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Our office has the effective schedule feature activated. How are we able to setup the provider’s schedule?

Robin Moone (She/Her)
Updated

Summary: The Effective Schedule feature gives your office the chance to control when providers are available to patients throughout the year. This feature is great for offices that need a way to communicate internally about seasonal hours or upcoming changes to your providers' availability.

Introduction:
This guide will walk you through the best ways to get started on using Effective Scheduling and some tips and tricks for best implementation. 

Process description:
The Effective Scheduling tool setup will take you through the Setup menus and Scheduler. In some cases, multiple options on the Setup menu may be need to be visited for your practice's best experience.

Prerequisites:

  • You will need the following user rights in Security Rights in you assigned Use Group:

    • Appointments - Daily View - Full Control
    • Appointments - Daily View by Provider - Full Control
    • Appointments - Daily View by User View - Full Control
    • Setup - Office Screen Full Control
    • Setup - Provider Screen Full Control
    • Setup - Scheduler Views Screen Full Control
      • Changes to permissions can be made under Setup > Security > Groups and your user group can be changed under Setup > Security > Users.
  • Provider(s) will need to be assigned to each office that they will be scheduled in with at least one operatory.
    • You will find these settings under Setup > Providers > Provider Setup > [select your provider] > Edit > Works At and Ops.
  • A User View or Provider View for the Scheduler to review the impacts of the hours changed.
    • The Scheduler default Views (Daily, Weekly, Monthly) reflect the Office Hours listed under Office > Office Setup > [select office ID] > Schedule.

    • To setup other views, go to Setup > Scheduler > Scheduler Views > Edit or Add new View.

Gathering materials/resources:

  • A list of the days and hours the provider(s) will be working.
  • Date(s) the working hours of provider(s) will shift throughout the year.

Step-by-step instructions:

  • In-putting Effective Schedules:

    1. Select the dropdown menu for Setup > Providers > Provider Setup > [select provider] > Edit > Schedule tab.
    2. Select the provider's desired office location by click the option in the top-left of the editor.
    3. Click the Add New Schedule button to begin the schedule entry process.
    4. Click the calendar date-picker icon, then select the date for which the new schedule will be effective.
    5. Input the hours per day by clicking on each time box and then either entering with the keyboard or the provider time selection tool.
    6. When the you finish, press Add to add the new schedule and Effective Date to the provider's setup. 
    7. Click the Save button to finish your work.
    8. You should see both the existing entry for the present schedule and the entry for the future schedule listed in the same office.
    9. If a provider works in multiple locations, you will need to edit each location separately using the Filter tool at the top of the Schedule editor tool.
  • Visual examples:

  • Reviewing your work:
    1. Select the Scheduler icon or Scheduler text from the tool bar in Denticon.
    2. Be certain the selected location in the top right corner matches the location your provider is scheduled in.
    3. Select a date on or after your provider's new Effective Schedule date.
    4. Select the dropdown menu for Providers > [select provider name] or the dropdown menu for User Views > [preferred view].
    5. The hours scheduled should reflect in the white areas for in-office time and grey areas for out-of-office or lunch.
  • Visual examples:

 

Tips and best practices:

  • In order for the effective schedule feature to properly perform for the office, the provider’s setup must have

    • a “right now” schedule - an Effective Schedule date for the present.

    • an “effective on a future date” schedule - an Effective Schedule date some day in the future.

  • If the provider is not yet working in the office, the “right now” schedule should be blank hours in each of the day periods.

    • In order to see a provider’s schedule, there must be a “right now” schedule. If the provider is not yet working in the office, the “right now” schedule should be blank hours in each of the day periods.

  • Notes on changing Office hours under Setup > Offices > Office Setup > [select your office] > Schedule > Edit Office.

    • Please be aware that changes to the Office Hours in this menu will become available for the Scheduler module immediately and in perpetuity after the change is made until the next time this menu is updated.

    • If the office is not ready to expand the office hours, please only add the new Effective Date and corresponding schedule to the Provider Setup menu.

  • Notes on Seasonal Office hours:
    • In a case where your hours will vary from season to season, consider having a seasonal start effective date and a seasonal end effective date.
    • For example:
      • Effective Date 5/31/20XX for the beginning of summer using the seasonal hours and Effective Date 8/31/20XX for end of the seasonal hours using the general office hours. In this case, there would be two entries each year.
      • Once you have entered your seasonal hours for the provider, check their Provider View in the Scheduler to ensure their hours are reflecting correctly for the future dates you had in mind.
      • Don't forget to repeat the process each year, as these changes will not automatically be copied over.

Next steps:

Make a reminder on your calendar if you will need to update your Office Hours later. Don't forget to tell your team about the schedule changes for the provider if they were not previously made aware!

Additional information:

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