Zen Planner’s App evolution over the past year
Last year, we have released the revolutionary Member App for Android and Apple devices. While this app has been a huge success, we’ve heard from many of our customers that there was something missing… A Staff App.
We took this feedback to heart and are excited to announce that the wait is almost over. Our exciting new Staff App will soon be available, allowing coaches, instructors and teachers to better manage the daily operations of your fitness business from the palm of their hands.
Through a simple interface, this app makes it easier to onboard new staff members, and allows existing staff members to spend more time with your members or students. This new app offers the ability for instructors and coaches to:
View Your Full Schedule
Staff members can see everything currently scheduled on the calendar – classes, appointments, events and tests – for any day they choose. Staff members can also filter the calendar to only see the items where they are assigned as the Primary or Assistant Instructor. Class capacity information is displayed when viewing the calendar, allowing staff members to better plan their day around expected traffic.
Class Management and Alerts
See the name and photo for people who plan to attend a specific class or session, or are eligible to participate. Once these individuals arrive, staff members can check them in with a single click. If a certain customer has an issue with their account (unpaid bills, expired memberships, etc.), the staff member will see an alert when they try to check that person in.
These alerts will properly notify your staff members when a customer’s profile requires attention. The result is a better-trained staff, customers getting the immediate attention they need when an issue arises, and improved efficiency for the operations that staff members spend the most time on.
Just like the Member App, Staff App is included in Zen Planner’s monthly subscription and is free to download. Staff members will be able to download the app in the App Store and Google Play.
Stay tuned to our blog, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages, for the latest news on the release of the Staff App!
If you’re interested in learning more about Zen Planner’s comprehensive, custom member management software, schedule your demo with one of our Software Specialists today.
I would be interested in participating in the beta program.
We’re glad to hear you’ll be participating in the public beta, Greg! Please stay tuned to our Facebook page for information on when the beta will be released on Google Play and in the App Store. We’ll be sending out an email announcement too.
Will the staff member be able to build daily workouts from this app?
Great question, Kyle. Programming will not be available in the initial release of our public beta. We have plans to add several new features to the App in the upcoming months, and feedback like yours will help guide these updates. Once you’ve downloaded the App (which will be available for download in the next two weeks), please send any feedback you may have, as well as feature requests to our Customer Success team at help@zenplanner.com. Thanks!
YAY!! So excited! Will you be able to process retails orders from the Staff app as well? If not, I would love to see this eventually added on! We have a computer in the back office (our staff signs them in after class) but our supplements are at the front, so would be super convenient (and a time saver) to have the app be able to process orders for those without an iPad at the front!
We’re happy to hear you’re looking forward to the App release, Brittany! Retail orders will not be part of the beta test, but we’re looking for feedback like this to help improve our App and guide future enhancements. Once the App is released, please send your feature requests to our Customer Success team at help@zenplanner.com. They’ll be keeping track of all feature requests and passing them along to our Product team.
I would LOVE to take part in the beta testing!!!
We’re so happy to hear you’re excited about the beta test, Aaron! The beta will be available very soon, so please keep an eye out for an email from our team with links to download the App from the App Store and Google Play.
Sign me up for beta testing! I’ve been one of the people requesting this feature for months now!
Thanks for your feedback, Alan! We’re so happy you’re excited about the beta test. As soon as the beta is available, we’ll be sending out an email with links to download the App from Google Play and the App Store. Our Facebook page will have the latest updates on the release as well.
One of the biggest things that would us be to log hours for payroll and give you their payroll reports. Hopefully you can put that in pretty easily or very quick update to the app when it gets live.
Thanks for the feedback, Bob! Feedback like this will guide our future enhancements for the App. Please be sure to send this to help@zenplanner.com, as our Customer Success team is compiling all feature requests and sending them along to our Product team for product roadmap planning.
will there be ability for the schedule: classes, appointments, events, etc to be synched with Google calendar?
Great question, Vadim! You can sync your schedule right now with both iCal and Google Calendars. Our Customer Success team put together a help article outlining how to do this. If you have any additional questions on setting up the sync, please reach out to our team at help@zenplanner.com.
Staff can already view this in the same way just via the member app. I think allow the member app to filter classes (by type, or coach) would prove more useful.
For checking in, I’d much rather see ONE more robust system then yet another (with only a handful of the features) introduced. Between faceboard, welcome desk, kiosk apps, etc. I’m not sure why time is being put into developing yet another similar but borderline incomplete method (can’t signup a new member or a one time dropin from the app I imagine).
On top of that, I don’t want my staff to be on their phone to check in members, that’s what the ipads (kios) and faceboard (up front) are for, aren’t they? Encouraging staff to use their phones during a class doesn’t seem very intuitive or useful to me.
I love all the new things from you guys, but getting the new member app up to speed to full replace the web app (bill payments, etc) should be a far higher priority than introducing another app that does all the same stuff.
Hi Simon,
Thanks for your feedback. We really like the ideas you mentioned about improving the ability to filter on the Member App! We understand that the first version of the Staff App provides functionality that can be found in other Zen Planner products. Based on feedback that we received from other businesses, this was a primary use case and something that our customers really wanted to be able to do on their mobile devices.
Please keep in mind that this App will continue to grow and expand over time – as will all of our other products – based on your feedback. The main difference is that this is the only App besides our desktop version that is meant for staff members only. This opens up a lot of potential to add features that the other Apps (Kiosk, Member App, Faceboard) couldn’t realistically deliver. We are excited about continuing to improve the App by adding things that will be useful both in and out of the facility, and making it easier to complete some of the most common daily tasks for coaches.
We’d love to get more insight into your recommendations for future enhancements. A member from our Product team will be reaching out to you directly.
Thanks again for your feedback!
Sign me up for beta testing!
Hi Jason, the public beta will be going live today. Be sure to check your email, or visit our Facebook page for links to download the App!