The complete setup
Everything beyond the bare minimum - the in-app checklist in full, plus the settings it doesn't cover.
Getting Started covers the minimum to book and charge one patient. This is everything else you could and should do.
Nothing here blocks you from working. Work through it in your own time - most of it is a five-minute job you do once.
Wattle's own checklist
After the welcome wizard, a rocket button appears at the bottom-right; clicking it opens the checklist panel. Most steps tick themselves off as you visit the screen - you don't have to remember to come back and tick them.
It comes in two groups, and only the first counts towards the progress ring.
Essential - the same four jobs as Getting Started:
| Step | Where | Covered in |
|---|---|---|
| Review clinic details | Settings → Clinic Settings | Settings tour |
| Review tax settings | Settings → Clinic Settings | Settings tour |
| Review catalogue & pricing | Catalogue | The catalogue |
| Create your first patient | Patients → New | Your first patient |
When you're ready - worth doing, but none of it blocks a normal day:
| Step | Where | Covered in |
|---|---|---|
| Invite your team | Settings → Team | Your team & permissions |
| Review appointment types | Settings → Appointment Types | Appointment types |
| Review your schedule | Schedule | Schedule & appointments |
| Set your weekend and after-hours rates | Settings → Clinic Settings | Rate loading |
| Set up stock tracking | Catalogue → Inventory | Inventory |
| Enable the controlled drugs register | Controlled drugs | Controlled drugs |
The last two only appear if those features are available to your clinic, so the second group runs four to six steps.
The ring hits 100% on the four essentials alone, deliberately - a clinic that doesn't track stock shouldn't be stuck below full forever. The second group opens itself once the essentials are done.
Two steps don't auto-tick on a visit. Create your first patient needs a patient actually saved, not just the form opened; Set up stock tracking waits until at least one product is genuinely being tracked, because it shares the Catalogue screen with the pricing step. You can tick or untick any box by hand.
Skip for now hides the panel and the rocket, with about 8 seconds of Undo. Bring it back from your avatar → Getting started.
What the checklist doesn't cover
Worth doing, and easy to miss because nothing prompts you:
| Job | Why | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Set roles and permissions | The checklist gets your team invited; it never prompts you to decide what each of them can actually do | Your team & permissions |
| Upload your logo and letterhead | Every invoice, estimate and PDF carries it | Settings tour |
| Set your email sender and signatures | So emails come from your practice, not a default | Settings tour |
| Set your legal name and ABN | These print on invoices and statements | Settings tour |
| Set the dispensing and injection fees | Clinic-wide defaults, overridable per item | Settings tour |
| Check the lock and sign-out timeouts | 15 min lock, 8 hr sign-out by default | Your PIN |
| Import your existing records | Clients, patients and price list from a CSV | Data import |
| Run a duplicates check after importing | Imports are a classic source of double-ups | Possible duplicates |
| Take a backup | Your own copy, off Wattle | Export & backup |
The welcome wizard, if you're joining later
The very first sign-in on a new account runs a short wizard. It only happens once.
About you - first and last name required, professional title optional. Then your Role, one of four:
Veterinarian (registered vet) · Nurse (vet nurse or technician) · Practice Manager (runs the practice) · Staff (reception or admin). Choosing Veterinarian adds fields for your board registration number and state.
Your role describes the person, not their access. Pick the one that matches the job you do, not the one you think unlocks the most - what you can reach is a separate, per-user setting the clinic adjusts afterwards. If you're the one creating the clinic you get full access either way, whichever role you pick.
Roles can be changed later. Professional Title is just a label ("Veterinarian", "Vet Nurse") - not your credentials. BVSc, DVM and registration numbers live in your profile.
Then your invitation takes over. An invitation to start a new clinic goes to Create your clinic; an invite code from a colleague goes to Join a clinic. You're not asked to choose between them.
Creating needs only your Clinic Name. Legal name, address, phone, ABN and contact email are all optional and addable later - though see the note above about them printing on invoices.
Gotchas
- The Welcome message only shows once. Dismissed it? You've lost nothing - the checklist covers the same ground.
- A checklist link navigates away immediately, without asking. Save your work before clicking one.
- The rocket button can't be shrunk on a small screen. Dismiss it and reopen from your avatar menu.
- An invite code that won't work is usually a typo. Wattle upper-cases and trims what you type, so case isn't the culprit. Ask your admin to regenerate it.
- "Enter a valid Australian phone number" - the field is AU-only. Leave it blank; it's optional.
- ABN isn't validated. Wattle won't reject a wrong one, so double-check your 11 digits - a typo causes billing confusion later.
- You can't change your own email or role. Both sit greyed out on Settings → Account, marked managed by support. Email hello@wattlevet.com - not your practice manager, who can't change them either.
In this section
- Settings - a guided tour - what lives behind every tab
- Your team & permissions - invites, roles, and who can do what
- Appointment types - the kinds of booking on your calendar
- The catalogue & prices - everything you charge for
The optional extras - stock, weekend rates, controlled drugs, imports and backups - live in Advanced.