By default, a practitioner's appointment book will be completely available. By using Rosters and Roster Overrides, you can define a practitioner's exact availability and take advantage of advanced tools like the bulk appointment scheduler, online booking, proactive waiting list and utilisation report.
Rosters
Go to Settings > Practitioners > Rosters and select Add.
Use the drop-down arrow next to the Add button to pre-set the roster's hours based on the selected business.
In the Roster Availability section, customise how available time on the appointment book should be displayed.
Description - Helps you identify this roster
Background colour - The default colour that will be shown across the practitioner's appointment book
Text colour - The default colour of any display text entered
Display text (optional) - this text is displayed in every appointment slot on the appointment book
Choose the types of bookings you wish to permit by default when no rules are present.
Manual Appointments - Allows staff to book appointments in this time frame
Waiting List - Allows the Waiting List and Appointment Finder to book in this time frame
Online Appointments - Allows Online Bookings in this time frame
Most practitioners begin with a Roster that is completely available, with Rules used to specify times when they're unavailable. While this is the most common approach, it's also possible to start with a roster that is completely unavailable, and to use rules to mark time as available.
Under 'Allowed bookings when no rule is present', consider disabling online appointments and waiting list options if you prefer to "rule in" time.
Select which days should be displayed on the appointment book. Note that Roster Overrides can override these preferences.
As you scroll down the page, you can now customise the start and end time for the appointment book for each day that you enabled above.
Rules
The examples below will assume that all time is available by default, and rules will be used to specify unavailable time, such as lunch breaks and regular meetings.
Select Add Rule for the relevant day.
Customise the following properties for the Rule:
Display Text - Text displayed on the appointment book during this time
Start Time - When this rule should commence
End Time - When this rule should end
Appointment Types - Control what types of appointments can be booked during this time, with option to only apply to patients booking online
Background Colour - The colour that should appear on the appointment book during this time
Text Colour - The colour of the text if you've added Display Text
Booking Types - What types of booking activity are permitted during this time. Manual (permits staff to book during this time), Online Booking (permits online bookings during this time), Waiting List (this time should be considered as available for the waiting list).
If you're adding rules to indicate times that a practitioner is unavailable, then the O (for online booking) and W (for waiting list) should be unchecked to prevent this booking activity.
An example of the Display Text, Background Colour and Text feature:
Copying Rules to Other Days
If the same Rule applies to multiple days, use the Copy button to add it to other days.
If all Rules added to a particular day also apply to other days, use the Copy All Rules button.
Select which date the rule(s) should apply to.
Roster Overrides
Overrides can be applied for once-off or repeating roster adjustments, such as a practitioner picking up additional shifts, alternating fortnightly schedules and more.
Creating Overrides via a Roster
Overrides can be created from the top of a practitioner's roster. A quick way to access a practitioner's current roster is by hovering over their name on the appointment book and selecting Roster.
Select Add Override at the top of the roster. Use Manage Overrides to edit all overrides.
Creating Overrides via the Appointment Book
Click and drag to select a timeframe on the appointment book.
Select Override in the pane that appears.
A popup will appear to configure the override settings.
Roster Override Settings
Regardless of how you begin creating an override, you will customise the same settings shown below:
To configure your Roster Overrides, be sure to select:
Repeat frequency
Start and End dates (optional)
Display text
Start and End Time
Appointment Types
Background and Text colours
What column the overrides affect (for multicolumn practitioners)
Note that roster overrides are ranked, which will determine which override takes precedence in the case of an overlap. Overrides ranked higher in the list will take precedence.
Assigning a Roster to a Practitioner
The final step is to assign the roster to one or more practitioners. Click here to learn how to assign rosters.
Days Off
Click here to learn how to record extended periods of unavailability, such as annual leave and public holidays.