Services and Staff Hours
Use this page to set up the services customers can book, and each staff member's working hours.
Quick steps
To add a service:
- Click Scheduling in the top navigation, then click Manage Services.
- Click New Service.
- Type the Name, Price ($) and a short Description. Pick the Duration and any Buffer After for clean-up time.
- Tick the Staff Who Provide This Service, or leave them all empty so anyone can be booked.
- Make sure Active is ticked, then click Create Service.
To set staff hours:
- On Scheduling, click Staff Hours.
- Click Edit Hours beside the staff member.
- Tick each day they work and enter a start and end time. Click Save Hours.
It appears once Online Booking is on. If you use the storefront, go to Storefront and turn on Online Booking under Features.
Common questions
A service is missing from the booking form. It's inactive. Click Activate beside it on the Services page.
I can't delete a service. It has been booked before. Click Deactivate instead — it disappears from booking but your history stays.
Customers can book on a day we're closed. Set your store hours under Settings → General → Store Hours and mark that day Closed. A staff member with no hours ticked for a day falls back to store hours, not "off".
Is this the same as the shift schedule? No. This is for customer bookings. Planning who works which shift is Shift Scheduling.
More detail: what appointments are, and turning them on
Appointments let customers book time with your staff: a haircut, an oil change, a massage, a consultation. Before you book anyone, set up two things:
- Services: what can be booked, how long it takes and what it costs.
- Staff Hours: when each staff member works, so online booking only offers times they're in.
Appointments are bookings for customers. Planning who works which shift is a separate feature. See Shift Scheduling.
Turning It On
Appointments show up in the admin once Online Booking is on for your store.
- Service and gym stores start with it on.
- If your store uses the storefront, go to Storefront and, under Features, click Online Booking to turn it on or off.
- If you don't have a Storefront page, contact support to switch it on.
Once it's on, Scheduling appears in the top navigation. You can also press Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on a Mac) and search for Appointments or Services.
Admins and managers can use these pages.
The same switch controls online booking. When it's on, customers can also book on your storefront or through a booking widget on your own website. See Online Booking and Reminders.
More detail: every service setting
Services
A service is anything a customer can book. Open Scheduling and click Manage Services.
Adding a service
- Click New Service.
- Fill in the details:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | What customers and staff see, for example "Haircut" or "Oil Change". Each service needs its own name. |
| Price ($) | The usual price. It fills in when you book, and you can change it for a single appointment. Leave it blank if the price varies. |
| Description | A short line about the service. It shows on your online booking page. |
| Duration | 15 minutes up to 3 hours. The end time of a booking is worked out from this. |
| Buffer After | Break time after each appointment: none, 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes. When offering times online, Brother POS leaves room for it before the next booked appointment. |
| Color | The dot shown beside this service on the Appointments list. |
| Active | Only active services can be booked. |
| Staff Who Provide This Service | Tick the staff who do this service. Leave all boxes empty to let any staff member be booked. To go back to "any staff", untick every box and save. |
- Click Create Service.
The Services list
Each service shows its duration, price, providers (or Any staff) and whether it's Active or Inactive.
- Edit changes the service. Appointments already booked keep their own time and price.
- Deactivate hides the service from booking, both in the admin and online. Activate brings it back.
- Delete removes a service that has never been booked. A service with appointments can't be deleted, so deactivate it instead.
The Booking Widget box at the bottom of the Services page has the code for putting booking on your own website. See Online Booking and Reminders.
More detail: staff hours and how bookable times are worked out
Staff Hours
Open Scheduling and click Staff Hours to open Staff Availability. Every active staff member is listed with their weekly hours, or No availability set — available by default.
Setting someone's hours
- Click Edit Hours beside the staff member.
- Tick each day they work and enter a start and end time.
- Click Save Hours.
Saving replaces that person's whole week, so tick every day they work. Any mix of days works, for example Monday to Friday with the weekend off.
How Bookable Times Are Worked Out
Online booking, and a customer rescheduling from their email, offer times in 30-minute steps (9:00, 9:30, 10:00 and so on).
| Situation | Times offered |
|---|---|
| The customer picked a staff member who has hours for that day | That person's start to end time. |
| No staff member picked, or they have no hours that day | Your store's open and close times for that day. |
| No store hours set up | 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. |
| The store is marked Closed that day | No times. |
A time is only offered if the whole service, plus its buffer, fits before the closing time. If someone finishes at 5:30, a 30-minute service can start at 5:00 at the latest. Times already past today aren't shown.
A time shows as taken when it overlaps another booking. If the customer chose a staff member, only that person's bookings count. If they chose Any Available, every booking counts, so a single appointment at 10:00 fills 10:00 for everyone.
If a staff member has no hours ticked for a day, bookings for them that day fall back to your store hours. They are not treated as off that day. Tick each day they work, and set store hours with Closed days so customers can't book when you're shut.
Set your store hours under Settings → General → Store Hours. See General Settings.
Staff hours don't limit bookings made in the admin. Staff can book any time, as long as the staff member isn't already booked then.
More detail: troubleshooting and best practices
Troubleshooting
Scheduling isn't in the navigation. Online Booking is off for your store. Turn it on as described in Turning It On.
A service is missing from the booking form. It's inactive. Click Activate on the Services page.
I can't delete a service. It has appointments. Click Deactivate instead.
Customers can book on a day we're closed. Set your store hours and mark that day Closed.
Best Practices
- Set a Buffer After for services that need clean-up or setup time.
- Tick the right providers on each service, so customers online only pick from staff who actually do it.
- Set store hours with Closed days before you turn on online booking.