Appointment Book Templates

Appointments V4: Setup & Manage Appt Book Templates in Dental4Web

Warning
Warning
ATTENTION:  Appointment Book V4 is in PILOT MODE.
  1. Available only to a selected few while we complete the pilot phase.
  2. General release is coming soon.
  3. During the Pilot phase, we are creating Knowledge Base articles and will continue to add and update them.
Quote
Appointment templates establish the schedule for each Book and Provider; including: start and finish times with breaks, preset slot settings, unavailable days, and even recurrence settings such as: alternate week patterns / odd & even days.

How to find Appointment Book templates

  1. Click the navigation menu > Appointments > Hamburger menu > Setup All Books
     

Build the New Appointment Book


  1. In the "Setup appointment books" window > Click + Add New
    1. Location: Select if applicable
    2. Description: Enter the name of the book
    3. Select Radio Button:
      1. New Schedule (default): To start a fresh template
      2. Copy of: To copy settings of another template 
    4. Recurrence:
      1. None (default): If its a standard weekly setup
      2. Fortnightly: For an alternating weeks setup
      3. Even/Odd Sensitive: If Provider works on a even/odd day of the month schedule
        Notes
        Instructions for the Fortnightly setup and even/odd sensitive setup are found below
    5. Optional Settings:
      1. Start At / Finish At: Enter basic start and finish times
      2. Duration: Set the appointment slot duration/intervals
    6. Click OK
       

      Notes
      Clicking OK, brings you back into the "Setup appointment books" window

Design & Apply the Template

Templates in the appointment book cater to: Start and Finish Times, Weekly Meetings, Regular Breaks, Lunch Breaks, Days Off / Not Working Each Week, Pre-Set Slots
After creating the new Appointment Book (see above):
  1. Select the Book and click Templates
  2. In the Templates Settings:
    1. Click Add [+] icon to Add Period
    2. Enter the Start date of the template (default is today)
    3. Click OK

  3. Right Click Insert New > 
    1. Break: Use to add Lunch, Meetings and to prevent bookings at the start / end of a day
    2. Pre-set/Pre-Booked Slot: Use to enter predetermined Preset Slots, such as Emergency Work Only
    3. Nonstandard slot:
      Use to enter anything less than the standard slot duration, e.g. 4mins

      Notes
      Full instructions for adding Breaks & Pre-Set Slots found below
  4. Click Template Parameters: Use to change the start/finish times and slot duration for the s
    1. Enter the new Slot Duration 
    2. Click OK

      NotesRepeat steps for any other days if applicable
      Here you can also select if a day is a Holiday, which is then removed from view when working in the Appointment Book.
  5. When finished:
    1. Select Whole Template radio button
    2. Click Apply to the Book's days
    3. Click Close

Create Stencil Templates

A predefined template created/applied against an Appointment Book is called a Stencil and is used to minimise the time taken to set up Appointment Books.
The Stencil must be setup initially, before it can be used multiple times against any appointment book template.
Notes
For example: A Stencil could be created for new Providers; meaning whenever a new Provider starts, the ‘New Provider’ Stencil is applied to their appointment book
.
To setup a Stencil, in the 'Setup appointment books' window: 
  1. Select Stencil
  2. Click + Add New
  3. In the 'Stencil' Window:
    1. Location: Select the location if applicable
    2. Description: Enter the name of the stencil
    3. Select Radio Button:
      1. New Schedule (default): To start a fresh stencil
      2. Copy of: To copy settings of another stencil 
    4. Start at / Finish at: Enter the default start and finish times
    5. Duration: Enter the minutes per slot
    6. Is Active: Used to make a stencil active/inactive
    7. Click OK

  4. Back In the 'Setup appointment books' window:
    1. Select the Stencil
    2. Click Templates

    3. Design the template for this stencil, following the same steps as a Design & Apply templates topics above
    4. After completing the setup, click Close
    5. Click Exit in the "Setup appointment books" window.

Apply a Book Stencil to an Appointment Book Template

Once a Stencil has been created, it can then be applied to appointment book templates. Stencils can be applied to an individual or multiple books at once.

Apply to an Individual Book

  1. In the 'Setup appointment books' window:
  2. Select Linear 
  3. Highlight the Book to apply the stencil to
  4. Click Templates

    Notes
    To set a New Period Start Date for the changes, add [+] a new period date first 
  5. To apply the Stencil:
    1. Select from the available list
    2. Click Apply
    3. Select Whole Template radio button
    4. Click Apply to the book's days
    5. Click Close

Apply to Multiple Books

  1. In the 'Setup appointment books' window
    1. Select Stencil 
    2. Highlight the Stencil to setup
    3. Click Books 

  2. Select from the Drop Lists:
    1. Appointment book & Period
    2. Click Add 
    3. Repeat for each book
    4. Click Apply to the Book's Days
    5. Click Exit
  3. And click Exit in 'Setup appointment books' window

Setup Fortnightly - Alternating Weeks

The Fortnightly/Alternating Weeks feature allows the user to customise the book setup for a Week 1 and Week 2 template.
  1. Highlight the book row  in the "Setup appointment books" window
  2. Click edit icon
  3. In the "Edit Linear book" window:
    1. Select: Fortnightly - Alternating Weeks from the Recurrence drop list
    2. Click OK

  4. With the selected book still highlighted:
    1. Click Templates 
  5. Add a New Period Start date, this helps facilitate a clean start to your template
    Alert
    Week 1 begins on the first Monday of the period. If your chosen start date is any other day of the week, adjust it to the Monday of Week 1 so the template doesn’t shift to the next Monday.
  6. Select Week 1 radio button
    1. Click Add icon
    2. Enter the New Period Start Date
    3. Click OK
    4. Commence setup of each day as required. 
    5. Select Whole template radio button
    6. Click Apply to the book's days

  7. Select Week 2 radio button
    1. Commence setup of each day as required
    2. Select Whole template radio button
    3. Click Apply to book's days 
    4. Click Close

Notes
A view of Week 1 and Week 2 example templates
                

Setup Odd and Even Days

The Odd/Evan Days feature allows the user to customise their Appointment book setup for an even day and odd day of the month.
Even and odd days are determined by the date it is in that month, NOT on the principle that the dentist works every alternate day/weekend.
Alert
Before proceeding checkout the Setup Fortnightly / Alternating Weeks Appointment Book Templates instruction above to work out if this may be more suitable to your requirements.
  1. Select the Book
  2. Highlight the book row  in the "Setup appointment books" window
  3. Click edit icon
  4. In the "Edit Linear book" window:
    1. Select: Even/Odd Days Sensitive from the Recurrence drop list
    2. Click OK

  5. With the selected book still highlighted
    1. Click Templates
  6. Select Even days radio button
    1. Click Add icon
    2. Enter the New Period Start Date, this helps facilitate a clean start to your template
    3. Click OK
    4. Commence setup of each day as required.
    5. Select Whole template radio button
    6. Click Apply to book's days

  7. Next, Select Odd Days radio button
    1. Commence setup of each day as required
    2. Select Whole template radio button
    3. Click Apply to book's days
    4. Click Close

Insert Regular Breaks into a Template

To repeat a break every week on the same day and time, add it to the template.
  1. Select the Book
  2. Click Templates
    1. Right click on required appointment time slot
    2. Insert New > Break

    3. Select Start at, End at and Duration
    4. Choose background colour, Text colour, Work time
    5. Add a message if required
    6. Click OK

    7. Click Apply to book's days
    8. Click Close

Add Pre-Booked (Pre-Set) Slots into a Template

Pre-booked slots can be added to a template or on an individual day. The below instructions are for a template
  1. Select the book
  2. Click Templates

    Notes
    If the new slots commence from a preset date, ensure you add [+] a new period date first
    1. Right click on the time to add the slot to
    2. Insert New > Pre-Booked Slot

    3. Enter the Start and End time / enter a Duration
    4. Select the Slot Type
    5. Click OK

  3. When finished:
    1. Click Whole template radio button
    2. Click Apply to book's days
    3. Click Close

Inactivate (remove) an Appointment Book

When an Appointment Book is no longer needed, after moving all upcoming appointments to the relevant replacement / other book, make it inactive.
  1. Select the Book
    1. Click Edit
    2. Remove tick from Is Active box
    3. Click OK

  2. If the book is included in an Appointment Book Group, a message will appear
    1. Click OK to remove the book from the Group

  3. If the book is attached to a Provider, a message will appear
    1. Click OK to remove the book

  4. Click EXIT

Reactivate an inactive Appointment Book

An inactive Appointment Book can be reactivated by:
  1. In the "Setup appointment books" window:
    1. Tick Box: Show inactive books as well
    2. Highlight the book
    3. Click Edit
  2. In the "Edit Linear book" window:
    1. Tick Is Active box 
    2. Click OK

  3. Click Exit from the "Setup the appointment books" window