Contents
Overview
How to Enable Picture Uploads
How It Works
Settings for Uploading Pictures
Monitoring Pictures
Disabling the Plugin
Overview
The Picture Upload PlugIn allows you and your Customers to upload pictures into your DaySmart Appointments account. Pictures can be uploaded for Customers, Pets or Children, and Staff Members.
Please note that DaySmart Appointments has a Content Policy that you should review before enabling this plugin for your account and users.
Supported file formats for pictures are: .gif, .jpg, .png. Any other formats will not be accepted for either a Customer or Staff Member uploading pictures to Appointments.
Why use it
For Customer, Pet, or Children Pictures:
Hair Salons
A hair salon can have its Customers upload a current picture of themselves as part of the Appointment scheduling process. This can help better prepare the stylist and can also let both the stylist and the Customer see the Customer’s hairstyle progression over time as well as compare before and after photos.
Pet Groomers
Similar to a hair salon, a grooming studio can allow their Customers to upload pictures of their Pets. This allows the groomer to work more effectively with both new and existing clients. Groomers can quickly identify potential issues or challenges by previewing incoming Pets. They can also better allocate resources by having more accurate, visual information on the Pet. Additionally, Pet groomers can quickly view the grooming history of a particular Pet.
Service Businesses
For virtually any type of business providing a service, allowing your staff to view a picture of a Customer prior to their Appointment can significantly improve the level of personalized service. It makes it much easier to identify, remember, and personally greet Customers if you can review their photo before their Appointment.
Massage Therapists
Medical Spas
Salons and Spas
Pet Care Services
Personal Trainers
Tax Advisors
Doctors
Chiropractors
Acupuncturists and Other Holistic Practitioners
And many others
Educational Institutions
Whether for academic advising, testing, or other student services, educational institutions such as universities, colleges, and schools, can benefit from maintaining pictures of students in their accounts. Similar to service-oriented businesses, being able to connect a picture to a student’s name can vastly improve the service level to the student and the relationship between the student and the Staff Member.
For Staff Member Pictures:
Service Providers
There are many types of service providers that could benefit by displaying a picture next to a Staff Member’s name or profile when a Customer is making an Appointment. It not only provides a more vivid, visual experience for the Customer, but it allows the Customer to better feel that they are making an Appointment with a real person. This is important in helping to increase the Customer’s level of confidence and comfort in using the system.
How to Enable Picture Upload
This plugin can be enabled for one or more Locations in your account.
Click The Marketplace
Click Staff and Customer Management
Locate the plugin and click Enable.
From the next step, choose applicable Locations from the drop-down menu
Click Enable to finish the activation.
After you have enabled the plugin, click the Settings tab to review the various options that will control who and where pictures can be uploaded. If you need to modify these in the future, you can return to the plugin or, if you click Settings in your account, you will have access to these additional preferences from the main area where you control your account's configuration.
How it Works
When using this plugin, pictures can be uploaded to Customers, Pets/Children, or Staff Members.
For Customers
Upload and view pictures of customers via Site Administration.
Allow your customers to upload pictures of themselves.
Display the customer’s picture when the customer logs in.
Example of a Customer picture displaying when they log into the Customer View:
Example of a Customer uploading a picture via the Customer View
For Pets or Children, if applicable
Upload one or more pictures of a pet or child via Site Administration.
Allow customers to upload one or more pictures of a pet or child when making an appointment.
View all of the uploaded pictures for any pet or child when viewing their profile or current/past appointments.
Example of Customer and Pet pictures displaying when making an Appointment in Site Administration
For Staff Members
Upload one or more pictures of each staff member.
View the pictures when looking at a staff’s profile or making an appointment.
Allow customers to view pictures of staff members when making appointments.
Settings for Uploading Pictures
Limiting the number of images uploaded
A maximum of 10 images can be uploaded per Customer. You can adjust this setting to be any number below 10 to help control the number of pictures being uploaded. This will be explained further in the Preferences section below.
Image Size
The system automatically resizes the images to a height or width of 75 pixels. If the image is has a larger width than height, the image will be given a width of 75 pixels. The height will remain proportionate to the width. Likewise, for a picture that has a height larger than its width, the height will be saved as 75 pixels with a proportional width. Pictures that are a perfect square will be resized to be 75 by 75 pixels.
One of the main reasons for doing this is the enormous amount of server space needed to house images. By resizing the images, it protects against people uploading huge images requiring an unnecessary amount of server resources.
The system also saves a small, thumbnail version of each picture. This smaller version is used in various places in the system that don’t require a larger image.
Example of the thumbnail version
Uploading images
When you have the Picture Upload plug-in enabled, you will see additional links in the following Site Administration areas:
Customers
When you look up a Customer and click on their name to access their information via the Customer Search page, you will see a Customer Picture Upload link. When you click on that link, you will be able to do the following:
View, change or edit any pictures that have been uploaded for the Customer
Delete any uploaded pictures
Upload additional pictures
Example of the Customer Picture Upload page
Pets or Children
Similar to Customers, when you access the details of a Pet or Child via the Customer Search page, you will see an upload link listed on the left side navigation. By clicking on that link, you will be able to maintain pictures of the Pet or Child in the same fashion as you would for Customer pictures.
Staff Members
When you click on your Staff Members tab, you view a list of current profiles. By clicking on a Staff Member’s name, you access their profile and setup information. When the Picture Upload plugIn is activated, you will see an additional Staff Member Picture Upload link. That page allows you to view and maintain previously uploaded pictures for the Staff Member and upload new pictures for them.
Note: When uploading pictures, you can include a picture name and caption. This helps to identify the picture.
Other Preferences
You can control key picture upload settings to help ensure proper usage for your specific needs. The following are preferences you can control via the Picture Upload section of Preferences section in Site Administration:
Customer Pictures
Allow Site Administration users to upload Customer pictures.
Allow Customers to upload pictures.
Have the Customer’s pictures display on the Customer View when they log in.
Limit the number of pictures a Customer can upload.
Limit the number of pictures that can be uploaded for a Customer through Site Administration.
Staff Member Pictures
Allow or disallow Staff Member pictures to be uploaded via Site Administration.
Limit the number of Staff Member pictures that can be uploaded via Site Administration.
Display the Staff Member picture next to the Staff Member’s name on the Customer View.
All
Only allow Headquarters Administrators to upload and maintain images.
Only allow Headquarters Administrators to delete images.
Tip: If you allow more than one picture per entity (Staff Member, Customer, Pet, or Child), the most recent picture will be the default picture. So, for example, when you are making an Appointment and select the Customer, the picture that displays next to their name will be their most recently uploaded picture.
Monitoring pictures
Whenever you allow Customers or Staff Member to upload pictures, it’s a good idea to monitor the pictures that are being uploaded. The Picture Upload plugIn allows you to view any pictures uploaded to your account through the Picture Monitor page. You can also edit or delete any picture. This functionality is limited to Headquarters and Location Administrators.
On the Picture Monitor page, you can search under any date. The page will list who uploaded the picture, including whether it was uploaded by a Staff Member or Customer, and the date they uploaded it.
Again, DaySmart Appointments has a Content Policy that you should review before enabling this plugin for your account and users.
Example of the Picture Monitor Page
Disabling the Plugin
If you decide that you no longer want to use this feature, you can return to the Marketplace and remove the plugin from any or all Locations.
Click Marketplace.
In the left-hand column, find the plugin.
On the plugin’s first tab, click the Locations drop-down field.
Uncheck individual Locations or click None.
Click Update.