View Appointment Scheduler screen. View Video, 13 min. 55 sec.

The Appointment Scheduler section of the program is designed to replace your current manual appointment book.  With Diamond Dental Software’s Appointment Scheduler you will schedule appointments, delete, edit or move appointments, track cancellations and "No Shows", print appointment reports.  These and other features will be discussed in detail later in this section.

Adding Providers To The Schedule
Before the scheduler can be used, the providers for whom you are scheduling need to be added.  A "provider" could be a doctor, hygienist, or anyone for whom you are scheduling appointments.  From the Main Menu click Utilities.  From the Utility Menu click Appointment Scheduler Utilities.  From the Scheduler Utilities Menu click Schedule Providers. You should now be at the Appointment Schedule Providers screen. To enter a provider you will enter the first name, middle initial, last name and degree is applicable.  You will also enter the provider’s initials which must be two unique characters.

Day Off
The Appointment Schedule Providers screen displays seven days from Monday to Sunday.  Each day has a “Day Off” check box that is initially checked, indicating that the provider has that day off.  Leave actual days off checked, but uncheck the working days. Once unchecked the items on the screen for that day will become enabled for modification.

Schedule Increments (15, 10, 5 minutes)
Schedules can be set up in 15, 10, or 5 minute time increments.  Increments are marked for each working day, Monday through Sunday.  It is possible to mark Monday with a 10 minute increment and Tuesday with a 15 minute increment if you wish.  However, it is suggested that a provider use the same increment for each working day.  Since the schedule can display 3 days at a time, if the increments are different the schedule will be forced to display in a 5 minute mode which is lowest common denominator between 10 and 15. The special “5 Minute Conflict Mode” will allow a 10 minute and a 15 minute schedule to be displayed side by side with proper alignment; however, in 5 minute mode, less information is seen vertically per screen. Different providers within the same office may find it preferable to have different increment settings. This is permissible, but keep in mind that when providers with different increments are displayed side by side on the same screen,  the schedule will shift into the special “5 Minute Conflict Mode” as discussed above.

Start and End Time
Each working day must have a Start Time and End Time.  These times are set by the drop down lists for each time. In this sample Appointment Schedule Providers screen, the Start and End times for Monday is 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.  A starting time of 8:00 am will allow you to set an 8:00 am appointment.  But and End time of 5:00 pm will not allow a 5:00 pm appointment.  The End time indicates a time up to, but NOT including that time.  For example, if the End time is 5:00 pm on a 15 minute schedule, the last available appointment for that day would be 4:45 pm.  Also, appointments may not be scheduled past the End time.  That is to say that you cannot schedule a one hour 4:30 pm appointment with a 5:00 pm End time, because that would go past the End time.  A 30 minute appointment at 4:30 pm would be the maximum allowable length.