The setup guide step by step

This is the companion to Walk through the setup guide: one section per step, in the order the guide shows them.

1. Essentials

Two blocks. Departure slots is the same editor as under Settings: a name, a departure time and a usual return time per row, a switch to enable it, Add slot for more. Your dive center starts with AM, PM and Night already there. Currency & dates sets the Date format, shown with live examples, and the Default customer language, which prefills the language when you use Add customer and is the language of the billing emails sent to your dive center.

2. Invoices and payments

Only what your first invoice and payment need, as the line at the top says; everything else is under Settings. The step needs the permission to change business details. A part you may not change in Settings shows read-only, with "Someone with access to Price list sets this." naming its tab. Which parts show depends on your dive center's country.

• Your company: the legal name, filled in with your dive center's name to start with, then the street, postal code and city. They are the same fields as under Business & tax and are saved there. See Business details and tax rates.
• Tax: shown only where your country's rules know a tax detail. Where your country asks whether you are registered for VAT or GST, that switch comes first, with your country's wording and hint, and the tax ID (in Thailand also the branch) appears once it is on. Where your country has a tax ID format of its own without that switch, such as Australia, only the tax ID field shows. In countries such as Germany or Austria this part is not shown.
• Payments at the counter: Cash, Card and Bank transfer as tick boxes, as they are under Payment methods. In Germany, Austria and France (Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion included), ticking a method that needs it shows the same fiscal confirmation as under Payment methods, right under the method. The step does not save until you confirm it or untick the method: "Confirm this first, or untick the method." See Payment methods.
• Prices: Price per fun dive, the price list's price per dive, and Full equipment per day, the day price of the bundle that rents the most categories. Where you have no bundle yet, a new Full equipment bundle with one of each rental category is created. Both are optional and saved to the price list; leave a field empty to set it later.
• Online payments: Should guests be able to pay online? with Yes or Later. Later leaves deposits and cancellation fees as they are. Yes shows three more parts:
  • Deposit on online bookings: None, 20 % or 50 %, written to the deposit rules under Deposits & cancellations, for fun dives and courses alike. A deposit can only be switched on once Stripe is connected, so before that it is saved switched off with the percent filled in; switch it on under Deposits & cancellations once Stripe is connected. See Deposits for online bookings.
  • Cancellation policy: None, or the Flexible, Moderate or Strict preset of the Deposits & cancellations editor, which writes the same fees. It is a starting point; you can fine-tune the fees later. See Cancellation policy.
  • Connect Stripe now saves the step, closes the guide and opens Online payments in Settings, where you connect Stripe. Connect later leaves it for another time. Stripe is never connected inside the guide. See Connect Stripe for online payments.

Where your deposit rules or cancellation fees already differ from these choices, a Your own choice is selected and keeps them as they are.

A closing note links every related tab under Settings: Business & tax, Price list, Payment methods, Bills & discounts, Invoices & receipts, Deposits & cancellations and Online payments, each as a link only if you may open it. On the dashboard checklist the step is called Ready for invoices, see Walk through the setup guide.

3. Fleet and pool

Add each boat with a Boat name and a Capacity between 1 and 200, then Add boat. Below the divider, add a training pool with a Pool name and a capacity up to 50, if course sessions will be booked into one. Names have to be unique. Boats are created when you press Save & continue. If you have no boats, the step says so and you can skip it.

4. Dive sites

Enter a Site name and the Max depth (m), a whole number from 1 to 350, and click the map to drop the pin. The map opens on your country. Without a pin, Add dive site refuses with "Click on the map to set a location", and Save & continue refuses a site you filled in but never added, with "You filled in the form but did not add it to the list. Press Add first, or empty the form." The same goes for the Fleet and Team steps. Press Add dive site per site; sites already in the system are listed under Already added. A site with coordinates is also what the dashboard's weather panel needs.

5. Equipment

At the top, switch on Offer equipment rentals online so guests can request rental gear when they book, and Show prices on the booking page if they should see your prices; it works whether or not you offer rentals online. Add stock per size to the pooled categories DivePilot created at sign-up with Add size, up to 20 sizes per category. Rental prices are set in the price list. Items tracked individually by serial number are not handled here; add them later under Equipment.

6. Your team

Add each colleague with 1. Basic info: first name, last name, email, a role label and the Schedule roles they can be planned for. Then 2. Permissions: pick a preset chip or tick permissions by hand, and press Add staff member. The permission list is folded by area and then by group: open one to tick inside it, or tick the box on an area or group to take all of it. The invitations are only sent when you save the step. Invited users receive the email in English; they can switch language after signing in.

7. Waiver templates

Choose the forms your guests sign. The standard agency waivers are listed by organisation with a tick box each, Required for everyone where the form is usually required, and an icon that opens the PDF. The agency you signed up with comes first, marked Your agency, with all of its forms already ticked; every other agency starts unticked. Untick what you do not need, tick any others you offer, or use Select all and Clear per agency. The line under the list counts your selection. Saving adds only the ticked forms as templates; a form you already have shows as Already added and stays as it is. If your agency has no standard forms, the step says so and nothing is ticked. A ticked form marked Required for everyone is added as required of every diver; you can narrow it to fun dives or courses later in Settings. See Add the standard agency waivers. Add a custom waiver opens a dialog for your own document: title, organisation, version, validity in days, language, status, General waiver to choose who has to sign it, and an optional PDF. A custom waiver is created the moment you confirm the dialog.

8. Guest onboarding

The registration QR code and link, as on the Registration settings page, followed by the two Online booking cards, Fun dives and Courses, each with Off, Scheduled only, Scheduled + requests and Requests only. The cards save the moment you click them. Below them, a note says that guests can also book for several people and several dives at once, and Online booking settings closes the guide and takes you to the tab where you set how many. Customer form settings closes the guide and takes you to the tab where you choose which fields guests fill in.

9. Branding

Upload your logo, which saves immediately, choose the Primary colour and Accent colour with the contrast check, pick Light or Dark under Page mode, and fill in the Contact details for your public pages. The live preview shows your booking page as you type. Save stays disabled while the primary colour's contrast against white is too low.