The All-in-One Bowls Club Management System
Are you drowning in paperwork, juggling multiple spreadsheets, and spending countless hours on administrative tasks that could be better spent focusing on your club's community? You're not alone. Countless bowling clubs across the country face these same challenges daily, watching valuable time slip away on manual processes that modern technology can streamline.
That’s why we developed Bowlr – the UK’s number one bowls club management software. And that’s also why we put together this Bowlr club software guide to make the onboarding process easier.
Our bowls club management system transforms how clubs operate, eliminating the chaos of diaries and spreadsheets while dramatically reducing admin time. By the end of this step-by-step journey, you'll have mastered five essential areas and be ready to move onto more advanced areas.
Let's get started on making your club administration effortless.
Your club software onboarding journey begins with understanding how accounts work. Every transaction within the system must belong to a member, creating a clear audit trail for all financial activities. The beauty lies in its simplicity. There's no limit to how many transactions a member can have, yet each transaction maintains complete clarity about ownership.
Before diving into member transactions, you'll need to ensure your subscription season exists for the relevant time period. This foundational step enables seamless account management throughout your club's operational year.
The system intelligently handles this relationship, ensuring your financial records remain organised and accessible. Remember, the Accounts module focuses specifically on member-related transactions rather than general club purchases like stationery or room hire.
Click 'accounts' to access helpful how-to guides.
Our sports club management platform excels at simplifying member management from day one. The system automatically allocates sequential member numbers, while the intuitive interface requires only essential information initially.
You can add members quickly with just the mandatory, red-marked fields, then return later to complete additional details.
Key membership management features include:
As part of this Bowlr software tutorial, we should note that we recognise that membership management shouldn't be complicated. The system handles deceased or retired members gracefully, maintaining historical data while removing them from active operations.
For clubs transitioning from paper-based systems, we offer member import services to get you started without the tedious manual data entry process.
Click 'membership' to access helpful how-to guides.
The member portal transforms how your club community interacts with your organisation. This part of our bowls club management system provides members with 24/7 access to essential club information and services.
Members can view today's diary, check any future date, and access league and competition information from any device.
We’d be remiss if we failed to mention these powerful member features as part of this Bowlr club software guide:
The system sends automated email confirmations for all bookings, keeping members informed while reducing administrative calls to the club. Members receive 72-hour windows for confirming provisional bookings, with automatic removal of unconfirmed reservations. This intelligent automation ensures your diary remains accurate without constant manual intervention.
When members need to cancel bookings, the system provides clear cancellation windows. Roll-up bookings can typically be cancelled until midnight the day before, while same-day cancellations may be permitted depending on your club's configuration.
Every action generates email notifications to both members and club administrators, maintaining transparency throughout the process.
Click 'features for members' to access helpful how-to guides.
A crucial part of this club booking system guide, let’s now look at the bookings diary. This intuitive diary interface displays one day at a time by default. Navigation couldn't be simpler: choose any date using the date picker or use ‘Previous’ and ‘Next’ buttons for day-by-day browsing.
The system always defaults to today's date when accessing the ‘Bookings’ menu, providing a logical starting point.
Essential bookings diary features include:
As part of this club software onboarding process, we should point out that our system emphasises the diary's flexibility.
When hovering over empty slots, you'll see ‘Edit’ options that open intuitive booking forms. Simply click the ‘Names’ fields to enter player information, select appropriate categories for visual organisation, and save your booking. The system instantly updates, displaying your changes across all user interfaces.
For clubs with the ‘Rink Fees’ module, additional fee columns appear automatically, streamlining the payment tracking process. Managing club closures becomes straightforward: create appropriately coloured closure bookings, then use the ‘Copy’ function to duplicate across all relevant rinks and sessions.
This approach prevents unwanted bookings while clearly communicating closure information to all users.
Click 'bookings diary' to access helpful how-to guides.
The availability checker transforms how clubs manage County, National, and other match types. This powerful bowls club management software feature allows members to respond to match invitations directly through the member portal, while club managers maintain complete oversight of player selection and communication.
Creating matches involves entering essential details including date, time, location, and match type. The system intelligently handles home versus away matches, automatically creating diary bookings for home fixtures while providing location fields for away games.
Group invitations streamline the process further – invite entire membership categories or custom groups with a single action, dramatically reducing administrative overhead.
Click 'availability' to access helpful how-to guides.
You've hopefully now gained familiarity with five key areas of your Bowlr club software. There is a lot more to discover, but the good news is that you’ll find plenty of helpful guides on our website with clear instructions to help you navigate our software with confidence.
We encourage you to practice with each feature and explore the advanced capabilities. If you run into any problems, we’re here to help – just call us on 01202 684400 or use our contact form for personalised assistance.
Once comfortable with these basics, explore our blog discussing which features cut admin time in half, plus our step-by-step guide to going digital. These resources will help you unlock even greater efficiency from your investment in modern club management.
Your journey toward effortless administration starts here.