Now you've set up your bookable services, you're ready to finalize the setup of your online scheduler.
General settings
To start using online scheduling, you need to activate it in menu > clinic settings > calendar > online bookings > general settings. To activate, select the checkbox to automatically open calendar days ahead in the section online booking.
Select the number of days you wish to open the schedule ahead for the services you’ve set up earlier and of course for the practitioners you’ve set up earlier.
Note: If you don’t wish to open a certain number of days ahead but instead wish to select specific days or parts of specific days, you can do this inside your calendar.
Select the applicable date, and click the calendar icon just next to the practitioner abbreviation. Select the applicable choice in the pop-up. There are two options: the first will make the whole day available for online booking. The second will let you specify certain hours available for online booking.
Now it's time to specify the delays in the booking process.
First, set up the delay between booking an appointment and the appointment. Select the number of hours between booking and the appointment.
It’s advisable to set up a realistic minimum delay (in hours) between an online booked appointment and the time at the moment of booking. This will prevent very sudden changes to your calendar.
Next, specify the delay between cancellation and the appointment by selecting the correct number of hours.
Now, decide the minimum patient age to book an appointment. The patient is required to fill in their date of birth when booking an appointment online.
Next, specify if website visitors will get the option to choose (or are required to choose) their own physician for the particular service. If this is not selected the system will automatically distribute the patient to a physician.
Finally, select if the patient is allowed to enter comments when booking an appointment.
Notifications and approval
Go to menu> clinic settings> calendar> online bookings > notifications & approval. Select who receives what notification when an appointment, rescheduling, or cancelation has been processed by ticking the checkboxes.
Then, decide if the patient's name must be visible in these notifications.
Now you will need to choose which way you wish to approve online bookings.
The first method is fully manual. This will need manual approval for each booking.
The second method is hybrid. When the patient provides matching information as is available in your database, the appointment will be approved without any intervention. If the information does not resemble the available information, manual approval will be necessary.
The last option is fully automatic. This will automatically approve appointments of new patients as well as existing patients if the info matches.
Please download and review the PDF scheme (online scheduling patient matching) for a full explanation of the 3 available settings.
If you've selected method 1 or 2, checkboxes will appear. Choose if you wish to send the patient an automated email or SMS message (or both) when a booking is waiting for approval.
Texts
You can customize the texts of the booking process in menu > clinic settings > online bookings > texts. Edit the texts you wish to show visitors before and after new online bookings, online reschedulings, and online cancellations.
