Overview
Resource Scheduling lets you create resource categories that can be assigned to specific services. Please see below for steps on how to use Resource Scheduling within your dashboard.
What are resources?
Resources refer to anything that is required in order to complete a service or appointment in addition to the service provider. Resources can include things like:
Rooms/Chairs
Equipment
Machines
Clients do not see the resources during the online booking process, it is internal or staff-facing only. Resources act as an additional requirement for the appointment to avoid double booking said resources. Resources are associated with services under the manage location tab within the services tab.
The primary requirements to schedule a service are:
the client must be available and must not be receiving another service
a service provider must be available and must not be performing another service
Resources are used to prevent scheduling a service at a time when some secondary requirements aren’t met, for example:
if a service requires a room, one of the rooms must be available
if a service requires a device, one of the devices must be available
Permission Settings
Admins have the ability to create Resource Categories.
Location Managers have the ability to create new resources to associate with services.
Create Resource Category
Navigate to the Manage Business toggle (upper righthand corner) and select Resource Categories
Select Create Category to name your resource and apply the resource type
Create New Resource
Navigate to the Manage Location tab and select Resources
Name your resource, input a description, apply the category, and select a color to associate with your resource within the calendar view
Associate Resource to a Service
Navigate to Services and select a service
Go to Resources and enable both the parent and child categories
Enable Resource Scheduling
Navigate to Schedule and select Resources to make them available for scheduling
Why is this important?
If you enable this feature, you must add in resource schedules to ensure Boulevard knows what dates and times are available. Not adding in resource schedules can result in double bookings and open time slots showing as not available during online booking.
Calendar Functionality
You are able to toggle between Staff and Resources on the calendar view if desired.
You can view and select appointment times optimized by Boulevard’s intelligent scheduling now. Just click on the calendar, select new appointment, input details, and select view times or all times. Best Times provides recommendations based on the best way to optimize the calendar.
Resource Reporting
Navigate to Reports and scroll to Insights → Resource Utilization
How Resources Affect Scheduling
Resources are grouped into resource categories. Resource categories are not just for organization; which category a resource is added to affects which resources are required to schedule a service.
Services require exactly one resource from each category enabled. Resources are booked for the entire duration of the service, including any processing and transition time. It's recommended to always separate rooms, devices (and different types of devices) in separate categories.
Things to Note
Resources appear within appointment cards within the Front Desk view
A resource must be added to the schedule to be booked with a service
Be sure to assign the resource to a service to ensure the resource is scheduled with the assigned service