Let's break them down:

Departments are the highest-level category for bookings. Unlike Activity and Session Types, Departments apply to entire projects, not individual sessions.

Where to find them: Settings > Departments

✅ Better Reporting Departments appear in most Coordinate Sport reports, allowing you to monitor and analyse your projects more effectively. For example, tracking staff activity through the Timesheets report becomes much easier when using Departments correctly.

✅ Colour Coding & Filtering Each Department is assigned a unique colour, making it simple for you, your team, and customers to distinguish between bookings. You can also use filtering options throughout the app (such as in Project lists and Event Searches) to quickly find relevant bookings.

✅ Easy Categorisation on Your Booking Site Want to highlight specific Departments on your booking site? Use the Categorisation feature under Settings > General > Online Booking Site > Category to make certain Departments stand out at the top of the Event Search page.

✅ Unique Booking Site Links Each Department has its own dedicated booking page with a custom link. This allows you to promote specific Departments separately. You can find these links in the Department settings by clicking the blue online booking icon. Plus, you can add a custom logo for each Department!

Activity Types provide clarity for customers about what kind of session they are booking. This is especially useful for multi-activity days, such as holiday camps, where different sessions may involve different activities.

Where to find them: Settings > Activities

For example, if you offer a holiday camp with various activities like football, arts & crafts, and swimming, you can assign each session an Activity Type. This helps customers understand what they’re signing up for at a glance.

Session Types are an extra layer of categorisation that can be used by your team. Unlike Activity Types and Departments, you can keep them out of view of your customers (unless you want to). Session types are great for an even greater layer of control over your sessions

Where to find them: Settings > Session Types

✅ Automatic Discount Exclusion If you offer automatic discounts for booking full session blocks but need to exclude certain sessions, Session Types help.

For instance, if you run an after-school club with an optional late pickup session, you can exclude late pickup from discount calculations so that only the standard sessions count. You can exclude these session types by clicking 'Exclude from Automatic Discount' when editing the session type.

✅Extra Time For Your Staff If you have sessions that run for an hour, the reality for your instructors or coaches is that they need extra time to pack up after the session is over. Adding extra time to a session type can ensure that your staff are not short-changed in their payroll for the extra time they have worked. You can add extra time in minutes to each of the staff types when editing your session types.

If you're using all three Departments, Activity Types and Session Types, you might want to restrict some of these from view of your customers. For example, you might not want your customers to see your session types in your booking site Event Search because you are using them with internal working not intended for the public to see.

Where to find them: Settings > Styling

By using Departments, Activity Types, and Session Types effectively, you can improve organisation, make bookings clearer for customers, and ensure accurate reporting. Try implementing these features today to streamline your bookings and enhance your customer's experience.