Attendance Statuses and What They Mean
Attendance statuses are configurable — they're not hardcoded into the app. Each status you set up has a name you choose, and three behaviour settings that control how the system responds when you apply it: whether the le
Statuses Are Configurable
Octavia doesn't impose fixed status labels or fixed billing rules. Instead, you define your own statuses in your attendance settings, and each one carries three pieces of behaviour:
Billable or non-billable — does applying this status count as a lesson that should be charged for? This setting drives billing effects for lesson-pack and PAYG billing. For calendar-based, monthly, and term billing, this setting has no effect on invoicing (those models charge based on the schedule, not attendance), but together with Counts toward quota (see below) it still decides whether a lesson-pack credit is used if the student is on a pack.
Creates a makeup credit — does this status entitle the student to a replacement lesson? If yes, a makeup credit is created automatically when you apply the status. If no, no credit is created. This is entirely your policy — there's no single "correct" answer. See Makeup Credits: How They Are Created and Used.
Status label — the name shown in the UI and in lesson history. Choose something clear to you and your studio.
To review or edit your statuses, go to School Settings → Lesson Settings and find the Attendance card. Everyone can see the list, but only school admins can change it. See also Reviewing Your Attendance Settings for guidance on setting them up.
Everything You Can Set on a Status
The form you use to edit a status has a few more settings than the three above. Each row below is one setting:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Label | The name your teachers see when marking attendance. |
| Code | An optional short code, such as P, A or C. |
| Outcome | The kind of result this status records: present, absent or cancelled. Required. |
| Counts toward quota | For prepaid and lesson-credit models: whether applying this status uses up one of the student's prepaid lessons. You must choose Yes or No. |
| Billable (per-event) | Whether applying this status counts as a lesson that is charged for. You must choose Yes or No. |
| Allows make-up | Whether applying this status creates a makeup credit. Makeup credits are only created for individual lessons, and not for students on lesson-pack billing. |
| Make-up expiry | Only available when Allows make-up is on. How many days the credit lasts (leave it blank for never), and whether the makeup must be booked by then or the lesson must actually take place by then. See Setting Makeup Expiry Rules. |
| Active | Turn this off to hide the status from new attendance marking. Past records that used it keep it. |
| Display order | Where the status appears in the list. A lower number comes first. |
How Counts toward quota and Billable work together. For students on lesson packs, a lesson-pack credit is used only when the status is both billable and counts toward quota. A billable status that doesn't count toward quota doesn't use a pack credit.
Common Status Patterns
Every studio configures its own statuses, but most end up with something like:
| Status | Billable | Creates makeup credit | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attended / Present | Yes | No | Student attended normally |
| Absent with notice | No | Yes | Student gave advance notice; owed a makeup |
| Absent without notice | Yes or No | Yes or No | No notice given; policy varies by studio |
| Teacher cancelled | No | Yes | You cancelled; student is owed a replacement |
These are examples, not defaults. Your actual statuses depend on your settings.
The Two Decisions That Matter Most
When setting up a status, the key questions to ask are:
Should I charge for this outcome? If the answer is yes, make the status billable. If no — for example, if you don't charge for lessons you cancel — make it non-billable. This is a studio policy decision that the system will follow exactly.
Does the student earn a makeup? If you consider the student owed a replacement lesson when this status applies, turn on the makeup credit setting. If not — for example, if a student repeatedly misses without notice and your policy is that they forfeit the lesson — leave it off.
How Status Behaviour Flows Through the System
When you mark attendance with a given status:
- The outcome is recorded on the lesson participant
- If billable and counts toward quota, and on lesson-pack billing → a lesson-pack credit is consumed
- If billable and on PAYG billing → a PAYG invoice line is generated or updated
- If non-billable and a draft PAYG invoice line exists → the line is removed from the draft
- If creates makeup credit → a makeup credit is created
- If does not create makeup credit → no credit is created (and any existing available credit from that lesson is removed if you're changing a previous status)
These effects happen automatically, in the background, the moment you save the attendance record.
Changing or Adding Statuses
You can edit existing statuses or add new ones at any time from the Attendance card in your School Settings. Changing a status's name or behaviour does not retroactively update historical attendance records — existing records keep the outcome they were given at the time.
To retire a status you no longer use, edit it and turn Active off. It disappears from the options your teachers see, and your history stays intact. You can also delete a status, but Octavia won't let you delete one that has already been used on a lesson, so hiding it is the safer choice.
If you want different policy for different situations (for example, one "absent" status that creates a makeup and one that doesn't), create two separate statuses with different names and settings.
Previous: Marking Attendance for a Lesson · Next: How Attendance Affects Billing