What is Automation? Automation is using 
technology to complete tasks, especially repetitive tasks. This saves time, helps eliminate human error, and ensures accuracy and consistency. Time equals money so the more tasks you can automate, the more money you save, leading to increased revenue.
Jackrabbit offers multiple options to automate processes to help you post fees, collect payments, communicate by email, and more. Jackrabbit does the heavy lifting for you, so let's get started!
Things to Consider for Automation
 | Consider automating any or all of these tasks for your youth activity center: |
 | Consider how you set up your automatic email notification settings:
|
Let's Automate!
The list of tasks that can be automated in Jackrabbit is long so we have broken it down for your review and consideration.
Automate Posting Fees to Family Accounts
| Post Registration Fees | Regardless of what the fee is for, you can Post Registration Fees automatically to new or existing family accounts. Plus, you always have the option to turn off Registration Fees for specific classes. |
| Post Tuition Fees | Posting Tuition Fees to Family accounts can be done automatically, using Tuition Fee Settings, when a student is enrolled via:
In addition, use the Automate Tuition Posting - Schedule Fees to Post Later option to post fees to family accounts on a regular schedule. Note: Be sure to set the Reminder Email to allow time for steps 2 and 3 in Tuition Billing in 4 Steps - Fine Tune your Process. Additional information resources:
Very Important! We recommend you become familiar with tuition billing before setting up the automation of posting tuition fees and/or processing ePayments. Contact our Support Team to walk you through the steps. |
Automate Payments from Families
After Tuition Fees are posted to family accounts as reviewed in the section above, you can Require Payment in the Parent Portal at checkout for existing families. This makes payments easy and convenient for families. When you partner with one of our ePayment Partners you are paid when the child is enrolled. No need to send a bill or wait for payment.
You also have the option to Automate ePayments to Process Later and set up a recurring schedule for an individual family or multiple families. Set it once, and let the system do the work!
Very Important! Before you process ePayments, we recommend you check tuition fees for accuracy and apply unapplied credits to fees whenever possible. Refer to steps 2 and 3 of Tuition Billing in 4 Steps - Fine Tune your Process.
Automated Email Communication
Jackrabbit is designed to automatically send email notifications, based on various events, such as class enrollment and more.
| Class Enrollments | Email notifications are sent to families and your organization confirming class enrollment for the following:
An email notification is automatically sent to the primary Class Instructor. Refer to Organization Defaults - Class Settings and set the email address on the Summary tab of the Staff record. |
| Event Enrollments | An email notification is automatically sent to the customer and to your organization for each event enrollment in the Event Calendar or the Parent Portal. The Notification Email(s) can be added to the Event Type at the bottom of the Summary tab. Refer to Add an Event - Event Type Summary Fields Explained to learn how to designate the email address for your organization in your settings. For an event's instructor to receive an email enrollment notification, add the instructor's email address in the Notifications Email(s) field on the Event Type Summary tab. |
| Legal Policies | Parents are automatically prompted to agree to policies if they use the Online Registration form (new families) or when they log into the Parent Portal (existing families). Email notifications can automatically be sent to families and your organization confirming agreement to Legal Policies.
|
| Drop / Transfer Classes | When the primary instructor is designated on the Class record and their email address is entered on their Staff record, an email notification will automatically be sent to the instructor when an individual student is dropped or transferred from their class.
|
| ePayment Transactions | Receipts for ePayment transactions are sent to the Billing Contact in the Family record and the message can be customized:
Refer to Manage Email Notification Settings (ePayment Receipts) for additional details and settings. |
| Staff Availability | An email notification can be sent to your organization when Staff Availability and Time Off changes are made through the Staff Portal. See Staff Availability in the Staff Portal - Keep Track of Availability Changes Made in the Staff Portal for additional details. |
| Parent Scheduled Absences/Makeups | When an absence and/or makeup is scheduled in the Parent Portal, Jackrabbit will automatically send an email notification to the primary class instructor, the primary Family contact, and the email address for the Portal Login ID that scheduled the absence. You can designate an additional email notification to be sent for an absence and/or makeup. Refer to Organization Defaults - Parent Portal Absence & Makeup Settings for additional details. |
| Skills Updates | Updates made to student skills can automatically send a notification email to parents. Set your email preferences with Settings for Staff Portal Skills/Levels. |
| Schedule Emails | You have the option to create emails and schedule them to be sent at a later date (up to 90 days). There is a Send Later button on the email Preview screen. Refer to Schedule an Email to be Sent at a Later Time for additional details. |
There are additional Email Notification Settings located under the Gear (icon) > Settings > General > Notifications (left menu). We recommend you review these additional email options and settings.
Automate Multiple Tasks with Zapier
Zapier allows multiple apps to "talk" to Jackrabbit and automatically share information that you select. You can move information in and out of Jackrabbit using Zapier, which eliminates the need to duplicate tasks manually.
There are over 5,000 applications to choose from in Zapier that can connect to Jackrabbit!
NOTE: A Zapier account is required with a separate fee from Jackrabbit.
If you have questions about any information included in this Topic Hub, don't hesitate to contact us. Click on the question mark
in Jackrabbit to request assistance, or click here to book a call with one of our Support Specialists.
