Scheduling Settings & Duration

Scheduling Settings & Duration

Configure your appointment application to best suit your company, industry, and customers!



Number of Appointments Available per Day

Choose the number of appointments or appointment time slots your team can manage each day, the number of appointments that can be run simultaneously or during the same time slot, the amount of time needed between appointments to prepare for the next, how soon appointments can be scheduled, and how far in advance a meeting can be requested. 

  1. Log in to the platform.
  2. Scroll down to and click the Apps tab in the navigation menu, then click Schedule Genie™.
  3. The Schedule Genie™ page opens in the main window.
  4. Scroll down to Scheduling Settings and configure the Schedule Genie™ module to match your company's preferences. View the description of each setting below.
  5. Click save.

The Schedule Genie™ app calculates the number of available appointment time slots based on the hours start and end times set in the Availability or external calendar, the length of each appointment, and the buffer time or time between appointments provided in the Scheduling Settings.

Time between appointments:

The time required (in minutes) after each appointment to complete end of meeting tasks or prepare for the upcoming meeting. Example: If 30 minutes after each meeting is required to update records and prepare for the next meeting, choose 30 minutes. If the preceding appointment began at 11 am and was one hour long, my next meeting would begin at 12:30 pm. 

Appointments per day:

The total number of appointments that can be requested for any particular day. Once the number of appointments requested for a particular day reaches this number, no other appointments may be requested. If multiple appointments are allowed during the same time slot, each appointment is considered unique and counted in the total number of appointments. Example: If only four appointments are allowed per day and two customers request the same time slot, only two more appointments may be requested until the day is considered full and no longer available to accept appointment requests.

Available appointments per time slot:

The total number of simultaneous appointments or the number of appointments that can be managed at the same time. Change the number of available appointments per time slot on a per-day basis in the Customer Appointments (per time slot) section. Example: if each appointment is one hour long and the company can assist two customers during each hour-long appointment time slot, select the number two in the drop-down. If only one customer can be assisted during each time slot, choose one. This will prevent multiple customers from claiming the same time slot.

Remove time slot when appointment is made [checkbox]:

Appointment time slots will be removed from the available time slot list displayed after selecting an available date when selected. If not selected, the time slot will still appear but be grayed out identifying the time slot as reserved, taken, or full.

How soon can a prospect schedule?:

The delay in how soon a customer can request an appointment. Example: To provide your teams enough time to review and confirm the appointment request, set this to two or three days. If your team does not need to confirm appointments, select Same day to allow customers to request and arrive for appointments on the same day as they were requested.

How far in advance?:

How many days in the future can a customer request an appointment? Days following this will not be available to schedule. Days will become available on a rolling basis as the days selected in this field are reached. 

If a CRM/ILM or other scheduling platforms are being used in addition to Schedule Genie™, we recommend choosing "2 days" in the "How soon can a prospect schedule?" drop-down to allow time for your team to review all requested appointments and suggest alternative times, if necessary.

If the RENTCafé CRM calendar override is enabled: RENTCafe only provide calendar data 30 days in advance. Set the How far in advance? field drop-down to 1 month to account for this limitation.



Customer Appointments (per time slot)

Override the available appointments per time slot by day of the week. This allows the company to increase or decrease the number of appointments available during each time slot on specific days of the week.  Example: If two employees are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the total number of available appointments for each time slot is one. This allows one employee to manage appointments while the other employee manages the office. If the same office has three employees available on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, then the number of appointments available for each time slot per week can be increased to two for these days. This allows two employees to run appointments while one manages the office. 

  1. Log in to the platform.
  2. Scroll down to and click the Apps tab in the navigation menu, then click Schedule Genie™.
  3. The Schedule Genie™ page opens in the main window.
  4. Scroll down to and enable Customer Appointments (per time slot) by clicking the toggle.
  5. The days of the week are displayed and set to default. The default selection refers to the number selected in the Available appointments per time slot field of the Appointment Settings section.
  6. Change the number of simultaneous appointments or the number of appointments that can be run at the same time by choosing the appropriate number from the drop-down for each day of the week.
  7. Click Save.

This does not decrease or increase the maximum number of appointments per day entered in the Appointments per day field.


Set the Length or Duration of an Appointment

Choose for how long each appointment should be scheduled.

  1. Log in to the platform.
  2. Scroll down to and click the Apps tab in the navigation menu, then click Schedule Genie™.
  3. The Schedule Genie™ page opens in the main window. 
  4. Scroll down to the Appointment Duration section.
  5. Click the Select Duration drop-down selector to and choose the preferred duration of each appointment.
  6. Click Save.

To add time between appointments, select the appropriate drop-down option from the "Time between appointments" field of the Scheduling Settings section. This is helpful if there are tasks that need to be performed after an appointment or to prepare for the next appointment.


Appointment Types

Offer different appointment types up-front! Offering multiple appointment styles allows customers to choose which type of appointment that they are most comfortable with.

  1. Log in to the platform.
  2. Scroll down to and click the Apps tab in the navigation menu, then click Schedule Genie™.
  3. The Schedule Genie™ page opens in the main window. 
  4. Toggle Available Appointment Types by clicking the On/Off Toggle.
    1. White/grey toggle: Available Appointment Types are turned off. Customers may still schedule events or appointments but will not have the ability to choose the type, such as Virtual or In-Person.
    2. Green/white toggle: Available Appointment Types are turned on. Customers have the ability to choose the type of event or appointment, such as Virtual or In-Person, when scheduling.
  5. Select the available appointment, meeting, or event types offered by your company.
    1. In-Person: An event or meeting takes place in person. Example: Touring an apartment complex with a leasing agent.
    2. Self-Guided: An event or meeting where customers are provided a map, mobile app, or another item to guide them through a tour. Example: Providing visitors with a map of a museum.
    3. Zoom: An event or meeting takes place via a Zoom call. Example: Connecting with customers via Zoom to discuss financial accounts.
    4. Google Meet: An event or meeting takes place via Google Meet. Example: GSuite (Enterprise) users schedule a video conference with their clients and have the ability to access attached documents.  
    5. Virtual: An event or meeting that takes place virtually. Example: Customers visiting a doctor via Teladoc or another virtual meeting platform.
    6. Skype: An event or meeting that takes place via Skype. Example: Customers contact a roofing company to discuss plans, pricing, and share screens from a desktop or mobile device.
    7. FaceTime: An event or meeting that takes place virtually via FaceTime. Example: A leasing agent walking an apartment with a prospect on the phone. Note: All users must have an iPhone.
  6. Click the Save button.

The appointment type selected by the customer will also be displayed in the confirmation email. Users will need to follow up with the customer to verify the appointment type and provide any other details regarding the event the customer chose, such as a Zoom link.

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