Time & Advisor tab

Use the Time & Advisor page to select the date, time, transportation option and Service Advisor for the appointment.

When the Time & Advisor page initially opens:

  1. The first available timeslot is pre-selected for the customer appointment (unless the timeslot was already selected via the Day View).
  2. An available Service Advisor is pre-selected based on a round-robin approach i.e. the next available Service Advisor in the selected department, alphabetically (based on first name) for the date and time, following the Service Advisor selected for the previous appointment.
  3. The transportation option is set to the default: 'Own ride'.

Note: All selected information is highlighted in gray to indicate an available combination.

  1. Alternate available timeslots appear in blue. Options that are not available appear in red.
  2. The Service Advisors not available for the currently selected timeslot appear in red.
  3. Alternative available Service Advisors appear in blue.
  1. Transportation options that are not available appear in red.
    1. The transportation option may be unavailable because it is full or not available for the timeslot, or because the appointment duration disqualifies it (for example, it is too short to qualify for a rental.) These limits are set by the Dealer Administrator in Appointment Manager Administration.
  2. Alternative transportation options that are available for the selected timeslot appear in blue. The limit for each option is shown, if any. The transportation icon appears with the appointment in the Day, Week, List and Search views.

Change the date, time, Service Advisor and/or transportation option as needed to select another available combination. If necessary, click to select a different month and range of days.

Note: If the customer's MVP Plan for included services will have expired by the selected time, a message appears suggesting that an earlier date be picked in order to have the services covered at no charge.

To accommodate an urgent customer need or other exceptional situation, an unavailable time slot can still be booked by an authorized Service Advisor if the appointment override option is enabled for the dealership. Refer to Overriding an Appointment block for more information.

Note: If the dealership has multiple departments that use Appointment Manager, use the drop-down box at the top to select the correct service department in which to make the appointment and to see the associated advisors. Alternatively select 'All Departments' to see all departments and advisors.

 

It is possible to select an available timeslot and Service Advisor based on the customer's preferred transportation option. When the customer calls and asks for the first available appointment for a loaner or rental car, for example, you can search for a timeslot by that transportation option. The page uses red and blue text and highlights to help you select a combination that is available and meets the customer's needs.

If the customer requests a specific transportation option, find the Service Advisor and timeslot that meets their needs:

  1. Select (click) the requested transportation option. Note that all transportation options are selectable.
  2. The available timeslots for the transportation option appear in blue.
  3. The timeslots not available for the selected transportation option appear in red.
  4. Available Service Advisors for the selected transportation option and available timeslots appear in blue. Unavailable Service Advisors appear in red.

Agree on a timeslot with the customer, then select an available Service Advisor to complete the scheduling.

Note: If a specific Service Advisor has not been requested, a good practice is to look at each available Service Advisor's appointment load and then assign the appointment to the Service Advisor with the least number of appointments for the time slot.

If the customer requests a specific Service Advisor as well as a transportation option:

  1. Select the transportation option. Available timeslots are indicated in blue.
  2. Select (click) the requested Service Advisor. Note that allService Advisors are selectable.
    • If the Service Advisor is not available for the currently selected timeslot and transportation option, the Service Advisor name can still be selected but is highlighted in red along with the timeslot to indicate that the combination is not actually available.
    • If no timeslots are available for the selected transportation option and Service Advisor, the transportation option is also highlighted in red. Select another timeslot or transportation option.

Note: If the desired Service Advisor does not show as available, check with your Dealer Administrator. The Service Advisor’s hours may be blocked or there may be no hours associated with them.

  1. Agree on an available (blue) timeslot with the customer and select it. The Service Advisor and timeslot are now highlighted in gray and you can continue to the next appointment step.

 

If Service Groups have been configured for the department and one or more of the services or recalls in the appointment are in a Service Group, this counts towards the group's limit for the day and time range (if enabled).

Once a group's limit has been exceeded, the time slot is no longer available and appears in red.

If more than one of the appointment's services and/or recalls belong to the same group, this only counts as one instance towards the group's limit.

For example, you are setting up an appointment with 3 brake-related services on a day with 1 other brake appointment already booked. The associated 3 OP Codes/Recall IDs are all in the same 'Brakes' Service Group. The group has a day limit of 2. The new appointment only counts as '1' towards the day limit so can be scheduled on the same day as the other brake appointment. However if you try to schedule a third appointment with a brake-related service for the same day, you would not see any available time slots.

When a time slot appears unavailable because of a Service Group limit but is selected (clicked) anyway, a message appears indicating that a group reached its limit:

Note: If a booked appointment is edited, and services belonging to a Service Group are added, the Service Group's limits are only checked if the Service Advisor goes to the Time & Advisor page to complete the appointment change. If the updated appointment is saved without going to the Time & Advisor page then Service Group limits are not checked.

 

Once the Service Advisor and date have been selected, the expected load can be reviewed for the Service Advisor and department. Click at the top of the page to open a window showing both expected and current load details:

If the Service Advisor or department load has reached 90% of the department's hours limit for the day (if enabled in Administration), the corresponding load bars and hours will be red:

This warning can apply to the current load indicator and/or the expected load indicator. The expected load indicator is calculated from the projected load if the appointment has been saved. It is good practice to change the appointment at this time, to even out the load over the week. If the total department hours for the day have been exceeded, no more appointments can be booked for the day.

 

(if enabled for the dealership and Service Advisor)

If a time slot is unavailable (appears in red) it can still be booked by an authorized user using the override function.

Select the unavailable time slot and click "Next". A pop-up warning appears indicating that this is an override situation.

Click “Confirm” to accept the override and continue. It will be flagged as an override appointment on the Summary page. If the appointment is later moved to an unblocked time slot, it is still flagged as an Override appointment.

Users without override authority will only be able to view the appointment details if they try to edit it.

Note: An unavailable time slot cannot be selected directly from the Day or Week view when initiating a new appointment. It can only be selected on the Time & Advisor page then overridden.

 

Click to move to the Summary tab.