Major Workbench Update: New Admin UI, Calendar Integration, and Appointment Bookings

October 25, 2024 by Dylan Dove

---

---

1. New Admin UI: Simplified and Streamlined

Our brand-new admin interface is designed to make managing your classes, students, and bookings faster and easier. The new UI is:

• Cleaner and more intuitive, with a simplified layout that makes navigating between different parts of the platform a breeze.
• Faster loading, so you can spend less time waiting and more time managing your courses.
• Mobile-optimized, giving you full control from any device, whether you’re in the workshop or on the go.

This redesign prioritizes ease of use, allowing you to focus on delivering a great learning experience for your students.

2. Calendar Integration for Conflict Management and Invites

Keeping track of scheduling has never been simpler. We now integrate directly with your existing calendar system, making it easy to manage bookings and prevent conflicts:

• Automatic conflict detection: Workbench now checks for scheduling conflicts when new classes or appointments are added, ensuring smooth planning without overlapping events.
• Automated calendar invites: Whenever a class or appointment is booked, both you and your students automatically receive a calendar invite. This helps keep everyone on the same page and reduces the chance of missed or double-booked sessions.

3. Enhanced Student and Admin Self-Management

Managing students just got a lot easier with several new features that put both you and your students in control:

• Refund management: You can now directly process refunds for students within Workbench, allowing for greater flexibility when handling cancellations or changes.
• Self-enrollment and removal: Not only can students now enroll in and remove themselves from classes with ease, but we’ve also expanded this self-management functionality for you, the admin. You now have full control to add or remove students, update details, and manage everything yourself without needing to rely on external support.
• Order and payment data: Easily view and manage orders and payment details, with a centralized dashboard that provides all the information you need at a glance.

4. Introducing Appointment-Style Bookings

We’re thrilled to introduce appointment-style bookings, perfect for offering personalized one-on-one sessions. Whether you’re scheduling private lessons, consultations, or any type of individual appointment:

• Self-service booking: Students can now book specific appointment times directly on your calendar, choosing from available slots that work for both them and you.
• This feature functions similarly to Calendly, streamlining how students book personalized sessions without the hassle of back-and-forth scheduling.

5. Improved Course Builder: Easily Edit Course Details

Our course builder has received significant enhancements to make it even more flexible:

• Quick updates: You can now easily update course descriptions, schedules, and pricing in just a few clicks.
• Live course management: Keeping your course listings up to date is simpler than ever, reducing the administrative burden while ensuring accuracy in what’s being offered to students.

With these improvements, you’ll spend less time managing course details and more time focusing on delivering great learning experiences.

---

This release marks a significant step forward in how you can leverage Workbench to run your programs more efficiently. From the cleaner, faster admin UI to robust new features for managing calendars, payments, and appointments, this update is designed to simplify every aspect of running your classes.

As always, we’re here to support you every step of the way. We look forward to hearing your feedback on these new features. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to make Workbench the go-to tool for managing craft and workshop courses.

The Workbench Team