Tutorial: Scheduler

The Portal provides access to an appointment book known as the Scheduler. The Scheduler is an application that runs in conjunction with the Point of Sale and it is used to maintain a list of appointments to track sales of services against. In this tutorial we will investigate the administration and reports available in the Portal to aid in the management of the Scheduler. For more details on the use of the Scheduler application, see POSPortal Functions: Scheduler.

This tutorial discusses the available functions of the Scheduler Menu. The Scheduler Menu can be accessed by selecting Menus, Customer, Services and Scheduler from the Navigation Menu. Two main sections exist in the Scheduler Menu, Administration and Scheduler Reports, as well as some links to aid in correspondence with clients - Mail Out, SMS Out and Email Out are functions similar to those discussed in the Loyalty Correspondence tutorial. The Scheduler Menu also contains the two standard links of Menus and Logout.

Part One: Administration

In this part of the tutorial we will discuss the Administration section of the Scheduler Menu. The Administration section of the Scheduler Menu can be opened by selecting the Administration link and provides links to screens that allow you to create schedules, sections and services for the Scheduler application. Also provided is a link to assign employees to a schedule. For your convenience, the first link in the Administration section of the Scheduler Menu opens the Site Options screen for the Scheduler application.

The first step in the administration for the Scheduler is to create a schedule. A schedule provides a series of fifteen minute intervals that can be booked in the Scheduler by customers. Select the Schedule Edit link in the Administration section of the Scheduler Menu to open the Schedule Edit Report which lists the schedules in the Portal. The schedule's Description, Reference and Comments are displayed. In order to use the Scheduler application there must be at least one schedule (also called a "Book") and may be up to eight.

Click on a schedule description to edit the details of the schedule in the Schedule ID Maintenance screen. The Create New Schedule Reference link can also be used to create a new schedule in the Schedule ID Maintenance screen. The Schedule ID Maintenance screen allows you to enter a Reference number, Description and Comment for the schedule. Use the Save button to save the details of the schedule. The Reset button allows you to revert any changes made to the last save. Press the New button to create a new schedule from the Schedule ID Maintenance screen or the Delete button to remove a selected schedule from the Portal.

Sections allow you to group the available services for a schedule. Click on the Sections Edit link in the Administration section of the Scheduler Menu to open the Schedule Section Edit Report. This report lists details of each section in the selected Schedule displaying each section's Description, Reference Number, Comments and Enabled Status.

Click on the Create New Schedule Section link to open a popup menu allowing you to create a new section for the selected schedule. This opens the Schedule Section ID Maintenance screen, allowing you to enter a Section reference number, Description and Comment for the new section. The Enabled checkbox allows you to enable or disable the section as necessary. Press the Save button to save the section or the Reset button to revert the changes to the last save. Once the section has been saved, the Schedule Section ID Maintenance screen enters edit mode, meaning that you can change the Description, Comment or Enabled status of a selected Section. Two additional buttons are available in edit mode - Delete allows you to remove a section while New creates a new section from the Schedule Section ID Maintenance screen.

If you click a schedule description link in the Schedule Section Edit Report, you will open a popup menu with the following options:

• Edit Section Details, opens the Schedule Section ID Maintenance screen, allowing you to edit the details of the section.

• Edit Services For Section, opens the Schedule Services Maintenance screen, allowing you to add services to the section. Services are the items that are booked in the Scheduler application. For example, a beauty salon might have a section devoted to tanning services, and the customer is booked in for a full body tan service. The Schedule is displayed for reference and drop-down lists are provided to allow you to select the Section and Location to edit services for. Add each service by entering the Item Code in the provided field and press the Add button to add it to the services grid. Alternatively, use the Find Item button to search for the item to add. As each item is added to the grid, its Description and Retail Price are displayed for your reference. Edit the number of fifteen minute blocks and breaks during the service and press the Update button to save the service to the section. You can also use the Delete button to remove a selected line from the grid. The Display / Print button opens the Schedule Services Report, allowing you to view the services in the section in a report screen. Click on the item's description in the grid to open the Item Maintenance screen, allowing you to edit the details of the item.

• Show Services For Section, opens the Schedule Services Report screen, allowing you to view the services in the section. The report is filtered by Site, Schedule and Section and displays details of the services available for the Scheduler application. For each service, the number of Kit Items, Fifteen Minute Blocks and Breaks, Comments, Quantity, Unit Cost, Unit Price, Total Cost and Total Price are displayed. Services can be added to the selected section by clicking on the Add New Service link provided, which opens the Schedule Services Maintenance screen.

Select a service description to open a popup menu with the following options:

• Edit Service, opens the Item Maintenance screen, allowing you to edit the selected item's details.

• Edit Service Kit Items, opens the Kit Maintenance screen, allowing you to edit the kit details of the service.

• Edit Section Items, opens the Schedule Services Maintenance screen, allowing you to edit the services in the selected section.

The Schedule Users link in the Administration section of the Scheduler Menu opens the Schedule User Edit Report which lists the employees that are available to be booked in the Scheduler application in the selected Site for the specified Schedule. Each employee's User Name and Schedule Membership Status is displayed in this report.

Select an employee's User Name to open a popup menu with the following options:

• Edit User, opens the Employee Maintenance screen, allowing you to edit the employee's details.

• Add User To Schedule, which sets the employee to be available for booking in the selected schedule. This option is only available when the employee is not already in the schedule.

• Remove User From Schedule, which sets the employee to be unavailable for booking in the selected schedule. This option is only available when the employee is already in the schedule.

Part Two: Scheduler Reports

In this part of the tutorial we will investigate the reports available to aid in the maintenance of the Scheduler application in the Portal. We will discuss the Scheduler Reports section of the Scheduler Menu which can be opened by clicking the Scheduler Reports link.

The Name / Address link in the Scheduler Reports section of the Scheduler Menu opens the Appointment Customer Report. This report outlines details of customers that have been accessed in the Scheduler application. Each customer's Name, Customer Number, Mobile Number, Phone Number, Alternative Phone Number and Postcode are displayed in this report which can be filtered by Site and Schedule Type.

The Customers (Filtered) link in the Scheduler Reports section of the Scheduler Menu opens the Scheduler Customers Report. This report lists the details of each customer that has been accessed in the Scheduler application by making a booking. Each customer's Name, Customer Number, Mobile Number, Phone Number, Alternative Phone Number and Postcode are displayed in this report. The Scheduler Customers Report can be filtered by Site and Schedule Type in the Options tab. The Selections tab allows you to further filter the report according to the customers' Birth Month, Age Range, Gender or Name. In the Appointments tab allows you to select the Date of the appointments and whether to display details of all customers or only those with appointments on in their maintenance screen.

The Schedule Rept link in the Scheduler Reports section of the Scheduler Menu opens the Scheduler Report. This report lists each employee's bookings at the selected Site on the specified Date. Use the Type drop-down list to select the schedule type for the report. The report can also be filtered by booking status in the By drop-down list and the Details drop-down can be used to view extra information about each booking. Each block of fifteen minutes displays an employee's booking, with the customer name, duration and price for the service displayed. If details are on for the report, the service details are displayed also including the quantity and unit price of the service being rendered.

The Clerk Sales link in the Scheduler Reports section of the Scheduler Menu opens the Scheduler Clerk Sales Report. This report outlines the details of the sales made against Scheduler bookings during the specified date range at the selected Site. The report can be filtered according to Schedule Type.

In this tutorial we have discussed the Portal-side administration and reporting for the Scheduler application. The Scheduler application can be used to record appointments and track sales of the services performed. For more information on the Scheduler application, see the section of the help system that details the use of AMC Convergent IT's point of sale system, POSPortal.