🔒 Managing parent booking requests is an early access feature you can enable in your Playground by opting in to Streamlined Purchase Approval Flow
Managing Parent Booking Requests
When parents request extra sessions or purchases for their child, you'll need to review and approve or reject them. The purchase request side panel brings all the information you need into one place, so you can make informed decisions quickly without navigating away from the page.
When you open a purchase request, the panel shows the following for each session in the request:
Expected children: how many children are currently expected in the room for that session (and the room's capacity, if configured)
Scheduled staff: how many staff members are scheduled for that room and time
Staff-to-child ratio: the ratio configured for the room
Bill payer: the name and total overdue balance for each bill payer linked to the child
This means you can review a request, check staffing levels and capacity, see if the family has outstanding debt, and approve or reject, all from one place.
Notifications for Parent Requested Care
To receive notifications when parents request additional care, make sure you have starred all the relevant rooms in your Overview. When a parent requests care for a child in one of your starred rooms, you'll receive a notification saying A parent has requested care. Clicking on it will take you to your purchases overview where you can approve or reject the request.
Understanding the Supporting Data
The panel pulls together three key pieces of information to help you make your decision: room capacity, staff cover, and the family's payment history. Here's what each one shows and how to read it.
Expected Children and Capacity
The panel shows how many children are currently expected in the room during the requested session. If your room has a capacity configured, you'll see it displayed as "X / Y children" (for example, 6 / 10 children). If no capacity is set, you'll just see the count (for example, 6 children).
💡 The numbers shown reflect the current state before this request is approved. If you approve the booking, the child count will increase by one. For example, if the panel shows "9 / 10 children", approving this request would bring the room to 10 / 10
Scheduled Staff and Ratio
If your site uses staff scheduling, the panel shows how many staff members are scheduled for the room during the requested session, helping you judge whether you have enough cover.
The ratio badge shows your room's configured staff-to-child ratio and whether current staffing meets that ratio. If the session spans a longer time window, the badge reflects the most understaffed interval, so if any part of the session is understaffed, you'll see it flagged.
A few things to keep in mind:
If your site does not use staff scheduling, the scheduled staff field won't appear, but expected children will still be shown
If your room has no ratio configured, the ratio badge won't appear
If staff scheduling is active but no shifts are scheduled for that room and time, you'll see "0 staff"
Bill Payer and Overdue Balance
The panel shows all bill payers linked to the child, along with each bill payer's total overdue balance. This gives you a quick sense of whether there's outstanding debt before approving a new purchase. If a child has multiple bill payers, all are shown.
How to Make Your Decision
Once you've reviewed the supporting data, you can approve or reject the request directly from the panel. Here's a quick checklist to work through before you do:
Check capacity: look at expected children vs. room capacity. Remember to add one for the child in this request.
Check staffing: are enough staff scheduled? Is the ratio within requirements? If any part of the session is flagged as understaffed, consider whether approving another child is feasible.
Check overdue balance: does the family have significant outstanding debt? This may factor into your decision depending on your nursery's policy.
Approve or reject: once you've reviewed, you can act directly from the panel.
Editing a Request
If a request includes sessions or extra charges you'd like to remove before approving, you can do this directly from the side panel. Simply remove the sessions or extra charges you don't want to approve, then approve the remaining items from the same panel.