Setting up appointments
The Appointments page provides options for creating appointment schedules for the current project.
An appointment schedule can be used to specify the interviewer shifts and holidays, ensuring that appointments can be made when interviewers are working. There can be multiple appointment schedules for a distributed site.
Appointment schedules may differ between projects and are therefore project specific. For example, interviewers may be scheduled to call business projects during the day and consumer projects in the evening.
Note In order to use the Appointments page options in the Phone Survey activity, you must first assign one time zone and one appointment schedule to at least one applicable user.
Appointment Schedule
Provides options for clearing the existing sub-schedules, loading schedule templates, and saving schedule templates.
1 Click New Schedule to clear any currently defined sub-schedules.
2 Click Load Template to load an existing appointment schedule template. Templates are stored in the Distributed Property Management (DPM).
3 Click Save As to save the current schedule settings as a template in DPM. The Save As dialog displays, allowing you to specify a schedule template name.
4 Enter an appropriate schedule template name and click Save.
Sub Schedule
Provides options for defining specific scheduling parameters. You can define specific shift parameters and date overrides for each sub-schedule. For example, the sub-schedule Weekdays could include the shift 08:00 - 17:00 for Mon;Tue;Wed;Thu;Fri while the sub-schedule Weekends could include the shift 12:00 - 19:00 for Sat;Sun.
To create a new sub-schedule
1 Click New Sub Schedule to open the New Sub Schedule dialog.
2 Enter a name, and then click OK.
To delete a sub-schedule
1 Select a sub-schedule from the list.
2 Click Delete Sub Schedule.
Regular Shifts
The table lists all shifts currently defined for the selected sub-schedule.
To create new shifts for a sub-schedule
1 Select a sub-schedule from the list. If no sub-schedules exist, you must either create a new sub-schedule or load an appointment schedule template (both explained above).
2 Click the
Add button
in the Regular Shifts table:
The Regular Shift dialog displays, providing options for defining a new shift.
Start time: The earliest time at which participants may be called. Enter the earliest call time.
End time: The latest time at which participants may be called. Enter the latest call time.
Days: Select the appropriate days of the week to contact participants.
3 Click OK, after entering the desired shift parameters, to save the shift to the Regular Shifts table.
To edit a shift
1 Select an existing shift in the Regular Shifts table.
2 Click the
Edit regular shift button
.
The Regular Shift dialog displays with the preexisting shift parameters filled in.
3 Apply the appropriate changes and click OK to update the shift.
To delete a shift
1 Select an existing shift in the Regular Shifts table.
2 Click the
Delete regular shift button
.
Date overrides: The table lists all date override shifts currently defined for the selected sub-schedule. Date overrides allow you to specify specific dates and/or times where appointments are not allowed, as well as define specific dates and times that will override the shifts defined in the Regular Shifts table.
To create new date override shifts for a sub-schedule
1 Select a sub-schedule from the field. If no sub-schedules exist, you must either create a new sub-schedule or load an appointment schedule template (both explained above).
2 Click the
Add button
in the Date Overrides table:
The Date Override dialog displays, providing options for defining a new date override.
No appointment. Select this option when you want to define specific dates where no appointments are allowed.
Date override. Select this option when you want to define specific dates and times that override the shifts defined in the Regular Shifts table.
Start time: When No appointment is selected, the starting time at which participants may not be called. Enter the starting time. When Date override is selected, the earliest time at which participants may be called. Enter the earliest call time.
End time: When No appointment is selected, the end time at which participants may not be called. Enter the end time. When Date override is selected, the latest time at which participants may be called. Enter the latest call time.
Date. The calendar allows you to select specific No appointment or Date override dates. Select the appropriate date(s). All selected dates display in the field immediately beneath the calendar.
3 Click OK.
To edit a date override
1 Select an existing shift in the Date Overrides table.
2 Click the
Edit overrided date button
.
The Date Override dialog displays with the preexisting override parameters filled in.
3 Apply the appropriate changes and click OK to update the date override.
To delete a date override
1 Select an existing shift in the Date Overrides table.
2 Click the
Delete overrided date button
.
See also