How to use the Calendar Setup

Core Practice appointment books are based on calendars. Each practitioner has a single calendar which is able to have availabilities in as many locations as necessary. A practitioner's schedule is set up using period templates. A period template is a date range within a calendar which contains a practitioner's availabilities for that particular date range, repeated on a weekly (or fortnightly/alternating) cycle. It's important to set up your schedule using a base period template, and you can either create a new period when your schedule has a permanent change, make one-time availabilities to add an availability that won't be a regular occurrence, or edit current availabilities in order to change a single day at a time without affecting the entire period.

This article will show you how to:

1. Create a calendar
2. Add a period
3. Add an availability
4. Create a break in the period
5. Edit a period
6. Make a "one-off" change to a current availability
7. Add a "one-time" availability

Each of these procedures will start from the "Calendar Setup" page. To get there, click Appointment in the top navigation bar then click More and choose Calendar Setup.

Create a calendar

I am the business manager and I am in charge of setting up practitioners' calendars. We have had a new practitioner join our team, and I must open their schedules. Here's how I'll create their calendar.

1. Click on Create a new calendar.
   
   
   
   
2. Fill in the fields for this practitioner.
   
   Please select the practitioner's user account in the "Owner" field.
   
   
   
3. Click Save Changes once you have finished generating the practitioner's schedule.
   
   Dr William Smith will only be working on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in our Artarmon clinic for the foreseeable future. I am able to do this in "Availability" by selecting or unselecting the tick boxes representing the days of the week. I am then able to generate lunch breaks for those days, too (under the "Break" section). This will add a period for me. You can choose to unselect "Generate" (a) and add a period in the following step.

Add a period

If I decided to unselect "Generate" in the last step, this is how I would add a period. I would also need to add a period when I need to change a practitioner's schedule, such as adding days, changing locations, changing opening hours or lunch breaks etc. This is because we only want these changes to occur from a certain date onward. If we do not add a period before we make adjustments to a practitioner's schedule, it will also apply these changes to dates which have already passed.

1. Find the calendar you wish to edit, click on the 3 dots and then click on Edit template.
   
   
   
   
2. Click on Create a new calendar period.
   
   
   
   
3. Click on Save Changes after selecting the start date (and end date, if applicable) of your period.
   
   Only enable "alternate week" when a practitioner is working on a fortnightly roster. This sub-feature allows you to have two weekly schedules which alternate between each other. If you need to create a fortnightly schedule, you will need to create an alternate week period.

Add an availability

Once you have created a period, you'll have to add availabilities. An availability allows you to set the times that the practitioner is available, and dictates the space where your users can create appointments. Here's how to do it.

1. Find the calendar you wish to edit, click on 3 dots and then click on Edit template.
   
   
   
2. Click on the arrows or the dropdown menu to select the period you wish to edit.
   
   
   
   
3. Click on Create New Availability, fill in the details and click Save Changes.
   
   You will need to repeat these steps for all the necessary days.

Create a break in the availability

I now have to create lunch breaks in Dr Smith's availabilities. Here's how I would do this.

1. Find the calendar you wish to edit, click on 3 dots and then click on Edit template.
   
   
   
   
2. Click on the arrows or the dropdown menu to select the period you wish to edit.
   
   
   
   
3. Click on Agenda.
   
   
   
   
4. Click, hold and drag the Lunch event and place it wherever you need it on the availability.
   
   
   
   
5. Click Save Changes after you have confirmed the details of this lunch event.
   
   You will need to repeat these last two steps for all the availabilities.

Edit a period

I have had to create another period for Dr Smith, but I set the end date incorrectly. Here's how I would edit his calendar period.

1. Find the calendar you wish to edit, click on 3 dots and then click on Edit template.
   
   
   
   
2. Click on 3 dots and then click on Edit period.
   
   If there are already multiple calendar periods, make sure that you have selected the right one. You can do this by clicking the Left or Right arrows on either side of the date range dropdown menu.
   
   
   
3. Enter the new dates and then click on Save Changes.
   

Make a "one-off" change to a current availability

Dr Smith has asked to leave early on the 30th of June, and I have to move his lunch hour to better suit the day. I have already blocked off his availability by adding a break in the appointment book, so now I just have to move his lunch hour. Here's how I would do that.

1. Click on the calendar name that you wish to make changes to.
   
   
   
   
2. Use the arrows (a) or the calendar (b) to navigate to the correct date.
   
   
   
3. Click on the availability which needs to be changed and then click Edit.
   
   
   
   
4. Click on Save Changes once you have made your change.
   
   In this example, I had to change the lunch break from the usual scheduled 12:00-13:00 to 11:00-12:00. All other days will remain at the usual 12:00-13:00 break, but this date (Friday, 30th June) will have the different lunch break of 11:00-12:00. You can also change the location for each availability, as well as start and ends times of the availability.
   
   N.B.: You will only be able to make changes to a lunch break if there is currently one in the period template. If you don't see the lunch option, you can learn how to create a break in the calendar availability.

Add a "one-time" availability

One of our practitioners in one of our other locations will be taking leave for two weeks, and we need Dr Smith to work there one day a week for this period of time. Because creating a new period would be too time consuming, we can add a "one-time" availability into the period. This will allow us to add availabilities without affecting the original period(s). Here's how to do it.

1. Find the calendar you wish to edit, click on More and then click on Create one time availability.
   
   
   
   
2. Click on Save Changes once you have selected the correct information.
   
   You will need to repeat these two steps for all the one-off availabilities.