Appointments

Reference
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The Appointments feature allows you to offer bookable sessions to study participants. Setting up appointments involves two steps:

  1. Set Researcher Availability: Define when researchers are available to host those sessions.
  2. Create Appointment Types: Define the kinds of sessions participants can book.

Setting Researcher Availability

Researchers must define their availability before participants can book appointments with them. To set your availability, go to your account settings by clicking the profile icon at the top right of the Researcher Dashboard, then choose Availability.

Availability option
Availability option275×288 13.7 KB

[!note]
Availability entries are stored using the timezone that was active when they were created. If your timezone changes later, existing availability entries will continue to use their original timezone and scheduled times.

On this page, you can define:

  • Weekly availability
  • Date-specific availability
  • Blackouts

Weekly availability

Weekly Availability repeats on the same day each week.
For each day of the week, you can define one or more availability periods by specifying a start time and an end time.
To add additional availability periods for a day, click the plus (+) button.

Example:

  • Monday: 09:00–11:00
  • Monday: 15:00–20:00

To remove an availability period, click the bin icon next to the corresponding time slot.

Weeky Availability
Weeky Availability859×611 21 KB

Date-Specific Availability

Date-Specific Availability allows you to define availability for one or more specific dates.
For each date, you can define one or more availability periods by specifying a start time and an end time.
To add an additional availability period for a date, click the plus (+) button and configure the time.
To remove an availability period, click the bin icon next to the corresponding time slot.

Date-specific availabiliy
Date-specific availabiliy857×148 5.57 KB

Blackouts

Blackouts define periods when a researcher is unavailable.
By default, the All day toggle is enabled, which makes the entire date unavailable. To block only part of a day, disable the toggle and set the start and end times for that day.

Blackouts
Blackouts856×145 4.43 KB

[!Important]
If an availability window and a blackout overlap, the blackout always takes precedence. The researcher is treated as unavailable during blocked periods.

Creating Appointment Types

The Appointment Types page on your Researcher Dashboard lets you create, view, and manage all the activities in your study.

To create an appointment type, follow these steps:

  1. Open the Appointment Types page.
  2. Click Create Appointment Type.
  3. Complete the fields described below.
  4. Click Save.
    Create Appointment Type
    Create Appointment Type1545×668 34.5 KB

You should provide the following fields while creating an appointment type:

  • Title: The name of the appointment type shown to participants.
  • Duration: The length of the appointment.
  • Researcher Pool: Researchers eligible to host this appointment type. Select one or more researchers who already have access to the study. Participants may be booked with any available researcher in the selected pool.
  • Booking Window: How far into the future participants can book appointments.
  • Description: Optional information displayed to participants.

[!note] Multi-Language Studies

If your study includes localizations, you can provide translations for the Title and Description fields.

After an appointment type is created, you can view the list on the Appointment Types page and edit or delete the existing appointment types.

Managing Appointments

Once Appointment Types and Researcher Availability have been configured, appointments can be booked in two ways:

  • Participants can book an appointment using a booking URL.
  • Researchers can book an appointment on behalf of a participant from the Appointments page.

View Appointments

The Appointments page displays all appointments booked with you, including:

Book an Appointment for a Participant

To book an appointment on behalf of a participant:

  1. Open the Appointments page.
  2. Click Book.
  3. Choose the Appointment Type.
  4. Select a participant.
  5. Select an available date and time.
  6. Click Book.
    Book an appointment for a participant
    Book an appointment for a participant1519×625 39.5 KB

[!note]
Available appointment times are determined by the selected researcher’s availability, including Weekly Availability, Date-Specific Availability, and Blackouts. Appointment availability also respects the Appointment Type’s duration and booking window.

Book an Appointment Using a Link

Each Appointment Type has a booking URL that can be shared with participants.

https://avicennaresearch.com/app/dashboard/pdash/study/{study_id}/appointment-types/{appointment_type_id}

After opening the link, participants can select an available appointment slot with a researcher from the Appointment Type’s Researcher Pool.

[!note]
Participants must be signed in before accessing the booking page.

Once booked, the appointment appears on the corresponding researcher’s Appointments page.

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