To create a new system wide appointment category

The scheduling and management of appointments is not restricted to repairs inspections and works order fulfilment visits only, but envelops any type of customer engagement activity across varied service sectors. Numerous custom categories can be created to suit the range of services provided by the housing organisation for which an appointment booking would potentially be required, and mapped to one or more related entities – a contact, a contact group, an asset, an agreement, a rent account, etc. – which define its implementation and permitted usage.

The procedure to create a new system wide appointment category is as follows:

1. Navigate to Quick Menu > System > Configuration > Appointment Categories. The Appointment Categories Type window is displayed.
2. Click on New Appointment Category. All fields are activated ready for data entry 1.
3. Enter a Description for the new system wide appointment category into the field provided e.g. Home Visit, Tenancy Enforcement, Sign-up Consultation, etc. 2.
4. Using the Companies drop-down field, multi-select all companies for which this system wide appointment category is relevant, or choose the All option, as required 1.
5. Using the Applicable entity types drop-down field, multi-select all system components or focus areas relevant to this appointment category, or choose the All option, as required.
6. Choose an Effective from date for this system wide appointment category i.e. the date on which it came into effect 3.
7. Choose an Effective to date if the system wide appointment category is to be reviewed on a specific date or to capture a change of circumstances; a blank field means the category will be continually valid.
8. Click on Save 4.

Tip

1 Where only a small number of parameter values are not required, activate the All tick box first and then deselect individual items from the full list, as appropriate; the All tick box will be automatically removed once an item is deselected.

Note

1 Upon first access, all fields are automatically activated ready for data entry; hence the New Appointment Category button is inactive.

2 System validation rules ensure that the description entered for each new appointment category is unique for the effective period.

3 The Effective from date defaults to the current system date and cannot be left blank.

4 To amend the details of an existing system wide appointment category, select an entry from the alphabetical list or type its name into the Search Appointment Category Types field. By default the list is filtered to show Current appointment categories. An alternative filter can be applied using the Select view drop-down field: Expired, Future or All combinations. Only a limited number of fields can be updated once a record has been created.

See related topics...

Appointments management overview

To define an appointment rule for a user account