Release Notes Version 7

Modified on Mon, 11 Jul 2022 at 10:04 AM

We are delighted to introduce you to Version 7 of Pet Sitter Plus!

This release has been HUGE and contains about 20 months development effort and we know that it will transform your experience of using Pet Sitter Plus. The size of this major upgrade is exceptional and we will be returning to releasing regular bitesize updates in future.

Major Enhancements

NEW! A Single Integrated Configurable Interface

In this release the Staff and the Admin interfaces have been combined into one, so everyone now has only one login to access all they need. These enhancements bring Pet Sitter Plus into readiness for our App rollout.

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Everyone involved in the business has a "staff" account with just one login, so we no longer need to have "users". Their password is secure and private to them, and they are able to click "reset password" if they have forgotten it. Levels of access are determined through the new Permissions module. One navigation menu shows each staff the options they have access to.

Further information

NEW! Introducing... Staff & Admin Permissions

The new granular permission controls mean that you can assign specific administration functions to individual users without necessarily making the staff member a full administrator. This helps you create a bespoke user experience for those individuals with unique roles in your organization.

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In Version 7 of Pet Sitter Plus we have removed the need to have "users" and user logins that were different for Staff and Admins. Everyone now has a staff account with just one login, whether it's an existing staff member (or Admin) or you are creating a new staff, and you set their levels of access – or "permissions" – to all areas of the system. Our Permissions module offers total control for the business owner to decide how much or how little access they wish to grant to each staff member who works in their business, and to fully customize these "roles."

Further information

A Reimagined App-ready Client Portal

A re-vamped look and feel for the client portal means that the client experience is transformed with improved support for mobile platforms and our App, plus more options to include your branding. 

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The new client portal can be customized to match your own website/branding which creates a more seamless experience for your clients and many new features make the user experience much more friendly and modern. We have redesigned the layout of the Client Portal so it is much more in line with the layout of Pet Sitter Plus. There are more menu options, such as adding a selection of links to your commercial website, with an improved schedule view and easier to update client information section.

Further information

NEW! Update your Email Templates with HTML Styling

Support for rich text throughout the system means that text for emails and standard narratives can be more easily and richly customized and formatted by you. Think "bold", "underline", "hyperlinks", etc.

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You can also add text enchancements, like colors and highlighting, plus change the size of your type, add bullets and numbering and change the justification. A future release will add the ability to add images to your emails.

NEW! Improved Onboarding with "required" mandatory Fields

The introduction of mandatory fields means that you can ensure clients provide you with all the "must have" data you need at the time of completing online registration. This means that the experience of onboarding new clients becomes more streamlined and easier to manage.

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When you update existing fields to be "required" fields using the functionality in Custom Fields, existing clients also have to complete this information the next time they log in to the Portal if those fields are empty.

Further information

NEW! Searchable Help Center within Version 7

You won't need to leave Pet Sitter Plus to find all the help you need. In this next release we have introduced a brand new knowledge base that is packed full of updated help articles and is fully searchable. This makes it much easier and faster to find the answers that you need. 

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All you have to do is click the Help Center icon in the bottom right corner, search for your answer or, if you need more help, send us an email with your question. You can also click the Help "?" icon in the menu from any screen to open the Help Center fully in a new tab.

Further information

NEW! On-Screen Universal Guidance

Each screen in Pet Sitter Plus now has integrated guidance as standard which means that if you have forgotten how to use a function, or even what it does, then you can access a guide to the functions of the screen with a single mouse click.

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If you want to know more, then this guide signposts you to the most relevant parts of our new knowledge base where more complete explanations are available. Simply click the chevrons to show the on-screen guidance and when you are finished, click the chevrons again to hide it. A useful feature if you are learning Pet Sitter Plus, but also handy for a quick recap of a feature or function you haven't used recently.

Further information

Minor Enhancements

Modern New "APP Ready" Look and Feel

A restyled & updated Admin & Staff Interface that is super modern with a completely fresh look and feel.

Terminology becomes easier to understand

When we redesigned V7, we wanted to make the user experience much easier for our clients, so we went "back-to-basics" and made some changes to the words and phrases we'd been using previously. These new phrases better describe the function and will be easier to understand globally. See the full list...

Booking / Cancel Restrictions replace Time Constraints

Time Constraints was for many a difficult concept to grasp, and in particular for our new clients. So we have re-written the descriptions and functionality around this to make it far easier to implement. Read more...

Service Items – more compact view

The short and long descriptions, together with the service group, have been brought together on one table view to make it much easier to identify individual services when you have a long list.
Service items have been given a makeover with a re-ordered menu list. Timeblocks have been given a separate sub-menu item.

Staff List – more compact view

The Staff list now shows the staff name, email, level of acces and staff account number. The unique staff account number can be used to login instead of the email address if preferred.

Disable Staff Login for Ex-employees

When a staff leaves the business, you can now prevent their access to Pet Sitter Plus. Read more...

Payments - Enhanced functionality

On-screen activity summary is far easier to use and understand, plus helpful descriptions of which payments can be altered and which can't. Read more...

Repeat Services - Enhanced functionality

The process of scheduling repeat services has been much improved. Read more...

SMTP reveal password

You can now securely show/hide your email account password when setting up SMTP which should help to solve authentication errors.

Vet information now available on staff dashboard

Clients have been asking us to make Vets info available for any staff role in the staff dashboard without needing to give them admin rights, so we've done just that!

Service reports can be viewed in Client Schedule

You can now drill into service reports in the client schedule from My Dashboard, meaning that sitters in the field can know what has been happening with other visits. 

Reporting – Schedule Stats improved navigation

We've introduced the ability to quickly change between views of the Service group, Referral source and Area. Read more...

Reporting – Revenue & Tax displays as 2 separate reports

Separate menu items are now included for the Bills Delivered and Cash Received Revenue & Tax reports.

Reporting – Vaccination reports increases from 2 to 3 vaccines


As the development of Version 7 represents considerable improvements in functionality and features, there have been a number of menu and field changes. So to help you to find a function that has moved, please refer to this guide.  See the full list...

Future Releases:

This release has been HUGE and contains about 20 months development effort and we know that it will transform your experience of using Pet Sitter Plus. In future however, we will be returning to releasing regular bitesize updates throughout the year.

The APP and Messaging to follow shortly after the release of Version 7....

We have already created downloadable APP's for Clients and Staff and we have also created our own messaging service right in the heart of Pet Sitter Plus. The idea is that it will feel like we have integrated “Facebook Messenger” or “WhatsApp” into Pet Sitter Plus. However for technical reasons these two exciting components cannot be rolled out until a few months after this new release becomes available.

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