Work through the steps below in sequence. Some features depend on others being in place first, and skipping ahead can lead to errors and roadblocks.
👉 If you’re a practitioner taking your first steps in your new account, start here instead.
Before you start
Be sure to do the following before getting started with the onboarding steps:
First add your basic workspace details by setting your practice name, business address, business registration number (ABN in Australia, NZBN in New Zealand, or company number in the UK), and logo. This information appears on invoices and client-facing documents, so it's worth getting right before you start billing.
Remember services come first. Everything in splose - locations, templates, invoices, online bookings - depends on services existing before they can be configured.
Invite your team last. A practitioner who logs into an unfinished workspace will hit dead ends and need support. Complete your workspace setup and test creating a client and booking an appointment before sending any invitations to your team. If done correctly, everything will work when your team arrives.
1. Set up services
Services are the foundation of your workspace. Everything else - locations, appointment templates, invoices, online bookings, reporting - references the services you create here. Don't move on until your core services are in place.
A service in splose is either an appointment (client-facing, sends notifications to clients) or a support activity (non-client-facing, such as report writing - does not send notifications to clients). Set up both types if your practice uses them.
For each service, you'll set the name, duration, price, tax rate, and billing type. For now you can assign a default progress note template to each service, but it is best to come back after you’ve set up all your templates in Step 4 and assign them to the relevant service when you're certain the templates meet your team’s needs.
To set up your services follow the steps set out in the Set up services guide
2. Set up locations
Locations tell splose where your business is based, be it a clinic, multiple clinics or a home address. Linking them correctly to your services and practitioners ensures availability and services show in your calendar. Every service needs to be connected to both a location and a practitioner before it can be bookable in the calendar.
🔗 Linking services & locations is critical: a service won't appear in your calendar or online bookings until it's connected to both a location and a practitioner profile.
If you operate from multiple locations, repeat the process for each location, selecting the services offered at each location as you go.
🚗 If you're a mobile provider, set up one location using your business name rather than individual travel destinations. Appointment locations for mobile visits are handled separately through the provider travel feature when booking - you don't need a separate location for each place you visit.
Follow the steps set out in the Set up your locations guide.
3. Set availability
The calendar is where all appointments are booked and managed in splose. Before it's useful, your availability needs to be set - this tells the system and your clients when you're free to see people.
Set your availability so clients and colleagues can see when you're bookable. Your availability determines when appointments can be scheduled in the calendar and when you appear in online bookings.
Follow the steps set out in the Set your availability guide.
4. Set up Templates
With services in place, you can now build your clinical and admin templates. Work through them in this order - some depend on others being set up first:
1. Progress note templates
Format how practitioners structure their progress notes. Practitioners will need them from their very first appointment. Once created, go back to your services and assign the relevant template as the default for each service.
Follow the steps set out in the progress note templates guide.
2. Standard forms and consent forms
Intake forms, consent forms, and any other documents you send to clients. These can be attached to appointment templates so they're sent automatically when an appointment is booked.
Follow the steps set out in the standard forms guide.
3. Service agreements (AU only)
If your practice uses service agreements, create your template here. You'll send these to individual clients from their profile once they're added.
Follow the steps set out in the service agreements guide.
5. Set up appointment templates & notifications
Notifications are the automated messages splose sends to clients on your behalf, including appointment confirmations when a booking is made, reminders in the lead-up to an appointment, and messages when an appointment is rescheduled or cancelled. Once configured, they send without any manual action from your team.
⚠️ Complete this step before booking any appointments. Confirmations and reminders won't send if they haven't been configured first.
Appointment notifications are configured in several steps, and they all must be done for messages to send reliably:
Set up your confirmation, reminder, reschedule, and cancellation templates now. This determines what the messages say. Then go to each service and confirm the correct templates are attached and enabled. This two-part step is the most commonly missed - templates that exist but aren't attached to a service won't send.
This sets communication preferences for all your clients and applies to all new clients added going forward.
This appears on outgoing emails from your workspace.
4. Set up SMS
Make sure SMS credits are available so that your SMS notifications will send. Enable two-way SMS is configured if you want clients to be able to reply.
6. Set up invoices & payments
Connect how your practice takes payments by setting up your invoice preferences and templates as well as your payment methods, and ensure that invoices can be processed from day one. splose supports Stripe and Tyro Health (Australia) for online and in-person card payments, and manual bank transfer via invoice.
Set your logo, business registration number, payment details, and any standard invoice messaging. This needs to be in place before you generate your first invoice.
2. Connect how your practice takes payments
Setting up your payment methods, and ensure that invoices can be processed from day one. splose supports Stripe and Tyro Health (Australia) for online and in-person card payments, and manual bank transfer via invoice.
7. Use the calendar & create clients
The calendar is your practice's central hub. It's where you manage your own and your team's schedule, book appointments, and block time.
The calendar can be configured to meet your needs. Familiarise yourself with how to configure the calendar's settings here.
Schedule activities in the calendar simply by clicking the block of time you wish to book and selecting the type of activity you want to schedule:
An appointment - for client facing sessions.
A support activity - for non client facing work: report writing, phone calls, billable admin time.
Busy time - to block time without creating a client appointment or billable activity. For example, to schedule an internal meeting. You have 9 default busy time types, but you can create the types of busy time you'll need from your settings.
Before you can schedule an appointment or any support activities linked to a specific client you must create that client in splose. This client record will hold all of the client's information.
⚠️ Important: Booking an appointment and adding a test client is the best way to see if everything you've set up so far is working as you want it to.
Before inviting your team, run through the full workflow end to end:
If anything doesn't work as expected at this point, it's a signal that something earlier in the setup is incomplete. See the troubleshooting section in each article for help or contact support if you're stuck.
8. Invite your team
Your workspace is ready. Now its time to invite your team - they'll join an environment that's fully configured and ready to use from day one.
Before sending invites, take a moment to understand the five user roles in splose: Practitioner Admin, Practitioner, Practice Manager, Receptionist, and Accountant.
Note that only Practitioner and Practitioner Admin roles are billable. All other roles (Receptionist, Practice Manager, Accountant) can be added at no extra cost.
You'll enter their name, email address, and role. The invite is sent immediately, so only do this when you're ready for them to join. Always be sure the email address is correct before sending!
Once a practitioner is created, go to their user profile and assign the services they deliver and locations they work from. This completes the three-way link that makes the practitioner and their services visible in the calendar.
If you have a larger team, user groups let you organise practitioners into named collections - by discipline, location, or team - which become useful for filtering batch invoicing, reports, and routing form notifications to the right people.
If something isn’t working
Before contacting support, it’s worth double checking the steps set out in this guide and the linked help articles. If you're still stuck our support team are ready to help.