Scheduling an Appointment

Summary

This article explains how to schedule an appointment for an existing work order. Scheduling assigns a date, time, and bay to the job. You can optionally assign a technician and add notes. A calendar preview panel lets you check for conflicts before confirming.

Prerequisites

A work order exists in the system. See Creating a Work Order if you need to create one first.
At least one bay is configured in your garage settings.
You are signed in as a Service Advisor or Owner.

Steps

Open the work order you want to schedule. You can find it in the Work Orders list or on the Workshop Kanban board.
Click Schedule Appointment. A scheduling dialog opens. If bays are configured, a calendar preview panel appears on the right side of the dialog.
Select a Date using the date picker. You cannot select a date in the past. The date defaults to today.
Set the Start Time using the time picker. This defaults to the next available business hour. If it is after 17:00, it defaults to 09:00. If it is before 09:00, it also defaults to 09:00.
Set the End Time using the time picker. The end time must be after the start time. There is no separate duration field. If you change the start time and the current end time is no longer valid, the end time adjusts automatically to one hour after the new start time.
Select a Bay from the dropdown. Each bay displays its name, colour dot, and type in parentheses - for example “Bay 1 (MOT)” or “Bay 3 (General)”.
Check the calendar preview panel on the right side of the dialog. This shows existing appointments for the selected bay and date, so you can spot conflicts before scheduling. You can toggle this panel on or off using the panel button in the dialog header.
Optionally, select a Technician from the dropdown. You can leave this set to “Not assigned” and assign a technician later.
Optionally, add Notes in the text area. Use this for special instructions or reminders. Notes can be up to 2,000 characters.
Click Schedule to create the appointment. You can also click Clear to reset the form, or Cancel to close the dialog without saving.

Expected Outcome

A success toast confirms the appointment was created, showing the date and start time.
The appointment appears on the Scheduler calendar in the column for the assigned bay.
The work order detail page shows the new appointment details.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Cause	Fix
”Schedule Appointment” button is missing	You may not have the correct role, or the dialog is already open.	Check you are signed in as a Service Advisor or Owner.
Cannot select today’s date	The date picker blocks dates in the past. Today is always available.	If today appears blocked, refresh the page. The date comparison uses midnight as the boundary.
”End time must be after start time” error	The end time is the same as or earlier than the start time.	Set the end time to any value after the start time.
”Selected time is in the past” error	You selected today’s date with a start time that has already passed.	Choose a start time that is still in the future, or select a future date.
No bays appear in the selector	No bays have been configured for your garage.	Go to Settings and add workshop bays before scheduling.
Calendar preview panel is not visible	The panel may be toggled off, or no bays are configured.	Click the panel toggle button in the dialog header to show it. The panel only appears when bays exist.

Notes

Assigning a technician is optional at scheduling time. You can assign or change the technician later from the work order detail page or the edit appointment dialog.
The calendar preview panel remembers your preference (shown or hidden) between sessions using local storage.
The dialog also shows a mini availability list below the bay selector, summarising bookings for the selected bay and date.