How do I enable new clients to sign up for services from eCenter Direct?
Prospective clients can sign up for your center's services right from eCenter Direct. When a new client selects this option, they are provided with a sign-up form that has been customized to your center’s data requirements. The information collected by this form is uploaded to your WebCATS database as pending client and contact records. These pending records won’t be added to the database until you approve the counseling request.
In this FAQ, we'll discuss the following topics:
- Enabling new client sign-ups from eCenter
- Customizing the sign-up form
- Attaching an intake survey to the sign-up process
- Processing sign-up requests in WebCATS
Enabling New Client Sign-ups from eCenter
New client sign-up is activated on a per-center basis via the center record, as shown in the next graphic. By making this a per-center function rather than a global function, networks with multiple centers can get very specific about which centers want to accept new client requests.
Note: Don't see the above-pictured option in the center record? Then it's likely that you haven't yet made the center record public on eCenter. As discussed in the FAQ titled How do I customize the "Network of Centers" listing on eCenter Direct?, center records must have a status of "Public" in order to participate in eCenter's functions.
When the Allow client sign-up at this center? option is selected for a center record, then that center becomes available for selection when a new user clicks to sign up at eCenter. If the center is actually chosen for sign-up, the new registrant is taken directly to the sign-up form that is in place for the center, as discussed in the next section.
If you'd like to direct prospective clients to a particular center's sign-up form, you can provide them with the deep link to the form. This deep link resides in the center record, as shown next.
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Customizing the Sign-up Form
If you enable eCenter visitors to electronically sign up for your center's services, the next step is to customize the actual registration form that visitors will complete. When creating your own custom sign-up form, you can choose from a large number of client and contact record fields, as well as from any user-defined fields you've created for client and contact records. The process of customizing your client-sign up form is also done from the center record, as shown in the next graphic.
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Choose from one of three statuses for each available field on the sign-up form (the center record must be in edit mode):
- Don't Include. If this status is selected for a field, it will not appear on the sign-up form.
- Visible. If this status is selected for a field, it will appear on the sign-up form, but will not be mandatory.
- Mandatory. If this status is selected for a field, it must be completed before the form can be submitted.
Note: You'll notice that, at a minimum, some fields must be visible or even mandatory. Various system requirements within eCenter and WebCATS make these limitations a necessity.
Attaching an Intake Survey
If desired, you can set up eCenter to automatically display an intake survey upon completion of the sign-up form. For example, you may want to know more about the client than basic business information such as why they are in need of counseling services, and so on. To attach a client intake survey to the sign-up process, simply select the survey that you would like to attach from the Client Intake Survey field, which is also found on the center record, as shown in the next graphic.
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Note: For instructions on creating client intake surveys, see the FAQ titled How do I create, post, and advertise surveys?.
Processing Sign-up Requests in WebCATS
After a prospective client signs up for counseling from eCenter, a counseling request record shows up in WebCATS, as shown in the next graphic. This request record must then be attended to in order to permit that new client information into the WebCATS database. Upon acceptance of the new client into the database (either as a client or a pre-client), WebCATS creates corresponding client and contact records.
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For more information on customizing eCenter Direct, view our other popular resources on this topic:
Want more? Browse our extensive list of WebCATS FAQs.