Knowledge Base

What Creates a Makeup Credit

Makeup credits are generated by the attendance marking system. Whether a given attendance outcome creates a makeup credit is controlled by your attendance settings — specifically, whether a particular attendance status is configured to create a credit.

Makeup credits are only created from individual lessons. Group lessons do not create individual makeup credits for students who miss within the group.

For example, you might configure it so that:

• "Absent with notice" creates a makeup credit (student gave warning; you're happy to provide a replacement)
• "Absent without notice" does not create a credit (no notice given; policy is that the lesson is forfeited)
• "Teacher cancelled" creates a makeup credit (you cancelled; the student is owed a replacement)

These are your choices to make based on your studio's policy. See Reviewing Your Attendance Settings and Makeup Credits: How They Are Created and Used for full detail on configuration.

If you want flexibility around missed group lessons, the supported approach is to manage that through attendance and billing settings instead — most commonly by using group lesson packs or by choosing billable versus non-billable attendance outcomes per student.

Scheduling a Makeup Lesson

Once a makeup credit exists for a student, you can schedule a makeup lesson. Open the student's Lessons tab and look for the Makeup lessons owed panel. Each owed makeup has its own Schedule button. You pick the date and time in the same style of one-off lesson form used for normal lessons, and the makeup lesson is linked to the original missed lesson.

A makeup lesson is a real lesson record with its own scheduled time. It appears in the lessons list and on the calendar like any other lesson.

Scheduling a makeup after the credit has expired

An expiry deadline stops families booking the makeup online and takes it off your dashboard and calendar lists, but it doesn't stop you. You can still schedule a makeup lesson against an expired credit. Octavia treats this as an exception and asks you to confirm (Schedule As Exception?) before it goes ahead.

Because expired credits are tucked out of the way, you do this from one of two places:

• The student's detail page. Go to My Students, open the student, and open the Lessons tab. In Makeup lessons owed, click Show expired and forfeited makeups, find the expired makeup and click Schedule.
• The Manage Students page (admins). Go to Manage Students, open the student, open the Enrolments tab and expand the enrolment. In Makeup lessons owed, click Show expired and forfeited makeups, find the expired makeup and click Schedule.

The Schedule now button on a lesson, and the lists on your dashboard and calendar, stop offering an expired makeup, so you won't find the option there. And if you decide an expired makeup is no longer owed, you can forfeit it from the same places.

Makeup Chips on My Lessons

The small chips next to lesson names in the My Lessons / Lessons list show whether you are looking at the replacement lesson itself or the makeup status of the original missed lesson.

For example, once a missed lesson's makeup is scheduled, the original row shows SM and the replacement row shows MU. These chips describe the makeup relationship or credit status; attendance is shown separately, so SM does not mean the replacement has been attended.

On desktop, hover over a chip to see its explanation. For an available credit, use Schedule now beneath the lesson date to choose a replacement time. This button is unavailable while a family request is pending or after the credit expires (to book an expired credit, see Scheduling a makeup after the credit has expired).

If a deadline is shown, Book by means the replacement must be booked by that deadline but can take place later. Take by means the replacement lesson must take place by the deadline. See Online Makeup Bookings for expiry rules and managing requests.

Filtering the Lessons List by Makeup Status

Use the Makeup Status filter on the Lessons list to find makeups:

Expired and forfeited makeups are left out of Makeup owed - not booked, so they don't inflate your list of makeups still to schedule. Use Makeup expired or Makeup forfeited when you want to review them.

When you click Review all in the dashboard or calendar makeup list, the Lessons list opens with the owed filter applied and any date range cleared, so older owed makeups are included.

Forfeiting a Makeup Credit

Sometimes a student is no longer owed a makeup — for example, they've left the studio, the lesson was made up another way, or a family has chosen not to take it. Your attendance settings and expiry rules cover the usual cases automatically, but you can also forfeit an individual makeup credit by hand. A forfeited credit stays in your records but is no longer owed.

How to forfeit a makeup credit

1. Find the owed makeup (see where to find owed makeups below).
2. Click Forfeit credit.
3. Read the confirmation, then click Forfeit credit again to confirm. Click Keep credit if you've changed your mind.

You can forfeit an owed makeup that is still active, or one that has already expired.

What happens when you forfeit

• The makeup no longer shows as owed on your dashboard, calendar, student pages or Lessons list.
• Families can no longer see it or book it in the Family Hub. They aren't sent a notification, so let them know yourself if it matters.
• Nothing changes on invoices, payments or lesson-pack credits. Forfeiting only removes the replacement lesson the student was owed.
• Re-saving the original lesson's attendance with the same status won't bring the credit back.
• If you change the original lesson's attendance to a status that doesn't create a makeup credit, or clear its attendance, the forfeited credit is removed too. If you later mark it with a makeup-creating status again, a fresh credit is created.

Things to know

• Who can forfeit: admins, and the teacher who owns the original lesson. A substitute teacher covering the lesson can't forfeit its makeup credit. In a multi-teacher studio this still works for teachers even if an admin has turned off teacher scheduling, because forfeiting isn't scheduling.
• Pending family request: if a family has asked to book this makeup, you can't forfeit it until you've confirmed or declined their request. Declining lets you add a note the family receives by email.
• Already scheduled: a makeup that has already been scheduled can't be forfeited. Delete the scheduled makeup lesson first if you need to.
• Group lessons: group lessons don't create makeup credits, so there's nothing to forfeit.

Undoing a forfeit

If you forfeit a credit by mistake, you can bring it back:

• From the lesson. Open the original lesson (from the Lessons list or the calendar). The makeup panel reads Makeup credit forfeited with an Undo forfeit link.
• From the student's detail page. On the Lessons tab, open Show expired and forfeited makeups under Makeup lessons owed, find the makeup (marked Forfeited) and click Undo forfeit.
• From the Manage Students page (admins). Open the student, go to the Enrolments tab, expand the enrolment and open Show expired and forfeited makeups under Makeup lessons owed.

The credit comes back as owed, with its original expiry deadline. If that deadline has already passed, it returns as an expired makeup.

Where to Find Owed Makeups

Owed makeups appear in several places. The Forfeit credit link is available in most of them.

The Forfeit credit link isn't shown on makeups with a pending family request, or if you aren't the lesson's teacher or an admin.

The makeup lesson is linked to the original lesson it is replacing. This linkage has one important practical consequence: you cannot delete the original lesson while a makeup is scheduled for it. The scheduled makeup creates a dependency that blocks deletion of the original.

If you need to delete the original lesson, you must first delete the scheduled makeup lesson. Changing the makeup lesson's attendance does not remove that link.

Billing Implications of Makeup Lessons

A makeup lesson is treated as a replacement lesson, not a new billable lesson. The exact effect depends on your billing model:

Calendar-based billing — makeup lessons are never billed under calendar-based billing. This is automatic. If the original missed lesson was already included in the invoice for that period, the makeup lesson is treated as the replacement lesson and is excluded from future calendar-billing calculations.

Lesson pack billing — makeup lessons do not consume lesson-pack credits. The original missed lesson may create the entitlement for a replacement, but the makeup lesson itself is not charged again through the pack.

PAYG billing — makeup lessons are not billed under PAYG. Even if the makeup lesson is attended, it is treated as the replacement lesson rather than a new charge.

Makeup Lessons and the Original Lesson's Invoice

If the original lesson was already invoiced (for example, under calendar-based billing where the lesson was in the billing period), marking it as "absent" with a makeup credit doesn't remove it from the invoice — the charge for the missed lesson has already been issued. The makeup is the replacement lesson and is tracked separately from that original charge.

Viewing and Tracking Makeups

Outstanding makeup credits and scheduled makeup lessons are visible from the student's detail page, your dashboard and calendar, and the Lessons list (see Where to Find Owed Makeups). You can see which original lessons generated credits and whether each credit has been scheduled, has expired, or has been forfeited.

Once a makeup is scheduled, the original lesson and the replacement remain linked in the system. That link is why deleting the original lesson is blocked while the makeup is still scheduled.

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