Households and portal login

Use Households to find a member record, update household details, and manage people. Open a household to review contact details, membership, invoices, payments, activity, and people.

Every staff role can open the list. Search by name, email, phone or street, and narrow it by Status or Tag. Managers and admins also see Add household and Import CSV. Managers and admins can Download CSV (current filter), which exports one row per person for the households that match your search (contact details and custom fields only; no money).

Edit several at once lets you tick households and then add or remove a tag for all of them, or change whether the club may email or text everyone in them. After a bulk change a banner offers Undo this change for 30 days; it puts people back the way they were, except anything edited since. You can also download just the ticked households as a CSV.

If your club requires autopay, a badge next to a household's status shows who isn't set up: Not set up for autopay, Autopay: grace period until a date (the household lost its bank account and has until then to add a new one), or Autopay: grace period ended on a date. No badge means the household is set up. See Autopay and payment methods.

Custom questions on each person's profile are set up on Custom fields.

Managers and admins also see a Message button at the top when your club has turned on messaging a household (see Message a household, and saved replies).

Opening a household shows five tabs: Overview, Billing & bond, People, Activity and Tickets. Overview holds the contact and membership details, tags, quick links (the treasurer's check run, Renewals and the account statement) and append-only staff Notes; a wrong note gets a correcting note rather than an edit, and members never see notes. Activity lists everything that touched the household: messages, money, bond, tickets, tasks, notes and changes made in the portal, newest first. See Household statements for the statement.

The Household details card on Overview shows whether the household's Autopay is on or off, with the same badge when your club requires it. Managers, treasurers and admins also see Turn off autopay there, for a member who asks the club to stop automatic payments. It keeps their saved bank accounts, works even when your club requires autopay, and takes effect straight away; the household then shows as not set up for autopay and has to set it up again at its next renewal. It does not start a grace period or send an email. Members turn autopay back on themselves from Payment methods in their portal.

On Billing & bond, three money actions are buttons you can see without opening anything: Queue bond refund check in the Bond on deposit card (only while part of the bond is still free to refund), New ad-hoc invoice above the household's invoices, and Issue a credit above its credits. Each opens its form right below the button, and each asks you to confirm before it does anything. If a save is refused, the form opens again with what you typed and the reason beside it. Create invoice asks you to confirm before it creates the invoice, and the confirmation says whether the charge will be collected from the household's saved bank account after a notice, or just added to their balance. If a member asks the club to stop collecting charges other than regular dues, use Stop collecting other charges from this household's bank accounts at the bottom of the Invoices card. It only shows when one of their saved bank accounts has agreed to the club's bank terms. It applies to every saved bank account in the household, not one: the accounts stay saved, charges still waiting stay on the balance, and nothing but regular dues is collected until the member agrees to the bank terms again. Once your club is collecting other charges, the member sees the agree card on their portal Home page again, and agreeing is their own fresh choice. If a charge the household was already emailed about isn't collected (the account changed, autopay was turned off, the amount went up, or the date passed), the treasurer gets a task with the reason; the charge stays on the household's balance. See Ad hoc invoices.

Record check beside an unpaid invoice on Billing & bond records a check as received, with an optional check number and the date it arrived. It counts toward the invoice only once it is marked cleared; until then the invoice list names the household's checks waiting to clear, each linked to its invoice. See Recording and clearing checks.

Managers and admins also have Pause or close this account on the Overview tab. Pause account blocks sign-in and member messages for a time; give a reason and, if you know it, a Reactivate on date, and use Reactivate account to end the pause. Close account is for after the household has left: it blocks sign-in and all messages, and is refused while a bond refund is still owed. Reopen account reverses a close. Neither deletes anything. A household with no history at all, such as one made by mistake or for testing, can be permanently deleted by an admin (Hard delete account, a red button in the Pause or close this account card). It asks you to confirm in a dialog that names the household and says it can't be undone, and it only works when there is no membership, money, program or message history.

If a household has given notice to leave the club, the Overview and Billing & bond tabs say when and where the notice stands. Managers and admins get a link to Leaving the club. Links to the treasurer's check run only appear for treasurers and admins; everyone else sees that a refund check is waiting for the treasurer.

If the household holds a place on the membership waitlist, the Waitlist card on Overview says where it stands, for example On the waitlist: #3, and when a membership offer is out, the day it was sent and the day it expires. Managers and admins also get See the waitlist, which opens the offered households when an offer is out. A household that isn't in line gets Add to waitlist in that card instead. After Add to waitlist, the message at the top links to See the waitlist. After you queue a bond refund on Billing & bond, it links to the check in Check run, for treasurers and admins only.

An email address on a household is not always a portal login. From People, use Set up portal login for an eligible member or applicant who needs access, then ask them to sign in on the club's sign-in page with that address. A household that hasn't applied or become a member can't have one yet, and the button says so.

People shows hasn't signed in yet next to everyone who hasn't signed in on your club's site, and the Set up portal login button stays there for them. Both go away after their first sign-in, and the badge stays off from then on, even if their address was first confirmed by the link in a confirmation email. Only a sign-in on your own club's site counts: your club's own record of it, not a sign-in anywhere else, decides. If their sign-in is later replaced (an email change that lets the old sign-in go, or a reset), the badge reappears until they sign in again. Signing in on another club's site doesn't count here, and it doesn't confirm their email address for your club either: an address is confirmed for your club when they sign in on your club's site or use the link in your club's confirmation email. Setting up a login always gives the same answer, whether the person is new to Swim Ops or already signs in somewhere else on it: which other clubs someone belongs to is not something your club's pages show.

If the person already signs in to Swim Ops at another club with the same email, their sign-in connects to your club's record the first time they sign in on your club's own site. Signing in at the other club does not connect it.

The sign-in email of someone who holds a staff role (manager, treasurer or admin) can't be changed from a shared computer (signed in without Keep me signed in on this device), because it would hand that staff account to whoever holds the new address after the sign-in ends. Sign in on your own device to change it. An ordinary member's email can still be fixed from the front desk.

When the sign-in is also used outside your club

If Change email says the member's sign-in is also used outside your club (they are a member of another club on Swim Ops with the same email, or they work for Swim Ops), you can't change it from here, because that would change how they sign in everywhere. Swim Ops support can move just your club's record to a new sign-in address. The other club, or anything else that uses the old sign-in, keeps it exactly as it is, and the member stays signed in there.

Contact Swim Ops support. Once Swim Ops gives a support address, the message on the page names it; until then it only says to contact support. Send them the member's name, the address they sign in with at your club today, the new address, and what the member asked for. Check the new address carefully before you send it, because support can't tell a typo from the address the member meant. When support has done it:

• your club's record signs in only with the new address, and the old address no longer reaches it;

• the old address is emailed to say it was changed, and the new address is emailed to ask whether it's really them. Club emails to the new address are held until they say yes or sign in with it. That does not lock the address out: for a new address, a sign-in is set up at once, and whoever holds that inbox can sign in as the member until they answer that it isn't them. So a mistyped address can let a stranger in for a while. If the member is a manager, treasurer, instructor or admin, the new address holds that role too;

• any assistant the member connected to your club is disconnected. A text sign-in number or Google account they used stays with the old sign-in. A text number can belong to only one sign-in, so it can't be added to the new one until it has been removed from the old one, which the member can do from their portal where the old sign-in is still used. They can set Google sign-in up again with the new address;

• your activity log shows the usual Email changed entry. It doesn't say the sign-in was shared, or with whom.

When a member signs in by text, People shows their text sign-in number and an Unlink text sign-in number button. If the same sign-in is also used outside your club, the number is hidden and the page says only that they use text sign-in. You can't unlink it from here, because that would turn off text sign-in everywhere they use it. They can turn it off themselves from their portal.

Reset sign-in methods

If you think someone else got into a member's account, change their email address first (Edit member, then Change email). That signs everyone out, but a text sign-in number or a linked Google account that was added in the meantime stays. Reset sign-in methods, under that member on People, takes those away too: it removes their text sign-in number and any linked Google account, signs them out of every device, and ends any connected assistant they set up. The member can still sign in with a link sent to their email address, and can turn text sign-in back on afterwards from their own Household page. Managers and admins can use it.

We email the member at their sign-in address to say it happened, if that address can receive mail, so they can tell you if it wasn't expected. If the club's email settings hold the notice back (for example the address has never been confirmed), the activity log shows Sign-in reset notice not sent and you should tell the member yourself. The club's activity log records the reset as Sign-in methods reset, without the number or the Google account.

It can't be done on a shared computer (signed in without Keep me signed in on this device). It also can't be done from here if the member's sign-in is also used outside your club: the page says so, and they need to contact Swim Ops support. When you change the email of a member who had a text sign-in number or a linked Google account, the activity log says Email changed: text or Google sign-in may need setting up again. It appears whatever the new address is, so it doesn't tell you anything about it.

Add household (on the household list; managers and admins) is for a family who phoned in, a row an import got wrong, or a test household. It asks for a household name, one adult's name, email and phone, an address, an optional membership tier, and whether the household counts as a resident of your club's area; the rest of the family, children and tags are added from the household's own page afterwards. It creates a household and its first adult, and sends nothing. For a whole roster, use CSV member import instead. Choosing a membership tier makes them a member without creating an invoice. Only the admin console can set a tier: Claude or another connected tool, or an integration using an API key, can add a household only as a prospect, and recording a membership for it needs approval.

Edit member changes an adult's name. Their phone number and whether the club may email or text them are separate, more careful changes on the same form — each is saved only when you actually change it, and each is recorded on its own.

View as (next to an adult on the People tab) opens the member portal the way that person sees it, so you can help with "I can't find my invoice" without a screenshot. It appears for members and instructors other than yourself, to admins and managers, and only when Swim Ops has set viewing up for your club and the club has turned on Let staff view the portal as a member under Club, Support access. Nothing can be changed while you look, and each session is recorded. See View as member.

A birth date can't be in the future, for an adult or a family member, whether staff or the member enters it: "That birth date is in the future. Check the year and enter the date they were born." Today counts as the club's own day, in the club's time zone. A future date saved before this check stays as it is until someone corrects it.

Family members a household has removed are listed under Removed family members on the People tab. Put back on the household restores one with everything they already had: camp and lap-swim history, allergies, and pickup contacts. It is refused when someone with the same name and birth date is already on the household — that usually means they were re-added by hand, so remove the duplicate first.

Use household activity and message history to check what the club sent before you make a change. See Member can't sign in.

To combine two records of the same family, use the consolidate and merge cards at the bottom of People. A merge also moves the bookings the household has not canceled, even for sessions that already happened, and says what it will not move and why it was refused; see Household ownership and merging.

A household's Member label and its membership are two separate records, and older or imported data can have one without the other. When that happens the household page shows a warning. The member portal goes by the membership, so until it is fixed the family is treated as not a member: they can't renew or give notice to leave.

To fix it, use Add membership on the warning. Choose the family's membership tier. If the club already holds their bond (they paid it by check, or it came over from your old system), tick Also record their bond as received. The box shows the bond amount configured in Settings, and only appears when one is set. The bond is recorded as received on the date they joined. Nobody is charged, and nothing is emailed.

Dues are not invoiced straight away. The family joins the renewal list the next time you prepare it on Renewals, and is invoiced the usual way from there.

The warning offers no form on a closed account (reopen it first) or when the club has no active membership tier (add one in Settings first).

This change needs approval when Claude or another connected tool asks for it, because it changes what the family can do and the club's bond total. It is refused when the household already has a membership, isn't marked as a member, or is closed. With the bond box ticked, it is also refused when the household already has a bond on file. When Claude or another connected tool asks to record a bond, it is refused if no bond amount is set in Settings.

When you invite another adult to a household, the club saves the invitation and emails them a link. If the email cannot go out — the address has bounced before, the person asked the club not to email them, the club is in quiet mode, or sending is paused — you are told the invitation was saved but nobody has been told yet. That is worth acting on: the invitation will quietly expire if the person never gets the link. Check the address, then send it again. See Why a message didn't send.

The invitation email always reads the same way: "You're invited to join a household at" your club's name. It names who sent it only by the email address they sign in with, or says the club sent it when staff did. It never repeats a household name or a person's name, because someone who has just applied could otherwise send the club's email with their own words in it.

The household's owner gets an email whenever an invitation goes out, and another when someone accepts one, so an invitation they didn't send doesn't go unnoticed.

There are limits on invitations, and the member is told plainly when one applies:

• A household can send five invitations a day.

• The same address can be invited again only after a few hours.

• A household whose application is still open can have two invitations waiting at a time.

• The club as a whole can send 200 invitations a day.

Members can't invite another adult from a shared computer (signed in without Keep me signed in on this device). If an address already belongs to someone else at the club, the member is told only that the invitation can't be sent and to ask the membership team. Use People on the right household to sort it out.

When typing a new staff note on a household, your draft text stays in this browser for up to seven days until you save or discard it.

When an audience filter is invalid, the export shows the same explanation as the audience builder. Correct the filter and try the export again.