Appointments: Set Availability, Book Slots, and Manage Changes

Appointments: Availability, Booking & Management

The Appointments module provides a complete scheduling system for managing service bookings, staff availability, and client communications around appointments. Whether you are configuring availability for the first time or handling a last-minute reschedule, this guide walks through every step of the appointment lifecycle.

1. Setting Up Availability

Availability configuration determines when clients can be booked. Incorrect settings cause double-bookings or show no available slots. Always test your configuration with a sample booking before going live.

1. Open Appointment Settings: Navigate to Appointments > Settings (or Setup > Appointments depending on your configuration). Open the Working Hours section.
2. Set working days and hours: Enable each working day (Monday–Friday, or weekend days as applicable) and set the opening and closing times for each day. These define the outer boundary of bookable slots.
3. Configure slot duration: Set how long each appointment slot is (e.g. 30 minutes, 60 minutes). This determines how many bookings can be taken per day and how the calendar grid displays.
4. Set buffer time: Buffer time is added between consecutive bookings to allow for preparation, travel, or administrative wrap-up. A 10–15 minute buffer between slots is a common starting point.
5. Set blackout dates and holidays: Navigate to the Holidays or Blackout Dates section and add any dates where no appointments should be taken — public holidays, training days, or planned closure periods.
6. Provider-specific schedules: If multiple staff providers are configured, each provider can have their own working hours. Open each provider's profile and set their individual availability. Conflicts between provider-level and global settings are resolved at the provider level.
7. Save and test: Save your settings and open the booking calendar. Verify that available slots are shown correctly and that blackout dates show as unavailable.

2. Booking an Appointment

Appointments can be created manually by staff from the CRM calendar, or (if enabled) submitted by clients via a self-service booking page. This section covers the staff-side manual booking flow.

1. Open the calendar: Navigate to Appointments > Calendar. The calendar displays all existing bookings colour-coded by status and provider.
2. Select a time slot: Click on an available time slot on the calendar grid, or click the New Appointment button and select the date/time manually from the form.
3. Select or create the client: Search for the existing client or lead by name or phone. If the person is not in the system yet, you can create a minimal record (name and phone) directly from the booking form — complete their full profile afterwards.
4. Choose service and provider: Select the service type from the dropdown, then assign the staff provider for this appointment. The system checks provider availability and will warn if the selected time conflicts with an existing booking.
5. Add booking notes: Enter any notes relevant to this appointment — client preferences, preparation requirements, or special instructions for the provider.
6. Set confirmation method: Select whether to send a confirmation by SMS, email, or both. Ensure the client's phone and email are present on their profile for this to work.
7. Save the booking: Click Save. The appointment appears on the calendar. Verify that the confirmation notification has been triggered by checking the Communications log.

3. Rescheduling or Cancelling an Appointment

Appointment changes happen. Handle them through the system rather than informally to ensure the client is notified, the slot is freed up, and the reason is documented.

1. Open the appointment: Click the appointment on the calendar view or find it via the Appointments list filtered by client or date.
2. Reschedule: Click the Reschedule action. Select the new date and time — the system checks for availability conflicts. Confirm the new slot and save. The appointment record is updated and the old time is released.
3. Cancel: Click the Cancel action. Select a cancellation reason from the dropdown (e.g. Client Request, No Show, Provider Unavailable). Add a free-text note with any additional context.
4. Send client notification: For both reschedules and cancellations, trigger the relevant SMS or email notification using the configured template. This is a required step — clients must always be informed of changes to their bookings.
5. Log the reason: Ensure the reason code and any note are saved to the appointment timeline. This data is used in schedule performance reports to identify patterns of cancellation or no-show.

Common Issues

Related Articles

• Communications: Templates & Follow-Ups
• Intake Forms: Build, Publish & QA
• Reports: Schedule Performance Reports
• Workflow: Appointment Booking & Status Management