Appointment type availability at specific times
If you'd like to offer specific appointment types at specific times, you can use multiple locations and timetabling to define when these appointment types can be booked.
To do this, you'll need to have multiple locations set up, and then set your appointment types as available at the relevant locations, depending on what you'd like to book and when. You'll then need to add a timetable to your diary (or edit an existing one), which uses the locations you add to control what can be offered when.
For example, if you'd like to have set times for new appointments, and follow up appointments:
You'll first of all need to set up locations that relate to the appointment types, by going to Settings -> Organisation. If you haven't already, you'll need to tick the "Enable multiple locations" box to allow new locations to be added.
Once this is ticked, click on "+Add Location" to add a new location:
Give your location a name, add the (optional) address information and define a colour that will be used to represent the location on your diary once you've added the timetabled slots. Then click Save.
You can then click on "+Add Location" to add as many locations as you need, and once finished, you should see your locations listed on the Organisation tab:
Then, you'll need to head to Settings -> Scheduling -> Appointment Types, and make your appointment types available only at the location(s) at which they should be booked.
Click on "Edit" alongside the appointment type you'd like to manage and then click on "Edit..." here to change the location availability:
In this example, the "Initial Appointment" type is being made available at the location "Practice Name Assessment Clinic":
Appointment types can be made available at multiple locations, so you can tick as many locations here as you need. For example, you might have a location where you are happy to see any appointment type and then a separate location where you'd like to see only initial appointments.
Once the locations for the appointment type have been changed, click on Save to save the changes and be taken back to the list of appointment types.
You'll then need to repeat this for any other appointment types that you have, to set out which appointment types can be booked in which locations.
Once you've set up locations and selected what location each appointment type can be booked at, you need to timetable your diary. This allows you to set out what appointments can be booked when, by using the locations linked to those appointment types.
Open the main menu at the top left of your screen and choose Timetable.
The timetable won't appear as an option in the main menu until you've enabled multiple locations first, so if you don't see it, please check that you've followed step 1 above! It's also only available to site administrators.
Use the mini calendar on the left to choose which day you'd like to start the schedule and then use the week view to click on a white section (which shows that it is not timetabled). This will open a "New Timetable Entry" window which will slide in from the left:
Use the options here to choose the location, the start and end time, the date and the recurrence. If, for example, your schedule is the same on a weekly basis, you can set a weekly recurrence when adding your timetable, and the slot will be set up for the same day and time each week until the end date that you enter. Unless you know the end date, we recommend setting this quite far into the future:
Once you've entered all of the information, click on Save, and you'll see the timetabled slot added to the weekly view in the colour you chose for the location under Settings -> Organisation:
In this example, the location for all day on a Monday is now set as "Practice Name Assessment Clinic". In Settings -> Scheduling -> Appointment Types, the only appointment type available at that location is "Initial Appointment", which means that on a Monday, the only availability offered will be for that type. Searching for any other appointment type will not return a Monday appointment.
You should then repeat these steps to add a timetable for all of your working hours/days. Once you've finished, you should see each slot represented here in the selected colours:
If you have more than one user on your WriteUpp site, you will also need to add a timetable for your other users.
Once you enable multiple locations, you MUST timetable all of your availability so that WriteUpp knows where you will be and when. If you don't add your availability in the timetable, the appointment search under Create -> Appointment and the online booking search won't find the slots. You can read more about setting up the timetable here.
Once you go back to your diary, you'll also see the locations you've timetabled identified in paler colours in the background, and a handy key to the locations in the diary sidebar:
Once you've set up locations, appointment types and your timetable in this way, WriteUpp will use this information when searching for appointments to ensure that appointment types are only offered at particular, set locations.
To do this, you'll need to have multiple locations set up, and then set your appointment types as available at the relevant locations, depending on what you'd like to book and when. You'll then need to add a timetable to your diary (or edit an existing one), which uses the locations you add to control what can be offered when.
For example, if you'd like to have set times for new appointments, and follow up appointments:
You'll first of all need to set up locations that relate to the appointment types, by going to Settings -> Organisation. If you haven't already, you'll need to tick the "Enable multiple locations" box to allow new locations to be added.
Once this is ticked, click on "+Add Location" to add a new location:
Give your location a name, add the (optional) address information and define a colour that will be used to represent the location on your diary once you've added the timetabled slots. Then click Save.
You can then click on "+Add Location" to add as many locations as you need, and once finished, you should see your locations listed on the Organisation tab:
Then, you'll need to head to Settings -> Scheduling -> Appointment Types, and make your appointment types available only at the location(s) at which they should be booked.
Click on "Edit" alongside the appointment type you'd like to manage and then click on "Edit..." here to change the location availability:
In this example, the "Initial Appointment" type is being made available at the location "Practice Name Assessment Clinic":
Appointment types can be made available at multiple locations, so you can tick as many locations here as you need. For example, you might have a location where you are happy to see any appointment type and then a separate location where you'd like to see only initial appointments.
Once the locations for the appointment type have been changed, click on Save to save the changes and be taken back to the list of appointment types.
You'll then need to repeat this for any other appointment types that you have, to set out which appointment types can be booked in which locations.
Once you've set up locations and selected what location each appointment type can be booked at, you need to timetable your diary. This allows you to set out what appointments can be booked when, by using the locations linked to those appointment types.
Open the main menu at the top left of your screen and choose Timetable.
The timetable won't appear as an option in the main menu until you've enabled multiple locations first, so if you don't see it, please check that you've followed step 1 above! It's also only available to site administrators.
Use the mini calendar on the left to choose which day you'd like to start the schedule and then use the week view to click on a white section (which shows that it is not timetabled). This will open a "New Timetable Entry" window which will slide in from the left:
Use the options here to choose the location, the start and end time, the date and the recurrence. If, for example, your schedule is the same on a weekly basis, you can set a weekly recurrence when adding your timetable, and the slot will be set up for the same day and time each week until the end date that you enter. Unless you know the end date, we recommend setting this quite far into the future:
Once you've entered all of the information, click on Save, and you'll see the timetabled slot added to the weekly view in the colour you chose for the location under Settings -> Organisation:
In this example, the location for all day on a Monday is now set as "Practice Name Assessment Clinic". In Settings -> Scheduling -> Appointment Types, the only appointment type available at that location is "Initial Appointment", which means that on a Monday, the only availability offered will be for that type. Searching for any other appointment type will not return a Monday appointment.
You should then repeat these steps to add a timetable for all of your working hours/days. Once you've finished, you should see each slot represented here in the selected colours:
If you have more than one user on your WriteUpp site, you will also need to add a timetable for your other users.
Once you enable multiple locations, you MUST timetable all of your availability so that WriteUpp knows where you will be and when. If you don't add your availability in the timetable, the appointment search under Create -> Appointment and the online booking search won't find the slots. You can read more about setting up the timetable here.
Once you go back to your diary, you'll also see the locations you've timetabled identified in paler colours in the background, and a handy key to the locations in the diary sidebar:
Once you've set up locations, appointment types and your timetable in this way, WriteUpp will use this information when searching for appointments to ensure that appointment types are only offered at particular, set locations.
Updated on: 13/03/2023
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