As we seek to make MyHallWizard more fully featured but at the same time easier to use, we have been hitting limitations with our technology. Don’t get me wrong, we could do it, but it was taking up a lot of time and was pretty hard to fix when things went wrong.
As a result, as part of our regular cycle of keeping our code up-to-date, we took the big decision to implement new technology which would allow us better control of the web pages which you use in MyHallWizard. As a result, we are now able to make pages more interactive with you, the user, making MyHallWizard easier and quicker to use. It will also be a lot easier for us to manage.
Initially, you’re not going to see big changes. We’ve refreshed MyHallWizard’s page layout to better use the screen space, and we’ve changed some of our authentication and settings pages, but most pages still use our old technology and remain exactly as they were. Over time, we will be exploiting the new technology to deliver better user experiences starting with better invoicing and payment functionality (it was trying to build this that was the straw that broke the camel’s back with our old technology).
The project has taken a year to deliver, of which 6 months was spent in testing. Hopefully, therefore, everything will work well. However, if you do find any glitches, please do not hesitate to let us know so we can fix them.
We’re expecting to roll out the new technology in June, though there are also quite a lot of changes we quietly released over the last year. So what’s included?
Summary of Recent and Current Changes
Bookings
- It is now possible to set up a price for All Rooms (Exclusive Use) on your venue. This applies to any venue with two or more Rooms. Please go to Settings->Price Lists and edit the prices.
- It is now possible to automatically send reminder or check-in emails to customers in advance of bookings. Go to Settings->Calendar Settings to enable this feature and then Settings->Email Templates to edit the wording of the email
- When you upload an image in the Details field of a booking, the image is now saved to our server. The dialog box which is shown when uploading an image is now different. This change speeds up query times when refreshing your calendar, and prevents possible out-of-memory errors when running certain reports. Applies also to emails and email templates.
Note: Details fields on bookings which already have an image in them, have not been migrated to use this new feature. If you want to use this feature (recommended for Repeat Bookings in particular), please edit the bookings, delete the image and upload once again.
Reports
- It is now possible to click through from reports to related bookings, customers, invoices or payments
- New Reports:
- Payment Report – Lists all payments recorded in MyHallWizard for reconciliation with your bank or Stripe accounts.
- Booking Invoice and Payment Report – Shows which bookings have been invoiced, and whether the invoices have been paid.
Integrations
- We now integrate with HeatingSave smart thermostats. This gives the ability to manage the temperature of the room for each booking, and can save 20-50%+ on energy costs. If you require this integration, please let us know.
Settings
- After you edit prices in your price lists, MyHallWizard looks for any bookings which are impacted, and gives you the option to recalculate their prices.
Minor changes and defect fixes
There are also a host of very minor changes incorporated, often at the suggestion of our users. We hope they generally make MyHallWizard a better system to use.
We are grateful to everyone who lets us know when things don’t quite work as they should. We also have automated systems which look out for things going wrong. As a result, we have fixed all manner of defects during this period, far too many for a short blog post.
If you encounter any errors or have suggestions for improvement, please let us know.