Configure What Customers Can Book in the Online Scheduler

Configure the Online Scheduler As desired, then test the result as a customer would, through your website, before you consider the change complete.

Overview

What customers can book online depends on several connected settings, including service advisors, teams, services and labor opcodes (opcodes), booking windows, dealer and individual schedules, capacity rules, assignment rules, and transportation limits.

A change in one area may not create the expected result when another rule or schedule still restricts availability.

Before you start

• Use an account authorized to manage Scheduler configuration.
• Decide what the customer-facing result you want, including advisors, services, dates, times, and preference options so you can devise a plan
• Review the dealership’s service policy before exposing or removing customer choices.
• Perform a test on the customer facing schedule to confirm it is currently not configured to allow what you need.

Control which service advisors appear

1. Open Settings > Users > Manage Users.
2. Search for/locate the Advisor you would like to change visibility within the Online Scheduler of and select their line.
3. Navigate to User Settings > Scheduler.
4. Locate the setting labeled "Include the Advisor be on the appointment list in web/mobile scheduler" and make sure it's selected if you would like them to be available or have it unselected if you would not like customers to be able to book directly with that advisor.
5. Save the configuration.
6. Preview the Online Scheduler and confirm the advisor is or is not available.

Expected result: Customers see only the service advisors intended for online booking.

Review No Preference and Last Advisor choices

Some Scheduler configurations can offer a No Preference choice or use a customer’s last service advisor. Review these options against dealership policy before enabling or suppressing them.

Important: No Preference can round-robin an appointment to an available service advisor when the appointment is pushed to the dealer management system (DMS) BUT can also be configured as a separate "Dummy" Advisor so your team can assign appointments manually after they have been scheduled. Please note which style you have or would like. Configuration of No Preference may require contacting myKaarma Support.

Control which services customers can select

Ability for customer's to schedule appointments with specific opcodes/services is available via Settings > Online Scheduler > and toggling "Turn On/Off Opcodes for Online Scheduler".

To toggle specific services follow the steps below:

1. Go to Settings » Appointments (or) Dealership » Opcodes and Dealer Menus.
2. Search for an existing opcode, or use the 'ADD' button to create a new one. Depending on your DMS and stores configurations, you may need to manually create any new opcodes in both your DMS and myKaarma for the both systems to recognize them properly.
3. Search for or locate the opcodes you want to alter visibility of on the online scheduler and select its line. Quick tip: you can utilize the filters to only show the opcodes eligible on the online scheduler.
4. Review the customer-facing name, description, price, duration, sorting order number and eligibility settings for the service.
5. Save the change.
6. Preview the Online Scheduler and confirm that the service appears or is suppressed as intended.

Note: Existing Scheduler configuration can also limit how many times an opcode or service is available each day. 

Understand online availability

• Hours of Operation: Hours your store can do business within. (Can only be modified by myKaarma support).
• Dealer Schedule: Dealership-wide available dates and times.
• Individual Schedule: Availability for the selected service advisor.
• Capacity rules: Appointment or service-hour limits for matching conditions. (Only available with Scheduler Plus).
• Assignment rules: Which team, advisor, skill, service, or transportation option can be used. (Only available with Scheduler Plus).
• Transportation limits: Availability for options such as loaner or waiter.
• Slot Size: The time between appointment start times. (Can only be modified by myKaarma Support).
• Slot Capacity: The quantity of appointments you can have within each slot.
• Daily Capacity: The quantity of appointments that can be booked in an entire day.

Review Transport Options

By navigating to Settings > Appointments > Transport Options You should be able to review each of your available transport options availability. Note that the online reserve is how many of the total for each day can be taken up by appointments scheduled by customers via the online scheduler.

Preview and test as a customer

1. Open the Online Scheduler preview via Settings > Online Scheduler or through your website as customer normally would.
2. Use/create a test customer and vehicle profile that does not contain real customer information.
3. Review the advisor and preference choices.
4. Review the services and opcodes that appear.
5. Select a representative service and transportation option.
6. Check the available dates and times.
7. Repeat the test for a choice that should not be available.

Expected result: The allowed test can be booked and the restricted test does not appear as a customer choice.

Troubleshooting

Contact myKaarma Support when a missing model, loading error, DMS-dependent issue, or tested configuration still produces an incorrect customer result. Provide the tested service or opcode, advisor or preference choice, date and time, transportation option, and expected result. A screen recording can be very helpful as well. Do not include customer information unless Support requests it through an approved channel.

Related articles

• Scheduler and Scheduler plus common issues and configurations
• Managing Capacity Rules
• Managing Assignment Rules
• Setting Up Recurring or Weekly Repeating Schedules, and Configuring Dealership & Advisor Appointment Limits