Appointment-based Services Settings
Configuring appointment-based services.
Last updated
Configuring appointment-based services.
Last updated
The following settings are specific to walk-in services.
In this section, you can configure the required data to enter when a new case is created for the service using the Portal or Kiosk.
The options are:
Require customer identification: A customer record is linked to the case record. When an agent books an appointment using the Calendar, the agent must select a customer record. When a customer books an appointment using a Portal, the customer must identify himself using the method defined by the "Customers" table.
Require phone number: The agent or the customer must enter a valid phone number. The phone number is stored as the case's contact number and can be used to send SMS messages to the customer.
Verify the self-service phone number with a one-time password: Check this box to send an OTP to the customer via SMS and require the customers to enter the OTP to book an appointment.
Require email: Agents and customers must enter an email when booking an appointment. The email is stored with the case and can be used to send emails to the customer.
This section configures when cases for appointments booked for this service are stored.
Initial case status: When you book an appointment, a case in the status Planned is created. When a customer checks in, the case status usually changes to waiting. Choose the Pending status if additional work is required before an agent can process the case.
When a new case is created, it is assigned a number. The number is used to identify the case/customer easily and when calling the customer for service. Ticket numbers are generated automatically in sequential order and may include a prefix and suffix.
Different prefixes and number ranges for different services prevent confusion when customers wait in the same area for different services.
For appointment-based calendars, ticket numbers are assigned based on the appointment time.
For example, if a calendar's working hours are 8 am to 4 pm, and the First Number parameter is set to 100, an appointment booked for 8 am will be numbered "100". An appointment booked for 8:10 am will be numbered "110".
In scenarios where overbooking is expected, to prevent duplicate numbers when two or more appointments are booked simultaneously. This value determines how many numbers are reserved for each minute of the day.
Following the previous example, if you set Numbers per Minutes to 2, the first appointment booked for 8 am will be numbered "100". An appointment booked for 8:10 am will be numbered 120. If another appointment is booked for 8:00, it will be numbered "1 1".
To learn more, see:
The booking window determines how many days in advance agents and customers can book appointments for this service.
Cubu allows for different booking windows for agents and customers, allowing agents to book appointments further in advance.
This section contains settings affecting customer experience when self-booking appointments using Portals.
When customers book appointments using the Portal and search for an available time slot for the service, Cubu will search all the available calendars for the service.
The Calendar Grouping settings control whether the available timeslots from all calendars are listed together or if the customer can choose specific calendars and view their timeslots.
Merge the time slots from all calendars: Available timeslots from all calendars are merged and displayed together. Cubu will attempt to balance the load between all calendars.
Show the time slots for each calendar: The customer can choose a specific calendar from a dropdown and view its time slots. If an agent is allocated to the calendar, the agent name is shown on the dropdown.
The diagram presents the Portal timeslot merged (on the left) and split into calendars (on the right).
When customer identification is enabled for the service ("Require customer identification" is enabled), it is possible to prevent multiple bookings for the same customer.
Cubu supports the following options:
Allow multiple bookings
Prevent for the same service on the same date: The customer cannot schedule multiple appointments for the same service on the same day, even if the time slots are on different calendars.
Prevent for the same service on any date: The customer cannot schedule multiple appointments for the same service, even if the time slots are on different calendars or different days.
Prevent for any service of the same service category on the same date: The customer cannot book multiple appointments on the same day for services in the same category.
Prevent for any service of the same service category on any future date: The customer cannot book multiple appointments for services in the same category.
Cubu can compensate for expected no-shows by overbooking appointments. The overbooking level is determined dynamically, based on the service types of booked appointment and their Expected No-show Rate setting.
To enable this feature, check the "Enable automatic compensation" box.
See also:
Customers cannot check-in for their appointments too early or too late. The Check-in Window settings define the allowed check-in window.
Max earliness: The maximum time (in minutes) before the appointment time a customer can check-in.
Max tardiness: The maximum time (in minutes) after the appointment time a customer can check-in.
Cubu allows the configuration of different check-in windows for agents and customers. This capability is usually used to enable agents to check in customers earlier or later than they could do themselves.
In certain scenarios, it's advantageous to automatically assign a case to an agent as soon as a customer checks in. For instance, you can set up a service with multiple calendars, each allocated to a different user. All calendars share the same target inbox, as depicted in the diagram below:
By selecting the "Assign cases to the calendar's user" option, the case is automatically assigned to the agent linked with the corresponding calendar upon check-in. This ensures that all cases from various calendars are consolidated into a single inbox while preserving the original agent assignments. Such a setup proves beneficial when you aim to manage and distribute appointment loads efficiently while facilitating seamless case transfer among agents, fostering a collaborative team environment.
Target inbox: An inbox in the current unit where new cases will be placed. An appointment-based service may open a different number of calendars each day. You need to specify a calendar to book a service appointment. You may specify different target inboxes for individual calendars, as shown in the following diagram: For more information, see: Manage Service Daily Plans
