Availabilities and exceptions

Managing availabilities and exceptions is an essential part of any booking system. This ensures that both the organization and employees are available for appointments at the desired times while also taking specific deviations or blocked times into account.

Once availabilities and exceptions are set for the organization and employees, the changes are automatically applied to the booking system. These settings directly impact appointment availability, ensuring a clear and structured booking process for your customers. Only available time slots will be displayed, preventing bookings outside the defined hours.

In this article, we explain the different types of availabilities and how to configure exceptions for your employees.

Organization availabilities

The organization's availability defines when your entire organization is open and bookable. This includes the general business hours during which customers can schedule appointments. These times are set once in the organization's settings.

• Organization business hours
  In the organization settings, you can define the days and times when your business is open. This provides customers with a clear overview of when your services are available for inquiries or bookings.
• Deviating availabilites
  If the organization's business hours change on specific days or during certain periods, deviating availabilities can be configured in the general settings. This allows for the consideration of public holidays, special events and operational adjustments. These exceptions help ensure that the booking system accurately reflects when appointments can and cannot be scheduled.

If you want to set up deviating opening times take a look at our article:
How do I set deviating times for the organization?

Employee availabilities

Besides organizational availability, employee availability is a crucial factor. It is essential that employees are available for appointments at the specified times. However, an employee's availability may differ from the organization's general business hours.

• Defining employee availability
  Each employee's availability can be set individually. Some employees may have personal time slots during which they are not available, while others may work variable schedules on different days.

• Availability exceptions
  If an employee is unavailable at certain times, exceptions can be configured. This allows you to mark individual employees as unavailable for specific appointments or on certain days. This feature ensures that bookings are not made when an employee is unavailable. Additionally, if an employee is unexpectedly available for a specific appointment type, this setting can also be adjusted within the exceptions.

If you want to set up availability exceptions for employees take a look at our article:

How do I set availability exceptions for employees?

Conclusion

Managing availabilities and exceptions is a powerful tool to ensure that both your organization and employees are efficiently integrated into the booking process. With the right settings, you provide your customers with a smooth and transparent booking experience while preventing appointments from being scheduled at inconvenient times.

A well-configured availability and exception system saves time, increases efficiency, and enhances the overall user experience.