Creating appointments just got a whole lot easier. We’ve created features that enable you to set defaults for appointment types and automatically add planned services from your client’s agreements. These features will save you time when booking appointments and reduce appointment billing errors.
Required features, packages and permissions
Available with: Appointment Scheduler, Lumary 6.0 and later
Permission set: Lumary AH - Session Management
For the full benefits of this feature, we recommend setting up:
This article explains how and where to:
- create an appointment
- set the basic details
- add clients and workers
- add assets like rooms, vehicles, or equipment
- set the frequency and number of occasions
- add comments and/or an employee message
- select how to add services for billing
- add planned services
- add ad hoc services, and
- save the appointment.
Your appointment may not require information at every step.
Create an appointment
To create an appointment using the Appointment Scheduler:
- Go to the Appointment Scheduler. You may need to:
- Click on the App Launcher nine dot icon.
- Search for Appointment Scheduler.
- You can add this tab to your nav bar by clicking on the drop-down arrow on the tab and selecting Add “Appointment Schedul…” to Nav Bar.
- Scroll down to a worker who will attend the appointment.
- Click on a time block for the date and time of the appointment.
This will launch a New Appointment popup. This is a dynamic form that provides different options depending on your selections. The first option determines the category of the appointment. By clicking on the buttons, you can select whether the appointment is:
- Billable - for appointments that include a client and a billable planned service, or
- Non-Billable - for non-billable activities, such as staff meetings.
- Click on the Appointment Type drop-down field and select the type of appointment. The options available here depend on which category was selected. The type of appointment you select affects some options in later parts of the form and which fields are automatically populated.
System administrators can set up appointment session types with default settings for common appointments.
Set the basic details
The first section of the form captures basic details, including the date, time and location. The following table explains the purpose and use of each field. Fields with an asterisk are mandatory.
| Field | Purpose and use |
|---|---|
| * Session Subject | Only appears if the appointment type has custom subject enabled. If not, the subject label uses the appointment type when viewing the appointment on the scheduler. |
| * Start | These fields auto-fill using the time slot you clicked in the calendar. You can adjust them using the Date picker and Time drop-down list. |
| * End | These fields will default to the start time plus the default duration of the selected appointment type. You can adjust them using the Date picker and Time drop-down list. |
| * Where will this appointment be? |
The options may be limited to location types available for the appointment type. Some options reveal additional fields. Home - For appointments that will take place at a client’s home. If multiple clients are attending, you’ll need to select which client's home address will be used. Site - For appointments that will take place at one of your sites or clinics. This option reveals a mandatory Site field. You’ll need to search for and select the relevant site or clinic. Account - For appointments that will take place at another location that you have recorded on an account record, such as a school or swimming pool. If you select this option, you’ll need to search for the account that includes the location’s address. Telehealth - For appointments that will take place via telehealth. Selecting this option will add the personal telehealth link from the first worker’s record to the appointment. Other - For appointments that will take place at a location not already recorded in Lumary. Selecting this appointment type provides the user with a field to search for an address, which is validated via Google Places API. |
| Session Region |
If your organisation uses regions, you can use this field to set the region for the appointment. |
Add clients and workers to the appointment
The fields for adding clients and workers are explained in the table below. These fields may appear in a different order, depending on the appointment type.
| Field | Purpose and use |
|---|---|
| * How many clients are attending? |
This indicates if it’s a single client or a group appointment with multiple clients attending. This option uses the default value stored on the appointment type. Single - Allows you to search for and select a single client. Group - Allows you to search for and select multiple clients. |
| * Client |
Use this field to search for and select clients. Once you make a selection, the client’s name appears below the field. If you chose Single above, this field will be limited to one client. If you chose Group above, this field will allow you to keep adding clients. If the location is a client’s home, you’ll also need to select at which client’s home the appointment will be held. |
| * How many workers are attending? |
This indicates if the appointment involves a single worker or multiple workers. This option uses the default value stored on the appointment type. Single - Allows you to search for and select a single worker. Group - Allows you to search for and select multiple workers. If you select multiple workers, the Required Workers field will appear. Use the Required Workers field to set the number of workers that need to be added before this appointment can be rostered. |
| * Worker |
This field automatically lists the worker whose row you clicked on in the calendar. You can click on the cross if you need to remove them. If you chose Single above, this field will be limited to one worker. If you chose Multiple above, this field will allow you to keep adding workers. You’ll need to add at least as many workers as indicated by the Required Workers field to be able to roster the appointment. |
| Actual Start Criteria | Appears when the number of workers attending is set to Multiple. Determines how the appointment start time should be calculated between worker arrival times. |
| Actual End Criteria | Appears when the number of workers attending is set to Multiple. Determines how the appointment end time should be calculated between worker departure times. |
Actual start and end criteria options explained
| Criteria | How the date and time are calculated |
| One worker | Starts and ends when the first worker signs on and off. |
| 50% of workers | Starts and ends when at least half of the workers have signed on or off. |
| All workers | Starts and ends only when all workers have signed on or off. |
| Average start (or end) time | Calculates the start and end times based on an average of the time that each worker signed on or off. |
Add assets
In the Appointment Assets section, you can book assets like rooms, vehicles or other equipment. The fields for adding assets are explained in the following table.
| Field | Purpose and use |
|---|---|
| * Would you like to book assets for this appointment? |
These options indicate if the appointment includes assets like rooms, vehicles or assessment tools. No Assets - hides the asset selection options. Include Assets - reveals the Add Asset panel for booking assets. Click on the plus(+) sign button to begin adding an asset. |
| Category | Use this field to narrow the options to a specific type of asset. |
| Start Date and Time |
These fields auto-fill with the appointment start date and time. To book the asset earlier, for example, for travel time or room setup, adjust these fields before you add the asset to the Asset field. |
| End Date and Time |
These fields auto-fill with the appointment end date and time. To book the asset for extra time after the session, for example, for travel time or room pack up, adjust these fields before you add the asset to the Asset field. |
| Asset | Use this field to search for an available asset. |
Click on the Save Asset button to add the asset to your appointment. Clicking on Cancel Asset closes the Add Asset panel without capturing asset booking details.
The saved asset will appear as an item below the Add Asset button. You can click on the plus (+) sign button to add more assets. You can use the pencil icon to edit an asset, or the trash can to remove it.
Set the frequency and number of occasions
You can use the Appointment Occasions section to set up an ongoing series of appointments. The following table explains how to use the fields.
| Field | Purpose and use |
|---|---|
| * How often is this appointment? |
This indicates if this will be a single appointment or part of an ongoing series. Single Appointment - A one off appointment. Recurring - A series of several appointments. This reveals options for the frequency and number of appointments. |
| * Repeat every |
These two fields appear for recurring appointments and set how often an appointment recurs. Day - Uses the number field to count how many days should pass before the appointment is repeated. Week - Uses the number field to count how many weeks should pass before the appointment is repeated. This option also reveals a selector for indicating on which days the appointment should be repeated. You can select several days for appointments that repeat on multiple days during the week. Month - Uses the number field to count how many months should pass before the appointment is repeated. The start date of the appointment is used to determine which day of the month the appointment repeats on. For example, every 2 months on the third Monday. |
| Ends |
Appears for recurring appointments. Sets when to stop the series of appointments. On - Use the calendar tool to select a date for the series to end. After - Add a number to set how many times the appointment should occur. |
Add comments and/or employee messages
The text fields in this section can capture internal comments or messages for workers:
- Comments - Use this to store internal comments about things like scheduling or billing.
- Employee Message - Use this to add comments for the worker. These messages will appear on the appointment in their day view for easy access.
Select how to add services for billing
One of the key features in the Appointment Scheduler is the option to automatically add services to appointments. Adding services can be one of the more time-consuming tasks, so this automation can save schedulers a lot of time.
The following table explains the available options for adding billable services. It also links to further instructions for either automation or manually adding services.
| Field | Purpose and use |
|---|---|
| * How should billing be determined? |
These options determine how planned services will be added to the appointment for billing. Automatically On Save - This option uses the potential billable services listed for the appointment type to select a planned service. It compares the services listed to the services available on the client’s service agreement. If there is no matching service, you’ll be prompted to add one manually when attempting to save the appointment. Manually Added - This option adds panels for manually selecting and setting up planned and/or ad hoc services. See the steps for: |
System administrators can add potential billable services to appointment session types to support automatically adding planned services to appointments.
If you chose to add planned services manually or there were no automated services available for the client, we’ve explained the manual options in the next part of the article.
If you chose the automated option, you can skip ahead to saving your appointment.
Add planned services manually
Planned services are the services included in the client's service agreement. To add a service or item that isn't covered by their service agreement, you'll need to use the ad hoc service option.
To add one or more planned services to the appointment:
- In the Add Planned Service panel, click on the plus icon.
- Complete the fields as explained below.
As you make selections, additional fields will appear. Depending on the client's service agreement, fields may auto-fill or show a drop-down list with options. The fields you'll see may differ depending on:
- the services you select
- how your environment has been set up, and
- the type of funding you're claiming.
| Field | Purpose and use |
|---|---|
| * Support Category | The options here are based on the support categories in the client's service agreement. What you select determines which services appear in the Service drop-down list. |
| * Service | The options shown here are based on the services in the client's service agreement and the support category you selected above. |
| * Scheduled Delivery Ratio | This field captures the ratio of workers to clients for services that allow or require apportionment. For example, one worker providing a service for two clients would be a ratio of 1:2. |
| * Site | The site associated with the service being delivered. |
| * Rate | The rate to be charged for the service. |
| * Funding Management | This field will be based on the funding management type in the client's service agreement. |
| * Claim Type |
This field defaults to Face-to-Face. The options available depend on the service you've selected and the claim types allowed for that service under the NDIS. Other options may include:
Face-to-Face is the default option and should be used for any service not being claimed against one of the other claim types. When services with the Face-to-Face claim type are included in an extract, the claim type will display as blank. |
| * Delivery Method |
Sets the way the system calculates the appointment charge. Scheduled Time - Uses the scheduled duration of the appointment to set the quantity Workers Actual Time - Uses the workers actual recorded time to set the quantity. This should only be used where workers accurately check in and out of appointments, otherwise billing errors can occur. Fixed Quantity - Uses a set quantity, regardless of the duration of the appointment. |
| * Select Clients |
If a group of clients will be attending this appointment, you can select which clients to charge for this service. Only clients who have the service available on their service agreement will be available to select. Select the client from the Available box, then click the right arrow to move them to the Selected box. |
| Travel Chargeable | Put a tick in the checkbox if the worker will be able to claim for travel. |
| * Travel Area | This mandatory drop-down field appears if you tick the Travel Chargeable checkbox. Travel areas are based on the NDIS pricing arrangements. |
- Click on the Save Service button.
The service appears under the Planned Services section. To add more planned services to this appointment, repeat these steps.
Add ad hoc services manually
Ad hoc services are used for adding services or items that are not included in a client's service agreement to the appointment. This could include services that will be paid privately, consumables or over-the-counter purchases.
You can only add ad hoc services to appointments if this feature has been enabled in your organisation's environment. To add one or more ad hoc services to the appointment:
- In the Add Ad Hoc Service section, click on the plus icon.
- Complete the fields as explained below.
Some fields may auto-fill depending on the service you've selected. Additional fields may also appear as you make selections.
| Field | Purpose and use |
|---|---|
| * Service | Service options will depend on the ad hoc services that are set up in your environment. |
| * Scheduled Delivery Ratio | This field captures the ratio of workers to clients for services that allow or require apportionment. For example, one worker providing a service for two clients would be a ratio of 1:2. |
| * Site | The site associated with the service being delivered. |
| * Rate | The rate to be charged for the service. |
| * Claim Type | The options available depend on which claim types have been set up for the ad hoc service you've selected. |
| * Delivery Method |
Sets the way the system calculates the appointment charge. Scheduled Time - Uses the scheduled duration of the appointment to set the quantity Workers Actual Time - Uses the workers actual recorded time to set the quantity. This should only be used where workers accurately check in and out of appointments, otherwise billing errors can occur. Fixed Quantity - Uses a set quantity, regardless of the duration of the appointment. |
| * Select Clients |
If a group of clients will be attending this appointment, you can select which clients to charge for this service. Select the client from the Available box, then click the right arrow to move them to the Selected box. |
- Click on the Save Service button.
The service appears under the Ad Hoc Services panel. To add more ad hoc services to this appointment, repeat these steps.
Save the appointment
Once you're happy with your settings, you can save, roster or cancel your appointment:
- Save - Saves the appointment with a Draft status.
- Save and Roster - Saves the appointment with a Rostered status.
- Cancel - Removes all selections and closes the New Appointment popup.
If you’re creating an appointment with recurrences, the appointment may save with a Pending status until all appointments in the series have been created. They will then update to Draft or Rostered depending on which button was clicked to save.