Users with an Enterprise/Bespoke plan have access to Sign In Scheduling's provisioning tool.
The provisioning tool allows you to upload large amounts of information to your Sign In Scheduling account using Excel spreadsheets (.XLSX files). Doing so helps you get things set up quickly, without hassle. You can download ready-made spreadsheet templates for each category, directly from Sign In Scheduling, which can then be filled and re-uploaded. Simple!
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SECTIONS:
How to find the provisioning tool
How to use the provisioning tool
- Services
- Teams
- Staff
- Events
How to find the provisioning tool
Your dedicated account manager will provide you with a link to the provisioning tool. If you don't already have this link, reach out to them directly.
How to use the provisioning tool
For each category of information you'll be uploading, click 'Download Excel template'. You'll need to fill out the templates before re-uploading them.
It's important to enter the data according to the exact format within the templates. This ensures that Sign In Scheduling will correctly recognize and interpret it.
Don't edit the headers at the top of each column. Also, note that the content will be case-sensitive. You can remove the single line of example data without issue.
Additionally, the categories of information must be uploaded in a set order. For example, you can't upload staff availability before you've uploaded the staff. As you work through this guide, any prerequisites will be listed at each step.
You'll find the upload status of your spreadsheets within the 'Status' column. Pending uploads are indicated by a red clock icon, and completed ones are indicated by a green tick. You'll need to refresh the page to check on the upload status.
If you'd like to remove any of the uploaded information from your account, click the trash can button. To re-download the spreadsheet containing the information, click the downwards arrow button.
You can edit all uploaded information from within your Sign In Scheduling account.
Services
With this function, you can upload your bookable services.
- Name - the name of the service
- Bookable - if 'TRUE', Sign In Scheduling will set the service as 'Can be booked by any client'. If 'FALSE', Sign In Scheduling will set the service as 'Hidden on booking page'
- Description - the service description, viewable within your booking page by clicking 'See Details'
- Duration - the length of the service in minutes
- StaffSelectable - if 'TRUE', Sign In Scheduling will set the staff selection for that service as 'Force customer to choose'. If 'FALSE', Sign In Scheduling will set it to 'Allocate staff automatically'.
You can change your service settings yourself under 'Manage' > 'Services' later if you wish.
Teams
With this function, you can upload the names of your staff teams. Teams categorize staff members into groups.
If a particular team already exists within your Sign In Scheduling account, its information won't be uploaded.
Input the team names and their corresponding colors into the spreadsheet.
A description of each field is as follows:
- Name - the name of the team
- Color - the color assigned to that team
You'll find a list of the available colors under the 'Colors' tab at the bottom left. Make sure to enter colors exactly as they appear within this list.
Staff
Prerequisites: Teams
With this function, you can upload your staff members.
- Name - The staff member's first and last name
- Bookable - If 'TRUE', this staff member can take bookings. If 'FALSE', this staff member won't be bookable and won't have their own calendar within Sign In Scheduling
- Email - the staff member's login/comms email address
- Rows D-K refer to permissions. Click here for a detailed overview of staff permissions. If 'TRUE', the permission is enabled. If 'FALSE', the permission is not granted.
- Invite - If 'TRUE', an email will be sent to the staff member when the upload completes, inviting them to join the organization by creating their login. If 'FALSE', this won't be applied.
- Teams - the names of any teams you'd like to place that staff member into. To add the staff member to multiple teams, type the name of each one separated by a comma. They'll only be uploaded into these teams if they already exist within your Sign In Scheduling account.
Staff services
Prerequisites: Staff & Services
With this function, you can assign staff members to particular services.
A description of each field is as follows:
- Staff - the staff member's name, exactly as it appears under 'Manage' > 'Staff'
- Services - the service name, exactly as it appears under 'Manage' > 'Services'. Multiple services can be separated by commas.
Staff availability
Prerequisites: Staff
With this function, you can upload your staff members' working hours.
The hours you input under each day of the week will apply to every week going forwards.
You can add a specific date as a header for any column; doing so will add availability for that specific day into the calendar only (not into 'Calendar' > 'Working hours'). This won't work if you add a date in the past, and must be in a valid date format.
- Staff - the name of the staff member
- Mon-Sun - for adding working hours
- The rest of the columns are blank, so you can fill in specific dates if you want to.
Availability tied to specific services and locations can be imported with the provisioning tool as long as the data is input correctly.
For each individual time slot in the column:
- Start by entering the working hours as HH:MM-HH:MM with a hyphen separating the start and end time in 24-hour format, e.g. 09:00-17:00 as pictured above.
- You can decide whether the availability will be set to public or private. If you don't enter either 'public' or 'private' the system will assume the availability is public.
- To tie availability to a location, use the '@' symbol and type the location name as it appears in Sign In Scheduling, without a space. Previously, if you didn't enter this data, the availability would default to 'all locations'. However, you must now specify a location, or the data won't upload successfully. You can list multiple locations -- just start each one with '@' and separate them with a space.
- To tie availability to specific services, start by inputting an exclamation point '!' and then, without a space, enter the name of the service exactly as it appears within Sign In Scheduling. Repeat for as many services as you like, with a space in between each one. If you don't specify any services, then the availability will be applied by default to all services.
To add multiple blocks of availability in one day, separate the information with a comma. It is possible to have overlapping slots, e.g. 9:00-12:00, 10:00-13:00, 11:00-15:00.
To add simultaneous availability (i.e. capacity for more than one booking within the same time slot), add an asterisk (*) followed by the number of bookings you'd like to allow during that slot, e.g. *5.
Remember, public availability is visible to customers and open for bookings. Private availability applies only to internal bookings made by yourself or another staff member with access.
Customers
Using this function, you can upload your customers and their contact information.
A description of each field is as follows:
- Name - the customer's first and last name
- Email - the customer's email address. If they have more than one, you can separate them with a comma.
- Number - the customer's phone number. Make sure to include the country's correct dialing code.
Events
Prerequisites: Staff, Services, Customers, Location (if using 'Business Premises')
With this function, you can upload your bookings into your Sign In Scheduling calendar.
Note: availability for the period(s) covered by this upload is ignored, so take care to avoid double bookings.
A description of each field is as follows:
- Name - the name of the service
- Start - the start date and time of the booking. This must take the format of DD/MM/YYYY using the 12-hour clock (AM/PM) as shown in the screenshot above.
- End - the finishing date and time of the booking in the same format as the start time. Sign In Scheduling doesn't support bookings spanning longer than a day, so the date must be the same in the start and end columns.
- Customer - the customer's full name, as it appears in the 'Name' field of the Sign In Scheduling customer database
- Staff - the full name of the staff member with whom you'd like the booking to take place
- Location - the name of the location at which the booking will take place
Adding notes:
You can also add notes to bulk appointment uploads using the provisioning tool. To do this, follow the instructions below:
1. Scroll to the 'Events' section at the bottom of the page and download the premade Excel template.
2. You'll need to add another column to the template, labeled 'Notes'. This will allow you to add notes to the new events you're uploading to Sign In Scheduling.
3. You can add more than one note - to do so, separate each note with two "and" symbols (&&).
4. Once you've added some test events, you can go back to the provisioning tool and upload the sheet. You'll see a progress bar which will eventually show its completed status. If an error appears, you'll need to correct any mistakes in the sheet before attempting the upload again.
To ensure the upload works properly, the format of the sheet should be exactly like the example below:
Note:
- 'Name' must match that of the event
- Dates must be in Excel date/time format
- Events can be uploaded against existing staff members only
Troubleshooting
If your upload fails, Sign In Scheduling will display an error within the 'Progress' column. This will explain why the upload failed. You'll need to correct the issue before re-uploading.
