How to create a Round Robin Calendar

The Round Robin Calendar offers a powerful solution for streamlining appointment scheduling, which is particularly beneficial for teams with multiple members. This approach functions by:

• Automated Assignment: When a new meeting request arrives, the Round Robin system automatically distributes it to the next available team member following a predefined order. This eliminates the need for manual scheduling, saving significant time and reducing the back-and-forth communication often required to find a suitable time slot.
• Balanced Workload Distribution: The round-robin approach ensures a fair distribution of meetings across the team. Each member receives an equal share of appointments, preventing situations where some are overloaded while others have limited interaction with clients.
• Manual Appointment Assignment: This allows you to configure which team member should be assigned to appointments in a round-robin calendar, providing options for reschedule preferences and new appointment preferences. Users can choose whether to assign a team member through round-robin scheduling or select a specific team member for both rescheduled and new appointments.
• Setting up a Round Robin event:

 Navigate to the Calendar Tab

• Open the Calendar tab in your account
• Select “Calendar settings” on top right corner and click on “Create Calendar”

• To create a Round Robin event, click on the Create Calendar icon

• Meeting Details

After selecting Round Robin, a new note pop-up will appear. Fill in the following details:

• Calendar Logo: Upload a logo to appear on the calendar. This enhances the visual branding of your calendar.
• Calendar Name: Enter the name of your calendar.
• Description: Add a description for your calendar.
• Group: Select a group for the calendar if you want to add it to a specific group.
• Custom URL: Provide a custom URL for the calendar.
• Meeting Duration: Set the duration for each meeting.

Available Meeting Locations:

• Phone: The default value populated will be the account's phone number, but you can edit it to any phone number of your choice.
• Address: The default value populated will be the account's business address, but you can edit it to any address if needed.
• Custom: Use this to enter any custom value, such as your store address, a message for clients, or a static Zoom link.
• Zoom: Dynamic, unique Zoom links will be generated if Zoom is successfully integrated. Ensure Zoom is integrated in 'My Profile' > Calendar Settings > Video Conferencing.
• Google Meet: Dynamic, unique Google Meet links will be generated if Google is successfully integrated and Google Calendar is selected as the linked calendar in the 'My Profile > Calendar Settings' section.
• Ask the booker: Prompt the booker to specify their preferred meeting location, which will be saved for future use. If multiple locations are available, the option 'Elsewhere' will be displayed on the booking widget to indicate this feature.

“Ask the booker” Limitations:

• Applicable only to Event Calendar and Round Robin Calendar with a single team member.
• Compatible only with default forms; not supported by custom forms.
• Supported solely by the Neo widget.
• Appointment Distribution: You can assign appointments based on the following criteria:
• Optimize for Availability:

Choosing "optimize for availability" will assign the appointment based on priority. If one team member has a higher priority, the appointment will be assigned to them instead of someone with a lower priority. If multiple team members have the same priority, the meeting will be assigned to the person who hasn't had a scheduled meeting for the longest time.

• Optimize for Equal Distribution:

Choosing "optimize for equal distribution" means spreading out meetings evenly among the team. It monitors the number of meetings each person has. If one team member has significantly more meetings than the others in the last 24 hours, they won't be assigned any more until their teammates catch up.

• Select Team Members: 

Choose the team members you want to assign to the calendar. This allows for efficient distribution of appointments among team members.

• Advanced Settings: 

Choose your preferences for assigning team members to new and rescheduled appointments, either through round-robin scheduling or by selecting specific team members.

• Configuring Availability:
• Weekly Working Hours: Set your regular, weekly working hours. This is useful for setting up your default schedule that repeats week after week.
• Date Specific Hours: Adjust your schedule for specific dates. Override your regular weekly hours.

• Booking Widget to Open First Available Date: Bookers can see and select the earliest available slot immediately, eliminating the need for manual searching. This is beneficial for businesses looking to accept early bookings for future events, such as special holidays or seasonal offers. 
• To use this feature, configure Date-Specific Hours without setting Weekly Working Hours. Ensure no recurring weekly hours are configured for this feature to function correctly.

• Look Busy

1. The "Look Busy" feature is designed to create urgency by hiding a percentage of your available booking slots, making you appear more in demand. The hidden slots are randomized across different days of the week, making your availability appear more realistic and varied.
2.  By limiting visible time slots, potential clients may feel a greater need to book quickly, which can lead to increased bookings.
3. This feature applies to:

• Event calendars
• Round-robin calendars
• Collective calendars
• Service calendars

Please Note: The "Look Busy" feature is not applicable for class bookings and service menus.

• Recurring Meeting: Choose the rhythm of repeated sessions.

• Duration & Interval: Set the time frame for meetings and the frequency of their occurrence.
• Buffer Time: Allow a cool-down period between appointments.
  • Pre Buffer: Additional Time added before an appointment.
  • Post Buffer: Additional Time added after an appointment.
• Maximum bookings per day: Define daily appointment limits.
• Maximum bookings per slot (per user): If the number of appointments exceed for the given slot for the user, then it either switches over to the next user in the round-robin queue or marks the slot unavailable for the prospect to book.
• Minimum scheduling notice: Set the required advance notice for appointment bookings, specifying how many hours or days before an appointment should the booking be closed.
• Date Range: Events can be scheduled over the next x number of days.

• Forms, Payments, and Guest Inclusions:
• Use a default or curated form for the booking widget.

• Pre-Populate Fields: Enable the system to recall previous attendees with the Pre-populate fields(sticky contacts) toggle to remember your contact information.

• Consent Checkbox: Toggle this option to allow obtaining consent from contacts when they provide their phone number during the appointment booking process.

• Add Guests: Allow main participants to bring in additional guests, streamlining group schedules

• Name and mailing address: Include the data of the guest to be able to attend.

Note: In many cases, attendees are required to fill in the information before the appointment so that service providers can use that information for the appointment. An example can be a Medical Appointment: This could be allergies, any genetic ailments, past medical issues, etc.

• Count Option for Adding Guests: This is particularly useful in cases where the primary attendee may not have the email addresses of the guests, but still wants them added to the appointment.
• Pixel ID Tracking: Seamlessly incorporate scheduling into your analytic journey.
• Auto-confirm New Appointments: Activate this feature to instantly confirm new appointments on available calendar slots, ensuring users receive immediate booking confirmations.
• Billing Integration: If charging, integrate with reliable payment gateways like Stripe and turn on the accept payments feature, fill out the price and description.

• Accept Partial Payment:  Enable partial payments by toggling the "Accept Partial Payment" option if you want to charge the clients partially. Specify the deposit amount or percentage required during the appointment booking process.

• Stripe Payment Gateway: Seamlessly bill for appointments by integrating with Stripe. Key configurations include setting the amount, deciding the currency, selecting between Test/Live environments, and customizing charge descriptions.
• Notifications & Additional Options:

Enjoy full control over the email and in-app notifications related to appointments. This allows users more control over notification content and recipients, with six types of notifications available, including Appointment Booked, Cancellation, and Follow-Up.

Notification Types:

• In-App Notifications: Notifications can be sent through the web app and mobile app, offering flexibility for businesses to choose between sending to the assigned user or any specific users.

• Notifications can be set up for each calendar on an individual level.
• For Event Calendars, the account admin is the default recipient for in-app notifications, while for other calendar types, the assigned user is the default recipient.
• Email Notifications: Enable Email Notifications by toggling them on, and customize the content for different recipients.

• You can select an existing email template or create a new one with a custom subject line and message body. Set the timing for Reminder and Follow-Up emails, and send a test email if necessary.

• Click Save to confirm your changes.

Google/ Outlook Calendar Integration

• Permit Google/ Outlook Calendar to send appointment invitations or update emails to attendees.
• Assign contacts to their respective calendar team members upon appointment booking.

Booking Features:

• Set specific time frames after which the cancellation or reschedule links are disabled, requiring bookers to contact the business directly for any changes.
•  Specify the time range after which the links should be disabled. (Note: Leaving this value blank means the link will never expire and bookers can access it anytime.)

• Customization

Calendar Cover Image:

You can upload a cover photo. The uploaded image will be visible within the Group View for the Neo template but won't appear on the individual calendar link.

Widget Customization & Appearance:

• Style Selection: Opt between the contemporary Neo or the classic design for your widget.
• Primary Color: Select the color for buttons, dates, time slots, and actions.
• Background Color: Set the background color for the date and time slots and the form.
• Button Text: Add the text that you want to display on the scheduling button.
• Calendar Title: Toggle on the calendar title to display the name of the calendar.
• Calendar Description: Toggle on the calendar description to display the description of the calendar.
• Calendar Details: Includes information such as duration, date & time, recurring details, and timezone.

Custom Code: You can insert the custom CSS code to customize the calendar in your desired way.

Staff Selection: Allow staff selection during bookings, letting contacts choose which user or staff member to schedule with.

Troubleshooting Tool for calendars

This tool provides users with detailed insights into unavailable time slots, helping to quickly identify and resolve issues that may be affecting calendar bookings. By showing the reasons behind unavailable slots, the tool enhances scheduling efficiency for businesses and administrators, making it easier to manage calendars without guesswork.

To use, simply go to Calendar Settings, select your calendar, and choose the "Troubleshoot Calendar" option from the three-dot menu to view available and unavailable slots along with explanations.

Pro Tips

Pro Tip 1: Use the "Look Busy" feature to create a sense of urgency by hiding a percentage of your available slots. This can encourage potential clients to book sooner, leading to increased appointment bookings.

Pro Tip 2: When setting up date-specific hours without weekly working hours, configure the booking widget to automatically show the first available date. This feature is especially useful for scheduling future events, as it allows bookers to see and select the earliest possible slot immediately.

Pro Tip 3: Enable the "Auto-confirm New Appointments" feature to streamline the booking process, ensuring that appointments are instantly confirmed on available slots, which can enhance the user experience and reduce booking friction.

FAQ

Q1: Can I customize which team members are available for round robin scheduling?
Yes, you can customize team member availability by selecting specific members when configuring the round robin calendar. This allows you to control which staff are included in the scheduling rotation.

Q2: How does the "Optimize for Availability" setting work in appointment distribution?
The "Optimize for Availability" setting assigns appointments based on priority and availability. If a team member has higher priority or hasn’t had a meeting scheduled for the longest time, they will be assigned the next appointment.

Q3: What happens if no availability is found within the date-specific hours configured?
If no availability is found within the date-specific hours, the booking widget will continue searching into the future until the next available slot is found, ensuring that bookings can still be made even for far-off dates.

Q4: Are custom forms supported in round robin calendars?
No, custom forms are not supported in round robin calendars. Only default forms are compatible, so ensure that you’re using the standard form options provided within the system.

Q5: Why are some time slots unavailable on my calendar?

The Troubleshooting Tool provides a detailed explanation for unavailable time slots, helping users understand why certain times cannot be booked. By using the tool, you can identify specific issues such as conflicting appointments, user availability, or calendar settings that may be blocking these slots. To view the reasons, navigate to Calendar Settings, select your calendar, and use the "Troubleshoot Calendar" option from the three-dot menu.

Q6: Can I customize the content of email and in-app notifications for appointments?
Yes, you can fully customize both email and in-app notifications, allowing you to control the content and choose specific recipients. You can create custom messages for notifications such as Appointment Booked, Cancellation, and Follow-Up.

Q7: Who receives the default notifications for different calendar types?
For Event Calendars, the default recipient for in-app notifications is the account admin. For other calendar types, the assigned user is the default recipient for notifications.