Introduction to calendar
Your calendar is your business’s ultimate digital planner, so it is perfectly okay to only want to see the most important elements of your calendar to be displayed. When you relaunch your calendar day in and day out, you want to see the parameters relevant only to your day-to-day activities. With Yocale’s automatic workspace feature, you can achieve all this.
A Quick Video on Calendar View:
Personalize Your Calendar
To experience the utmost efficiencies in your day, you have a plethora of filters to play with at your disposal. Let’s explore them.
Change Calendar View
The calendar look and functionality
The different views of the calendar
The quick appointment window for creating appointments and time offs
To change your calendar view on your calendar, use the option field at the top of your calendar to change to Team view, Week View, One Day View, or Agenda View:
Team Calendar View: On a day-to-day basis, access all your staffs’ activities (including their block off times, bookings, availability, etc) at one glance. *Note: The team calendar view is an excellent way to assimilate your team's productivity and even assign appointment requests to them. What gets measured, gets improved!
Week Calendar View: In one view, assimilate an overview of the whole week, including appointments, block time offs, and bookings.
One Day Calendar View: Displays all team members' schedules and activities for any selected day.
Agenda Calendar View: Agenda view is like your very own journal of your day-to-day activities. Here is an example of how the “Agenda” view looks:
Set Your Timezone
When you enter your address, the system will automatically set the timezone based on your location. Want to set or change your timezone?
🎥 Follow our video guide for setting your timezone.
“Filter” and “Options” Tab (Selection and Aesthetics)
We love applying filters to our calendar and we hope you will too.
To Filter your calendar, navigate to the left side of the calendar menu, click on the 4-dot icon (refer to arrow), and select the Filters button.
Let’s explore the power of this cute little icon on the left side of your calendar:
By clicking on the above icon, you will see “Filters” and “Options”. First, let's explore the options under Filters. Here is where you can make changes related to your Locations (if you are a multi location business, this becomes highly useful) Booking status, and Payment Statuses. There are 4 filter groups:
Business / Locations
Booking Statuses
Payment Statuses
Tags
In more depth, you can filter your calendar based on:
Locations - If you have a multi-location business, you have the opportunity to switch views in between locations. With one click, you can view every detail and activity for each business location. From your calendar, click on the 4 line icon as illustrated below. A new window will slide open where can select which location you want to view:
Booking status - you can view these appointments based on their status: Confirmed, Done, No-Show, Check-in
Payment Status- This is an accelerated pass to view which of your clients have outstanding balances, as an example. NOTE: Please keep in mind. If any of these payment statuses are disabled, there is a chance the appointments will be hidden. Make sure to have all the payment statuses enabled to see all appointments.
Filter appointments on the calendar based on the Tags.
Next, let’s explore the Options tab:
Here you can set the aesthetics of your calendar inter alia:
Select the Time Interval to be either 30 mins or 15 mins. Note: Options- By default, the calendar is set to 1-hour space intervals and has a light font shading on the colors of the appointments.
This will make the appointments to display bigger and the text to be larger
At the bottom of the menu, tick the slider option to enable the appointment colors to be bolder with brighter colors
Quick Appointment Window
You can create a “new appointment” or “block time” off by clicking anywhere on your calendar. Once you do so, you will see the following window pop up so go ahead and make yourself booked and busy:
💡Yocale Tip: Did you know? You can Drag and Drop appointments on your calendar to change the time, provider, or date of the appointment!
Add a New Client
When you create an appointment using the quick appointment window as discussed above, the Client field also provides the option for you to:
If the client is not already in your client list, directly from here “Add a New Client” (this new client will be saved to your client list as well)
Search for a client to assign the appointment to
Busy and have a walk-in client? Use the “Walk In” option to create quick appointments
Appointment Management
The advanced appointment window is awesome (if we may say so ourselves) and is a great option if you need to include and access more in-depth details regarding your client/ appointment. In a nutshell, the advance appointment window allows you to create efficiencies in your day-to-day activities by giving you a full glance of your customer’s data in one spot! Awesomeness.
To land here, start on the Calendar page and click on the "+" icon on the top right side of your calendar to choose "New Appointment":
Once within the Advanced Appointment window, you can see a list of parameters including Booking Details, Forms, Notes, Notifications, and Recurring option:
Let’s examine these fields in more detail:
Booking Details: Self-explanatory. Fulfill this section with exclusive booking details including your Client’s Name, Service(s), Time, Date, and more.
Forms: Assign a form to service and require the client to fulfill the information before their appointment. Directly from the advance appointment window, you have access to information-packed forms that were previously filled out by your client. You can inter alia add form(s) to an existing appointment, directly from your calendar.
Follow the journey:
Select the appointment preview for the appointment you want to add a form to > Select the Edit appointment button
Select the Forms tab on the left-hand side > Select Add forms to the appointment
You'll be taken to an Add New Form area > Search for the form name in the search area > Select the form by ticking the box next to the form > Select the Add Forms button at the bottom to add:
Voila! The form is now attached to this appointment for the client to fulfill.
Notes: Utilize the note section however you see fit. Specify sensitive client information, including details about an outstanding balance, late shows, or more importantly, an allergy to a certain product, and get notified! See more in “Setting Up Profile Alerts”
Add client notes by clicking on the appointment from your calendar
Once within the appointment window, click the "EDIT" Icon outlined in orange:
3. You will then be prompted to the following page. Click on “Notes” and enter all the details necessary. Don't forget to Save! Of course, there is another way to add or edit notes which is through the clients’ profile. We will discuss this in more depth within the chapter dedicated to Client Management.
Notifications: Send out notifications, reminders, and confirmations to your clients before and after appointments. The Notification tab within the advance window allows you to turn notifications “On” or “Off” for an appointment you created. * Please note: you must enter an email or phone number in your clients’ profile for the notifications to be received.
Recurring: Recurring appointments turn customers into regular clients. Yocale makes it easy to create recurring appointments. Refer to our 🎥 Video Guide for a step by step tutorial as we walk you through setting up recurring appointments.
Smart Availability Finder
With artificial intelligence like the "Availability Finder", you can pretend you have your assistant. This smart availability finder leads to efficiencies in your day-to-day activities.
From your calendar, click on the 4 dot-like icons outlined below in black.
A new window will slide open on the right side of your Calendar.
Click on "Widgets":
4. Search for the service your client wants and click on "Find Availability".
5. The Widget will then find the closest time(s) and date(s) available:
6. You then have the option to filter more parameters including Time, Date Range, Preferred Provider, Wait Times, and more.
7. Depending on the priority of your client, you may prioritize your search by Date, Time, and or Waiting times.
8. Once the Appointment finder locates your best appointment, all you need to do is book it!
Appointment Preview
The appointment preview is useful for quick access the following, pronto!
Preview appointment information and details.
Quick access to areas like client record, client form, invoice for the client, etc.
A quick way to change or modify the appointment.
To access the appointment preview, simply single-click on an appointment on the calendar
Together, we can preview the appointment you’ve just created. You should see something like this:
Client name - A shortcut to the client’s profile and all related information like alerts
Service Name
Appointment Date
Appointment Time - Shows duration of appointment and transition time)
Service Provider
Resources used - Displays resources assigned to this service
Icons -Online booking, completed appointment, a new client to business, a new client to provider, multi-service bookings, recurring booking, paid.
Forms - A shortcut to informative forms associated with this service
To manage certain appointment aspects in the appointment preview, make use of these icons:
Edit appointment - The pencil icon takes you to the expanded appointment window where you can make changes to the service, date & time, provider, etc.
Point of Sale - The card icon takes you to Point of Sale for checkout
Delete appointment - The trash icon to delete this appointment
Client rating - the star rating icon is a cumulative running score of this client's appointment history. The higher the score, the more likely they are to show up for their appointment based on their past record.
Running late - If your client is running late, you can use the running icon to record and track a client's accountability. This will as well automatically contribute to their trust score:
Now, to view the booking details or the status of this appointment follows along:
Who - See who booked this appointment and when?
Booked - The initial status of an appointment is given
Checked-in - Select this option when a client has arrived at the business and checked in for their appointment
No-Show - Select this status in the unfortunate circumstance when the client has not shown up for their appointment, which will also close the appointment
Done - When an appointment is finished, use the Done status to mark the appointment as completed and progress to the invoice & POS.
To access and view client forms via your Calendar, click on an appointment we created and associated with the form. In the appointment preview, you will see the correlated forms:
Selecting a Form in the appointment preview will open the preview of the form in the calendar window.
You just finished servicing your client, now it is time to mark their appointment as complete:
Select the appointment on the calendar you want to close (the appointment preview screen will pop up) > Select the Booking Status button:
From the drop-down list, select Done
This will bring up an option to finish the appointment as Done which will mark the appointment complete and return to the calendar or Done and go to Invoice where you can complete the invoice and payment for this appointment.
As soon as an appointment is marked done on your calendar, it will turn into a lighter color on your calendar and include a green double check mark icon on the appointment:
How to manage no-shows
No-shows are a big issue, so keeping track of consumers who are no-shows can limit your loss. You can track and manage client no-shows in 2 different ways. Directly from your calendar and the other way is from the client’s profile which will be discussed in the Client Management chapter.
On your calendar, record the no-shows as they transpire:
From your Business Calendar, click on the Appointment.
Select No Show from the drop-down menu as outlined in red.
Click on the X to close and save as outlined in Pink.
Fast Access to Profiles and Submissions
Finally, you can access your client’s profile and full details directly from your calendar. On your calendar, select the appointment of the client whose profile you want to access > select their name/image and jump into their profile directly:
You can as well access all this client's documents and submissions (discussed in detail within the Forms Chapter). On the same appointment preview window, you will see the forms that have been assigned to this client:
To view or edit documents, go ahead, and click on the form of choice. Another option to access this information is from the same appointment preview, by selecting the edit (pencil) icon:
From the Forms tab > select the edit icon on the Form you want to edit or annotate on:
Editing Appointments
Things come up, plans change, our staff gets sick and it’s vital to react rapidly. Business cannot stop, right? If you are a one-person operation, you can skip this step.
Otherwise, imagine one of your staff members calls in sick. Oh no! Who is going to take care of their clients?
If another provider is available, act fast and move the existing appointments to the available provider. Directly from your calendar, there are 2 ways to update a provider:
Simply drag the appointment to a different provider's calendar. Within Team view, simply hold and drag an appointment to a different providers calendar as shown in the images below:
Drag the appointment to another provider’s available slot:
Once changed, you will be prompted to confirm the changes to the appointment and whether or not to notify the customer.
2. The other method of changing the provider includes going into the advance appointment page, appointment details tab:
Select the appointment you'd like to change and select the pencil or edit button:
Within the appointment details, edit the provider in the By field and adjust the provider here.
When finished, you can select the save button and apply the changes to the appointment.
How to block personal time off
You might need to block time off for an appointment, personal commitment, or just a short break. There are multiple ways of creating time off from your schedule:
From your Business Calendar, click anywhere on the calendar to bring up the appointment window:
Select the Block time off option > select the time range for the time off. If you like, you can also add a note and tag for this time off. When finished press the Save button
The 2nd way of Blocking time off is also from your Calendar:
Click on the " + " icon on the right side of your calendar and chose "Add Time Off":
Add the Date this sequence will begin, as well as the Start & End Time of the break:
Recurring Block time off Option
You can schedule the block time off for one day or several months by using the "Recurring" Option. This means, you want this break to occur daily, weekly, or monthly. You may also customize how often it will occur. For example, you might select every 2 days for the Block time off to occur.
Once you Save, your changes will be uploaded to your schedule. Enjoy your Break!
Quick access to recent activities and notifications
On the top right side of your business calendar, you will see the four-dot icon (outlined in the below capture). Once clicked on, a window will appear open to display the Notification and Widgets tabs:
Under notifications and within the "Recent Activity" tab you can view every booking, cancellation, or rescheduling of appointments. Using the small arrow icon (shown in the image) you can click on it to view appointment details within the advance calendar window:
Your staff and yourself can do so many little (and big) documents in the advanced appointment window. Yocale provides you a shortcut to your client forms, notes, and notifications directly from your calendar,
If you click anywhere on your calendar (the same way you would to book a new appointment or block time off) the book a new appointment window pops up. Click “More Options”:
Voila! Here you have access to all things clients:
Managing Appointment Requests
To manage appointments on the calendar, follow us along lovelies:
Select the Widgets & Notifications icon on the top right-hand side:
Select the Appointment Request drop-down menu to expand your appointment requests
To make changes/propose a new time to the client select the Edit button
This will bring up an Update Appointment Request window where you can edit the date, time, or service for this appointment.
If the appointment is fine the way it is, simply select the Confirm button and the client will be notified that their appointment is accepted!