Learn about appointment availability settings
Summarize
Summary of Appointment Availability Settings
Appointment availability settings in the application configuration define how the appointment booking feature calculates available time slots. These settings enable ServiceNow customers to tailor appointment availability methods to fit their operational needs, ensuring efficient scheduling and resource allocation.
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Key Features
- Number of Appointments per Slot: Defines a fixed number of available appointments per time window, specified in the service configuration. Each booking reduces this count by one. This availability is shared across locations within the same time zone but can be customized per location via Service Configuration rules using Location as a Task Condition.
- Scripted Availability: Uses custom scripts to determine availability dynamically. For example, scripts can assess agent schedules and skills for task assignments. The default script adapts based on the task assignment method: manual assignment defaults to the number of appointments per slot, while auto-assignment and dynamic scheduling consider their specific configurations.
- Based on Capacity: Available when the Field Service Capacity and Reservations Management plugin is installed and the task table is Work Order or Work Order Task. This method calculates availability according to capacity and reservations settings. Capacity is shared across cities in the same time zone. Note that booking through Service Portal may experience slight delays due to asynchronous task creation. When capacity is defined by Agent Schedule with this method, it reverts to the number of appointments per slot availability.
- Excluding Days from Availability: Administrators can exclude specific days or times from appointment availability by selecting a holiday schedule referencing the Schedules table. Days marked as "Excluded" in the selected schedule are unavailable for booking.
Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers
ServiceNow customers can leverage these settings to optimize appointment booking by choosing the method that best fits their resource management strategy—whether fixed slots, dynamic scripting based on skills and schedules, or capacity-based calculations. Additionally, excluding holidays or non-working days ensures appointments are only available during valid periods, improving scheduling accuracy and customer satisfaction.
Settings in the application configuration determine how the appointment booking feature determines availability.
- Number of appointments per slot
- This method uses a specified number of available appointments per time window. The actual number of appointments is specified in the service configuration. For example, if the administrator specifies 10 appointments
per window, then each appointment window will have 10 available appointments. The number of available appointments for an appointment window decreases by one each time an appointment within that window is booked.Note:
The Appointments per window are shared across different locations in the same time zone.
You can configure the number of available appointments per window for different locations by creating a Service Configuration rule and its Advanced Configuration for each location. Apply conditions by selecting Location as the Task Condition while creating the Service Configuration rule.
- Scripted
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This method uses a custom script to determine the number of available appointments per time window. For example, you can use a customized script to check for agent schedule and skills to assign the task.
The default script included with the Field Service Management application configuration uses the task assignment method set in the Field Service Order configuration or Field Service Task configuration to determine availability. If the task assignment method is set to manual, the availability defaults to the Number of appointments per slot availability method. If the task assignment is set to auto-assignment or dynamic scheduling, the configurations associated with these task assignment methods are considered while calculating availability.
- Based on capacity
- This option is available when Field Service Capacity and Reservations Management plugin is installed, and the Task Table is Work Order or Work Order Task. This method determines appointments based on the capacity and
reservations defined in the capacity management settings when Capacity and Reservation Management is activated.Note:
- The capacity is shared across different cities in the same time zone.
- There could be a slight delay in the creation of work order tasks for appointments booked through Service Portal as the tasks are created asynchronously after capacity calculation.
- When the capacity is defined by Agent Schedule and the availability method is set to Capacity Definition, the availability defaults to the Number of appointments per slot availability method.
Excluding days from appointment availability
In the service configuration, the appointment booking administrator can select a schedule of days that are excluded from appointment availability. The Holiday Schedule field is a reference field that points to the Schedules table [cmn_schedule]. Selecting a schedule from the Schedules list defines the days and times to exclude from appointment availability. In the schedule selected, those days must be set to Excluded.