This guide explains how to use a Member's dashboard in Lookout: what each section shows, and how to complete the most common tasks, such as adding an authorised representative or primary contact, recording matching requirements and preferences, adding helper notes, and setting incompatibilities.
Unsure about some keywords or terminology used? Please review our Member dashboard & tabs: Glossary of terms article.
Before You Start
To work with a Member’s dashboard, make sure:
- You have Administrator or Staffer access with permission to view and edit members.
Most editing buttons only appear if your role permits changes. If you have view-only access, you will see the information but not the edit or add controls.
- The Member record already exists. To access a Member’s dashboard, open the member from the Members list.
The Member dashboard
The Member Dashboard provides a comprehensive overview of an individual's membership and care-related information.
It is organised into two main sections:
- Header banners displayed at the top of the dashboard, providing key member status and alerts.
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Information panels arranged in two columns, containing important details and records related to the Member's care and membership.
What are Banners?
Member dashboard banners are alerts that appear at the top of a Member's profile.
Each one reacts independently to a specific condition, and only shows when that condition is currently true.
They fall into five groups:
- Funding risk insights (Support at Home members only): Flag overspent funding, significantly underspent funding, or a gap in care management delivery. Refreshed daily by background processes.
- Leave banner: Appears when today falls within a recorded leave period. Veterans' members get an additional related alert.
- Setup checklist: Appears while any key detail is missing (emergency contact, primary contact, sign-up date, or recorded requirements), listing only the incomplete items.
- Data warnings: Flag specific inconsistencies, such as an overdue review, a visit dated before billing began, a missing funding reference, an archived community, a package without its subsidy, or incomplete plan details.
- Archived notice: Shows if the Member has been archived, with the reason, date, and an option to reverse it.
In short, the banner area is a live summary of what's missing, at risk, or off for that Member right now.
Information Panels
The main panels include:
- Key contacts: A summary of the Member’s designated primary and emergency contacts.
- Membership details: Core information such as the Member’s unique reference, sign-up date, commencement date, next review date and plan.
- Members: The person or people receiving care.
- Authorised representatives: People authorised to act on the Member’s behalf.
- Funder: Information about the funding provider and scheme.
- Billing recipients, emergency contacts and sharers: Other people connected to the Member in specific support roles.
- Agreements: The service agreement and its signing status.
- Community and cohorts: The Member’s community and any groups they belong to.
- Schedule and visits: Recurring and one-off visits.
- Matching: Requirements, preferences and notes used to match the Member with suitable care workers.
- Incompatibilities: Care workers who must not be scheduled with the Member.
The following sections provide step-by-step instructions for common tasks. Each task can be accessed from the relevant panel on the Member’s dashboard.
Accessing the Member dashboard
- From the main navigation menu, click Members to open the full list of Members.
- Find the Member you're after - use the search box to type their name, or narrow the list using the filters.
- Click the Member's name to open their profile. This will load their Member dashboard.
Add an authorised representative
An authorised representative is someone permitted to act on the Member's behalf (for example, a family Member managing their care).
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On the Member's dashboard, scroll to find the Authorised Representatives panel.
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Click Link Authorised Representative.
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Search for the person by name. If they already have a profile, select them; if not, you can create a new profile for them.
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Confirm to link them to the Member.
Top Tip: You can link more than one representative. To remove one later, use the Remove button on their entry.
Add other contacts (Emergency Contact, Billing Recipient, Sharer, Funder)
These all work the same way, each from its own panel:
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Find the relevant panel - Emergency Contacts, Billing Recipients, Sharers, or Funder.
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Click the Link… button in that panel (e.g. "Link emergency contact").
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Search for and select an existing profile, or create a new one.
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Confirm to link them.
Top Tip: An emergency contact is often required before a member is considered fully set up
If it's missing, you'll see a reminder in the setup checklist at the top of the dashboard
Set up the Primary Contact
The primary contact is the main point of contact for the Member. It can be the Member themselves or one of their authorised representatives.
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On the Member's dashboard, go to the Authorised Representatives panel (or the Member's own entry).
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Next to the person you want to designate, click Make primary contact.
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Confirm when prompted.
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You'll then see a Primary contact badge appear beside that person, and they'll be shown in the Key contacts summary at the top.
Set Matching requirements (requisites)
Requirements (sometimes called "requisites") are the background checks or competencies a care worker must hold to be matched with this member, for example, a specific clearance or skill.
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On the Member's dashboard, find the Matching panel. Next to Requisites, click Edit.
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Tick each required check or competency from the list.
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Click Save.
What this affects: These requirements are used when you search for care workers.
Only workers who meet them will be suitable matches. If a matched worker is missing one, the member will appear in the "Matches missing requirements" area of the Home Dashboard.
Setting Matching Preferences
Matching preferences are desirable criteria (not strict requirements) that help you find the best-suited care worker. The system returns them in search results to help you choose.
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In the Matching panel, next to Preference criteria, click Edit.
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Select the preferences that apply to this Member.
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Click Save.
Add Helper Notes and Schedule Notes
The Matching panel also holds free-text notes to guide matching and scheduling:
- Helper notes: Notes about the kind of care worker who suits this member.
- Schedule notes: Notes about scheduling considerations.
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In the Matching panel, next to Helper notes, click Edit.
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Type your notes for both the Helper preferences and schedule preferences.
- Click Save.
Recording an Incompatibility
An incompatibility records that a specific care worker must never be scheduled with this Member.
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On the Member's dashboard, find the Incompatibilities panel.
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Click Add incompatibility.
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Choose the Helper who should no longer be scheduled with this Member.
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Select the reason, and optionally add extra details.
- Click Save.
Important: Adding an incompatibility has immediate effects. Any scheduled visits and recurring visit rules involving that worker are automatically set to vacant, and their contract with the member is ended (up to their latest in-progress or completed visit). You'll be warned about this before you confirm.
What Happens Next?
After you make changes to a Member's dashboard:
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The dashboard updates immediately to reflect your change, and you'll see a brief confirmation message.
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Contacts and representatives appear in the relevant panels, and the Key contacts summary updates for primary/emergency contacts.
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Requirements and preferences feed directly into the care-worker search, changing which workers are considered suitable matches.
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Incompatibilities take effect straight away, vacating affected visits and ending the relevant contract as described above.
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Setup reminders at the top of the dashboard clear as you complete the outstanding items (such as adding an emergency contact or start date).
What Users / Staff / Members Will See
- For Admins / Staff (with edit permission)
See the full dashboard and all the add, edit, and remove controls described above. - For Staff (view-only)
See the same information, but the add/edit/remove buttons are hidden.
Staff can review a member's setup without changing it.
- For Members and Representatives (Lookout App)
Troubleshooting
I can't see the add/edit buttons
- Your role may be view-only — editing controls only appear with the right permission.
- Confirm you're on the correct member and that the record isn't archived.
- Try logging out and back in.
A whole panel is missing
- Some panels only appear when a related feature or integration is enabled for your organisation (for example, package details, veterans' affairs plans, or direct-debit payments).
- Some panels only appear once prerequisites exist (for example, a funder must be linked before certain agreement options show).
I saved but nothing changed
- Make sure you clicked Save and didn't navigate away first.
- Check for validation messages highlighting a required field.
- Refresh the dashboard to confirm the update landed.
- I added a requirement but a worker still shows as a match
- Requirements affect the worker search. Confirm the requirement was actually saved in the Matching panel, and re-run the search.