Create a booking

A booking is an entry in a bookable collection whose start time is set to an open slot. Check which slots are free, then create the entry with its start time on one of them; if the slot is closed or full, the booking is refused and the reason is named.

Requirements

• A role that can create entries in the bookable collection.
• The collection is ready to book: it has a location, a department with working hours, a bookable start date and time field, and booking switched on. Make a collection bookable covers the setup.

Steps

1. Check availability. Look at the days you want. Each day shows whether it is open, and if not, why. Each slot shows whether it is free and, where capacity is limited, how many places remain. You can look up to 92 days ahead at a time.
2. Pick a free slot. A consultancy booking a discovery call picks 10:00 on Tuesday because that slot shows places remaining.
3. Create the booking. Create an entry in the collection and set its start date and time to the start of that slot. Fill in the rest as for any entry, such as the client it is for. See Create an entry.
4. Save. The booking is checked against the department's hours and capacity at the moment it is saved.

How slots are set

A booking (elsewhere: appointment, reservation) is shaped by the collection's booking profile, which belongs to one location and one department:

• Slots are either daily or hourly. Hourly slots start every hour, every 30 minutes, or every 15 minutes.
• Each booking lasts a fixed number of minutes.
• Capacity decides how many bookings a slot can hold. A slot with no limit shows no remaining count.

The working hours come from the department; see Set up locations, departments, and working hours.

Why a booking is refused

• The department is closed on that day.
• The time is outside working hours.
• The slot is full: its capacity is already used.

The refusal names which one applied. Pick another slot, or change the department's hours or capacity if the setup is wrong.

Notes and limitations

• Availability is checked when the booking is saved, not when you looked. Two people picking the last place in a slot at once: the second save is refused.
• The same checks apply however the booking is created: by a person, by an agent, or from a booking form on your website.
• Only one booking profile is active on a collection at a time.

Related

For the whole booking model end to end, see Setting up booking end to end.