Internal Documentation — Yanature · May 2026 · Bookings · Planning · Guide Management
Platform
Operations Guide
How the Yanature platform works end-to-end — bookings, guide planning, tour management. For Shannon, the guides, and the whole team. No technical knowledge required.
Section 01
The Big Picture
Three websites. One spreadsheet. Everything you see on any screen comes from that spreadsheet — and every change you make goes back into it.
🧭
Admin Portal
Shannon · Nicolas · Tatiana
🤝
Partner Portal
Tour Operators
🗓
Guide Form
Each guide's personal link
⚡
The Invisible Engine
Reads & writes everything — automatically, in the background
📊
The Master Google Spreadsheet
The only place where data truly lives
Tour Settings
Special Time Periods
Guide Availability
Validated Schedule
TO Requests
★ Booking Doc
💡 The rule: whatever you see on screen = what's in the spreadsheet. To fix something, fix it in the spreadsheet (or through the portal settings). It's always in sync.
A Tour Operator booking — from request to confirmation
1
The TO logs in and sees available tours
They open partners.yanature.com. They see the list of active tours, start times and available spots — all pulled live from the master spreadsheet.
2
They submit a request
Tour, date, number of people, notes → Submit. The request lands immediately in the "Partner Requests" tab of the spreadsheet, marked as "Pending".
3
Shannon reviews it in the admin portal
Under Pending Bookings, Shannon can see all waiting requests. She reads the details and decides to approve or decline.
4
Shannon approves → booking confirmed ✓
One click. The booking is automatically written into Shannon's master booking doc, flagged "NEED ATTENTION". Available spots update immediately everywhere.
Section 02
3 Things the System Keeps Track Of
Everything you see on any screen comes from one of these three things. That's it.
🗺️
The Tours
What tours exist · When they run · How many people fit
Managed by Shannon
What Shannon configures
Each tour's name, default start time, which days it runs, and how many people maximum per group. She also marks tours as active or "on request only" (private tours like Black River Peak).
+ Special time periods
Some tours change time with the season. Shannon sets a date range (e.g. "Jun 15 → Aug 31: 05:00") and the system switches automatically. No manual update needed each season.
Where: Admin Portal → ⚙ Settings button (top right)
📒
The Bookings
Every confirmed reservation · Drives available spots in real time
Shannon's booking doc
Shannon's booking doc is the register of everything that's confirmed — direct bookings, website bookings, and TO bookings once she approves them. This is how the system knows how many spots are left on each tour for each date.
Auto-updated
Every 5 min + instantly on each new booking
New entries flagged
"NEED ATTENTION" tag on auto-added bookings
All sources combined
Direct · Website · Tour operators
Where: Shannon's Google Spreadsheet — Booking Doc tab (★ the most important tab)
🧗
The Guides
Who's available this week · Who's assigned to what tour
Updated every week
Step 1 — Guides say when they're free
Each guide has a personal private link. They tick AM/PM availability for each day of the upcoming week and hit Submit. No login, no app — just a link.
Step 2 — Shannon assigns them
In Admin Portal → Planning, Shannon picks who goes on each tour. The system only shows guides who are certified for that tour type AND available that day. Shannon clicks Validate — done.
Where: guides submit via their personal link · Shannon assigns in Admin Portal → Planning
💡 The simple mental model: Tours define what's possible. Bookings track what's taken. Guides determine who shows up. The system just combines these three things to answer any question automatically.
Section 03
How Availability is Calculated
Two questions answered automatically every time someone checks: what time does this tour run? and how many spots are left?
Question 1 — What time does this tour run today?
The system checks 3 layers in order, top to bottom. It stops as soon as it finds an answer.
🥇 Wins always
Special time period configured for this date?
Shannon set a date range with a different time → use that time. Done.
↓ No special period found for today
🥈 Default
Use the tour's default time (set in Tour Settings)
e.g. Morne Brabant AM → 06:50. Applies on ~95% of days.
↓ Settings unreachable (very rare)
🥉 Backup
Built-in emergency fallback times
Coded directly into the platform. Only used if the spreadsheet is temporarily offline.
💡 Kayak Sunrise example: Default = 05:30 · Special period Jun 15→Aug 31 = 05:00
On July 20 → system shows 05:00 · On March 10 → system shows 05:30
Shannon configures it once. The switch happens automatically every year.
Question 2 — How many spots are left?
A
The system reads max capacity from Tour Settings
e.g. Morne Brabant = 12 people. Canyoning with 2 guides = 12 × 2 = 24 people.
B
It scans Shannon's booking doc and counts confirmed PAX
For that specific tour on that specific date — regardless of whether bookings came from the website, a TO, or were entered directly by Shannon.
C
Remaining = Capacity − Already booked → displayed everywhere
Updates every 5 minutes automatically + instantly on every new booking. Same number in New Booking, in the partner portal, everywhere.
What each screen sees and where it comes from
| Screen | What it shows | Source |
|---|
| Admin — New Booking | Availability grid + start times + remaining spots | Tour Settings + Special Periods + Booking Doc |
| Admin — Planning | Start time for each tour in the grid | Tour Settings + Special Periods |
| Partner Portal | Tour list with start times | Tour Settings + Special Periods |
| Booking Doc (Shannon) | Confirmed booking with its final time | Time is frozen at the moment of booking — never changes |
⚠️ Important: the start time written into a confirmed booking never changes retroactively. If you update a tour's time in Settings after a booking was made, that existing booking keeps its original time. This is intentional.
Section 04
Guide Scheduling
Every week, the same cycle: guides say when they're available → Shannon sees who's free and assigns them → the field team knows who goes where.
The weekly cycle
📱
Mon–Wed
Guides submit availability
Each guide opens their personal link, ticks AM/PM for each day of the upcoming week, and hits Submit.
⚠️
Deadline
Red banner appears in admin portal
Shannon sees which guides haven't submitted yet and can chase them.
🗓
Thu–Fri
Shannon builds the schedule
Opens Planning in the admin portal. Assigns guides to each tour slot. The system shows only eligible guides.
✅
Validated
Schedule saved to spreadsheet
Shannon clicks Validate. The final assignments are written to the master spreadsheet.
How the system decides which guides Shannon can choose from
When Shannon clicks on a tour slot, the system silently runs 3 checks before showing a guide's name in the list:
🏅
Certified for this tour type?
Hiking · Kayak · Canyoning · E-Bike · Pieter Both
A kayak-only guide never appears for a hiking tour.
→
📅
Available that day & slot?
They must have submitted AM or PM for that specific date.
"AM only" guides don't appear for PM tours.
→
👥
Does this tour need 2 guides?
If yes (e.g. Canyoning), Shannon picks both a lead and a second guide. Capacity doubles.
✓
Eligible guides shown to Shannon
💡 Remember: the system filters candidates — it never assigns automatically. Shannon always makes the final decision on who goes where.
The 3 layers of the weekly schedule
| Layer | What it represents | Who controls it |
|---|
| The programme | Which tours run on which days of the week — the fixed base template (e.g. Morne Brabant runs daily, Kayak Sunrise Mon–Fri) | Shannon via ⚙ Settings → tour "Days" field |
| Who's free this week | Which guides are actually available — changes week to week based on their submissions | Each guide, via their personal link |
| The final assignments | Who does what tour on what day — the schedule the field runs on | Shannon only, after reviewing and clicking Validate |
Section 05
Quick Reference
Who does what, and where. Print this page and pin it up.
| Action | Who | Where |
|---|
| Submit a booking request | Tour Operator | partners.yanature.com |
| Approve / decline a TO request | Shannon / Admin | Admin portal → Pending Bookings |
| Create a booking directly | Shannon · Nicolas · Tatiana | Admin portal → New Booking |
| Submit weekly availability | Each guide | Their personal private link |
| Build the weekly guide schedule | Shannon | Admin portal → Planning |
| Change a tour's default start time | Shannon | Admin portal → ⚙ Settings → tour card → Default time |
| Add a seasonal time exception | Shannon | Admin portal → ⚙ Settings → tour → Start time schedules → + Add period |
| Add or deactivate a tour | Shannon | Admin portal → ⚙ Settings → + Add tour or uncheck Active |
| Change a guide's certified skills | Nicolas (technical) | Backend configuration |
Troubleshooting — where to look first
🔴 A tour isn't showing up
Check that "Active" is ticked for that tour in ⚙ Settings. If unchecked, the tour disappears everywhere — planning and partner portal.
🔴 A start time looks wrong
Check if a special time period is configured for that date in Settings → Start time schedules. A period always overrides the default.
🔴 A guide isn't showing in planning
Either they haven't submitted their availability yet, or they're not certified for that tour type, or they marked themselves unavailable for that slot.
🔴 Data looks outdated
Click "↻ Refresh" in the top bar of the admin portal. All data reloads live from the master spreadsheet.
⚠️ Never edit the tour settings tabs directly in Google Sheets by typing in cells. Always use the ⚙ Settings button in the admin portal — the format must be respected for the system to work correctly.
The one rule: Google Sheets is the single source of truth. Fix it there, and every screen updates automatically. Never try to force something from a screen — it gets overwritten on the next refresh.