Updates

Q2 2025

As we move into the second quarter of 2025, we're excited to share some fantastic updates that will enhance your event management experience. We've been hard at work listening to your feedback and implementing new features to make your life easier. Let's take a look at what's new!

Stripe

We've refactored and updated our Stripe integrations to use the latest Stripe API and payment elements. This update brings a host of improvements, including:

• Improved Payment Experience: The new Stripe integration provides a more seamless and user-friendly payment experience for your attendees.
• More Payment Methods: The latest Stripe Peyment Elements support a wider range of payment methods, allowing your attendees to pay using their preferred method including Apple Pay and Google Pay as well as providing the option for them to save multiple card details for future use.
• Enhanced Security: The latest Stripe API offers improved security features to protect your payment data.

Linking Extras to Tickets

We've improved the ticket linking feature for extras. Now, when an extra is added to an order that requires some custom data a Lead Booker can link it to any ticket across any order they've placed for the same event.

In addition we've added a new setting for Extras to alow you to specificy if the extra is required to be linked to a ticket or not. This is useful for extras, such as meal vouchers, that should always be associated with a particular person. A Lead Booker will not be able to complete their order until they have linked the extra(s) to a ticket with this setting enabled.

Groups

Group Coordinator Ticket Status Visibility

Group Coordinators now have a little more visibility over the status of the tickets and extras assigned to their group. They can now see at a glance if a ticket or extra is paid or unpaid, and how complete the ticket data is:

• Unassigned: No ticket data has been provided for this ticket
• Partially Assigned: Some ticket data has been provided for this ticket but some required data remains incomplete.
• Fully Assigned: All required ticket data has been provided for this ticket

🎟️ Group Coordinator Access to Download All Tickets 🎟️

Event Organisers now have the ability to enable or disable the option for Group Coordinators to download all tickets for their group members. This is a great way to streamline the ticket distribution process and ensure that all group members have access to their tickets especially for larger groups or those where tickets are purchased by many different individuals.

Reports

We've made some improvements to the reports available:

• Date Columns: The output format for these columns has been updated to be more consistent across all reports and to work more reliably with various spreadsheet software, such as Excel, Google Sheets & Apple Numbers, to be automatically recognised as Dates and therefore be instantly sortable.
• Custom Form Data: Columns related to custom form data have now been ordered according to the order those fields are present within the forms. This makes it easier to read and understand the data being presented in the reports.

Q1 2025

We're kicking off the new year with a bang, bringing you a host of exciting updates and improvements to enhance your event management experience. Let's take a look at some of the huge features we've been working on!

🎁 Bundles! 🎁

We're thrilled to introduce a brand new feature that allows you to create ticket and bundles for your events. With bundles, you can group multiple tickets and extras together and offer them at a discounted price. This is perfect for events that want to offer special packages or deals to their attendees.

Updating Orders with an 'In Progress' Status

We've made it easier for event organizers to update orders with an 'In Progress' status. Now, you can edit the details of these orders directly from the order details page, making it simple to make changes and keep your records up to date. Where an update alters the total cost of the order, we will automatically adjust the existing future instalments or create a new one to capture the difference.

Updated Payment Options

We've made some improvements to the payment options available to attendees. Now, when paying for an order or instalment, attendees can choose to pay using Apple Pay and Google Pay providing a seamless payment experience.

Other Quality of Life Improvements

• Improved Arrivals Experience: Now, when assigning an event pass to a ticket, the ticket will automatically be checked in, saving you time and effort, ensuring a seamless check-in process and reducing the risk of human error.
• Group Coordinators Digital Tickets: Events now have the option to allow their group coordinators to download digital tickets for all of their group members, whether or not those tickets were booked by them or by others. This feature is perfect for events where group coordinators are responsible for distributing tickets to their group members.

Q4 2024

As we head into the final quarter of the year, we've been hard at work making improvements to the event management experience for both admins and attendees. We've introduced new features, enhanced existing functionality, and squashed a few bugs along the way. Let's dive into some of the highlights from our recent updates!

Simplified Payment Plan Instalment Collection Setting

We've made it easier for event organizers to manage payment plan instalment collection settings. You can now update on a per-order basis whether its future instalments should be collected automatically or manually. This option is available from the 'Order Options' menu on the order details page.

Re-sending Instalment Schedule Emails

When an order is placed to pay by instalments, the Lead Booker receives an email with the instalment schedule. When an instalment is then paid, an updated version of this email is sent to acknowledge successful payment for the Lead Booker's records. If, however, the Lead Booker needs a copy of this email resent at any time, you can now do so directly from the 'Order Options' menu on the order details page.

Q3 2024

The second half of the year is here, and we've been busy bees buzzing around with exciting updates! We've been hard at work improving the event management experience for both admins and attendees, and we've even squashed a few bugs along the way. Let's dive into some of the big features we've cooked up!

Team Member References

We've introduced a new feature that allows events to capture and review references for team members applying to join a team. Designated referees will receive an email with a link to provide a reference for the applicant.

Check it out in this video

Payment Plan Fee

Events now have the option to charge a fee for using a payment plan. This provides additional flexibility for event organizers.

Automated Cleanup of Front of House Admin Accounts

To enhance data security, we've implemented an automated process that removes Front of House admin roles after an event has concluded.

Custom Event Location Coordinates

Events can now set the exact location of their event for use in the event map, ensuring accuracy even when automated location data is incomplete.

Discrete Check-ins

A new option is available for ticket check-in and out that eliminates the need for a confirmation step, streamlining the process.

Check-in Reset

For venues hosting multiple meetings, we've added the ability to reset the number of checked-in tickets between meetings.

Simplified Payment Plan Cancellation

Canceling a payment plan for an order is now a more straightforward process.

Account Verification Grace Period

Users now have a 48-hour grace period to verify their email address before their account is locked.

Q2 2024

We've been busy over the last few months with a number of updates to improve the event management experience for both event admins and attendees. Here's a summary of what we've been working on:

User Profile

We've brought a brand new look and feel for the user profile area making it easier to navigate and find the information customers need. You can now:

• See all your bookings in one place across all relevant events
• Easily access your downloadable digital tickets
• Pay any outstanding balances and instalments on your orders

Watch the video below to see the new profile and 'My Bookings' area in action:

'Remember Me' login

It's the simple things that ooften make the biggest difference and this one is no exception. We've added a 'Remember Me' option to the login page so you can stay logged in for longer without having to re-enter your details.

Q1 2024

We're kicking off the new year with exciting updates to streamline team management, event arrivals and digesting top-level event data.

Enhanced Team Member Approval Criteria

We're excited to announce a significant update to our Approval Criteria feature! Now, you can customize approval requirements for each individual team within your event. This flexibility allows you to tailor your workflow to the specific needs of each team. Key Benefits include:

• Increased Efficiency: Streamline your approval process by setting criteria that align with your team's unique requirements.
• Improved Compliance: Ensure that all team members meet the necessary qualifications before being granted approval.
• Enhanced Customization: Tailor your workflow to the specific needs of each team within your event.

Event Arrivals

• Bulk Arrivals: Arrive entire bookings or groups in one go! This feature is perfect for events with large groups or bookings that need to be checked in quickly.
• Search: Search now takes into account group names and codes
• Accountability: We now record which account was responsible for checking in/out a ticket and assigning an event pass.

Event Dashboard

Each dashboard block now includes a tooltip to priovide context for the data displayed. This is especially useful for new users or those who may not be familiar with the data being presented. We also now provide an alternative 'table' view for data to make at-a-glance analysis easier.

November 2023

The cold and wet ☔ weather hasn't stopped us from continuing to expand and improve Solidrock this month. We've got a number of updates around emails, a new timeout system and much more, alongside some infrastructure updates to give you even better security 🔒 and performance 🏎️.

Time Restricted Items

The biggest feature release this month is the ability to mark certain items as 'Time Restricted'. Time Restricted items will start a 30-minute inactivity timer for a Lead Booker. When the timer runs out, those items will be removed and become available for others to purchase.

The timer is reset back to 30-minutes by staying active in their order by updating ticket and extra details, adding new items to their order and otherwise being active in the booking process.

To read more about time restricted items, take a look at our docs page.

Notifications & Emails

This month we've made a number of changes, and we've added some new emails, to help you manage your event much easier, such as:

• Emails Area: All email settings for your event now have their own area. You can access this from the left-hand navigation. Click Event Emails under the Event Info section.
• Weekly Sales Summary: This opt-in email will give you a quick summary of the previous weeks sales, new team members and groups registered and a breakdown of how many of each of your tickets and extras were bought. Opt-in from your profile notifications page
• Unpaid Item Expiry Reminder: You can now enable a new email to be sent automatically to any Lead Booker who will have items in their unpaid orders expire within a week.
• Group Coordinator Notification: Group Coordinators can now opt in to a new notification which is sent whenever a new ticket for their group is purchased.

Team Leader Assignment

One of the things we implemented in October was a simpler way to add and remove Group Coordinators within your event. We've expanded on this and have now made managing your Team Leaders just as quick and easy.

Dashboard Updates

We have made a number of updates to the dashboard to make it clearer to get the data you need, including:

• Tickets Chart: We've added a chart to break down each of your tickets, as we have for extras.
• Tooltip Data: Tooltips in the Tickets and Extras charts now show the sales data for each item, broken down by payment status.
• In Progress Colour: We've updated the colour of In Progress data to cyan to differentiate it from Pending data.

October 2023

With Autumn now here and bookings for next year's events starting, we've got some exciting updates with Custom Forms, Groups, and more. Of course, we've also been continuing to squash pesky bugs 🐛 and improve overall system performance 🏎️.

Custom Forms

We've given Custom Forms a number of functional updates to make them more powerful and flexible, such as:

• Previews: Form previews have been given a refresh! Now you can see exactly what your Lead Bookers see within the preview for both Delegate and Team Member ticket types.
• Custom Labels and Instructions: This allows you to use the same underlying custom fields but tweak the name (label) and field instructions within each form, to better fit the use case of that form. Want 'First Name' to read 'Delegate First Name' instead? No problem!
• Hidden Fields: You can now hide certain fields from Lead Bookers but still have them accessible within the event's Admin Console. This is great for fields that are time-sensitive and not applicable year-round, or for 'Office Use Only' fields.

Groups

Continuing on from our May updates around groups, we've added some extra functionality to make it easier to manage Groups within your event. These include:

• Over 18s Check: A new event setting that allows you to display an over-18s check on the Public Group Registration form.
• Importing Group Coordinators: From the Group Coordinators list, you can now import Group Coordinators from any other event using the same Group Set.
• Adding Group Coordinators: You can now easily add a Group Coordinator to any existing group from the event's Group List page.
• Removing Group Coordinators: You can now easily remove a Group Coordinator from the Group Coordinators page.

Notifications

We've added a new opt-in notification to alert you whenever a new group has been publicly registered. There is also an updated UI for the notifications area, to make it easier to manage which notifications you've opted into for each of your events.

May 2023

As Spring rolls into Summer we've got a host of updates rolling out including a major refactor of how groups are managed, improvements to Payment Plans and instalments and some refinements to the booking process UI.

Groups

With this update, groups have been revamped to remove complexity and head-scratching moments. Say hello to Groups v2.0 now with:

• Configuration: Event admins now configure if and how an event uses groups from the event settings page
• Bookings: When event settings require it, Lead Bookers will now be asked to register or assign a group to their booking as a first step which will automatically assign the chosen group to any tickets or extras then added to their booking.
• Forms/Fields: Group Select fields are a thing of the past! Groups are no longer managed within custom form fields but are now assigned and managed from ticket lists and booking summary tables. You can now finally batch-update tickets and extras to a different group in just a couple of clicks 🙌 🎉
• Reports: The old Group Tickets report has been renamed to Groups and now includes details of all extras that have been associated to a group as well.
• Group Entry Pages: These now list the tickets and extras assigned to a group. In addition, the page will provide details on all Group Coordinators.

Payment Plans

Since their launch in Summer 2022, Payment Plans have become increasingly popular. One common request from our event partners has been the ability for events to require a Lead Booker to accept specific payment terms and conditions when using a payment plan, including agreeing to the line of credit offered by the event. These payment-specific terms are recorded and can be viewed on the order page within the backend, similar to order-level terms and conditions.

If an instalment payment fails when paid by card or set for automatic collection, Solidrock will send an email notification to the Lead Booker with a link to pay the instalment. Previously, some users were unsure where to navigate to pay the instalment after logging in to their account. However, now whenever an instalment is overdue, a notification will appear on-screen with a link to pay or update card details to ensure timely payment.

Booking Process UI

The main booking process a Lead Booker would navigate through has been updated to bring refinements to colours, text sizes and iconography as well as to provide easier access to their account profile, bookings and groups.

The event landing page now includes a table listing the available tickets and prices, meaning people can access and digest this important information without having to register a Solidrock account first.

February 2023

This update brings a ton of little refinements across the platform to Payment Instalments, form validation errors & UI, Groups and automated Event Emails.

Oh, and did we mention we squashed over 40 bugs too!?

Groups

When groups are created, either by an event admin or registered by a Lead Booker, they are given a unique, random group code. Event Admins now have the ability to change this code to be something a little less random and a little more memorable!

Event Emails

They've been a little while coming, but we are finally ready to release two new automated emails that can be enabled per event.

1. Unassigned Tickets Reminder: This email is sent to all Lead Bookers who have a booking with tickets that are still missing required form information (e.g. DOB, Dietary Requirements, etc.) 1 week before the order editing cut-off date. This is especially useful if the event is set up to allow Group Coordinators or anybody to complete a booking without first providing this information.

2. Digital Tickets: Until now a Lead Booker needed to log in to their Solidrock profile to download their tickets. This email simplifies the process significantly by emailing the tickets to them at an appropriate date specified by the event admins using the Digital Ticket Delivery Date field.

NOTE

Any booking that is completed and paid for after the Digital Ticket Delivery Date will have their tickets emailed immediately.

October 2022

Group Management

Alongside all the usual bug fixing and performance tuning we made managing groups simpler at the event level in this update. By creating two new areas in the main event navigation for viewing the 'Group List' and 'Group Coordinators' it is easier than ever to see which groups are attending an event and to access to key contact details for the group coordinators.

FAQs

Based on conversations we have with our incredible event administrators we compiled an initial set of FAQs which we'll be adding to over time.

Event Ticket Limit

There is now a new Ticket Limit option within an event's settings which acts as a hard limit across all ticket options. When that limit is reached no further tickets can be booked.

July 2022

In this update we've only gone and ticked off one of the most requested features - Payment Plans! Not to mention a plethora of bug fixes, updates to the whole backend look and feel as well as wristband assignment and scanning. If it's been a bit quiet around here lately, now you know why!

Payment Plans

Want to offer the option to your customers to pay a deposit and subsequent weekly or monthly instalments for their order? Now you can! Deposit amount and number of instalments are completely customisable. You can even offer multiple payment plans to the customer for them to choose the most appropriate option for them.

Orders can of course always be paid in full at checkout by card or, in certain circumstances, by BACs (Bank Transfer) too. Payment plans build on these payment methods allowing you the option to attempt automatic collection of an instalment where a customer is paying by card. Where this isn't possible (if the customer is paying instalments by BACs) or fails (e.g. the saved card on record has since expired) then an instalment payment instruction is sent directing the customer on how to pay the scheduled instalment either by making another bank transfer, or by logging into their Solidrock profile and paying by card.

Wristband Assignment

With in-person events now a real thing again (🙏🏻 Hopefully we've said goodbye to COVID restrictions for good 🙏🏻) we've spent some time refining and updating the delegate arrivals and check-in experience as well as bring the Box Office out of beta! We've brought all these features under one roof we're calling 'Front of House'.

With these updates we now also offer support for USB and Bluetooth HID barcode scanners and, now that we've revamped the check in and out process allowing multiple records per ticket, we've set up a new 'Check In' report, so you can pull out this detail.

If your event uses wristbands, or any other uniquely identifiable ID pass on-site you can now assign these to tickets within Solidrock either by entering the unique ID of the band or pass, or by scanning a QR Code or Barcode. Wristbands can be assigned ahead of the event, during check-in or through the box-office.

Once assigned, a search can be performed on a wristband ID or a QR/Barcode scanned to pull up the associated ticket details.

Design updates for the backend

We've been busy bringing some visual updates to the backend, unifying the design and pages throughout. But it doesn't stop there, we've also refined search and filtering across the board and brought in tons of enhancements here and there. We can't wait for you to see them.

February 2022

This update primarily focussed on improvements to the underlying hosting infrastructure to increase performance of the system under heavier loads. There was also a healthy amount of 🐛 squashing and some quality of life improvements tucked away for event organisers.

Archiving old events

Tidy up your event lists by archiving old, past events!

TIP

From the event list page in the backend open up the event options menu (by clicking on the cog) and selecting 'Archive' from the list of options.

Archived event data is still fully accessible and is now accessed from a more discrete list on the same event list page. Archived events do not show in the 'My Events' navigation.

Extras Chart

For events that sell extras, we've added a new chart to event dashboards to provide at a glance statistics on the number of extras sold, indicating the number that are full paid, and those in Pending (BACs) orders.

Quick link to documentation & guide

In the event sidebar navigation you'll now find a new link to this documentation site where we'll host guides, tutorials, FAQs and release notes!

Previous Releases

Solidrock Booking System is under constant development. Some worthy mentions for recent improvements include:

Event Check-in

From the event sidebar navigation you can access the check-in link that will load up the event arrivals and check-in pages. From here you can either scan a ticket's QR code to check in an individual ticket or search for and entire order by entering the unique order reference to then check-in one or more tickets.

TIP

Checked-in tickets will be indicated as such within the backend event ticket list by a visual ✓ symbol.

The Ticket List report also provides a new 'Checked in Date' column showing the date and time a ticket was checked in to the event.