How to Allow Panellists to Book Multiple Appointments

Introduction         

Because many studies require panellists to participate across multiple sessions or days, EyeQuestion is now ready to present a new feature helping users to accommodate this need in a more user-friendly way. Coordinating these sessions can be challenging, especially when scheduling is done manually. To address this need, our new Multi-Appointment feature allows panellists to easily book multiple appointments for a study that spans over several days or sessions.

Enabling Multi-Appointments 

After you've created a new project, in order to allow panellists to schedule appointments for participation, navigate to Distribution > Panel. Here, activate the "Appointments" toggle.

Once enabled, the Appointment section will automatically open and you will be able to create time slots.  General Settings dropdown will be as well automatically displayed and you will be able to notice the Allow Multi Appointment option right under the Appointment Deadline and Reminder Prior to Appointment settings.
Please note that the option to Allow Multi Appointment is a setting which can be enabled by request via email at - support@eyequestion.nl 

More information about appointment scheduling in general can be found here: https://support.eyequestion.nl/portal/en/kb/articles/appointment-scheduling

Once the setting allowing panellists to book multiple appointments is enabled, the Multi Appointment Settings are shown on the page as well:

Multi Appointment Setting

In the Multi Appointments settings you will be able to set up a limit of how many appointments a panellist can book. The maximum limit available at the moment is 10 appointments per project. This can be set up via the Number of Appointments option.

The next available option is Multi Appointments Restriction. Enabling this toggle will display more available settings and restrictions. 

If Allow Appointments on the Same Day option is selected it will allow panellists to book multiple time slots within the same day.

Please note that this option cannot be used simultaneously with the Time Slot Restriction. 

Time Slot Restriction option restricts the panellist to book multiple appointments only on the Same Half day or Same Timeslot. 

1. No Restriction: Appointments can be booked in any timeslot without limitations
   
2. Same Half Day: If the first appointment is scheduled in the morning, subsequent appointments must also be in the morning. "Morning" is defined as midnight to 13:00, and "afternoon" is from 13:00 to midnight. (start time considered)
   
3. Same Time Slot: If the first appointment is scheduled from 9:00 to 10:00, all following appointments must be in the exact same timeslot. (start time considered)

Group(s) option allows you to restrict a panellist to book multiple appointments only within the selected dates (group). For example, the panellist should make 2 appointments, one on Monday and one on Tuesday (group 1) or one on Wednesday and one on Thursday (group 2).

The panellist will open the Appointments portal having the possibility to book an appointment in any timeslot available, but after selecting the first appointment, they will only be able to book the next appointment on a date from the same group. All other days' timeslots will be grayed out. 

The Group option can also be used in combination with the Time Slot Restriction. For example, the panellist should make 2 appointments, one on Monday and one on Tuesday (group 1) or one on Wednesday and one on Thursday (group 2). If they make an appointment in the morning, the other appointment should also be in the morning.

Preview your Setup

In order to preview the setup you have built from a panellist perspective, you must go to Panel table and from the Action options of one panellist, you must click on the Edit icon.

 

A Panel Portal new tab displaying the appointments timeslots available to book will open.

In case a panellist is selecting more time slots than the maximum number you configured in the Number of Appointments setting, they will receive a warning message that will not allow them to create the appointment.


If the panellist successfully selects the appointments to meet the imposed criteria you have set up, they will receive a success message when they click on Create Appointment.

Changing or Cancelling the Appointments

Changing and Cancelling appointments can be easily done via the same Panel Portal panellists use to book appointments. The panellist can click at the bottom of the page on the options Change Appointments or Cancel Appointments.

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