docs: add TNCSC client handbook (settings + day-to-day operations)
A plain-language guide for TNCSC board members/volunteers covering role/permission setup, branding, membership tiers & renewal, events, Tamil Class terms/classes/attendance, classifieds moderation, benefits, Interac payment confirmation, website content editing, accounting guardrails, and troubleshooting. Menu paths and field labels verified against the live tncsc_site container rather than assumed from the module source. Also published as a shareable web page for non-technical staff (no repo access needed) - see the artifact link.
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# TNCSC CommunityOS Handbook
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A plain-language guide for TNCSC board members and volunteers to configure
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settings and run the system day-to-day — no developer required for any of
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this. If something isn't covered here, or doesn't work the way this guide
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describes, that's a question for your technical support contact, not
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something to guess at.
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**Where to log in:** your production site's `/web/login` page (ask your
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technical contact for the exact address if you don't have it). Use the
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account and password you were given.
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---
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## Contents
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1. [Understanding the system](#1-understanding-the-system)
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2. [User roles — who can do what](#2-user-roles--who-can-do-what)
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3. [Branding: colours, logo, fonts](#3-branding-colours-logo-fonts)
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4. [Membership](#4-membership)
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5. [Events](#5-events)
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6. [Tamil Class (School)](#6-tamil-class-school)
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7. [Classifieds](#7-classifieds)
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8. [Benefits](#8-benefits)
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9. [Interac e-Transfer Payments](#9-interac-e-transfer-payments)
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10. [Website content](#10-website-content)
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11. [Accounting basics](#11-accounting-basics)
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12. [Troubleshooting & getting help](#12-troubleshooting--getting-help)
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---
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## 1. Understanding the system
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Once you log in, you'll see an **app switcher** — a grid of icons, one per
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area of the system:
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| App | What it's for |
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|---|---|
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| **Membership** | Members, tiers/pricing, renewals |
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| **Events** | Creating events, ticketing, check-in |
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| **School** | Tamil Class terms, classes, students, attendance |
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| **Classifieds** | The member classifieds board and its moderation queue |
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| **Benefits** | Benefit centres (partner businesses) and member benefits |
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| **Interac Payments** | Confirming e-Transfer payments |
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| **Website** | The public website — pages, menus, content |
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| **Settings** | Branding, org-wide configuration, user accounts |
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**If an app is missing from your switcher**, it's almost always a
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permissions issue, not a broken install — see
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[section 2](#2-user-roles--who-can-do-what) and
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[troubleshooting](#12-troubleshooting--getting-help).
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Two databases exist during development/testing (`tncsc_migration_test`,
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`tncsc_site`) — your technical contact will tell you which one is live
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production once you go live. Everything in this guide applies the same way
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regardless of which database you're in.
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---
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## 2. User roles — who can do what
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Go to **Settings → Users & Companies → Users**, click a person's name, and
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under their groups you'll find **TNCSC Roles**. Check the box for the role
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that matches what they do:
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| Role | What it grants |
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|---|---|
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| **Board Admin** | Everything — membership, school, classifieds, benefits, events, and Interac payments. Give this only to whoever runs the system day-to-day. |
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| **Treasurer** | Confirms Interac payments and has invoicing access. |
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| **Events Officer** | Creates/manages events and staffs check-in. |
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| **School Coordinator** | Manages Tamil Class terms, classes, students, enrollment. |
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| **Teacher** | Can only take attendance for their own classes. |
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| **Classifieds Moderator** | Reviews and publishes classified listings. |
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A person can hold more than one role — e.g. someone can be both **School
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Coordinator** and **Teacher**. Members themselves don't need a role
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checked here at all: once someone is a member, they get their own
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self-service **member portal** automatically (see
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[section 4](#4-membership)) — that's separate from these backend roles,
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and doesn't require a staff login.
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**Adding a new staff/volunteer account:** Settings → Users & Companies →
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Users → **New**, fill in their name and email, save, then check the
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role(s) above. They'll get an email to set their own password.
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---
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## 3. Branding: colours, logo, fonts
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**Settings → General Settings → Theme** (left-hand tab list).
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- **Primary / Secondary / Accent Colour** — enter a colour as a hex code
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(e.g. `#05091E`). These apply instantly across the website, the member
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portal, and PDF documents like the membership card — no other setting
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to touch.
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- **Logo** — upload the image file to use in the site header and on
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generated PDFs. If left blank, the company logo (Settings → General
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Settings → Companies) is used instead.
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- **Heading Font / Body Font** — enter a font name, e.g. `Inter,
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sans-serif`. Needs to be a font available to browsers (a "web-safe"
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font, or one already loaded via Google Fonts) — ask your technical
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contact before entering something unusual.
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Click **Save** at the top of the page after any change.
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---
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## 4. Membership
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### 4.1 Settings
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**Settings → General Settings → Membership**:
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- **Organization Name** — used in renewal emails and the membership card.
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- **Member ID Format** — the pattern new member IDs follow, e.g.
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`TNCSC-{year}-{seq}` produces `TNCSC-2026-014`. Don't change the
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`{year}`/`{seq}` placeholders unless your technical contact confirms
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the change is safe — they drive the auto-numbering.
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- **Renewal Reminder Offsets** — comma-separated days-before-expiry to
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send reminder emails, e.g. `30,14,7` sends reminders 30, 14, and 7 days
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before a membership expires.
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- **Member Portal** — toggle to turn the self-service portal (`/my/membership`)
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on or off site-wide.
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### 4.2 Membership tiers and pricing
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**Membership → Configuration → Membership Tiers.**
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Each row is a plan (Individual, Family, Student, Senior, Life, or
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whatever TNCSC offers). To **change a price**, open the tier and edit
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**Price** — this is the only place pricing lives; there's no separate
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price to update anywhere else. To **add a new tier**, click New and fill
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in:
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- **Name** — shown to members, e.g. "Corporate Sponsor"
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- **Code** — a short internal code, e.g. `CORP` (no spaces)
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- **Price** and **Currency**
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- **Period** — Annual, One-Time, or Monthly
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- **Sequence** — controls display order (lower numbers show first)
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Deactivating a tier (rather than deleting it) keeps historical records
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intact for members who already hold it — use the **Active** toggle,
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found via the tier's kebab (⋮) menu → "Archive", instead of deleting.
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### 4.3 Day-to-day membership work
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- **Membership → Members** — the full member list. Open a member to see
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their tier, status (active/renewal due/expired), and expiry date.
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- Renewal reminders and draft renewal invoices are generated
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**automatically** by a daily background job — you don't need to run
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anything manually. What you *do* need to do periodically: check
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**Invoicing → Customer Invoices** for draft renewal invoices and
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confirm/send them once payment is expected.
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- Each member can view their status, download their QR membership card,
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and renew from `/my/membership` once logged into the website — you
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don't need to email cards out manually.
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- The membership card's QR code links to a public verification page
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(`/membership/verify/<member ID>`) — anyone scanning it (e.g. at an
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event door) sees only "valid" / "expired" / "not found," never personal
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details.
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---
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## 5. Events
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**Events → Events → New.** This is standard Odoo event creation:
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1. Name, start/end date and time, location.
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2. Under **Website**, check **Is Published** to make it visible on the
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public Events page and the homepage's "Upcoming Events" section —
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*unpublished events won't appear anywhere on the public site,* even
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though they exist in the system.
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3. Add ticket types under the event's **Registration** tab if you're
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charging for entry (e.g. "General $0–$30").
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Every registration automatically gets a signed QR ticket, emailed with
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the confirmation. At the door, staff with the **Events Officer** role use
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**Events → Registration Desk** to scan tickets (or type the ticket
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reference manually) — it shows valid / already checked-in / invalid, and
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a live count of registered vs. checked-in.
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**Events → Reporting → Attendees / Revenues** gives you numbers after the
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fact without any setup.
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---
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## 6. Tamil Class (School)
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### 6.1 Settings
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**Settings → General Settings → School**: **At-Risk Attendance
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Threshold** — the attendance percentage below which a student is flagged
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"at-risk" in the report (see below).
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### 6.2 Configuration — set these up before each school year
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**School → Configuration → Terms** — create a term (e.g. "2026-27"),
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set start/end dates, and open it (**State = Open**) once registration
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should begin. Only one term should normally be open at a time.
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**School → Configuration → Levels** — define your levels however TNCSC
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teaches (e.g. "Beginner" through "Advanced", or "Grade 1" through "Grade
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12"). Each needs a short **Code** (e.g. `BEG`) and optional min/max age.
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**Classes** aren't under Configuration — create them directly from
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**School → Classes → New**: pick the term, level, teacher, weekday,
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time, location, and max students. This is what shows up as an option
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when a parent registers online.
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### 6.3 Day-to-day
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- **School → Students / Enrollments** — see who's enrolled where.
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- **School → Attendance Report** — a pivot table of attendance by class.
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- **School → At-Risk Students** — students below the configured
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attendance threshold, so you can follow up.
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- Teachers take attendance themselves from their own portal page
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(`/school/attendance`) — a roster of today's/this-week's classes with a
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batch Present/Absent/Late/Excused save. An absence automatically emails
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the parent. Teachers only see their own classes there.
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- Parents register their child at `/school/register` on the public
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website (parent → student → class + payment, in three steps). If a
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class is full, the student is waitlisted and notified automatically
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when a seat frees up — no manual waitlist management needed.
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- Each class auto-creates and manages its own online course/materials
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channel — enrolling or withdrawing a student automatically
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enrols/unenrols them there too.
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---
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## 7. Classifieds
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**Settings → General Settings → Classifieds**: **Listing Duration** — how
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many days a published listing stays live before auto-expiring.
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**Classifieds → Moderation** is where every new submission lands first
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(state: Pending Review). Open one to **Publish** or **Reject** it — only
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published listings appear on the public `/classifieds` board. Posting
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requires the member to be logged in with an active membership, so this
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queue should only ever contain genuine member submissions.
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---
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## 8. Benefits
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Two things to set up, then one thing to log ongoing:
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- **Benefits → Benefit Centres** — the businesses/organizations offering
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a member benefit. Add their name, category, description, and logo.
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- **Benefits → Benefits** — the actual discount/perk, linked to one or
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more **Membership Tiers** (only members holding one of those tiers will
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see it). Set the discount type (percent / fixed amount / perk) and
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validity dates.
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- **Benefits → Redemptions** — a log a benefit centre (or staff) creates
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when a member actually uses a benefit, after confirming the member is
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active. This is mostly for your own record-keeping of usage, not
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something you need to set up in advance.
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Members see only what their own tier qualifies them for at
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`/my/benefits`; the public directory of participating centres is at
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`/benefits`.
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---
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## 9. Interac e-Transfer Payments
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### 9.1 One-time setup
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**Invoicing → Configuration → Online Payments → Payment Providers** →
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open **Interac e-Transfer**:
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- **Interac Recipient Email** — the real e-transfer address payments
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should be sent to.
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- **Interac Deadline Hours** — how long an unconfirmed payment stays
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pending before it's automatically cancelled (defaults to 48 hours if
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left blank).
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- Set the provider's **State** to **Enabled** so it appears as a
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checkout option.
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### 9.2 Day-to-day (Treasurer role)
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When someone chooses Interac at checkout, they're emailed instructions
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(recipient address, amount, a reference code, and the deadline) — this
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happens automatically, nothing for you to send.
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Once you actually receive the e-transfer in your real bank/e-transfer
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account, go to **Interac Payments → Pending Payments**, find the matching
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transaction (match by amount and reference code), and click **Payment
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Received**. This confirms the linked invoice/registration/order. If
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nobody confirms it before the deadline, it auto-cancels and the payer is
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notified by email.
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---
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## 10. Website content
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**Website** app, then click **Edit** on any page while viewing it on the
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public site to change text, images, and layout directly (drag-and-drop
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editor) — no code involved for routine copy changes. **Site → Menu
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Editor** lets you add, remove, or reorder navigation items.
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Two things worth knowing about the current site before you edit it:
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- The **Sponsors** page and a few header/footer text blocks (e.g. a
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placeholder phone number) still contain placeholder content carried
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over from the original site design — safe to edit or delete through
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the Website editor whenever real sponsor logos or a real phone number
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are ready.
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- **"Become a Member" buttons currently point to the Contact page**, not
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a self-service signup form — TNCSC doesn't have public online
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membership signup yet (only renewal, for existing members). Don't
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redirect these to a form that doesn't exist; talk to your technical
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contact if/when online signup becomes a priority.
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For anything beyond content edits — new page types, new sections with
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custom behaviour, structural changes — that's a developer task, not a
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Website-editor task.
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---
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## 11. Accounting basics
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The chart of accounts, tax setup, and journals were seeded for a Canadian
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non-profit when the system was set up, including dedicated revenue
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accounts (Membership Dues, Event Revenue, Sponsorship, School Fees,
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Donations) and a **Donations** journal. You generally don't need to
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create new accounts for normal operations — membership tiers, event
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tickets, and school fees are already wired to the right ones.
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**Do not** rename or delete existing accounts, or change the company's
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currency/country, without your accountant and technical contact both
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signing off — several of these are load-bearing for other parts of the
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system (e.g. renaming the dues account could silently break where
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membership payments post to). Day-to-day invoicing/payment work happens
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under the **Invoicing** app as normal.
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---
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## 12. Troubleshooting & getting help
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| Symptom | Likely cause / fix |
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|---|---|
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| An app I should have access to isn't in my switcher | You're missing the matching role — see [section 2](#2-user-roles--who-can-do-what). Ask a Board Admin to check the box for you. |
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| I changed a setting and nothing changed on the site | Make sure you clicked **Save**. If it still looks wrong after a minute, it may need a technical restart — contact support rather than repeating the change. |
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| A member says their QR card doesn't work | Check their membership **state** on their member record — the verify page only shows "valid" for members currently in the *active* state. |
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| An event isn't showing on the website | Confirm **Is Published** is checked on the event (see [section 5](#5-events)) — unpublished events are invisible on the public site by design. |
|
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|
| A parent can't register for a class | Check the term is **Open** and the class isn't already full (School → Classes) — full classes waitlist automatically rather than blocking registration outright. |
|
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|
| An Interac payment doesn't confirm | Double-check the reference code and amount match exactly before clicking Payment Received — mismatches usually mean it's a different transaction. |
|
||||||
|
|
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|
For anything not covered here — a genuine error message, something that
|
||||||
|
looks broken rather than misconfigured, or a request for new
|
||||||
|
functionality — contact your technical support contact rather than
|
||||||
|
experimenting on the live site. Screenshots and the exact steps you took
|
||||||
|
help them fix it faster.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
*This handbook covers the CommunityOS suite as configured for TNCSC. It
|
||||||
|
does not cover server maintenance, backups, or deployment — those remain
|
||||||
|
your technical contact's responsibility.*
|
||||||
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Reference in New Issue
Block a user