Hi there

 

I am new to this forum and hope I have posted this in the right place.

 

I am thinking of automating my manual booking process, and wondered whether anyone had any thoughts on the best way to achieve this objective.

 

Currently I have a simple web form in place where a customer books a time slot by selecting a date and time, this is then emailed to me, and I manually add it to my calender, and send a confirmation email to the customer.

 

What I would like to have is a system that captured the Customers Details, Time and Date, then adds the details to a live calender to make sure no other booking has been made for that time slot, then send a confirmation to the customer, and one to me. It would also be great if a report of appointments for the days was available, and auto updated.

 

Well I was thinking of just using an Access database and setting up a dedicated Admin website, but I am sure there are better ideas around.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Rich

Welcome to WDF.

 

I did a similar system once using osCommerce, it depends on how simple or complex you want your system to be.

What server specification do you; does it support ASP/SQL, php/MySQL, or similar?

I'd be tempted to make sure each booking comes to you first, rather than it being completely automated, otherwise you'll end up having your entire life dictated by your clients! You need to be able to tell it when you're not available for work so that people don't try to book stuff at midnight, for instance. With that in mind, I think I'd prefer a system where the customer provisionally books a slot, the system tells them whether that slot is available or not, and then a request is sent to you - if you accept it the system then automatically puts it in your diary and sends a confirmation e-mail to the customer. That way you stay in control, and don't run into situations where the system books a slot and then you find you can't make it and have to apologise to the customer and try to reschedule... just my two pence!

I'd be tempted to make sure each booking comes to you first, rather than it being completely automated, otherwise you'll end up having your entire life dictated by your clients!

Booking systems can include provisional, "subject to availability and you will receive a confirmation", or can include a disclaimer