What Should Scheduling Software Help Your Business Manage?

Follow one booking from request to completion

• A simple appointmentChoose an available time, record the customer’s details and confirm the booking.
• A job with more to coordinateChoose suitable staff and equipment, allow travel time and check that the site and materials are ready.

Ask the person arranging work to explain an ordinary booking and one that was difficult. Note what they check outside the calendar before confirming a time.

Follow the job afterward too. The office may need to know whether it was completed, whether another visit is required and what can be invoiced.

Decide whether a shared calendar covers the task

A shared calendar such as Outlook or Google Calendar may be a useful fit for meetings or straightforward appointments. If staff can see availability, record the details and manage changes comfortably, that may be enough.

Ask what else people keep in notes or separate lists. Work waiting for a date, equipment bookings or unfinished jobs may need clearer records than a calendar entry alone provides.

You can keep a familiar calendar while using another program for the job details. Check how the two will stay up to date and where staff should make changes.

List the people and resources each job needs

A free employee is not always the right person for a task. A visit may need a particular skill, two people working together or access to a shared vehicle or machine.

Explain how long the work usually takes and what changes that estimate. Include preparation, travel, breaks and cleanup where they affect availability.

The article on scheduling staff and equipment explains how to make these requirements clear and check that the proposed software handles them.

Include recurring work and changes of plan

List the weekly, bi-weekly, monthly or seasonal visits you arrange. Decide whether customers buy a set number of visits, a service period or individual appointments.

Show what happens when a customer postpones a visit or bad weather changes the day’s work. Moving one appointment may or may not change the visits that follow.

Include jobs that are accepted but not yet booked. Staff need a way to see that work and distinguish it from confirmed appointments.

Think about the people using the schedule

The office may need a view of all staff and jobs. Someone on site may only need their next appointment, access instructions and a way to report what happened.

Ask staff to try the proposed screens on the computers and phones they use. Include a changed appointment and a job with missing information.

Check who can book, move or cancel work, and who should be told about a change. Keep customer details visible to the people who need them for the task.

Compare the whole working day

Try preparing the schedule, making a last-minute change and closing out completed work. Record what staff still need to do in another program.

Compare the setup, staff practice, subscriptions and support needed for each option. A specialist product, a connection between current tools or a custom system can each be useful depending on the work.

Ask to see the important requirements working before deciding. A feature called scheduling does not by itself explain how your team will use it.

Your next step

Prepare one ordinary booking and one that changed unexpectedly. List the people, equipment and information needed at each step, then use both examples when comparing scheduling tools.