Starting Guide to Appointment-Plus

Transcription

1 Starting Guide to Appointment-Plus Thank you for allowing Appointment-Plus to be an asset to your business or organization! If your organization requires the ability to schedule more than one client in a given time slot, contact us and we will switch your account to that version of our software. You have now completed the Set-Up Wizard and answered some basic questions regarding your intended application for Appointment-Plus software. It is important to remember at the outset that any of the defaults and terms that you start with as a result of the Set-Up Wizard can be changed at any time. More importantly, please also remember that you have the capability to customize Appointment-Plus software to fit virtually any appointment, reservation or event scheduling need you may have. Appointment-Plus functionality and options are unparalleled in the industry it s simply a matter of taking a bit of time to learn your way around the system Please keep in mind that each Appointment-Plus account is customized by specific terms during the Set-Up Wizard process (these can be changed at any time). Therefore, your system tabs may have different names than those depicted in this Starting Guide but will be located in the same place. For example, a business application may use the term customers, while a therapist may use the term clients and a college may use the term students for the same system functionality. Your account might use the name appointments while another might use the name reservations. While the names on the tabs may differ, the functionality and location of the tabs remains the same. 1. Some Basics The page that you are looking at upon completion of the Wizard is the site administration view. This is your organization s secure account that you and your administrative staff will view when logged into your Appointment-Plus account. Your site administration page should look similar to the screen shot below. As noted above, depending on your initial set up and scheduling application, your tabs may have different names and your schedules may vary. 1

2 Navigation Tabs Help Tab Company Preferences Appointment Grids Preview Customer View The basic navigation for your Appointment-Plus account is controlled by the tancolored navigation tabs running along the top of the site administration page (see Navigation Tabs arrow above). Clicking on any one of these tabs will take you into that area of the system. The Appointment-Plus system operates better utilizing these tabs rather than utilizing the Back and Forward buttons on your Internet browser. Please note that the Help tab (see arrow above) on the top navigation bar contains explanations and help for many of your questions and should be consulted for any questions you might have. Your site administration view depicted above is also the Appointments tab view. If you click on the Appointments tab on the navigation bar you will refresh this view. This view may change as you add staff members, services, rooms etc. The Appointments tab page is also where you will schedule, change and cancel appointments if you are doing so from an administrative perspective. To schedule an appointment from this administrative side of the system, you will simply click on the desired open time slot on the appointment grid (see arrow above) once you have your system set up. The site administration view above is NOT the view that your customers will utilize when scheduling, changing, or canceling their own appointments assuming you choose to allow this functionality. The customer view or side of the system can be accessed at any time by the link on the left hand frame of the page that is designated preview customer view (see arrow above). This customer view can be customized to match your company colors and content. Notably, the link below that one that states click here for link to put on your web site explains how to tie the customer view to your own website. Customer view pages can look like these two examples below: 2

3 Header, Logos, Text and Colors Can Be Customized Multiple Customer Login Options Customize Welcome Text and Instructions As the two customer view examples above indicate, you are free to change the default colors, text and login preferences to customize your customers appointments page. The top screen shot demonstrates the customer view system defaults, while the bottom screen shot shows just one of many different types of customer view interfaces you can create with your account. The text and color scheme for your customer view can be accessed by the pages/text and layout navigation tabs on top of the site administration page. The scheduling and custom header functionalities of the customer 3

4 view page are determined by a set of customer view preference settings that are accessed by the Company tab in site administration as discussed in the next section. 2. The Company Tab and Preference Links Returning once again to site administration and your navigation bar, the most important navigation tab for setup purposes is the Company tab. By clicking on the Company tab on the navigation bar you will bring up a frame on the left hand side of the page that contains information that you will need to setup regarding your company/organization profile, Billing, Open Hours, Closed Days and Notifications. After clicking on the navigation bar Company tab, your view should look something like this: Company Tab Billing / Account Access Company Preferences Notifications The first step in setting up your system is to click on the Open Hours link on the left side of the Company tab page. From the Company-wide open hours page, you will need to set your company-wide hours. These should be set as broadly as any services are offered for appointments with your company or organization. The available hours for individual staff members can also be set as detailed below in Section 4 below. After setting the open hours, please remember to scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the update or save button at the bottom of the page. You must always update or save when making changes to your system. Your next step is to set your company-wide closed days. Please click on the Closed Days link on the left to access this function. From the Closed Days page you can select dates during the year that your organization is closed for all appointments. 4

5 One example might be Christmas Day. Days Off for specific staff members or resources can also be added as discussed in Section 4 below. In addition, the left side frame of the Company tab page also contains the important Preferences links that provide you with the many different options for customizing your account to fit your application. It is important to look through these Preference links to fully understand the options available to you. Your account Preferences are divided into separate sections, each controlling the referenced topics for example, the Link for Appointments under Preferences controls how appointments are scheduled. Please take a few minutes to explore the Preference links in the left hand frame to see the options available to you. Preferences not marked as yes or no (unmarked preferences) automatically default to no and should not be changed unless the specific preference applies to your system. In addition to the system preferences, the Company page also contains the notifications link on the left below the preferences links (see arrow above). The notifications link opens a page that provides you full access to setting up what, if any, s you want the system to automatically send to customers and/or staff members. You can decide which s to utilize, the language of the s and the source of the s. s marked as Active will be sent. By changing an setting to Inactive you can disable any automatic system Setting Up Services The next step in setting up your system is to add the services that your organization offers for bookings. These types of services will vary depending upon your application of the system. They may not even be called services for some these are simply called times needed or something similar. A hair salon s services might include haircuts, color and extensions. A physical therapist s services might include exercises, electronic stimulation and massage. You are able to set up the service types that your company/organization offers to your customers or clients. Simply click on the services tab on the top navigation bar (once again, please remember that depending on your application and initial set up, this tab may have a different name). Your services tab page should look something like this: [Please continue to next page] 5

6 Services Tab Services Offered Add New Services Link You can add new services and define such services by clicking on the Add New Service link (see arrow above) on the left hand side frame. In addition, by clicking on the name of any existing service in the Services Offered list (see arrow above) you can change any information and settings regarding existing services. Please consult the Help tab for complete information on setting up your services and how the price for services can be utilized in the system for appointment payments. Simply click on the Help tab and then on the Services (or name applicable to your system) link from the Topics listings. 4. Setting Up Your Schedules and Staff Members Appointment-Plus allows you to set your company/organization s overall hours (as discussed above) and also to customize the individual hours of each of your staff members. Individual staff member schedules can be built and customized by clicking on the staff members tab on the top navigation bar. Please note that depending on your set up and application, your staff members tab may have a different name. For example, your primary scheduling resources might be called therapists, advisors, or courts. In that case, the name of your staff members tab should already reflect your primary scheduling resource name as defined by the setup wizard process. From the staff members tab you are able to add/subtract/amend staff members and profiles, customize a schedule for each staff member and define the services that each staff member offers. You can add new staff members by clicking on the Add New Staff Member link in the upper left (see arrow below). You can access existing staff member profiles and schedules by clicking on an individual staff member s name in the staff list (see arrow below). Your staff members tab page should look something like this: 6

7 Staff Members Tab Existing Staff Members List Add New Staff Member Link In addition, you are able to assign each staff member a login and password to allow each staff member to log into the system from an Internet site. You can control the amount of access given to each such staff member by utilizing the access type function for each staff member added. These access types are fully explained by going to the Help tab on the navigation bar and then into the Staff Members topic. You must always have one staff member who is designated as a Headquarters Administrator. Please remember to consult the Help tab for further information on setting up your staff member or resource schedules. 5. The Next Step For more information on all aspects of the set up process, please visit the Help tab and review the Quick Setup topic or any of the specific topic listings. Many of the topic Overview and FAQ sections in the Help section will assist you in the setup process. Also, remember to give the system a try by scheduling some appointments from site administration and the customer view. You ll see how the system databases the customers by clicking on the customers tab from the navigation bar. The reports tab also details the extensive reports that you can prepare for virtually any aspect of your database. These reports can also be exported to Excel and utilized with other programs. After you have had the chance to take a look around the Appointment-Plus environment, please review the Online Tutorial and then contact your assigned account representative to schedule a free 30-minute training session to answer additional questions you might have. Additional modules are also available to you such as Outlook export, automatic inactive customer reminders, gift certificates, and Point of Sale (POS). 7

8 When your free trial is coming to an end you will be prompted to enter credit card information to allow the system to remain active and accessible. Simply click on the Company tab and then the Billing Information link on the left side of the page to securely enter your credit card information. We look forward to working with you to make your business or organization run as smoothly as possible. 8