Phew LMS Waiting Lists and How They Work
We all know how frustrating it is when you want to book onto a course or event and it’s fully booked. And we also all know that it’s just as frustrating when a delegate can’t attend and you’re left with an empty seat.
That is why we created the Waiting Lists function in our Learning Management System (LMS). This optional feature – meaning you can choose to activate it or not – makes sure a spot on your training event is never wasted. How? By allowing your stakeholders to request a place for fully-booked sessions if one becomes available by joining a Waiting List.
How do LMS Waiting Lists work?
Our Waiting List feature is specifically designed to ensure that if a delegate cancels, even at the last minute, their seat can still be filled appropriately.
Within our LMS, we like to give each party control. So, both administrators and delegates can add themselves to Waiting Lists, as long as the feature has been activated.
If a place becomes available through a cancellation before the booking period closes, all delegates on the waiting list are automatically sent an email inviting them to book the available place on a first-come, first-served basis.
However, if an administrator frees up a place, delegates are not automatically emailed. Instead, the administrator can manually notify delegates.
So, there are three ways a delegate can get an available space on a course.
- Automatically when another delegate cancels.
- When an administrator makes a space available and clicks ‘notify all’.
- When an administrator makes a space available and emails a delegate on the waitlist directly.
How this works is explained below.
How to set up a waiting list
Setting up a waiting list is easy. Here’s how to do it in two simple steps.
- On the left-hand menu, select ‘Site Settings > Allow Waiting List’.
- Once this tick box has been selected, the Learning Management System will enable waiting lists.
Notifying delegates on the waiting list
To notify delegates on the waiting list, just select the button ‘Notify Waiting Lists of Open Places’. All delegates on the waiting list will then receive an email notifying them there is an available place. Once the delegate has been contacted, you will see a 1 in the ‘contacted (times)’ column, meaning they have been contacted once.
It is then a first-come, first-serve basis as to who will receive the available space. Delegates also have the option to unsubscribe from these emails. If they choose to do so, they will not receive emails when a space is available, but will still have the option to book onto the course if a space becomes available.
Promoting and demoting delegates to waiting lists
If you want to manually promote a delegate, or groups of delegates, onto a course, select the promote icon, which will book the delegate onto the desired course. The delegate will then receive an email letting them know they have been booked onto the course.
This option might be useful if you have several places left and a short period of time before an event. This way you are calling potential delegates on the waiting list to enquire if they would like to attend.
It is also possible to demote a delegate who is booked on to the event to the waiting list. You do this by hovering over information (I) icon.
When a delegate is demoted, they automatically receive an email to let them know their booking has been cancelled.
Still looking for further information?
Email us at support@phew.org.uk and we will be able to give further clarification on any questions you may have.