Policies and Agreements - Overview

The Policies Module allows you to create, store and track agreements to your centre's policies, consent agreements, and terms and conditions with ease. Any policies you create in your system will be automatically displayed in the Customer Portal and SimplyPortal APP. The Policies Module is available to you if you are on the Elite subscription package.

Any new/not yet agreed to policies will appear as a pop-up window that your customers must read and acknowledge (agree to or opt-in or opt-out of) before they can perform any actions in the Customer Portal. When your customers action these, this will automatically be updated in their family screen under the policies section, and you will be able to see if they have agreed (big green tick for yes, big red cross for no/not yet agreed) and which version of the policy they have agreed to. 

If needed, you can view (and print) your customer's agreement to any/all of your policies to show the date, time, location and device the policies were agreed to if there are ever any disputes over awareness of your policies. Your customers can also view the policy information they have agreed to at any time in the Customer Portal so they have a readily accessible record.

All policies, along with their version numbers, will be displayed on the family screen. This allows you to see which version of a policy that any family has agreed to. Any new policies you create will be automatically pushed through to the customer portal. If you update any policies, you have the option to push this through so that every customer has to agree to the updated policy. If not, they will stay on their current version and only customers joining from the date of the change will have the latest version.  

There are three types of policies you can create in your system:

1. Mandatory;

2. Optional (Consent); and

3. Informational.

You can have as many or as few policies as you like. You can select any type of policy, but once a policy is created the type cannot be changed. You are also able to add a sort order to your policies if you would like them in a standard order.

Mandatory Policies

Mandatory Polices are policies that you want your customers to be fully aware of and agree to if they attend your centre. Things like your Terms and Conditions, Enrolment Agreements, Cancellation Policy, Make-up Policy and the like that are non-negotiable to you. 

Customers will not be able to perform any actions in the Customer Portal until they agree to these Mandatory Policies. They will appear in the portal as a pop-up window (see example below), and they must tick the "I agree to this Policy" and click "Continue".

Optional/Consent Policies

These are intended for things like photo consent, publicity consent, social media consent and the like. These are a yes or no answer policy, so your customers can either opt-in or opt-out. They can also change their minds on these and give or take away their consent at a later date if they desire. The date of this change would be noted.

These will be displayed in the portal in a pop-up window as shown below:

Informational Policies

These are not really policies as such, more an acknowledgement of anything you want your customers to be aware of. This could be in the form of FAQs or the like. These will not "pop up" in the portal, but will be available to view if they click on the "View Policies & Agreements" in the portal menu.

Student vs. Family Policies

You can select to have a policy "per Family" or a policy "per Student". An example of a Family policy may be a General Terms & Conditions. A Student policy example would be a "Photo & Social Media Consent" policy which the answer can be different per child.

Version Recognition

Any time you make an amendment to a policy, this will be recognised in your system as a new version. You can select to have all customers update their agreement, or have the change only from that date forward.

Family Screen Policies Display

The Policies section is located underneath the finance and direct debit sections. 

To learn how to set up your policies, please see this article: Family Policies and Agreements - Setup

Last updated: 5 July 2021