SERVICE-BASED BOOKING
Offer times that fit the actual service.
Calculate bookable starts from service duration, opening windows, occupied time and the configured lead time and booking horizon.
A free start time is not enough
A consultation lasting 90 minutes needs an available 90-minute interval, not just an empty point on a calendar. Tsumira derives offered slots from the service’s configured duration and the resource’s opening windows. Existing appointments, advance notice and the future booking horizon also affect the result. Customers choose from the times the current rules can support, while the final booking path checks availability again.
Use the configured service duration
A service needs a positive duration to be bookable. Within an opening window, the slot calculation advances by that duration and only includes work that fits before closing. This distinguishes a short consultation from a longer service without manually listing every possible time. Keep the service definition accurate: the calculation uses that operational setting rather than guessing how long the customer’s requested work might take.
- Positive service duration
- Starts that fit the opening window
- Service settings as the source
Apply occupied time and booking limits
Existing appointments for the resource remove overlapping intervals. Adjacent appointments can touch without being treated as overlapping. A lead-time setting prevents starts that are too close to the current time, while the horizon limits the number of local calendar days into the future that can be offered. Review these settings as promises made to customers, not merely visual preferences on the booking page.
- Occupied intervals excluded
- Advance-notice setting
- Future booking horizon
Recheck the selected time at booking
A displayed slot is an offer based on the current read, not a permanent hold. The appointment write path derives availability again before creating the booking. If another customer takes an overlapping interval first, the request can be refused rather than displaying a second confirmed appointment. Keep a useful recovery path for choosing another time, and distinguish the customer’s selection from the actual confirmed result.
- Current availability recheck
- Selection separate from confirmation
- Conflict-aware final booking
Availability is checked again when the appointment is booked.
A concrete workflow
Configure the service
Set the actual service duration and make the intended service available to the booking flow.
Set the opening rules
Review weekly windows, date exceptions, advance notice and booking horizon.
Choose an offered time
The customer selects a currently offered interval for the service.
Confirm against current availability
The booking flow rechecks the choice and returns confirmation or a refusal that needs another time.
An illustrative working example
Illustrative workflow: short and long consultations
A practice offers a short initial conversation and a longer advisory session. Each service has its own configured duration. A partly occupied afternoon can still offer the shorter service where the longer one will not fit. The customer chooses an appropriate interval, and the final booking checks it again rather than assuming the earlier slot display reserved the time.
Questions about this topic
Can a service without duration be booked?
The current slot calculation returns no bookable times when the duration is missing or not positive. Configure the service first.
Can a booking continue after closing time?
Offered intervals must fit within the applicable opening window according to the configured duration.
Does seeing a slot reserve it?
No. The final appointment path rechecks current availability; another confirmed booking may have occupied the interval.
Can I set notice and future booking limits?
The availability settings include lead hours and a future horizon in local calendar days, within the supported bounds.
Explore connections around this workflow.
Ideas for intended connections. Check the actual availability, permissions and supported data for each app before using a scenario.
Calendly
Workflow concept: Compare service duration and opening windows before migrating booking rules.
Google Calendar
Workflow concept: Review a proposed service window against the operator’s known commitments.
Outlook
Workflow concept: Check the intended appointment time before confirming a customer-facing slot.