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Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Mark Demicoli  28 March 2009 09:16:33 PM
A number of folks have posed the question "If I'm not available on certain days, why does ClickBook show links to all days on the main profile page?".  Good point.  Well, we've just fixed that with some clever new functionality that helps both service providers and clients quickly see who is available and when, without having to trawl through each day looking for availability.

Lets take a look at the Lucy's Table Massage Services profile (hi Lucy!).  I've chosen a 30 minute massage in this case.  The first thing that you'll notice is that "Tomorrow" which is a Sunday in Melbourne, is disabled, since this service is not available on Sundays.  You can also see the green shading on the calendar, indicating that the selected service is available Monday thru Saturday.

Image:Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter
Figure 1 - 30 Minute Massage with "Anyone" shows that the service is available from Monday thru Saturday


Now if we select a specific person from the list, we see the links and the green shading change to reflect the Weekly Availability (working days) of the selected staff member:

Image:Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter
Figure 2 - Herschel Parker is only available on Mondays and Wednesdays for the 30 Minute Massage service.


Neat huh?
Comments

1Stephanie Horton  23/09/11 10:17:05 AM  Untitled

hmmm, ok so i've created a new resource, double checked the availability settings... but when I choose a "resource" from the drop down, the calendar says I'm not available at all this month. Basically, one user DOES show availability, and one doesn't... remedy? solution?

2appointment scheduler  06/07/09 6:55:56 PM   appointment

that's really a fantastic post ! ! added to my favourite blogs list..

3appointment scheduler  06/07/09 6:35:23 PM   appointment

that's really a fantastic post ! ! added to my favourite blogs list..

4Matthew Shane St Germain Donnelly RN LMT  07/05/09 1:19:24 AM  Other idea for the calendar interface...

Noticed with this new calendar, the days available are easy to see because they're nice and green, but, if you schedule a time block out (like a vacation) they are still "available" on the schedule (still green).

One of my clients found that confusing when she tried to schedule recently (I'm away for 12 days and the schedule "looks" open)

Also, when I booked some repeating appointments, although I've scheduled that time off, The calendar booked clients into time that is not open...I'm "time blocked" on the schedule from 5/28-6/10 and it booked a client 3 times in that period with out a conflict notice....hmmm...so the client received a notification of appointments on the Monday and Friday's I'm away before I realized it....

It could also be helpful for the day to not appear green on the calendar if it is booked solid...like say you have 9 (or 12 )clients already?...It would just visually clue the client you're already booked that day instead of clicking it to have the system tell them on another screen.

That's my 2 cents today...

Thanks!

5Mark Demicoli  04/04/09 2:22:12 AM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

@14 & 15 This was actually a desperately needed feature so we snuck it in without too much fanfare (after 3 years we thought it was kinda pathetic that you couldn't make exceptions to normal weekly availability). Embarassing :) Glad it's working for you.

6Georgie Coote  03/04/09 11:36:05 AM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

I love this new feature, so much easier! I have also noticed you have added a new time block feature for occasional additional available days. This is so helpful for me as I sometimes change my hours, perfect!

7breanna iwaszko  03/04/09 10:20:09 AM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Hey Mark, thanks for implementing the changes! I just discovered the "Available Time Block" as well - awesome!

8Mark Demicoli  01/04/09 6:15:00 PM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

@6: Your suggestion has been implemented Breanna, thanks for contributing!

@12: This has now been fixed. The scheduler now also lists the specific days you are Available outside the Normal Availability.

9Rachel  31/03/09 8:29:42 PM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Sorry about the duplicate comment before!

I just noticed, that if you Time Block a special period as available, on an otherwise unavailable day - it still shows up as grey on the calendar. eg I'm not usually available on Wednesdays, but April 15 is during my mid-term break, so wanted to offer times on that Wednesday only. It's time blocked as available, but still shows in grey.

10Rachel  31/03/09 8:15:27 PM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Brilliant - that's much better. I'm still studying and using this system for Home Practicum bookings, so only available part of 4 days - this will cut down heaps on the time it takes my practice clients to hunt out a spot!

Thanks!

11Rachel  31/03/09 8:15:09 PM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Brilliant - that's much better. I'm atill studying and using this system for Home Practicum bookings, so only available part of 4 days - this will cut down heaps on the time it takes my practice clients to hunt out a spot!

Thanks!

12Jenny Grant  31/03/09 1:28:56 PM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Awesome! I love the change! Thanks for the update!

13Martin Kincade  31/03/09 11:42:15 AM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Good update... keep them coming. Great service, sp much better that our old system (GoBookings!)

MK.

14Mark Demicoli  30/03/09 2:48:07 PM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

@3 Exie, what you could do is create another Staff Member called something like 'Exie - Prenatal Services' and then assign the prenatal services just to 'her'. Then you can set the Normal Availability for that staff member for just tuesdays. I know this sounds kinda schitzofrenic but it really works.

You'll need another email address to do this, with forwarding capabilities, so that any new appointment notifications to "Exie - Prenatal" are forwarded to your main account. I'm prettsure gmail.com and hotmail.com have forwarding features.

@4: Check again Cara, there was a slight teething problem.

@6 Actually we thought long about this and erred on the side of keeping the wording consistent (ie either Available or Not available), but not changing based on how many days are available or not available. But you make a good point about using 'positive' language. I guess we went with the "not" because there are generally less "not" days so the message is less cluttered. hmm I think more thought will go into this.

15breanna iwaszko  30/03/09 1:05:19 PM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Great idea, I've been wanting this for a while. Small suggestion - could it be worded as "available Monday & Wednesday" rather then "not available Tuesday & Thursday"? The days are just an example... it's more about keeping the client/patient positive when looking for an appointment rather then being focused on what they can't have! Kind of like trying not to look at the pink elephant in the corner :-)

16Lucy  29/03/09 10:38:24 PM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Hi Mark! :)

17Cara  29/03/09 6:47:52 AM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Upon further examination it seems that the calender is not offering monday, which is a day that only one of us is available (me!). How do I remedy this?

18Exie Buehler  29/03/09 6:22:36 AM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

I am the only therapist in my office and provide all the services. However, I only see clients on Tuesdays who book prenatal or encourage labor massage sessions (the other services are not available on that day of the week). I do indicate that Tuesdays are reserved for Prenatal clients on my site, however, I have had some non-pregnant clients "scold" me because they have requested a different service on a Tuesday (which they currently can do) and I have had to tell them that I can't confirm it.

How can I use this new feature to block non-pregnant clients from booking Tuesday sessions?

Thank you,

Exie

PS, I love this service and so do all my clients! Thanks for providing it.

19Cara  29/03/09 4:27:29 AM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Looks great!

20jen  29/03/09 3:54:57 AM  Find Available Time box has just become a littler smarter

Yay!

I was hoping for something like this.

I'm going to check it out on my site right now!

Thank you!