The purpose of this article is to:

  • Learn where the admin can enable permission for providers to edit their own schedules, add availability, and take time off
  • Show how providers can make changes to their schedule or submit schedule requests from their dashboard or submit 

 

Enable Permission for Providers to Update Availability

If you would like your providers to be able to make changes to which days and times they work, you can enable permission for them to update their availability. Once enabled, you can decide whether an admin will need to approve the request or if the changes will be updated automatically.

To set this up, please go to: 

Settings > General > Store Options > Provider

Then, click the plus sign icon to expand the "Scheduling" section.

Scroll down until you see the question, "Would you like to allow your providers the ability to set and modify their own schedules?"

  • Select "Yes" to allow providers to set and modify their own schedules.
  • Select "No" so providers cannot edit their availability. This means all schedule changes must be made by the admin or staff.  

Scroll down until you see the question, "What will happen if there are active booking(s) in the date range when providers try to modify or take a day off?"

Select one of the following options:

    • This option will automatically move any of the bookings impacted by the time-off request into the unassigned folder and send a notification to the admin.
    • This option will send a request to the "Manage Availability" section under the "Providers" tab for admin/staff to approve.
    • This option will update the provider's availability but keep the booking assigned to them as "NA", or "Not Available" and send the admin a notification.  

There is also an option to include a tutorial video at the top of this section in the provider's dashboard, "Would you like to include a tutorial video to help your providers with this section?"

  • Select "Yes" to share your own link or use the BookingKoala default video on how providers can modify their schedules. 

  • Select "No" to hide the tutorial video from their dashboard.  

Then, remember to click the blue "Save" button at the bottom of this page.

Now that your settings have been updated, providers will now have the ability to change or request to change their schedules.

 

Updating Availability from the Provider Dashboard

Once you've given permission for your providers to update their schedule, they can log into the BookingKoala for Providers app or their dashboard on a web browser to make changes.

Once they log in, they can click the "Manage Availability" section in the left-side menu.

There are three different sections in the "Manage Availability" section: Calendar View, List View, and Old View.  The first and last sections provide different options as to how the provider can add, edit, or remove availability while the List View displays all past and pending schedule requests (if admin approval is required to finalize the change).

 

Calendar View: Default Availability 

If a provider would like to add or edit their regular recurring availability, they should click the "Change Availability" button, then select "Default Availability".  

A pop-up window will appear displaying each day of the week. Click the blue "Add Shift" button to add a new shift to the day of the week.  

Once they've added a shift, they can click the "Location" button (if the business has multiple locations) to select which location(s) this shift will be added for, then click "Apply".  

If they would like to copy the shift to other days of the week, click the "Apply to..." button and check the boxes next to the days of the week they'd like to have this shift. Click the "Apply" button to copy the shift to the other day(s).  

If they would like to edit a shift length, simply click on the hour and minute boxes to adjust the time.  To delete a shift, click the red X icon.  

Once they are done setting up their availability, they can click the blue "Send Request" button (if they must submit a request) or the blue "Apply" button if the business allows updates without admin approval.

 

Calendar View: Editing Availability for a Date or Date Range 

If the provider wants to make changes to a specific date or date range, they can click the "Change Availability" button, then select "Specific Date".  A pop-up window will appear, displaying options to select a Date.

Providers can also click any shift (depicted in green) or pending request (depicted in red) on the calendar to view and edit their availability.

If a shift exists, the start and end times will be displayed. If there is no shift for the date, it will read "Off".  

If they would like to add a shift, click the blue "Add Shift" button and then enter the start and end times.    Use the "Location" button to select which location(s) the shifts will be added for.  

Depending on the business settings, providers may be required to provide more information about their request in the "Reason" box.  Once submitted/saved, this information will be saved to the calendar for both the admin and provider.

If bookings are assigned to any of the dates, they will be displayed in the bottom section of the pop-up. They can click the eye icon to open the customer's booking details.

Once a provider is done editing their shift, they can click the blue "Send Request" button (if they are required to submit a request) or the blue "Apply" button (if the business allows updates without admin approval).

 

Calendar View: Time Off

If a provider would like to remove availability for a date or date range, they can click on the "Change Availability" button, then select "Request Time Off".  

A pop-up window will appear displaying options to select the date or dates of the time off.  

If the provider services multiple locations, they can select which location(s) they are taking off.  If they'd d like, they can enter a Reason that will be seen by the admin, staff, and provider on their schedule when viewing these dates in BookingKoala. This may or may not be required depending on the business settings.

If bookings are assigned on any of the dates, they will be displayed in the bottom section of the pop-up. They can click the eye icon to open the customer's booking details. 

Once they have finished making adjustments, the provider will click the blue "Apply" button if schedule changes do not need admin approval or the blue "Submit Request" if all changes must be submitted as requests.

Providers can also click any shift (depicted in green)  on the calendar to remove a shift.  To delete a shift from a specific date, click the red X icon next to the working hours and then click the "Apply" or "Submit Request" button.  

Once the changes are applied/the request is submitted, the provider will see a green system notification in the top right corner of the screen, letting them know the provider's availability has been updated successfully.  The provider will now not be able to receive bookings for the dates they submitted.

Even if they or the admin make a change to their default availability, this will not override the original time off request.

 

List View: Past and Pending Schedule Requests

If your business requires (or previously required) providers to submit new availability as requests, they can click on the "List View" icon to see logs of all pending, approved, and declined requests.  

The pending request section displays all requests that have not been answered by the admin.  If a provider would like to update or cancel the request, they can click on "Options" then "Edit" or "Delete". 

Further down the page, there is a section for all approved and declined requests.  The status of the request will be displayed below the "Status" column.  In addition to the details listed in each column, one can click on the page icon to view any notes added to the original request or responses added by the admin.  

 

Old View: Adding, Editing, and Removing Availability 

In addition to the options described above, providers can also use the "Old View" option for setting up and editing their schedules.   This option is named as such because it was the original manner in which admin and providers could set up their availability.

To quickly add regular recurring availability, providers can click the blue "Quick Add" button near the top of the page. This option allows providers to create a basic schedule for each day of the week all in one pop-up.  The Quick Add tool allows providers to select the start and end times for the selected days of the week, the frequency of the shifts, and the locations.

Once finished making selections, they should click the blue "Add" button at the bottom of the pop-up.  To confirm the availability has been added correctly, they can also select the day of the week and click "Apply" to see all shifts that have been added for that day.  

To add or edit regular recurring availability by day of the week, use the "Whole" option and select which locations (or all) the business has more than one location.   Next, select the day of the week to set up availability and click the blue "Apply" button. All shifts for that day will be displayed in the section below.  If there are no shifts, you will just see an "Add Working Hours" link.

To add a new shift, click "Add Working Hour".  Select the start date and leave the end date empty to have the system update all upcoming shifts for this day.  Next, they can select the start time and end time for the shift.  

If the business requires all changes to be submitted as a request, the system will show a green notification at the top of the page letting them know the request has been submitted. If the business allows availability changes to take effect immediately, the newly added shifts will be displayed in the section below.

To edit any existing shifts, click the pencil icon to the right of the date you'd like the schedule changes to take effect.  For example, if the current date is January 1 and the default availability will be different starting in February, one can edit the first shift in February and all shifts before this will remain unchanged.  

Once finished selecting the date, time, and frequency of the shift, the provider should click the blue "Save" button.  This will submit their request or update their availability depending on the business's settings.

If the provider wants to change their availability for a specific time frame, they can also use the "Select Date Range" option below the day of the week.  Once they pick the start and end date for the range, they can click the blue "Apply" button to view any shifts currently set up for that period.  

As always, clicking the "Save" button at the bottom of the pop-up will ensure that the time request is submitted to the admin or updated automatically.  

If a provider wants to take time off, they can remove a shift by loading the shifts for any given day and then clicking the trash can icon to delete it from their schedule.  A pop-up will ask if they want to delete just this one shift or all shifts moving forward.  Some businesses may require a reason to be included when taking off time.

Shifts can be deleted for a selected date range or the entire schedule of the provider. If the provider wants to clear their entire schedule, they can use the red "Clear Schedule" button at the top of the page.

 

Spot Availability

If the business allows multiple bookings per time spot, the provider can also adjust the number of bookings they can accept for each start time.  To do so, they can click the green "Spots Availability" button near the top right corner of the page.

The Spots Availability pop-up allows the provider to edit the number of booking spots by location if the business services more than one location.  If they would like to update their booking spots for their default availability, providers can use the "Whole" option and then make modifications to each spot. If the provider wants to update the spots for a specific date, they can instead use the "Specific Date" option and then pick the date from a calendar.  

To add more spots, providers can enter a new number into the fields next to each start time, then click the blue "Save" button to the right of the spot's field.  When finished making changes, the pop-up can be closed using the red "x" icon at the top right corner.  

 

How to Control/Limit Locations, Job Types, and Services

If you would like your providers to be able to make changes to which the types of jobs they can be booked for, you can enable permission for them to update their settings.

Just like with the availability permission, you can decide whether an admin will need to approve the request or if the changes will be updated automatically.  

Click here to learn how providers can edit their own settings.