The Easy Appointments feature will easily allow you add a appointment booking to your app.
Via your Control Panel you will be able to add multiple stores, categories, services and providers to your Appointments feature. It’s also possible to define store opening and closing times, and create a specific schedule for the providers.
App Managers can also take appointments over the phone and from walk-ins, through the web front-end interface.
The Easy Appointments booking feature also sends Push Notification reminders before each appointment.
Lastly, the Appointments feauture works with the Progressive Loyalty Card feature. This means that your customers can receive Reward Points with every booking that is made.
It’s important to note that the Progressive Loyalty Card function needs to be installed and properly configured in your app before you assign loyalty points to the services.
The video below will provide you with an overview of how to use the Folders feature. This video contains detailed instructions.
01) SETUP
While in your Control Panel, click Features from the left-hand-side of the screen (or the middle of the screen), then click Appointments (or whatever your booking feature is titled).
Next, click the Settings tab.
1A. LOCATION
The first step is to create the Location for your business. You can have more than one location listed. If you only have 1 store location, the user will not be presented with the store selection during the booking process.
You’ll need to add the Name of the location, the address, and set the business working hours. If you close for lunch, you won’t define it here. When you add the providers, you’ll be able to define the lunch period separately for each one of them.
Lastly, you’ll be able to define if the store is closed on a specific day, like December 25, and save.
1B. SERVICE AND CATEGORIES
The second step is to create Categories (click the “Services” tab). This will allow you to categorize the services you provide. If you only have 1 category, the Category tab will not be shown during the booking process. The user will be taken to the services tab immediately.
Once you have created the categories, you can move on to creating the Services. You’ll need to define:
Name – The title/name of your service (ex: Regular Haircut).
Price – The cost for the service. Don’t put the currency symbol, it’s added automatically.
Service / Buffer Times – The Service Time is the amount of time it takes to complete each service, and the amount of time between a service. The Buffer Time is the amount of time you need between each service (this can be 0).
Category – The Category that the service should be placed in.
Progressive Loyalty Points – The amount of Points the customer should earn for utilizing the service.
Once you’ve saved the service, you’ll need to select the location that the service is offered. It could be there are multiple stores and the service is only available at one location. You’ll need to repeat this step for all the services that you create.
1C. PROVIDERS
Click the Providers tab to your your providers (your staff members that will be listed in the app) and to associate the providers to the locations and services.
You’ll need to create a name for the provider, add a phone number and an email address. Each time an appointment is made for a specific provider, an information email will be sent. You’ll also be able to add a picture for each provider, if it’s not added, a default image will be shown.
Once you’ve add the provider, you’ll need to assign the services to that provider. Please note that if you have more than one location and the provider works at both locations, you’ll need to assign the services to the provider at each location.
1D. TIMINGS
Next, click the Timings tab. You use this step is to define when the provider will be available to work. In case the provider works at more than one location, you’ll need to define the timings for each location.
When defining when the provider is available to work, you’ll need to define the start and end times. You can also add a day break, for example, in case the provider doesn’t work on specific date due to a holiday or doctor’s appointment. The lunch or any other breaks can also be added from this screen.
These breaks will be excluded from the availability on the user’s booking interface.
1E. OPTIONS
From the Options tab you’ll be able to adjust some module design options and customize the icons used.
02) MANAGING APPOINTMENTS
Appointments can be managed from the Calendar interface (click the Calendar button). The store manager will need to select the location and provider that needs to be managed. Once that is selected, the calendar can be loaded with that criteria. Should the store manager need to change location or provider, it can be done using the pull-down menus.
2A. ADDING AN APPOINTMENT
The store manager can add an appointment that is received over the phone or from a walk-in customer from the Calendar View. An appointment can be easily added by clicking on the desired date and time. A new window will appear where the store manager will be able to select the service, the customer and the desired time. If there any special appointment requirements or details, these can be added to the Notes field. Once the new appointment is saved, a confirmation email will be sent to the customer and to the provider.
If the store owner is creating an appointment for a new customer, a new customer account can be created without leaving the calendar.
An email will be sent to the customer with the email and password so that the App can be accessed.
2B. CANCELLING AN APPOINTMENT
The customer cannot currently cancel an appointment through the booking interface. This will be enabled in a future release when booking cancellation policy is supported. Currently, if the customer needs to cancel an appointment, the store owner will have to be contacted (via the Contact page in the app).
Cancelling an appointment can be done by the app admin by clicking on the appointment from the Calendar View and pressing the Void button.
Voiding an appointment will maintain the appointment on the Calendar and on the customer’s front end. If you need to completely delete an appointment, the Delete button should be used instead.
2C. EDITING AN APPOINTMENT
An appointment can be changed in two ways. If only a change in date/time is required within the same week, the store owner can just drag the desired appointment and drop it on the new date/time. Please make sure that the destination date/time is available, i.e., store is open and the provider is available on that day/time. If any of the previously mentioned criteria isn’t true, the drag/drop functionality will not work.
The second way to change an appointment is to click on it as if you are going to edit it. Once the appointment edit pop-up opens, you’ll be able to change the appointment details.
03) PROGRESSIVE LOYALTY CARD (REWARD POINTS)
The Appointments Pro function is integrated with the Progressive Loyalty Card. As a result, it’s possible for your customers to to accumulated Reward Points automatically as they book appointments with you.
It’s important to note that the The Loyalty Points need to be configured for each appointment service separately. If you don’t want any points to be credited, you’ll need to set the loyalty points to 0.
Once the loyalty points have been assigned, when the customer makes a booking the points are not credited immediately. The system waits until the end of the booking time before awarding the points.
If the customer doesn’t show up for the appointment, you’ll need to cancel the appointment so that points are not accrued. If the appointments is not cancelled (or deleted), the loyalty points will be accrued on the Progressive Loyalty Card.
Please note that before the points are credited automatically, the Progressive Loyalty Card module needs to be installed and properly configured, including loyalty card and rewards creation.
04) User Interface
Below is an example of the front-end app interface.
05) GOOGLE CALENDAR INTEGRATION
Steps for Setup Google Calendar API Developer Account and get the .JSON file.
5A) Open this link https://console.developers.google.com in your web browser.
5B)Login with your existing Google account or create a new one then login.
5C)After successfully logging-in, you be presented with dashboard similar to the below:
5D) Google automatically creates a demo project for you after login but if you want to create new then you can click on above drop-down and select existing or create a new one.
5E) After selecting project you need to enable API and Services, so you need to click button ENABLE APIs and Services available on dashboard page after that you will redirect to the API Library page.
5F) Now you need to search Google Calendar Api into Search box, After that you got the result look like this:
5G)Click on Google Calendar API and then Enable it.
5H) Go to Dashboard again and then click Credentials links for add oAuth Credentials.
5I) Click on Create Credentials dropdown and select OAuth client ID from dropdown.
5J) You must select select Application type is “Web application” also you must enter authorize redirect URIs, with our domain.
Our domain + appointment/provider/getcode
For example:
https://apps.buzapps.net/appointment/provider/getcode
5K) Now OAuth client ID is successfully setup with API, Now you can download .JSON file from here.
Next, click one the your oAuth from list you will redirect to the Oauth Client Id details page, where you can find the JOSN download button above the page. Click on it and get the JSON file which need to in Appointments Pro.
5L) Rename the downloaded json file to client_secret.
5M) If not already, open your App Manager and go to your app. Next, select Appointments (or whatever your Booking feature is titled). Click the G Calendar tab, then Choose file to upload the Json File that you renamed. Lastly, click Add Google Credentials.
5N) In Providers tab you can find the Google Calendar creation buttons which is only available for valid gmail account.
5O) After click on Assign you will see the Google Calendar Option.
5P)Click on Add Google Calendar button a child window open for authentication for Google account of provider. After, enter valid details one the window that opens. Google asks to approve permission.
If the window does not open, then you must allow pop ups in your browser settings.
5Q)Now Calendar created on Google Calendar with Provider Name + App Name. The Provider will now see their bookings on their Google Calendar.