Inspector Dashboard: Setup Public Appointment Scheduler

Topics in this Article

• Online Public Appointments Overview
• Initial Public Appointment Set-up
• Sharing your Public Appointment Link
• Customer Email Notifications
• Finalizing Public Appointments
• Video: How to configure and use ScheduleNow

Online Public Appointments Overview

With HomeGauge’s ScheduleNow feature, your customers are able to schedule time with your company through your website, social media, email, or even a text.

ScheduleNow allows your customers to pick a specific date and time slot for their appointment. These time slots are configured by you through your HomeGauge Dashboard. If enabled, customers can choose from a list of the services you provide and see an estimate of the cost. Once they have scheduled the appointment, you can be notified by email and text. From your dashboard, you can confirm the appointment and send applicable agreements with a few simple clicks.

NOTE: Request Appointment is the scheduling functionality that was available prior to ScheduleNow. It is no longer receiving updates and is not available to newer customers. For inspectors with Request Appointment still enabled, please refer to the instructions in this document for instructions specific to that feature.

Initial Public Appointment Set-up

1. Visit your Public Appointment Configuration by clicking here.

• Alternatively, from the main menu click Appointments > Company Settings > Public Appointment Settings.
  

2. Select Enable ScheduleNow.
   
3. Scroll down and click the Services section and set your customers service selection preference, then scroll to bottom and click Save Settings.

• To edit the services available to customers, click on Edit Your Company’s Services*.  For more information about editing Services and Service Groups, take a look at this article.

ScheduleNow Configuration

Next, you will need to set your schedule limits, time slots (your daily availability), and if the appointment requests should automatically block the time slot or not.

1. Scroll down and click the Scheduling Configuration section and set your Scheduling Limits. 
2. Click on Configure appointment slots to edit availability for each day of the week. From here, you can make up to three inspection times (aka “Time Slots”) available to your customers and REPs.
   • To make a time available for scheduling, choose the start time and end time by clicking in the box.
   • To keep a time from being scheduled, leave the Time Slot blank. ScheduleNow won't offer that time to your customers and REPs. In any given day, you can leave any or all the time slots blank.
   • Once you're done, scroll to the bottom and click Save Public Scheduling Time Slots. 
3. In the Block Time Slot section, set your preference about whether an appointment will block the public time slot prior to inspector approval.
   • Not blocking your time slot may be ideal in a situation where you want to have more control over the organization of your inspections.
   • Allowing customers to automatically block your time slot should reduce the chance of double booking.

Sharing your Public Appointment Link

Each inspection company has a unique, clickable link to their scheduler. When you share it with your customers and REPs, they can click the link to schedule an appointment with you.

From your Public Appointment Configuration page, scroll to the bottom of the page to:

• Find your link by clicking on Add Apt. To Your Site, or
• See what the scheduler looks like to your customers and REPs by clicking on Test Your Configuration.

Here are a few ways we recommend sharing the schedule link:

• Email: Paste the link into emails you send to customers and REPs for scheduling
• Text: Text your link to interested customers and REPs and they can schedule from their phone
• Social Media: Place this link on your company Facebook page (or other social media) so customers and REPs can schedule with you
• Website: Share the link on your company's website as a clickable link or a button
  • If your website is hosted with HomeGauge, you can email your link to webteam@homegauge.com, along with a request to put it on your website
    

ScheduleNow appointments will appear on the Inspector Dashboard's calendar view.

Customer Email Notifications

1. On your Dashboard click Appointments > Notification Templates
2. Click the drop-down selector for Notification Type and
   
   • choose Public Appointment Scheduled for blocked time slots, or
   • choose Public Appointment Requested for unblocked time slots.
     
     
3. Update the email Subject and Body to your preference for each Recipient type
   

Finalizing Public Appointments

Pending

If you have set up ScheduleNow to block your time slot automatically, the appointment does not require an approval. We recommend you review them, make any adjustments that may be necessary, and send the appropriate agreements and notifications. While looking at your calendar, blocked appointments will be 'Pending' until the appointment is confirmed scheduled by an inspector.

Requested

If you have set up ScheduleNow to leave the time slot unblocked, you will need to act on the appointment to either accept the proposed time or select a new time slot. While looking at your calendar, unblocked appointments will be 'Requested'. Finalizing the appointment will block your public time slot and notify the requestor that the appointment is accepted.

Make sure that you take note of the services time. The appointment will block the full time slot on the inspector’s calendar. Adjusting the appointment with the “Update Appointment End Time Automatically Based on Duration of Services Selected Below” checked will adjust the appointment time once you save the changes or schedule the appointment. This may shorten your appointment or push it into another time slot.

• You can edit and add information to the appointment by navigating to your calendar view on the Inspector Dashboard, then find and open the appointment. Once you're done making changes, click Schedule Appointment to proceed.
• You may want to create and send your agreement to the customer. If you haven't set up an agreement to use with HomeGauge, click here. Once you are ready, follow these steps:
  • Customize your agreements by editing the text in the fields
  • Click Create Agreement Document(s) Below to finalize your agreement(s)
  • Navigate to your calendar view on the Inspector Dashboard, then find and open the appointment
  • Scroll to the bottom and click Schedule Appointment
  • On the Create Agreements page:
• Finally, download the appointment to your HomeGauge software or Companion so you're ready to inspect.

Video: How to configure and use ScheduleNow