Appointments

The Appointments section contains the pages used to configure the appointments module: management (calendars for the different locations), scheduling flow (booking flows for the services), widget (layout customization for the appointments widget), and settings (general appointments system configurations).

Management

To open the Management page, go to Appointments > Management.

The initial page displays the list of locations with assigned appointments module.

Today’s appointments status information is displayed in each location’s card:

• Number of confirmed appointments (scheduled appointments automatically confirmed by the system, or manually confirmed by a user);
• Number of appointments waiting for confirmation (scheduled appointments not yet confirmed by a user);
• Number of cancelled appointments (appointments that were cancelled by a user or a visitor);
• Number of checked-in appointments (confirmed appointments already checked-in by a user or visitor)

By clicking on a location’s card, the calendar of that location will be displayed in a new page.

Filters

In the location’s calendar page, the current week is displayed at the bottom (columns represent weekdays and rows represent hours) and will show all results within the defined filters. If you wish to manage the displayed information, set the desired filter options, and click on the ‘Apply’ button (if necessary you can reset all filters by clicking on the ‘Clear filters’ button).

You can filter scheduled appointments by services groups / services, staff roles / users, and appointments status (waiting for confirmation, confirmed, or checked-in). Additionally, in the monthly calendar, you can choose the week or day to display, depending if the view is set to ‘Weekly’ or ‘Daily’.

Views

By default, the gird view is active and the calendar can be set to be shown by week (by clicking on the ‘Weekly’ button), or by day (by clicking on the ‘Daily’ button). You can then use the navigation buttons to see future weeks/days, and to return to the current week/day click on the ‘Today’ button.

When ‘Grid’ view is selected:

• Information will be presented in a grid;
• Hours are displayed in rows and weekdays in columns, when the ‘Weekly’ option is selected;
• Hours are displayed in rows and services in columns, when the ‘Daily’ option is selected;
• Appointments are displayed in the respective column (weekday or service) and row (time), with the scheduled time and visitor identification;
• If you click on the ‘Show more’ button, you will be redirected to the list view filtered for the appointment day;
• Appointments are removed once their date and time have passed, or if the appointment was cancelled or checked-in.

tip

Each cell can display a maximum of 5 appointments. To see more, click on the ‘Show more’ button.

When ‘List’ view is selected:

• Information will be presented in a list;
• Appointments will be grouped by calendar day and will present the scheduled time, and visitor identification;
• Appointments are removed once their date and time have passed, or if the appointment was cancelled or checked-in.

Managing Appointments

Check the appointment details

Each scheduled appointment has a detailed information page accessible by clicking on the ‘Information’ button when in list view. There, you can check the appointment status (waiting for confirmation or confirmed), basic information (location, service, staff member, date and time), and answered questions.

Confirm appointments

Appointments require confirmation to be considered valid in the system. They can be automatically confirmed once they are scheduled (if the respective option is activated in the Appointments > Scheduling Flow page), or manually by the users (in the list view, confirm the respective appointment individually, or confirm several ones with the bulk action). The appointment will be accounted for as confirmed and the respective check-in code will be included in the basic information section of the detailed information page.

Cancel appointments (delete)

Appointments can be cancelled before or after confirmation, with a tolerance defined per location. After cancelling an appointment, it will be accounted as cancelled and the respective slot will be available again.
In the list view, cancel an appointment individually or cancel several ones with the bulk action. The appointment will change to cancelled and it will be deleted from the appointments list.

Appointments check-in

Visitors are admitted in the system through the check-in process, according to a tolerance defined per location. The check-in can be made by the users through the backoffice. But, visitors can also check in through a queueing device available at the site that will return a ticket number.
To check in an appointment through the backoffice, go to the respective appointment detailed information page and click on the ‘Check-in’ button. The appointment will be removed from the appointments list.

Information

The check-in action is only available for confirmed appointments.

Scheduling appointments

Appointments can be booked by staff users (through the system’s backoffice) or by visitors (through the appointments widget embedded in your website). To book an appointment through the backoffice, click on the ‘Book appointment’ button. and follow the requested steps.

The scheduling flow is set for each service in the Appointments > Scheduling Flow page and its steps are customizable and reordered. Therefore, the order of the steps described next may not be the same you are currently using (these sections are just to explain each step).

Language selection (applicable to widget)

In case the appointment is booked through the widget, the language selection will be the first step in the booking process and it gives visitors the chance to select a language before interacting with the widget.

To select a language, the visitor must select one of the options, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

tip

The available languages are the ones defined in the System > Translations page.

Select the location

This step will list all locations where the appointments module is active. In case the locations group step is activated, a dropdown with the locations groups will be available to filter the displayed options.

Select the location where you wish to schedule the appointment, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

Select the service

This step will list all services available in the previously selected location. In case the services group step is activated, a dropdown with the services groups will be available to filter the displayed options.

Select the service to which you wish to schedule the appointment, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

tip

In case the services selection is the first step of the booking process, the displayed locations are only the ones where the selected service has the appointments module activated.

Select the visitor

In this step, the list of the visitors registered in the system is displayed, with information regarding the visitor’s name, mobile number, and email.

Select the visitor to whom you wish to schedule the appointment, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

If the visitor is not registered in the system, click on the ‘Add new visitor’ button. A new section will open where you should fill the visitor’s basic information (first name, last name, username, email, password, and mobile number). When you finish, click on the ‘Confirm and next’ button. The new visitor will be added to the Essentials > Visitors > Users page once the booking is completed.

Select the staff member (optional)

This step includes all the available users that work in the previously selected location and service.

Select the user to whom you wish to schedule the appointment, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

Select the date and time

In this step, you must define the appointment’s date and time.

By default, the system will show the available time slots starting at the current day, after clicking on the ‘Search’ button. If you wish to display time slots starting at a different day, select the initial date in the ‘Available on or after’ field. You can also filter the displayed weekdays in the ‘At’ field. The time range can also be customized in the ‘From’ and ‘To’ fields. After finishing the configuration of the filter, click on the ‘Search’ button. A grid will be displayed with columns representing days, and cells representing the available time slots on each one.

To select a date and time, find the day and then select the cell corresponding to the appointment starting time. Click on the ‘Next’ button.

tip

The displayed time slots are the ones available after combining all resources (locations, services, and staff members) working hours and the already confirmed appointments for those same resources.

Fill the form (optional)

In case the selected service has an assigned form with questions to be shown in the appointments module, the form step will be displayed. Fill the form, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

The answers will be included in the appointment detailed information page and related statistical data will be accessible in the Data module.

Fill the check-in data (optional)

There are different check-in code formats: 4 digits code, mobile number, email, name, or text. In case the system is configured to use a check-in format different from the 4 digits code, the check-in data step will appear in the booking flow to insert the respective information.

Fill the check-in data field, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

The check-in data step is mostly used to integrate the appointment module with the queueing module.

Set appointments repetitions (optional)

If the appointment you are booking is a recurrent event, you can use the repetition feature:

1. Activate the ‘Enable repetitions’ option.
2. Choose the repetition recurrence in the ‘Repeat’ field (daily, weekly, or monthly). If you chose the ‘Weekly’ or ‘Monthly’ options, set the weekday or the month day respectively.
3. Choose one of the available recurrence types: end after ‘N’ occurrences, or repeat until a determined date.
4. Click on the ‘Next’ button.

tip

The repetition feature needs to be activated in the respective service scheduling flow. Appointment repetitions are accounted as new appointments and subjected to the appointment limitation. If the check-in code format is the 4 digits code, each repetition will have a different check-in code.

Confirm the appointment information

The last step is confirming all selected options and text inputs. Click on the ‘Book appointment’ button if the information is correct. You will receive a confirmation message or a warning, in case the selected day and time are not available (due to conflicts with appointments already booked for the same visitor, at the same day and time). If this is the case, a calendar and a list of time slots will appear in a pop-up so you can rectify the information and submit it again.

If you wish to change any of the booking steps information, click on the ‘Edit’ button of the respective step, in the ‘Summary’ section (if the following steps have information related with the one you are changing, this information will be deleted and you will have to configure it again, according to with the changes you performed).

After confirmation, the appointment will be listed in the location’s calendar.

Scheduling flow

The scheduling flow is an ordered list of steps required to book an appointment. Flows are assigned to services and you can have different scheduling flows for each service. Some of the steps are mandatory (location, service, visitor, and date and time) and optional steps can be added for additional appointment configuration.

To open the Scheduling Flow page, go to Appointments > Scheduling Flow.

MANAGING SCHEDULING FLOWS

Configuring the flow main steps

The first steps are common to all flows and are defined in the ‘Main steps’ section:

• Language selection (optional) – the first step in the booking process that gives visitors the chance to select a language before interacting with the widget;
• Locations group (optional) – a dropdown with the locations groups will be created to filter the displayed options (this option is only shown if the system has locations);
• Location – list of all locations where the appointments module is active;
• Services group (optional) – a dropdown with the services groups will be created to filter the displayed options (this option is only shown if the system has services groups);
• Service – list of all services where the appointments module is active.

To set up the main steps:

1. Activate the ‘Show’ option if you wish to enable the Language selection step.
2. Activate the ‘Show locations group’ option if you wish to enable the locations group selection step.
3. Activate the ‘Show services group’ option if you wish to enable the services group selection step.
4. Choose the order of the location and service selection steps with the drag and drop tool:
   1. If you use the Location > Service order, the displayed services will be the ones in the previously selected location where the appointments module is active.
   2. If you use the Service > Location order, the displayed locations will be the ones where the selected service has the appointments module active.
5. Save changes.

Adding a scheduling flow

A default scheduling flow is already available and all services will follow this flow. If you wish to set a specific flow for a specific service:

1. Click on the ‘Add flow’ button – a pop-up will open.
2. Select the service for which you want to create a specific flow, and click on the ‘Save’ button. A new flow will be listed with the login and date and time steps (mandatory steps).
3. If you wish to add more steps to the flow, click on the ‘Add step’ button – a pop-up will open.
4. Select the steps you wish to add, and click on the ‘Save’ button.
5. Set the order of the steps with the drag and drop tool.
6. Save changes.

Deleting a scheduling flow

To delete a scheduling flow, click on the respective ‘Delete’ button. The service assigned to the deleted flow will be reassigned to the default flow.

ADVANCED FEATURES

Enable appointment repetitions in the flow

If the service assigned to the flow may provide recurrent events, you can enable the appointment repetition feature: activate the Enable repetitions option. See the 6.1 | MANAGE APPOINTMENTS subchapter for more information.

Enable automatic appointment confirmation in the flow

Appointments can be automatically confirmed once they are booked (without further action from a user). To enable the automatic confirmation in a flow, active the ‘Enable automatic confirmation’ option.

Replicate scheduling flows

If you wish to replicate the configurations from one flow to another, you can use the replication feature:

1. Find the flow you wish to replicate.
2. Click on the ‘Replicate’ button – a pop-up will open.
3. Select the services to where you will replicate the configurations and click on the ‘Save’ button.
4. Save changes.

Set the flow steps titles and descriptions

Customize the step titles and descriptions displayed in the appointments widget:

1. Click on the flow’s ‘Description’ button – a pop-up will open.
2. A section per each flow step is displayed with a ‘Title’ field and a ‘Description’ field. Type the information you wish to include in each section, and click on the ‘Save’ button. If you prefer to use the same titles and descriptions from the default flow, activate the ‘Use default steps titles and descriptions’ option.
3. Save changes

Set the Select staff and Repetitions steps for users only

The ‘Select staff’ and ‘Repetitions’ steps can be set only for the users (steps visible when booking appointments through the backoffice).

To activate these restrictions, select the ‘Only staff’ option in the ‘Select staff’ step and/or ‘Repetitions’ step.

Widget

The widget is the interface used by visitors to book appointments. The widget layout is fully customizable and it can be embedded in a website (through an HTML code provided by the system). You can create as many widgets themes as you wish but you can only use one at the time.

To open the Widget page, go to Appointments > Widget.

MANAGING WIDGETS

Adding a widget

A default widget is already available on the widget page. If you wish to add a new one:

1. Click on the ‘Add theme’ button – a new page will open.
2. Type the theme name in the ‘Theme name’ field.
3. Expand the section you wish to customize: ‘Top bar’ or ‘Quick configuration’.
   1. If you expand the ‘Top bar’ section, choose if you wish to display this section in the widget by selecting the ‘Show top bar’ option. To add a logo, choose to either add an image from your hard disk or from the system’s gallery.
   2. If you expand the ‘Quick configuration’ section, set the different options colours by clicking on the respective ‘Colour picker’ button and selecting a colour.
4. If you wish to configure more customization options, activate the ‘Use advanced configurations’ option, and new sections will be listed. Expand the section you wish to customize and set the different colours by clicking on the respective ‘Colour picker’ button and selecting a colour.
5. Save changes.

To reset all layout configurations to the default ones, click on the ‘Reset configurations' button. This action is irreversible.

Editing a widget

To edit a previously created widget, click on the respective ‘Edit’ button and update the configurations.

Deleting a widget

You can delete a single widget theme by clicking on its ‘Delete’ button or delete several ones by using the ‘Bulk delete’ action.

If you delete the active widget, the system will change to the default widget (this widget will be automatically activated).

Activating / deactivating widgets

You can only use one widget theme at the time, which means only one widget can be activated.

To activate a widget, click on the desired widget’s ‘On/Off’ button. The button colour will change from red to green, and the previous active widget theme will be deactivated automatically.

Using the widget HTML code for website incorporation

In the widget page, you can find the HTML code for the active widget. You can use this code to embed the widget on an external website. You can manage the width and height of the widget in the code, according to your preferences.

Settings

The Settings page contains general appointments system configurations. To open it, go to Appointments > Settings.

Appointments settings

Sechedule’s time range

Setting the schedules range of the calendars allows you to set the initial and final times of the locations’ calendars available in the Appointments > Management page.

Allow scheduling appointments for the next ‘N’ months

Set the available time range for appointments booking (in months).

Allow visitor to create an account

Set if it will be possible to register visitors to be able to set limits like ‘Maximum number of non-attended appointments per visitor’ and ‘Maximum number of non-confirmed appointments per visitor’, and prevent visitors from booking new appointments. Those visitors will be blocked until a user unblocks the visitor, or confirms one of the visitor’s appointments.

When enabled, this option will give the option to send the visitor’s account password through SMS, email, or both.

Visitor identification

The login booking step is to identify the visitor that will book the appointment through the widget. If you do not need visitors to be registered in the system, it is possible to identify the visitor by name, mobile number, email, or any text question set in the Essentials > Assets > Forms page.

Check-in with

Appointments check-in can be performed in different formats: 4 digits code (default option), name, mobile number, email, or any text question set in the Essentials > Assets > Forms page.

Setting additional information in the booking steps

You can add additional information to the booking steps by selecting different options in the ‘Scheduling wizard’ section:

• If you wish to show detailed information about the selected location, service, and/or staff member, enable the respective options;
• If you wish to show the staff member’s profile picture, enable the respective option;
• If you wish to show the scheduling summary (section located at the right side of the scheduling flow), enable the respective option.