Appointment Scheduling

If you set up appointment scheduling, your customers can select the day and time they want to schedule a service. You can create a scheduler with time slots for different services. This determines the time slots your customers can choose from when scheduling their appointment. You can then manually assign available agents to service appointments customers have reserved. Or you can use a third-party scheduling tool to coordinate appointments with agent schedules.

Create an Appointment Scheduling Service

1. Click the app selector and select ACD.
2. Go to Digital > Points of Contact Digital.
3. Under General channel features, click Appointment Scheduling.
4. Click Create Service.
5. Enter the Service ident and Service name. You can enter a Chat URL if you want the schedule to display in a chat. Select an option from the Reservation confirmation email sender drop-down.
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   Learn more about fields in this step

   Field	Details
   Service ident	The database name for the service. You cannot use spaces in this name.
   Service name	The customer-facing name for the service.
   Chat URL	If you want the schedule to be displayed in a chat, enter the URL of the chat. This must start with http://.
   Reservation confirmation email sender	Determines the email address that Digital Experience sends an appointment confirmation from.

6. Click Create.
7. Make a note of the URL shown on the main Appointment Scheduling page. This is the Dynamic content URL you will use when you create a quick response.

Set Available Time

Once you create a service, you need to set the available time slots so customers know when they can schedule appointments.

1. Click the app selector and select ACD.
2. Go to Digital > Points of Contact Digital.
3. Under General channel features, click Appointment Scheduling.
4. Click Edit for the service you want to set hours on.
5. Click Add Capacity.
6. Select the Slot size, enter From and To times, and set the maximum number of allowed Concurrent meetings at the same time.
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   Learn more about fields in this step

   Field	Details
   Slot size	How long each time slot of availability is. Options range from 10 min to 60 min.
   From, To	The time when availability starts and ends, written in HH:MM time format. For example, a 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM availability would be entered as 09:00 and 17:00, respectively.
   Concurrent meetings at the same time	The maximum number of meetings that can be scheduled in the same time slot.

7. Select the checkboxes for each day these times apply to.
8. Click Create.

Set Unavailable Time

You can also schedule time that is unavailable for appointments, such as a holiday or other time off.

1. Click the app selector and select ACD.
2. Go to Digital > Points of Contact Digital.
3. Under General channel features, click Appointment Scheduling.
4. Click Edit for the service you want to configure.
5. Click Add Unavailability.
6. Enter From and To dates and times for the unavailability. The date must be in the YYYY-MM-DD format and the time must be in the HH:MM format. For example, a 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM unavailability on the 28th of September, 2022 would be entered as 2022-09-28 09:00 and 2022-09-28 17:00, respectively.
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7. Click Create.

Create a Quick Response

Agents send appointment scheduling requests to customers from quick responses. If you don't complete this section, agents won't be able to use appointment scheduling with your customers.

1. Click the app selector and select ACD.

2. Go to Digital > Quick Responses.

3. Click Add in the top right corner.
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4. Enter a Name for the quick response.
5. Click the quick response Type drop-down and select Dynamic content.
6. Enter the Dynamic content url from the Appointment Scheduling channel. This connects the quick response with the appointment service. Be sure the %s is on the end. For example, https://niceincontact.com/appointment-scheduling/custom-components/calendar-links%s.
7. Click Save. You will be directed back to the Quick Responses page.

8. Click Channels to select the channels you want the quick response to be available for.

9. On the next page, click Add next to the desired channels.

10. Click Back at the top when you are finished. Changes are automatically saved.

11. Click Tags to select the tags you want the quick response to be available for.

12. On the next page, click Add next to the desired tags.

13. Click Back at the top when you are finished. Changes are automatically saved.

On the Quick Responses page, in the Limitations column, a number in parentheses indicates how many channels and tags you selected.

Enable a Third-Party Scheduling Tool

1. Click the app selector and select ACD.
2. Go to Digital > Quick Responses.
3. Click Authorized domains.
4. Click Add.
5. Enter a valid url for the third-party scheduling service you would like to integrate with appointment scheduling.
6. Click Save. The authorized domain now appears in the Domain list.
7. Navigate back to the Quick Responses page in Digital Experience and click Add.
8. Create a quick response with a Name, Type, and the same url you entered for the authorized domain. Click Save. This now appears as a quick responses option that agents can send to customers.

Manually Assign Appointments to Available Agents

When customers schedule an appointment, they automatically receive a confirmation email with their appointment details. Agents can view the available and unavailable time slots in the scheduler, but they cannot see any additional details about scheduled services. In order to view appointment details, you must create a Digital Experience channel that will allow you to see appointment information.