You now have a basic appointment schedule for your conversation lessons and can begin configuring it to suit your requirements.
Click Configure to go to Overview for a summary of the different options you can adjust.
Here, you can temporarily block the appointment schedule or delete it entirely.
Configuring Services
The Services tab lists the services available and how they relate to resources.
The top half of the screen lets you create and update your services.
You can click and drag the rows to change the order in which the services are listed.
Create a new service
When you click New Service, or click the edit icon of an existing service, a window appears where you can change the details.
You can also change the color of a service by clicking the colored box in the top right corner of the window.
The radio button Hidden (next to Normal) lets you create a service that is only available to the administrator and superusers.
Hidden services do not appear in the service list that your clients see.
In the field at the bottom of the editing window, you can enter a description of the service that will appear when the service is selected.
It can contain formatting and pictures but note that you can only link to pictures that are available online.
If, as the administrator or superuser, you would like the option to set a different length for a service you can check the box Allow superusers and the administrator to ignore all time constraints on the Access tab.
This setting lets you enter an arbitrary finish time on the appointment schedule instead of creating a separate service for it.
Determine resources
If your account contains any resource schedules, the service editing window will also contain a section marked Resources where you can indicate which resources from these schedules need to be available when making an appointment.
For example, you could specify that a lesson needs both a specific teacher and a specific classroom.
Or, if more than one teacher can give a lesson then you can click the “or” button and list each one.
To add new resources, go to your Dashboard, click New Schedule, and select the Resource type schedule.
You can also add additional resources to an existing resource schedule via the Resources tab.
Configure general settings
Under Term used to describe an entry, you can customize the term you want to use in place of “reservation”.
You can select a term from the list or use your own custom term that will describe your service appropriately.
In this example, “lesson” is the most suitable term.
This term will be used in all dialog windows, help text and email confirmations.
You can also change the term used for “user”, for example changing it to “client”, under the Layout settings.
Limits per user
Next, determine the number of appointments a client can make on your schedule.
After the maximum is reached, appointments can only be changed or deleted.
When a service depends on one or more resource schedules, any limits set there apply here as well.
If the checkbox Multiple reservations can take place at the same time is not selected, the schedule will behave as if there is a single shared resource needed for each appointment.
You would check this box if you offer a service that can be booked multiple times simultaneously (e.g. a lesson that can take place in any meeting room).
Constrain start times
Creating a grid consisting of predetermined available times usually provides a better user experience than leaving the time unconstrained.
You can enter suitable start times in the Constrain start times to field.
Students can then pick a time by simply clicking on a time slot.
If you offer a service that depends on an interchangeable resource, the system can show the client a drop down menu of available resources from which to choose.
In this example, students can select a preferred teacher.
If you offer more than one service, you can select the order in which services and/or available resources will be presented under the heading Service selection.
Add a price
The Price field allows you to charge a fee for a booking, or to capture credit card details (but not the 3 digit Credit Verification Value codes).
By clicking Setup pricing you can create advanced pricing rules that change the price based on particular conditions.
This is discussed in detail under Adding payment to your schedule.