Scheduling an Appointment
Learn how staff and contacts can create, manage, and reschedule appointments in Unificus.
Scheduling an Appointment
Both team members and contacts are able to set up an Appointment whenever an appropriate Appointment Generator is accessible.
CLICK HERE to learn about Appointment Generators and Scheduling
CLICK HERE to learn about Rescheduling an Appointment
TIP: The available time slots displayed to both the person creating the appointment and the person receiving it reflect their own Time Zone settings. For instance, when a contact in GMT-07:00 schedules an appointment for 11am, it will display as 2pm for a staff member operating in GMT-04:00.
You can turn appointment scheduling on or off through Calendar Settings.
CLICK HERE to learn about Appointment Calendar Settings
How do I schedule an Appointment as a Staff Member?
If your account has an Appointment Generator assigned and properly set up, you can create an Appointment for any contact.
Go to Calendar > My Calendar and select the +Add Appointment button.
A dialog box will open allowing you to pick which Appointment Generator to use. Options appear in alphabetical sequence.
Select your desired Appointment Generator to reveal its configuration options.
Pick a Contact from the available choices. Then choose your Time Zone. Updating your Time Zone from the list will automatically update which time slots are available.
Next, choose a Time Slot from those offered. Your choice will display the appointment’s details for confirmation. You’ll then have the chance to set up Reminder Notifications for this appointment.
You can arrange for a reminder to be sent to yourself, selecting both the delivery method and how far in advance you’d like the alert. You may also send a reminder to the assigned contact using the same process. For either choice, you’re welcome to add multiple notifications using different methods or times.
You’re also able to include notes with the appointment. Keep in mind that these notes are visible to the contact and will appear in their calendar as well.
Once you click the Book It! button, your appointment will display on your calendar with an icon showing its current status.
Tap the appointment on your calendar to open a dialog showing all the details.
From here, you can modify Reminder Notification settings for both yourself and the contact.
You can also add or edit notes for the appointment. Remember that contacts have access to these notes on their own calendars.
Additionally, you have options to Reschedule or Cancel the appointment. Canceling will remove it from both calendars and send a notification email to each party.
How do I schedule an Appointment as a Contact?
When scheduling is enabled and at least one Appointment Generator exists, contacts can set up their own appointments.
Navigate to Calendar > My Calendar and press the +Add Appointment button.
A dialog will appear allowing you to select a Time Slot. If multiple Appointment Generators are offered, you’ll see a menu to select between them.
Once you pick a time slot, the appointment details will display for your review. Click Book Now to finalize the appointment.
Your new appointment will show up on your calendar with an icon reflecting its status. It will also appear on the assigned staff member’s calendar.
Select the appointment from your calendar to view its full details and access the Reschedule and Cancel options.
Rescheduling transfers the appointment across both calendars and notifies both parties via email about the change. Canceling removes it from both calendars and sends a notification email to each person.
How do I manage my Reminder Notifications for Appointments?
To add new Reminder Notifications for your appointments or replace all previously configured settings, click the icon on the right side of the screen while in My Calendar.
Select the type of reminder and the timeframe before the appointment when you want the notification to arrive. Notifications can be delivered through email, a platform alert, or SMS if you have the Twilio Integration enabled.
CLICK HERE to learn about the Twilio Integration
Add extra notification options by clicking +Add notification.
You can select Apply to all future & existing appointments to overwrite all settings you’ve previously configured for individual appointments.
You may also set Follow-Up Notifications using the same approach.
CLICK HERE to learn about Follow-Ups
Enable Outlook email summaries for your upcoming appointments and follow-ups by turning on the toggle. You can choose to receive these Daily or Weekly, and if you pick Weekly, you can specify which day. You can also decide how many days to include in the email—for example, choosing 3 days means the email will cover all appointments and follow-ups happening within that 3-day window.
Finally, select the time you’d like the email to be sent.
Email Notifications to Users
When an appointment is created, notification emails go to both the assigned contact and staff member. Customize these messages in Email Templates.
CLICK HERE to learn about Email Templates
These notifications include a special feature that lets recipients quickly import the appointment into their personal calendar.
Recipients can select an icon to add the appointment to their Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, Outlook Calendar, or iCal Calendar.
They may also click Add to Other Calendar to download an ICS file, allowing them to manually add it to a different calendar service.
To provide these options, you’ll need to add the [add-to-calendar] Placeholder to your Email Templates.
Alternatively, if you’re using the default Email Template, simply click Reset to Default. The updated Default Template already has these Placeholders built in.