessment.
Under What {customer} sees on the report card, keep or change the wording. A pass reads Passed and a fail reads Still needs some work until you change it.
For a fail, write any Feedback for the pet owner. It is added to the customer-facing notes, so it shows on the report card.
For a fail, choose whether the pet owner can book the assessment again online, or Only your team books the next one.
Select Save result.
Passed unlocks every service that lists the assessment as its prerequisite, straight away, for that pet.
Not yet keeps those services locked for that pet, even though the assessment appointment itself is completed. It holds even when the customer has Skip Service Prerequisites on, and the pet owner cannot join a membership plan online that covers those services. If you let the pet owner book again, the assessment stays on their booking form so the pet can try again. If only your team books, the assessment is hidden from that pet on the booking form. Your team can still book it from the calendar.
Saving the result sends no text or email. It shows on the report card in the pet owner's app straight away, and in the report card you send them. A fail opens the report card without confetti.
The result is stored as a prerequisite override on the pet, marked as coming from that appointment. To change it, select Change beside the result, or Remove result in the same window. Changing that override by hand on the pet (below) turns it into an ordinary override.
Override a prerequisite for one pet
Appointment history is the default. Use a per-pet override when history is the wrong source: a dog trained elsewhere, a migrated graduate, or a failed assessment you are holding back.
Open Customers & Pets and select Manage on the pet.
Choose Settings & Overrides.
On the card named for the pet's prerequisite overrides, select Add override.
Pick the service. Any service can be overridden, including one that is not yet a prerequisite of another service.
Choose Satisfied or Not satisfied.
Select Add override.
Satisfied treats that prerequisite as met. The next service unlocks without appointment history.
Not satisfied treats that prerequisite as unmet. The next service stays locked until you remove the override, even if the pet later completes the service. If the prerequisite is an Initial assessment, that assessment becomes bookable again, so you can send the pet back for a retake after a fail. After a passed retake, remove the Not satisfied override so appointment history can unlock the next service.
A dropout who had remaining course sessions cancelled will pass Completed all sessions. If they should not continue, add a Not satisfied override on that course service.
Overrides live on the pet in your business. They do not copy to the pet owner's global record.
Change or remove an override
Open Customers & Pets and select Manage on the pet.
Choose Settings & Overrides and select the override's badge.
To change it, choose the other state, then select Save override.
To remove it, select Remove override, then Remove override again in Remove this override?.
Removing the override returns the pet to automatic history: removing Satisfied locks the next service again until appointment history meets it, and removing Not satisfied unlocks it if history already does.
Let a household skip prerequisites
Skip Service Prerequisites is a customer-level override. When it is on, that customer bypasses prerequisite checks for every pet on the account. Use it when the whole household should book without the gate, and a per-pet override when only one pet should be treated differently.
Open Customers & Pets and select Manage on one of the customer's pets.
Choose Settings & Overrides.
Under How They Can Book, switch on Skip Service Prerequisites.
Select Save Changes.
The switch shows once at least one of your services has a prerequisite, and it lists the services it ignores under Ignores special requirements for:.
Importing customers switches Skip Service Prerequisites on for every imported customer, so your existing clients keep booking. A dog on that list that has never had the prerequisite can still book it online: the first visit stays on the booking form until the pet has booked it or a service that stands in for it.
A booking that skipped a prerequisite
When a pet with nothing on file books a service only because the customer skips prerequisites, the appointment shows an amber alert, for example Max hasn't had Temperament Test yet, until the pet has the prerequisite.
Select Already done when the pet has had it with you or elsewhere. This adds a Satisfied override for the pet and the alert goes.
Select Require it for {customer} to open the customer's Settings & Overrides and switch Skip Service Prerequisites off.
To swap the booking to the prerequisite itself, edit the appointment and change the service.
Staff booking and course enrolment
Your team can still create a drop-in appointment that the booking form would have hidden. Prerequisite evaluation for drop-in services runs when services are queried, not when that appointment is created. If you need the gate to hold for a drop-in, book from the form or check the pet's eligibility first.
Course enrolment is different. A team member who enrols a pet that fails a badge, prerequisite, capacity or attendance-cap rule must confirm an override. The pet owner booking form cannot override. An attendance-cap override is recorded on the appointment.
Set an attendance cap
An attendance cap limits how many pets carrying a given badge can be in at the same time. On a course, the cap is checked on every session. If any session would go over, the whole enrolment is refused.
Open Attributes & Rules, select the Custom Properties tab, then select Add Booking Properties under Booking Properties.
Under Applies to attributes, pick the badge.
Under Attendance cap, choose Business-wide maximum and set Maximum pets at a time, or choose Per team member or resource.
Select Add Booking Properties.
With Per team member or resource, you set the maximum for each team member, resource or session in their own editors, and a value left blank there means no cap for that team member or resource.
Attribute pricing and duration on courses
Attribute pricing does not apply to courses. A course is priced on the template and charged once at enrolment, not as a per-pet surcharge on each lesson line.
Duration adjustments on an attribute also do not apply to a course session. Every attendee shares one start and end. Extending the session for one dog would move it for all of them.
Pair an add-on with services
Add-on pairing hides an add-on from the booking form unless one of the services you list is already selected for the same pet. It sits on the same Who Can Book tab as prerequisites and appears on add-on services only. A prerequisite reads the pet's appointment history. Add-on pairing reads what is in the booking right now.
Leave it off unless the add-on only makes sense with one or two services. An add-on with no pairing set shows with every service, which is how an add-on behaves until you change it. Retail products are add-ons in Petboost, so a pairing set by mistake hides part of your shop.
Open Services, select Manage on the add-on, then Manage Service.
Choose Who Can Book and switch on Advanced options.
Under Add-on Pairing, switch on Only Show With Certain Services.
Pick the services the add-on can be sold with.
Select Publish Changes, tick the box in Before You Publish, then select Publish Changes.
You can list more than one service. The pet owner sees the add-on once any one of the paired services is selected for that pet. They do not need to select all of them. If the pet owner then removes the last paired service, Petboost drops the add-on from that pet's booking too and tells them what it removed, so nobody is charged for a line they can no longer see.
Your team sees every add-on in the business webapp, whatever its pairing. The rule applies to the pet owner booking form.
An add-on cannot be paired with another add-on, or with itself. If you archive or delete a service that an add-on is paired with, Petboost refuses the change and names the add-on.
Pairing also covers an add-on a pet owner redeems from a package credit or a membership benefit. Until one of the paired services is in the booking, the add-on is not offered as an extra, and the button to add it from the credit or the benefit stays greyed out with the reason beside it.