PPS allows for the sending of confirmations (at the time of booking), reminders (a set time before the appointment), and follow-ups (a set time after the appointment) to clients who book into your appointments diary.
The following guide will take you through setting up and configuring your PPS appointment confirmations and reminders. Find information on follow-ups here.
Section 1 - Client Preferences
The client preferences in PPS are designed to control the preferred method of contacting clients. They can be controlled on an individual basis per client as well as system-wide. You can find out more about client preferences here. For the purpose of this guide we will look at doing a global update to all preferences on the system solely for confirmations and reminders.
a. Navigate to Tools > Options > General System Options > Set Up Client Preferences.
b. In this screen you will be able to see options for all of the relevant correspondence types available on the system. From here you can make mass updates to the way clients are set to receive confirmations and reminders. There are two methods to applying these settings; Auto-Select and Always Switch on.
Auto-Select means the system will check if the client it's applying the settings to has the relevant contact information available. For example, in the image below for confirmations we have first try E-Mail, if not SMS. If a client has an E-Mail address in their client details then they will be enabled for E-Mail confirmations only. If they do not have an E-Mail address but to have a mobile number then they'll be enabled for SMS confirmations only.
Always switch on means the system will apply a preference to a client regardless of the contact information available. In the example below Reminders will be enabled for both E-Mail and SMS regardless of whether a client has either or both of these details on the system.
If you make changes in this screen choose Apply and then Update Now! to roll-out the changes to all clients on the system whose preferences are not locked. Preferences are locked per client in their Client Details screen.
Section 2 - Setting up your Activity Template
You now need to configure the content of the Activity Templates that will be sent to the clients as confirmations and reminders.
a. To begin setting up your templates head to Tools > Activity Templates.
b. Use the Appointment Booking Confirmation and Appointment Reminder filters to the left of this screen to view only templates you already have for these options. To modify any existing template highlight it and choose Modify. Alternatively, use Add to create an entirely new template.
c. When adding or modifying a template for your Confirmations or Reminders ensure that the appropriate template category is selected in the top corner. Only templates within these categories will be available to send as either confirmations or reminders. You can come back and change this at any time.
d. Now you're in your Activity Template you can create or modify the content for each of available correspondence formats you want to use. For example, if you'll be sending E-Mails and/or SMS for your confirmations then ensure you go into each of these tabs and add your desired content.
If you'll be using the same template for all appointments in the system then once you've added your content chose Save at the bottom of the screen. If you're going to be sending different templates based on what appointment type is booked you'll then need to continue creating as many Activity Templates as are required. So, if you've finished your "Initial Assessment" template go back to the Activity Template list and choose Add to get started on your "Follow-Up Session" template. We'll associate these to the relevant appointment types later in this guide.
Section 3 - Configuring Appointment Confirmations
a. Appointment Booking Confirmations are sent at the time of booking the appointment. Navigate to Tools > Options > Appointments Diary Options to set them up.
b. Open the Reminders tab. The top section of this screen applies to Confirmations in PPS. Everything in this screen is set on a per-system basis so if you have multiple systems that sync together you'll need to make these changes on each.
c. To begin, enable Confirmations by ticking Use Booking Confirmations.
d. If you have one confirmation template you want to use for all appointment types then select this from the Activity Template to use dropdown. If the template you have created does not appear here then check it is assigned to the correct category as per the steps in Section 2.
If you want to send different confirmation templates based on Appointment Type then choose {None - Based on Appt. Type}. Find details on what else needs to be done to send different confirmation templates based on Appointment Type in Section 5.
e. In the How to process section choose how the confirmations are scheduled for each type you wish to use.
Prompted - If you choose this option you'll get a pop up when you book the appointment asking if you'd like to send the confirmation.
Automatic - The confirmation will send without any need for manual intervention from yourself.
Disabled - Use this option to stop any confirmations sending in this format.
Please note, the options here must work alongside the template options you have available and the client preferences. For example, if you set E-Mail confirmations to automatic here but the template you have chosen has no e-mail content, or the client does not have e-mail confirmations permitted in their client preferences then it cannot send.
f. Once you've configured all options in this screen choose OK or Apply.
Section 4 - Configuring Appointment Reminders
a. Navigate to Tools > Options > Appointments Diary Options > Reminders
b. The second section of this screen allows you to configure your appointment reminders which are sent at some point before an appointment is due to take place. First, enable reminders by ticking the Use Appointment Reminders box.
c. In the first field choose how far away an appointment must be in order to trigger a reminder. In the example above, if an appointment is any less than three full days in the future then a reminder will not be scheduled. The minimum here is one day so there must be one full day between an appointment being booked and it taking place in the diary in order for an automatic reminder to be scheduled.
d. In the next field choose how many days before the appointment the reminder should send. In the example above the reminder will be sent the day before.
e. The next options allow you to select what happens with your reminders on the weekends. Tick or untick the boxes to suit your requirements. Below here choose what time your reminders should send; either the start of the day (the time your PPS diary commences), or at the same time as the appointment.
f. In the Activity Template to use dropdown select which of your Activity Templates you want to use for your reminders. If the template you have created does not appear here then check it is assigned to the correct category as per the steps in Section 2.
If you want to send different reminder templates based on Appointment Type then choose {None - Based on Appt. Type}. Find details on what else needs to be done to send different reminder templates based on Appointment Type in Section 5.
g. Finally, choose Who is prompted and How to Schedule. The person prompted is essentially the person who will need to send out the reminders as they will appear in their list of outstanding activities. If you are a user of PPS Activity Manager then choose {Anyone} here to have Activity Manager process the reminders. The scheduling options of automatic, prompted or disabled are the same as with the confirmations details in point e of section 3.
h. Once you've configured all options in this screen choose OK or Apply.
Section 5 - Sending different confirmations or reminders based on Appointment Type
a. If you want to send different confirmations or reminders for different Appointment Types then start by choosing {None - Based on Appt. Type} in the Activity Template field as per the instructions above.
b. Once this is done head to Tools > Look Up Tables and double click on Appointment Type.
c. Locate the appointment type you want to associate a template to and double click.
d. Use the Booking Template dropdown to choose the confirmation template that you want to send for this appointment type. Use the Appointment Reminder to choose the reminder template you want to use for this appointment type. In the example above clients who book into this appointment type will receive the same confirmation template that is used for all other appointment types. However, they will receive the "Initial Appt Reminder" before their appointment which was specifically made for those with this appointment type.
Section 6 - Sending your Confirmations and Reminders
You will be prompted to send the confirmations at the time of booking the appointment. Reminders with then be scheduled but will need to be processed by a PPS User or by Activity Manager. Reminders can be processed via Activities > Process your Outstanding Activities. They'll appear under the Reminders category for the user you set to be responsible for them. This user can go into the Reminders and choose Auto-Process to send them all out. They will only appear in this list once they are due to send and you'll receive a pop up when logging in to tell you if you have any Activities in your name due to be sent out.