Getting Started

Welcome to Check-in DOG

Check-in DOG is a complete grooming salon management application built for professional groomers. Whether you run a solo operation or manage a team of stylists, Check-in DOG helps you keep track of customers, their pets, appointments, invoices, and more -- all from a single, intuitive interface.

This guide walks you through account creation, salon setup, and your first look at the dashboard.

Creating Your Account

To get started, navigate to the Check-in DOG registration page. You will be asked to provide the following information:

• Name -- Your full name as the account owner.
• Email -- A valid email address that will serve as your login credential.
• Password -- Choose a strong password and confirm it.
• Language preference -- During registration, you can select your preferred language (English, French, German, or Spanish). This setting determines the language of the entire interface, including navigation menus, form labels, and notifications.

Choosing Your Language

Your language preference is tied to your user account, not to any individual salon. This means that no matter which salon you switch to, the interface language remains consistent with your personal choice. You can update your language preference later from your profile settings.

Once you submit the registration form, your account is created and you are ready to set up your first salon.

Creating Your First Salon

After registration, you will be prompted to create a salon (also referred to as a "shop" internally). Each salon operates as an independent workspace with its own customers, animals, appointments, invoices, and catalog.

Salon Details

When creating a salon, you will fill in the following fields:

Tips for Salon Setup

• Slug uniqueness: Each salon slug must be unique across the platform. If your preferred slug is taken, try adding your city or a distinguishing word.
• Locale vs. language: Your personal language preference controls the interface. The salon locale controls things like date formatting and the language used in customer-facing documents such as invoices and emails.
• Multiple salons: You can create more than one salon if you operate multiple locations. Each salon maintains completely separate data, and each can be on a different subscription plan.

Exploring the Demo Salon

Every new user is automatically attached to a shared demo salon called "Toilettage Mignon". This is a fully functional training environment where you can experiment with every feature of the application without worrying about affecting real data.

What the Demo Salon Offers

• Pre-populated data -- The demo salon comes loaded with sample customers, animals, appointments, and invoices so you can see what a working salon looks like.
• Full feature access -- You can create, edit, and delete records freely. Nothing you do in the demo salon affects your real salons.
• Nightly reset -- All data in the demo salon is wiped and reseeded every night. This means you can experiment as much as you like; everything will be restored to a clean state by the next morning.

When you enter the demo salon, you will see an informational banner at the top of the page:

You are browsing the demo/training salon. Feel free to play around. Data resets every night.

Switching Between Salons

You can switch between the demo salon and your own salons at any time using the salon selector in the application header. This makes it easy to try something in the demo first, then replicate it in your real salon once you are comfortable.

Recommended First Steps in the Demo

1. Browse existing customers -- Open the Customers section to see how customer records are structured.
2. View animal profiles -- Click into a customer to see their linked animals, complete with breed information and photos.
3. Check the calendar -- Switch to the Appointments section to see how the calendar and scheduling work.
4. Generate an invoice -- Try creating a quote, adding line items, and converting it to an invoice.
5. Download a PDF -- Generate and download a PDF invoice to see the professional output format.

The Dashboard

Once you have created your salon (or switched into one), you land on the dashboard. The dashboard provides a real-time overview of your salon's activity through a set of widgets.

Today's Summary Widget

The Today's Summary widget sits at the top of the dashboard and gives you an at-a-glance view of the current day's activity:

• Appointments today -- The total number of appointments scheduled for today.
• Customers expected -- How many unique customers are coming in.
• Revenue today -- The sum of paid invoices for the current day.

This widget updates in real time as you create appointments and process invoices throughout the day.

Appointment Chart Widget

The Appointment Chart provides a visual breakdown of your appointments over a configurable time period. It helps you identify busy days, spot trends, and plan staffing accordingly.

• Displays appointment counts per day or per week.
• Color-coded to distinguish between completed, upcoming, and cancelled appointments.
• Hover over data points to see exact numbers.

Turnover Chart Widget

The Turnover Chart tracks your salon's revenue over time. It plots invoice totals on a timeline so you can monitor financial performance at a glance.

• View turnover by day, week, or month.
• Compare periods to identify growth or seasonal patterns.
• Helps with financial planning and goal setting.

Sales Distribution Widget

The Sales Distribution widget breaks down your revenue by product or service category. This pie chart (or donut chart) shows you which services generate the most income.

• Identify your most popular services.
• Spot underperforming categories that might need promotion.
• Useful for deciding which services to expand or retire.

Understanding the Navigation

The left sidebar organizes the application into logical sections:

Navigation labels are fully translated based on your language preference, so the sidebar will appear in whichever language you selected during registration.

Multi-User and Roles

Check-in DOG supports multiple users per salon. When you create a salon, you are automatically assigned the owner role. You can then invite other users with the following roles:

• Owner -- Full access to all features, including billing and user management.
• Employee -- Access to day-to-day operations (customers, animals, appointments, invoices) but no access to billing or salon-level settings.

Each user logs in with their own credentials and sees the interface in their own preferred language, regardless of the salon's locale.

Next Steps

Now that your account is set up and you have explored the dashboard, you are ready to start building your salon's data:

1. Managing Customers -- Learn how to add your first customers and organize their contact information.
2. Managing Animals -- Create detailed pet profiles with breed, weight, photos, and more.
3. Appointments & Calendar -- Start scheduling grooming sessions.
4. Invoicing & Quotes -- Set up your catalog and generate your first invoice.
5. Product & Service Catalog -- Define your services, products, and tax rates.

If you have questions or run into any issues, remember that the demo salon is always available for experimentation. Happy grooming!