Note: This guide is only relevant for Online Booking version 3 which was made available from 11/10/2016. If you acquired Online Booking before this time or have not upgraded to version 3 please see here: Using the PPS Online Booking Admin Module
PPS Online Booking v3 includes a web-based admin module that allows you to manage certain aspects of your Online Booking service without the need to log in to PPS, giving you the freedom to make changes from any location, on any device.
Section One - Accessing your PPS Online Booking Admin Module
To log in to your online booking admin module you will need to visit this web address: https://ob.rushcliff.com/admin/login
You will need to enter your PPS registration number which will be a 6 digit number beginning with 5. Please note that this must be the registration number of your online booking system. If you also use a local PPS system that synchronises with your online booking system entering the registration number of the local PPS system will not allow you to log into the online booking admin module. The correct registration number can be found in your Online Booking Setup email.
If you do not know your PPS registration number you can find this by logging in to PPS and clicking Help > About PPS.
Your Online Booking admin module will be set up with one default user to begin with. The username and password will be the same as your PPS system administrator login credentials.
If you are unsure who your PPS system administrator is you can find this by logging in to PPS and clicking Help > About PPS and scrolling to the bottom of the window. If you can't access your admin details or if these don't work for you then pop an email to support@rushcliff.com letting us know, quoting your PPS registration number, and we'll set up a new login for the admin module and send it to your registered address.
Section Two - Using your PPS Online Booking Admin Module
On your first login you will be asked to enter your website/web domain details in order to authorise your clinic website for online appointment booking. You will simply need to enter your web address at this stage e.g. myclinic.com by typing into the available field.
If you do not have a website or do not intend to integrate online appointment booking into your website you can use your PPS Holding Page. This is a pre-built web page that contains your Online Booking and can be easily linked to directly via your website or given to clients to access. All aspects of the admin module will still be applicable for either option however a web address will need to be entered at this point in order to continue whether fully integrating or using the Holding Page.
From here you will be taken to the Holding Page Details section where you can fill in the relevant information.
Once you have added this information you will be taken to your Online Booking Admin homepage where you can then manage the various aspects of your Online Booking service.
If at any point you require some guidance on how to use the various aspects of your Online Appointment Booking Admin Module you can click the blue ‘i’ icon in the top right-hand corner of your screen. This will take you to a screen that offers further information on each section to allow you to manage them appropriately.
a. Users
In the top right-hand corner of your Online Booking Admin module you will see a menu button displayed as three horizontal lines. Clicking the menu button will give you the options to add a new web admin user, manage your web admin users, or log out.
By adding a new web admin user you can create a username and password to allow another person log in to your Online Appointment Booking Admin Module. This can be used to give access to your web developer or simply another member of staff at your practice. There is no limit to the number of additional users that you can add.
Click Add Web Admin User to bring up a pop-up window that will allow you to set a username and password for the new user.
The username must be a minimum of 5 characters long and the password a minimum of 7. You will need to enter the password twice to confirm. Click Add Web Admin to complete the process.
Click Manage Web Admin Users to make changes to any existing Admin Module users.
This section will allow you to see a list of current users via a drop-down menu. Selecting a user from the drop-down menu will allow you to update that user’s password or delete the user by using the text fields and buttons below.
At any time, you can use the grey cross in the top right-hand corner to exit this menu and return to the Admin Module homepage.
Choosing Log Out from the menu will allow you to exit the online appointment module completely.
Your Online Appointment Booking Admin Module is broken down into 4 sections, each of which will allow you to configure different aspects of your online booking service.
b. Holding Page Details
The first section you will see on your home page is titled ‘Holding Page Details’.
A holding page is a standalone web page that will allow your clients to book their appointments online independently of any other existing website.
The holding page can be used: if you don’t have an existing website, if you don’t wish to integrate the Online Appointment Booking service into your existing website, if you don’t have a web developer who can integrate the Online Appointment Booking service into your existing website, or for testing purposes.
If you intend to use the holding page you will need to enter your details using the fields available on this page. It is not mandatory to include a sub heading.
At the bottom of the page you will see a section titled ‘Holding Page Link’. Click Launch Holding Page to open up a new web browser window which will show you how your holding page will appear to your clients. This is a great tool that allows you to see how the changes that you make in your admin module will impact your client’s user experience.
After updating any information, remember to click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen.
c. Appointment Reservation Options
A reservation is an online booking that has a time, date, practitioner, and location selected but is yet to be confirmed.
The reservation options allow you to limit how long a booking will be held without confirmation before the slot shows as available again on your website and in your PPS diary. If your clients are unable to complete the booking within the time set by you here the reservation will be deemed unused and they will need to restart the booking process.
You can use the up and down arrows to change the time that you allow. The minimum time is 15 minutes and the maximum time is 60 minutes.
You can choose to delete unused reservations after your decided time limit by selecting that option from the list shown above, or you can choose to keep a record of the appointment in your PPS diary and on the client’s log but mark it as ‘Did Not Attend’. The latter option will give you the opportunity to capture the client’s details so that you can contact them should you wish to find out why they did not proceed with the booking.
Click Save Changes to update your settings once you have finished working on this section.
d. Web Domain Settings
In this case, a domain is a web address that you have authorised to integrate your online booking services with.
This section is used to authorise and manage any web domain for online booking, including sub-domains should you wish to use these.
If you chose to enter a website upon your initial login to your online booking admin module you will see your website address in the field titled ‘Websites currently authorised for online booking’.
If you wish to authorise other websites simply use the ‘Add Websites’ button seen above. A window will appear allowing you to enter the new web address. Once you have added the web address you will need to select the settings for it. The ‘Settings’ applicable here are all of those contained within the Online Appointment Booking Admin Module. You can choose from your ‘Default’ or to copy from an existing website that you already have set-up.
Just below your authorised websites you will see a section that allows you to upload your own CSS file. This allows you to customise the look of your online booking service when integrated with your website.
Click the Choose File field to select your CSS file for upload.
Please note that only CSS files can be used. LESS or Sass/Scss source files are not supported.
Important: PPS Support are unable to advise on any custom CSS files. For assistance using custom CSS files please consult a web developer.
The code required to integrate the Online Booking system into a website is displayed just below the CSS file section. For more information on integrating the PPS Online Booking system into a website please see the guide: Integrating PPS Online Booking into your Website
e. Analytics
This section allows you to use Google Analytics in order to track activity through the Online Appointment Booking service.
Important: As of 1/06/2023 Google will require GA4 to be implemented which will require a change to the code in the Admin Module for users that have had it set up previously using Google Analytics.
To enable this feature you will need to log in to your Google Analytics account and set up a 'Property' for Online Booking tracking.
Within the GA4 Property you will need to create a web data stream for the online booking URL - ob.rushcliff.com
Once this is done you can copy and paste the following JavaScript code into the Analytics section of the Admin Module. This code has been modified to work with our Online Booking but you will need to replace the 2 'Measurement ID' fields with the measurement ID found in your own tracking code.
| window.onload = () => { const script = document.createElement('script'); script.async = true; script.src = 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=MEASUREMENT ID'; document.head.appendChild(script); window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'MEASUREMENT ID',{'cookie_flags': 'samesite=none;secure'}); } |
This is how it would look in the Admin Module:
This section will also accept standard JavaScript, including any existing custom scripts you may wish to use.
If you are unsure of how to utilise this section please consult with your web developer before making any changes. Any custom code should be tested before being used on a live website as broken JavaScript can impact the online booking process.
If you are using multiple web domains or sub-domains please ensure that you have the correct Google Analytics JavaScript per domain. You can do this by clicking ‘Switch’ next to the current domain at the top of your screen and entering the analytics screen per domain.
Please Note: PPS Support are unable to support any Google Analytics or custom JavaScript code. For assistance using Google Analytics or custom JavaScript please consult a web developer.
f. Client Online Booking Process
This section allows you to customise the Online Booking user experience.
The steps a client goes through when booking online can be re-ordered by clicking on the blue arrows on the right-hand side of each section. Once this arrow has been clicked the selected step will be highlighted in pale blue and you will see dark blue blocks with the text ‘Move Here’ which illustrate where the step can be moved to. Click the relevant block to move the step.
Each of the steps can be expanded and further managed by clicking on them.
- Client Details
When you expand the Client Details section you are able to manage what client information is captured at the point of booking and also include details of your Privacy Policy, independent of the Terms and Conditions option.
The rest of this window allows you to define which client details you would like to capture and which details you would like to make mandatory in order to proceed through the booking.
The Client Details Heading section allows you to customise the text that the client sees when at this step in the process. These fields can be used to direct your clients on how to proceed e.g. "Please tell us about yourself – we need these details to make your booking". Tick the box to enable this feature and enter your text in the field below.
Scroll down the screen and tick the relevant boxes for each field. You will also have the opportunity to change the ‘label’ for each field and the placeholder text.
Note: The surname field is always mandatory.
- Appointment Filtering
Appointment Filtering allows you to configure the search parameters that your clients may use when making a booking.
The appointment filtering heading enables you to customise the text that the client sees when at this step. This field can be used to direct your clients on how to proceed e.g. "Some details about your appointment".
Location Options
If you have more than one practice location you may wish to allow your clients to search for an appointment by specifying a location. Ticking Allow Location Choice enables this feature.
By ticking ‘Allow Any Location’ you are allowing your clients to search for an appointment without specifying a practice location; this will simply show all available appointments. Clients will then have the choice to either specify a particular location or search for appointments at all locations.
Practitioner Options
If you have more than one practitioner you may wish to allow your clients to search for an appointment by specifying a practitioner. Ticking Allow Practitioner Choice enables this feature.
By ticking ‘Allow Any Practitioner’ you are allowing your clients to search for an appointment without specifying a particular practitioner; this will simply show all available appointments. Clients will then have the choice to either specify a particular practitioner or search for appointments with all practitioners.
Slot Filtering
At this point you can also decide whether you would like to enable slot filtering by ticking the corresponding box. This will enable your clients to search for an appointment within a pre-defined period of time.
You are able to set up to 4 different time slots, e.g. morning, afternoon etc.
This can help to make it easier for your clients to narrow down their appointment search.
You can add, delete, or alter slots by using the corresponding buttons. The slot description which you enter in the corresponding field will be visible to your clients when booking. You can set the start and end times of your slot by clicking ‘Alter time slots' and using the plus or minus buttons accordingly.
Slots per day
This allows you to define the number of appointments that will be shown per day when your clients are searching for a booking. If you set a limit here then the earliest available results will be shown for booking. You can set a maximum of 20 slots per day here.
Days to search
This allows you to set how far in advance your clients can book appointments. For example, if 'Days to search' is set to 30 then clients will only see appointments available within the next 30 days. You can set a maximum of 60 days here.
Defer Search (Hrs)
This allows you to set a minimum period of time between the time at which a client books an appointment and the appointment itself. For example, if the Defer Search (Hrs) is set to 2 a client searching for an appointment at 1pm would only see available appointments from 3pm onwards.
- Terms and Conditions
This section allows you to display your practice terms and conditions as part of the online booking process. Ticking ‘Display Terms and Conditions’ enables this functionality.
The Terms and Conditions text box can be used to enter plain text or HTML (such as a link to an external terms and conditions page). Please seek advice from a professional web developer if you are unfamiliar with HTML and wish to use this format.
If you tick ‘Display as pop-up’ then when your client clicks to view your terms and conditions a pop up window will appear which contains your chosen information.
- Payment Screen
This section allows you to enable the taking of payments for appointments booked online. Tick ‘Enable Payment Upon Booking’ to turn on this functionality.
You can choose your selected currency from the drop-down menu.
You have the choice of receiving payments via PayPal and/or Opayo. If both are enabled your client will be able to choose which to use when making payment.
Enabling PayPal
Enter your PayPal username, password, and API signature. These details can be found by logging into your PayPal account. If you are having difficulties please contact PayPal support.
Enabling Opayo
In order to use Opayo alongside your PPS Online Appointment Booking system you will need to contact our sales team so they can activate an account for you. You can send an email to sales@rushcliff.com to arrange this. Only Opayo accounts set up through our sales team can be used alongside PPS Online Appointment Booking.
Once you have your account set up you will receive an email with the Opayo account details. Enter your Opayo Vendor Name and then Enable Opayo to start accepting payments.
If you are having difficulties please contact Opayo support.
- Confirmation Screen
This option allows you to display or hide a Notes box at the final step of the booking.
g. Custom Label Settings
Custom label settings will allow you to change the help and/or prompt text for each entry field, at each stage of the online booking process. To adjust the existing text simply delete the content from the field and enter your own. The text to the left of each adjustable field also shows the ID of the element which can be used by your web developer.