Settings & Reminders

Settings & Reminders

The Appointment Settings page is the control panel for the whole module — one screen a manager configures once to decide whether customers can book online, how far ahead and how last-minute they may book, how long slots are, when reminder and review emails go out, whether deposits are taken, and how loyalty points are earned. Every value here is saved per business, so each company running ERPat keeps its own settings. This page also explains the two background jobs that email your customers automatically: the appointment reminder and the post-visit review request.

Opening settings

Settings sit behind a single permission and only appear when the module is switched on. There is nothing to schedule and no separate “turn on reminders” step — the two cron jobs start working automatically the moment the module is enabled, and every setting takes effect on the next run.

The page is one long form with a single green Save button (check-circle icon) at the bottom. It groups into: public booking, scheduling rules, deposits & invoicing, and loyalty & reviews. The following sections walk each group; the full Settings reference table near the end lists every field with its default and recommended value in one place.

Public booking settings

These two controls decide whether the public, customer-facing online booking portal is live and where it lives.

Enable public booking page

The master on/off switch for self-service online booking. When off (the seeded default), the public URL still exists but customers cannot book or join the waitlist through it. Turn it on before sharing your booking link.

Public booking URL

A read-only, clickable link that opens your live booking page in a new tab. It is not editable here — it is built from your company slug as /appointments/book/{slug}. If no slug is set, it falls back to the generic directory URL /appointments/book.

/appointments/book/acme-salon

Scheduling rules (slot interval, lead time, advance, cancellation window)

These four numbers shape when customers can book: how finely spaced the offered times are, how soon and how far ahead they may book, and how late they may still cancel. They feed the availability engine that generates bookable slots.

Slot interval (minutes)

The granularity of bookable start times offered to customers — e.g. every 15 minutes. Minimum 5, in steps of 5; the seeded default is 15. A smaller interval offers more start times (15 min gives more choices than 30); a larger one keeps the schedule tidier. Blank falls back to 15.

Minimum lead time (minutes)

How soon before start a customer is still allowed to book — it blocks last-minute online bookings your staff can't prepare for. Slots closer than this to “now” are hidden from customers and rejected if someone tries to submit them. The seed sets 60 (no bookings within the next hour); the form shows 0 only when the setting is entirely absent.

Maximum advance booking (days)

The furthest-out date a customer may book — your booking horizon. Dates beyond this window simply return no slots. Seeded default 60 days.

Cancellation window (hours)

How many hours before an appointment a customer may still cancel or change it. Minimum 0; seeded default 24 hours. This defines the customer-facing courtesy window for changes.

Deposits & invoicing

These settings connect appointments to money: taking a deposit to secure a booking, choosing which warehouse supplies are drawn from, and whether an invoice is raised automatically at completion.

Require deposit & deposit percent

Require deposit (checkbox, off by default) marks that a deposit is expected to secure a booking, and Deposit percent (%) (0–100) sets how much of the service price that deposit is. Deposit percent only matters when Require deposit is on.

Default stock warehouse ID

Which warehouse inventory is decremented from when back-bar products are consumed during a service. It is a numeric warehouse ID. This only does something if the Warehouse / inventory module is enabled — otherwise items are recorded for reporting but stock is not decremented, and the UI shows a notice.

Service commission (%)

The default staff commission rate applied to service revenue. It is captured per service line at completion and summed per provider on the Workforce Monitor report. Range 0–100, decimals allowed.

Auto-create invoice on completion

When on, an invoice is raised automatically for the billable items the moment an appointment is marked Completed. Off by default. It needs a customer attached to the appointment and at least one billable line — with none it reports There are no billable items on this appointment.

Loyalty & reviews

The retention half of settings: reward repeat customers with points, and collect star ratings automatically after each visit.

Loyalty points per 1.00 spent

The accrual rate: how many loyalty points a customer earns per 1.00 of a completed appointment's value. Set to 0 to turn loyalty off entirely. Points are awarded automatically, once, when the appointment is marked Completed — there is no manual “award points” button and no redemption screen in this module; the balance is simply the sum of the customer's points ledger, visible in Customer History.

Enable review requests

The master switch for the automated post-visit review-request email. Off by default. When on, the hourly job emails eligible customers a star-rating link. When off, the job still runs but sends nothing.

Review request delay (hours)

How many hours after an appointment is marked Completed the review email goes out. Minimum 0; default 24. A negative value falls back to 24. Twenty-four hours lands the ask the day after the visit — fresh, but not intrusive.

Automated reminders & review requests (cron)

Two background jobs run on the ERPat cron scheduler and email your customers on a schedule. They are both enabled by default and start working automatically once the module is enabled — there is no separate scheduling step. Each sends at most once per appointment, tracked by a one-time latch flag, so nobody is ever emailed twice.

Appointment reminder (SendAppointmentReminderJob)

Runs every 5 minutes. It finds appointments that are Confirmed, not yet reminded, and whose start time falls between now and now + reminder-lead-minutes (in your business timezone), then emails each customer the appointment_reminder template. On a successful send it latches the appointment so it is never reminded again; if the send fails, the latch stays clear and the next 5-minute tick retries.

Reminder lead time (minutes)

How long before the appointment the reminder is sent — the setting that drives the reminder job. The field hint says 1440 = 24 hours. Because the send window is now → now + lead, a lead of 1440 sends roughly 24 hours before the start; a very short lead sends close to the appointment.

Review request (SendReviewRequestJob)

Runs hourly (at :15). Only if Enable review requests is on, it finds Completed appointments whose end time is older than now − review-delay-hours and that have not yet been asked, and emails each customer the appointment_review_request star-rating link. It then latches the appointment as requested — even if the email failed — so a review email is never retried.

Reminder vs review at a glance

Email templates the module seeds

On install, the module seeds six branded email templates. They already carry your logo ({LOGO_URL}) and signature ({SIGNATURE}) in the ERPat brand teal #1d97a6. To change wording or branding, edit the matching template's message in the core Email Templates editor — the seeded HTML is the fallback default. Changes are picked up on the next job run.

Settings reference table

Every setting on the Appointment Settings page in one place — what it does, its seeded default, and a recommended starting value. All values are per-business.

Configure settings (SOP)

Two step-by-step procedures: a full first-time configuration of the module, and a focused setup of the two automated emails.

SOP: Configure appointment settings

Actor: Manager or Admin. Goal: configure the whole module from scratch.

1. Enable the module

   Go to Settings → Manage Modules and enable Appointments. Nothing below works until this is done.

2. Open Appointment Settings

   Navigate to Appointments → Settings (gear icon). You need the Manage Appointment Settings permission.

3. Turn on public booking (optional)

   Tick Enable public booking page if customers should self-book, then copy the Public booking URL shown to share later.

4. Shape the booking window

   Set Slot interval (e.g. 15), Minimum lead time (e.g. 60 min), and Maximum advance booking (e.g. 60 days).

5. Set the cancellation window

   Enter Cancellation window (hours), e.g. 24.

6. Set the reminder timing

   Enter Reminder lead time — e.g. 1440 for a 24-hour day-before reminder. (Leaving it 0 makes the job default to 24 h anyway.)

7. Configure products & commission (optional)

   If you consume or sell products, set the Default stock warehouse ID (needs the Warehouse module). Set Service commission (%) for reporting.

8. Configure money rules (optional)

   Optionally turn on Require deposit + Deposit percent, set Loyalty points per 1.00, and tick Auto-create invoice on completion.

9. Turn on reviews (optional)

   Tick Enable review requests and set the Review request delay (default 24 h).

10. Save

    Click Save. You should see Settings updated successfully. Values take effect on the next cron tick and the next booking.

SOP: Set up reminders (and review requests)

Actor: Manager or Admin. Goal: get both automated emails sending correctly.

1. Confirm the module is enabled

   In Settings → Manage Modules, verify Appointments is on — both jobs exit immediately if it isn't.

2. Check your company timezone

   Make sure the business timezone is set correctly, since both jobs compute their windows from it. An unset timezone falls back to server time.

3. Set the reminder lead time

   On Appointments → Settings, set Reminder lead time to 1440 for a 24-hour reminder. Remember 0/blank silently becomes 1440.

4. Enable review requests

   Tick Enable review requests and set the Review request delay (e.g. 24 h). Both the module and this switch must be on for review emails to send.

5. Save

   Click Save and confirm Settings updated successfully.

6. Verify reminders will fire

   Ensure appointments reach Confirmed status — reminders never fire for Pending or other statuses. The reminder job runs every 5 minutes.

7. Verify reviews will fire

   Mark visits Completed promptly — completion starts the review-request clock. The review job runs hourly at :15.

8. Customize the emails (optional)

   Edit the appointment_reminder and appointment_review_request templates in the core Email Templates editor to match your brand voice.

Statuses that drive the automation

The two jobs care only about specific statuses. This legend shows which status triggers what.

Gotchas & edge cases

The traps that most often confuse managers configuring this page. Expand any that apply.

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