TNCSC_Odoo/docs/TNCSC_Handbook.md

# TNCSC CommunityOS Handbook

A plain-language guide for TNCSC board members and volunteers to configure
settings and run the system day-to-day — no developer required for any of
this. If something isn't covered here, or doesn't work the way this guide
describes, that's a question for your technical support contact, not
something to guess at.

**Where to log in:** your production site's `/web/login` page (ask your
technical contact for the exact address if you don't have it). Use the
account and password you were given.

---

## Contents

1. [Understanding the system](#1-understanding-the-system)
2. [User roles — who can do what](#2-user-roles--who-can-do-what)
3. [Branding: colours, logo, fonts](#3-branding-colours-logo-fonts)
4. [Membership](#4-membership)
5. [Events](#5-events)
6. [Tamil Class (School)](#6-tamil-class-school)
7. [Classifieds](#7-classifieds)
8. [Benefits](#8-benefits)
9. [Interac e-Transfer Payments](#9-interac-e-transfer-payments)
10. [Website content](#10-website-content)
11. [Accounting basics](#11-accounting-basics)
12. [Troubleshooting & getting help](#12-troubleshooting--getting-help)

---

## 1. Understanding the system

Once you log in, you'll see an **app switcher** — a grid of icons, one per
area of the system:

| App | What it's for |
|---|---|
| **Membership** | Members, tiers/pricing, renewals |
| **Events** | Creating events, ticketing, check-in |
| **School** | Tamil Class terms, classes, students, attendance |
| **Classifieds** | The member classifieds board and its moderation queue |
| **Benefits** | Benefit centres (partner businesses) and member benefits |
| **Interac Payments** | Confirming e-Transfer payments |
| **Website** | The public website — pages, menus, content |
| **Settings** | Branding, org-wide configuration, user accounts |

**If an app is missing from your switcher**, it's almost always a
permissions issue, not a broken install — see
[section 2](#2-user-roles--who-can-do-what) and
[troubleshooting](#12-troubleshooting--getting-help).

Two databases exist during development/testing (`tncsc_migration_test`,
`tncsc_site`) — your technical contact will tell you which one is live
production once you go live. Everything in this guide applies the same way
regardless of which database you're in.

---

## 2. User roles — who can do what

Go to **Settings → Users & Companies → Users**, click a person's name, and
under their groups you'll find **TNCSC Roles**. Check the box for the role
that matches what they do:

| Role | What it grants |
|---|---|
| **Board Admin** | Everything — membership, school, classifieds, benefits, events, and Interac payments. Give this only to whoever runs the system day-to-day. |
| **Treasurer** | Confirms Interac payments and has invoicing access. |
| **Events Officer** | Creates/manages events and staffs check-in. |
| **School Coordinator** | Manages Tamil Class terms, classes, students, enrollment. |
| **Teacher** | Can only take attendance for their own classes. |
| **Classifieds Moderator** | Reviews and publishes classified listings. |

A person can hold more than one role — e.g. someone can be both **School
Coordinator** and **Teacher**. Members themselves don't need a role
checked here at all: once someone is a member, they get their own
self-service **member portal** automatically (see
[section 4](#4-membership)) — that's separate from these backend roles,
and doesn't require a staff login.

**Adding a new staff/volunteer account:** Settings → Users & Companies →
Users → **New**, fill in their name and email, save, then check the
role(s) above. They'll get an email to set their own password.

---

## 3. Branding: colours, logo, fonts

**Settings → General Settings → Theme** (left-hand tab list).

- **Primary / Secondary / Accent Colour** — enter a colour as a hex code
  (e.g. `#05091E`). These apply instantly across the website, the member
  portal, and PDF documents like the membership card — no other setting
  to touch.
- **Logo** — upload the image file to use in the site header and on
  generated PDFs. If left blank, the company logo (Settings → General
  Settings → Companies) is used instead.
- **Heading Font / Body Font** — enter a font name, e.g. `Inter,
  sans-serif`. Needs to be a font available to browsers (a "web-safe"
  font, or one already loaded via Google Fonts) — ask your technical
  contact before entering something unusual.

Click **Save** at the top of the page after any change.

---

## 4. Membership

### 4.1 Settings

**Settings → General Settings → Membership**:

- **Organization Name** — used in renewal emails and the membership card.
- **Member ID Format** — the pattern new member IDs follow, e.g.
  `TNCSC-{year}-{seq}` produces `TNCSC-2026-014`. Don't change the
  `{year}`/`{seq}` placeholders unless your technical contact confirms
  the change is safe — they drive the auto-numbering.
- **Renewal Reminder Offsets** — comma-separated days-before-expiry to
  send reminder emails, e.g. `30,14,7` sends reminders 30, 14, and 7 days
  before a membership expires.
- **Member Portal** — toggle to turn the self-service portal (`/my/membership`)
  on or off site-wide.

### 4.2 Membership tiers and pricing

**Membership → Configuration → Membership Tiers.**

Each row is a plan (Individual, Family, Student, Senior, Life, or
whatever TNCSC offers). To **change a price**, open the tier and edit
**Price** — this is the only place pricing lives; there's no separate
price to update anywhere else. To **add a new tier**, click New and fill
in:

- **Name** — shown to members, e.g. "Corporate Sponsor"
- **Code** — a short internal code, e.g. `CORP` (no spaces)
- **Price** and **Currency**
- **Period** — Annual, One-Time, or Monthly
- **Sequence** — controls display order (lower numbers show first)

Deactivating a tier (rather than deleting it) keeps historical records
intact for members who already hold it — use the **Active** toggle,
found via the tier's kebab (⋮) menu → "Archive", instead of deleting.

### 4.3 Day-to-day membership work

- **Membership → Members** — the full member list. Open a member to see
  their tier, status (active/renewal due/expired), and expiry date.
- Renewal reminders and draft renewal invoices are generated
  **automatically** by a daily background job — you don't need to run
  anything manually. What you *do* need to do periodically: check
  **Invoicing → Customer Invoices** for draft renewal invoices and
  confirm/send them once payment is expected.
- Each member can view their status, download their QR membership card,
  and renew from `/my/membership` once logged into the website — you
  don't need to email cards out manually.
- The membership card's QR code links to a public verification page
  (`/membership/verify/<member ID>`) — anyone scanning it (e.g. at an
  event door) sees only "valid" / "expired" / "not found," never personal
  details.

---

## 5. Events

**Events → Events → New.** This is standard Odoo event creation:

1. Name, start/end date and time, location.
2. Under **Website**, check **Is Published** to make it visible on the
   public Events page and the homepage's "Upcoming Events" section —
   *unpublished events won't appear anywhere on the public site,* even
   though they exist in the system.
3. Add ticket types under the event's **Registration** tab if you're
   charging for entry (e.g. "General $0–$30").

Every registration automatically gets a signed QR ticket, emailed with
the confirmation. At the door, staff with the **Events Officer** role use
**Events → Registration Desk** to scan tickets (or type the ticket
reference manually) — it shows valid / already checked-in / invalid, and
a live count of registered vs. checked-in.

**Events → Reporting → Attendees / Revenues** gives you numbers after the
fact without any setup.

---

## 6. Tamil Class (School)

### 6.1 Settings

**Settings → General Settings → School**: **At-Risk Attendance
Threshold** — the attendance percentage below which a student is flagged
"at-risk" in the report (see below).

### 6.2 Configuration — set these up before each school year

**School → Configuration → Terms** — create a term (e.g. "2026-27"),
set start/end dates, and open it (**State = Open**) once registration
should begin. Only one term should normally be open at a time.

**School → Configuration → Levels** — define your levels however TNCSC
teaches (e.g. "Beginner" through "Advanced", or "Grade 1" through "Grade
12"). Each needs a short **Code** (e.g. `BEG`) and optional min/max age.

**Classes** aren't under Configuration — create them directly from
**School → Classes → New**: pick the term, level, teacher, weekday,
time, location, and max students. This is what shows up as an option
when a parent registers online.

### 6.3 Day-to-day

- **School → Students / Enrollments** — see who's enrolled where.
- **School → Attendance Report** — a pivot table of attendance by class.
- **School → At-Risk Students** — students below the configured
  attendance threshold, so you can follow up.
- Teachers take attendance themselves from their own portal page
  (`/school/attendance`) — a roster of today's/this-week's classes with a
  batch Present/Absent/Late/Excused save. An absence automatically emails
  the parent. Teachers only see their own classes there.
- Parents register their child at `/school/register` on the public
  website (parent → student → class + payment, in three steps). If a
  class is full, the student is waitlisted and notified automatically
  when a seat frees up — no manual waitlist management needed.
- Each class auto-creates and manages its own online course/materials
  channel — enrolling or withdrawing a student automatically
  enrols/unenrols them there too.

---

## 7. Classifieds

**Settings → General Settings → Classifieds**: **Listing Duration** — how
many days a published listing stays live before auto-expiring.

**Classifieds → Moderation** is where every new submission lands first
(state: Pending Review). Open one to **Publish** or **Reject** it — only
published listings appear on the public `/classifieds` board. Posting
requires the member to be logged in with an active membership, so this
queue should only ever contain genuine member submissions.

---

## 8. Benefits

Two things to set up, then one thing to log ongoing:

- **Benefits → Benefit Centres** — the businesses/organizations offering
  a member benefit. Add their name, category, description, and logo.
- **Benefits → Benefits** — the actual discount/perk, linked to one or
  more **Membership Tiers** (only members holding one of those tiers will
  see it). Set the discount type (percent / fixed amount / perk) and
  validity dates.
- **Benefits → Redemptions** — a log a benefit centre (or staff) creates
  when a member actually uses a benefit, after confirming the member is
  active. This is mostly for your own record-keeping of usage, not
  something you need to set up in advance.

Members see only what their own tier qualifies them for at
`/my/benefits`; the public directory of participating centres is at
`/benefits`.

---

## 9. Interac e-Transfer Payments

### 9.1 One-time setup

**Invoicing → Configuration → Online Payments → Payment Providers** →
open **Interac e-Transfer**:

- **Interac Recipient Email** — the real e-transfer address payments
  should be sent to.
- **Interac Deadline Hours** — how long an unconfirmed payment stays
  pending before it's automatically cancelled (defaults to 48 hours if
  left blank).
- Set the provider's **State** to **Enabled** so it appears as a
  checkout option.

### 9.2 Day-to-day (Treasurer role)

When someone chooses Interac at checkout, they're emailed instructions
(recipient address, amount, a reference code, and the deadline) — this
happens automatically, nothing for you to send.

Once you actually receive the e-transfer in your real bank/e-transfer
account, go to **Interac Payments → Pending Payments**, find the matching
transaction (match by amount and reference code), and click **Payment
Received**. This confirms the linked invoice/registration/order. If
nobody confirms it before the deadline, it auto-cancels and the payer is
notified by email.

---

## 10. Website content

**Website** app, then click **Edit** on any page while viewing it on the
public site to change text, images, and layout directly (drag-and-drop
editor) — no code involved for routine copy changes. **Site → Menu
Editor** lets you add, remove, or reorder navigation items.

Two things worth knowing about the current site before you edit it:

- The **Sponsors** page and a few header/footer text blocks (e.g. a
  placeholder phone number) still contain placeholder content carried
  over from the original site design — safe to edit or delete through
  the Website editor whenever real sponsor logos or a real phone number
  are ready.
- **"Become a Member" buttons currently point to the Contact page**, not
  a self-service signup form — TNCSC doesn't have public online
  membership signup yet (only renewal, for existing members). Don't
  redirect these to a form that doesn't exist; talk to your technical
  contact if/when online signup becomes a priority.

For anything beyond content edits — new page types, new sections with
custom behaviour, structural changes — that's a developer task, not a
Website-editor task.

---

## 11. Accounting basics

The chart of accounts, tax setup, and journals were seeded for a Canadian
non-profit when the system was set up, including dedicated revenue
accounts (Membership Dues, Event Revenue, Sponsorship, School Fees,
Donations) and a **Donations** journal. You generally don't need to
create new accounts for normal operations — membership tiers, event
tickets, and school fees are already wired to the right ones.

**Do not** rename or delete existing accounts, or change the company's
currency/country, without your accountant and technical contact both
signing off — several of these are load-bearing for other parts of the
system (e.g. renaming the dues account could silently break where
membership payments post to). Day-to-day invoicing/payment work happens
under the **Invoicing** app as normal.

---

## 12. Troubleshooting & getting help

| Symptom | Likely cause / fix |
|---|---|
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |

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.*