Simple PTA Management Guide

Administrator Access

Updating an Existing Contact's Access

  1. Go to the Contacts tab and search for the contact.
  2. Select their name.
  3. Adjust the Admin Level pull-down to set their access.

This allows the contact to log into the Admin UI and view reports, with permissions determined by the level selected (see table below).

Adding a New Administrator

  1. Click the green Add button.
  2. Select Admin....
  3. Fill in the contact's information.
  4. Set their Admin Level using the pull-down.

The new contact will be prompted to create a password the first time they log in.

Admin Access Levels

Level Permissions
Appointment Viewer Can log in and view appointments only — no changes allowed
Appointment Maker Can make appointments from the Admin UI, but cannot change setup or add/remove slots
Resource Administrator Can make/cancel appointments and add/remove slots — limited to the specific resources granted in Resource Access
Event Administrator Full administrative access to one or more specific events — set under Event Access
Administrator Full access to the entire account

All levels include access to reports.

Granting Specific Access

Some levels require you to specify what the contact can access:

Updating Multiple Teachers/Admins at Once

To bulk-update access levels for a group of contacts:

  1. Go to Global Setup / Contacts.
  2. Under Advanced Options, click Modify Admin Level.


Allow Teachers to Block Slots

Why upgrade teacher access?

By default, teachers have Appointment Viewer access only — they can view their schedule but not make changes.

Upgrading teachers to Appointment Maker access allows them to block their own slots before the scheduler opens to parents. This is useful when an admin has bulk-created slots for all teachers, and each teacher needs to block off specific times (e.g., for breaks or unavailability).

How to upgrade teacher access

  1. Go to Global Setup / Contacts.
  2. Click Show Advanced Options.
  3. Click Modify Access Level.
  4. Change the access level from Appointment Viewer to Appointment Maker for your teachers.

Each teacher will now have access to manage their own schedule.

How teachers block/unblock slots

  1. Log into the Admin UI — teachers will land directly on the Reports section.
  2. Click Block Schedule at the top of the page to go to the Appointments page, showing their available time slots.
  3. To block a slot, click the X in that slot's cell — it will turn red.
  4. To unblock a slot, click the X again — it will turn back to blue, indicating it's available.

Allow Teachers to Pre-Book Appointments

Why upgrade teacher access?

By default, teachers have Appointment Viewer access only — they can view their schedule but not make changes.

Upgrading teachers to Appointment Maker access allows them to book appointments on behalf of parents, before the scheduler opens to parents.

How to upgrade teacher access

  1. Go to Global Setup / Contacts.
  2. Click Show Advanced Options.
  3. Click Modify Access Level.
  4. Change the access level from Appointment Viewer to Appointment Maker for your teachers.

Each teacher will now have access to manage their own schedule.

Contacts

The Contacts tab is where your full list of teachers, administrators, and parents is stored. Parent contact records are created automatically the first time they log into the online scheduler.

To get started: From the Admin UI, select Contacts on the left-hand side dashboard.

Viewing Contact Info

Search for and select a contact to populate their details on the right-hand side. Several tabs are available:

Tab What it shows
Contact Info Email, first/last name, admin level, customer access rights, and any custom fields configured under Global Setup / Contacts
Appointments (small tab, distinct from the main Appointments tab) All appointments for this contact. For students, this shows enrolled classes.
Log Email history and a log of when appointments were booked or canceled
Vendor Access Resource Access and Event Access settings for administrators

Search options: The Search Control list allows you to search by Last Name, First Name, Email, or any custom ID fields configured under Contacts.

Other actions available from a selected contact:

Setting Up Vendor Access

Important: When adding a new contact with Appointment Viewer, Appointment Maker, or Resource Administrator access, be sure to check the appropriate box under Vendor Access / Resource Access — otherwise they won't have access to any resources.

Master Access: The "Allow access to all events and all resources" option under Master Access is only available for Appointment Viewer and Appointment Maker levels. It is not available for Resource Administrator or Event Administrator levels, which require resources/events to be granted individually.

Adding a New Contact

  1. Click Add.
  2. Select a contact type from the drop-down:
    • Admin
    • Teacher
    • Parent
    • Other
  3. Fill in the fields marked <not entered> on the form — fields vary depending on the contact type selected.

The form will not allow you to create a new contact record with the email address that already exists on the vendor account.

Directions for Parents

Follow the link provided by your school to access the Scheduler, then follow the steps below.

Step 1: Sign In

Step 2: Select Teachers

By default, all of your student's teachers will appear.

Step 3: Book Appointments

The scheduling grid displays available times as squares with a plus sign (+).

  1. Click your preferred time square.
  2. Enter the student's name or any other information your school requires.
  3. Click Create Appointment.
  4. A confirmation message will briefly appear at the top of the screen.
  5. Repeat for each teacher you'd like to visit.

Managing Your Schedule

View or Print Your Schedule

Click Printable Schedule in the left-hand sidebar to see your full itinerary.

Changes & Cancellations

On a computer:

  1. Click My Appointments in the left-hand sidebar.
  2. Locate the appointment you'd like to change.
  3. Hover over the appointment to reveal Details, Edit, and Cancel options.

On a mobile phone:

  1. Tap the menu icon (☰) in the top-left corner.
  2. Select My Appointments.
  3. Tap the three dots (⋮) next to an appointment to modify or cancel it.

Important Notes

Modifying Teacher or Room Data

Teachers

Once the teacher has been imported into the system the teacher’s names will appear in the contacts and also in the resource listing on the Appointments page.

Change the spelling of a teacher's name

  1. From the Admin UI, open the event. 
  2. On the right-hand side in the list of teachers select the teacher that you want to change, select the Teachers drop-down and then the Assign Contact option. A dialog box called Select person will pop up that is very similar to the Contacts page.
  3. On the Select person dialog box click on the 'Show Full Dialog' button. 
  4. Search for the teacher on the left-hand side, when his/her information displays on the right-hand side, correct the name and then press Ok.

Rooms

To display the Room column on the event scheduler, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to the Admin UI and open the specific event.

  2. Go to the Settings / Online Scheduler Settings tab.

  3. Under Scheduler Settings, locate the Teacher Display section.

  4. Enable the Display Room checkbox.

To update a room number, follow these steps:

  1. Select the Appointments tab.

  2. Locate the room listed next to the teacher's name.

  3. Double-click the room number to edit it directly.

Passwords

Resetting Passwords for Individual Contacts

  1. Navigate to the Contacts page of the Admin UI.

  2. Search for the contact by name and select them in the search result.

  3. Click the Reset PW button under the Search console.

  4. The password will revert to the system default.

Note: The default password is found and managed on the Global Setup / Contacts page, Advanced Options section. 

Resetting Passwords for All Teachers

To perform a bulk password reset for your teaching staff:

  1. Navigate to the Global Setup / Contacts page.

  2. Scroll to the bottom and click the Reset PW button.

  3. When prompted for an Administrative Level, select Appointment Viewer from the dropdown menu.

  4. Confirm the action to reset all passwords to the current default password listed on this page.

Problem Appointments

The Appointments List page shows a master list of all appointments, including any that need attention.

Red Appointments — Rule Violations

What they are: Previously booked appointments that violate a rule configured under Settings → Online Scheduler Settings.

How they're created:

To resolve:

  1. Click the red appointment to see the reason for the conflict, shown below the calendar.
  2. Open the Appointments drop-down and select Confirm Appointment to force the booking and clear the flag.

⚠️ Important: Red appointments are invisible to parents — they do not appear as booked on the parent's schedule, and reminder emails will not be sent until the appointment is confirmed. Always check the Appointments List for unresolved red appointments.

Orange Appointments — In Progress

What they are: Appointments currently being booked by a parent, mid-process.

Behavior:

This status is useful for admins booking appointments manually: it prevents you from accidentally selecting a time slot a parent is currently in the process of booking.

Deleted Slots with Existing Appointments

When you delete a slot that has appointments booked on it, those appointments are not deleted — they're flagged instead, and will appear in the Appointments List for review.

Reports

When you log into pickAtime, you'll land on the Event Reports page by default. Reports fall into two categories: Event-Specific and Account-Specific.

Event-Specific Reports

Select your event from the Event pull-down. If your event's dates have already passed, enter a From/To date range to pull historical data — otherwise, this is optional.

Report What it shows
Teachers' Schedule Appointment schedule per teacher. Supports filtering by teacher, plus "Show All Slots" to see every slot (booked or not). Can be emailed to all teachers or one individual.
Teachers' Appts Number of appointments scheduled per teacher
Teachers' Slots Number of available vs. total slots per teacher
Parents' Schedule Sorted appointment list per parent. Filterable by individual parent; can be emailed to all or one parent. Can be sent directly to parents.
Number of Parents and Students Count of parents/students with appointments, sorted by date for multi-day events
Appointment Histogram Number of appointments by date and time
Appointment Count by Parent List of parents and how many appointments each has made
Appointment Count by Student List of students with booked appointments
Students Without Any Scheduled Appointments Students whose parents haven't booked any appointments. Can be sent to parents.
All Teacher/Team Appointments Like Teachers' Schedule, but for teachers on a team, shows a combined master schedule of both individual and team appointments
Appointments by Date/Time All appointments listed chronologically
Display Only Empty (Not Blocked) Slots List of open, unblocked slots per teacher

Additional Report Fields: Most reports support adding extra columns via links like "Student's Contact Fields," "Parent's Contact Fields," and "Appointment Fields" — useful for pulling in details like email addresses or Student IDs.

Managing Reports

Every report supports the following options:

Action Description
Format Print, export to XML, or export to tab-delimited (Excel-compatible)
Email Report Send the report to yourself or others
Save Report Settings Saves customizations (e.g., added fields) so they persist next time you run the report
Schedule Report Delivery Set a date range, time of day, and frequency for automated email delivery

Account-Specific Reports

Toggle to Account Reports mode to view data across your entire vendor account (all events).

Report What it shows
Settings Your account's auto-generated scheduler URL
Account – Invoices and Payments Account balance, invoice history, and payment history. Click an invoice # to view it and pay by credit card.
Problem Appointments Appointments placed "on hold" — e.g., when a slot with an existing appointment is deleted, the appointment isn't deleted but flagged here for review
Appointments from All Events All appointments across every event on your account
Contacts Without Appointments Contacts who've logged in but never booked an appointment
List of Administrators Admin emails and access levels. For teachers (auto-assigned Appointment Viewer access), this also shows which resources/teachers they can access. Click Additional Fields → Last Logged In to see last login dates.
Cancelled Appointments All cancelled appointments, with cancellation date/time and who cancelled
Appointment Counts for All Events Total appointment counts across every event
Resource Mapping Shows all resources and their associated contacts/teachers — useful for verifying Team assignments
Scheduled Report Delivery Overview of your automated report deliveries — recipients, frequency, last sent date. Delete entries here to cancel a scheduled delivery.
Appointments Summary by Contacts Appointments booked by specific contact(s), across all events on the account

Scheduling Parent Apppointments in the Admin UI


Administrators can manually book appointments for parents through the Appointments tab. Follow these steps to ensure the booking is correctly attributed.

Step 1: Navigate to the Schedule

  1. Go to Events / Preview, select your event and press the orange Go To Event button.
  2. Select the Appointments tab.
  3. Use the calendar on the left to select the date.
  4. Select the teacher from the list on the right to load their schedule.

Step 2: Select a Time Slot

  1. Locate the desired time on the teacher's schedule.
  2. Click the green plus sign (+) in that slot. The Select Person dialog will open.

Step 3: Identify or Create the Parent Contact

You must link the appointment to a parent. Choose one of the following:

Option A: Search for an existing parent

  1. Type the parent's name (or the first few letters) into the search bar.
  2. Select the correct name from the results on the left.
  3. Review their details on the right to confirm accuracy, then click OK.

Option B: Create a new contact

  1. If the parent isn't found, enter their First Name, Last Name, and Email Address in the fields on the left.
  2. Click Add → Parent... to add them to your database.
  3. Click OK to proceed.

Step 4: Finalize the Appointment

Once a parent is selected, the Create Appointment window will appear.

  1. Enter the student's name in the designated field — this tells the teacher which student the meeting concerns.
  2. Click OK to save. The slot will now show as occupied on the schedule.

Sending Custom Emails

The Appointments List page — not the main Appointments page — lets you search for and manage appointments by:

This returns a list of parents with appointments matching your search, along with options to email, delete, confirm, or recreate slots and appointments.

Sending Emails from the Appointments List

  1. Click Send Email at the top of the page.
  2. Choose Send to All or Send to Selected.
  3. In the dialog that appears, choose an email type:
    • Reminder email
    • Custom email

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You can send using the existing template as-is, or customize it for this send.

Email templates are managed under Settings/ Notification Setup.

Teacher Access

Teachers can view their own schedule by logging in at pickatime.com or via the school's scheduling link — the same way a parent would.

Once logged in, teachers are taken directly to the Reports page, where they can view their booked appointments.

For teachers who are also parents at the school:

These users will land on the standard parent scheduling page first. From there, they'll see an Admin UI link, which takes them to the Reports section to view their own teaching schedule.

Viewing Appointments on the Appointments tab

You can adjust several display settings to make the Appointments page easier to read.

Adjust row height (make time slots taller): On the Appointments tab, hover over one of the horizontal lines just above a time marker, then click and drag vertically.

Adjust column width: Hover over the space between two resource columns, then click and drag.

Adjust time markers and gridlines: Go to Settings / Admin View Settings and modify "Time Mark Display on the Appointments Page."

Adjust the visible time range (scroll bar limits): On the same Admin View Settings page, under "Hours Visible on the Appointments Page," set the minimum and maximum hours shown.

This range applies account-wide per event — it is not day-specific. If one day has slots from 8–5 and another has slots from 9–6, set the range to 8–6 so the scroll bar covers all possible slot times across every day.

Simple PTA Event Videos

Getting Started with your Simple PTA Event
The Backend
Working with slots in your Simple PTA event 
 Working with teachers in your Simple PTA event 
 Working with parents in your Simple PTA event 
 Additional features