--- title: "Appointedd" canonical: "https://red-ant-documentation.refined.site/space/RET/24543234/Appointedd" format: markdown --- ## Summary [Appointedd](https://www.appointedd.com/) is an online booking system used for scheduling and managing appointments through a centralised dashboard. Red Ant have an integration with Appointedd that allows retailers to offer appointment booking through Appointedd on their eCommerce site and within RetailOS, and then host those appointments as consultations virtually and in-store in RetailOS. ### How does the integration work? Via the Appointedd system, retailers can: - Offer appointment booking on their ecommerce site - Offer appointment booking through our integration within RetailOS - Create a custom booking journey by designing questions to ascertain the purpose of the appointment - Manage appointment communications for customers - Manage appointments in a calendar view Via the RetailOS system, retailers can: - Offer appointment bookings within RetailOS through our integration with Appointedd - View appointment details - Assign and remove staff from appointments - Message customers directly - Create a detailed profile linked to individual customers - Host in-store and virtual consultations - Share products and inspirations during consultations and build a mutual basket with the customer - Help customers make a purchase remotely or in-store, with checkout functionality for collection or delivery and payment integration - Send customers automated emails with a breakdown of their consultation or summary of their purchase Note that each integration = one Appointedd account, and RetailOS supports multiple integrations meaning that one store can be connected to one or many Appointedd accounts depending on client needs i.e. one store may display appointments for calendars (resources) from within two different Appointedd accounts. ## Appointedd setup guide ### 1. Sign-up with Appointedd As a first step, clients will be required to sign up to Appointedd - Red Ant and Appointedd work closely together and can support with this. Clients will require both a sandbox account (for use in test environments) and a live account (for use on production) setup, which Appointedd can help to set up. ### 2. Confirm your Appointedd API ID Once the client has signed up to Appointedd, the account(s) will be allocated an API ID. This is a unique identifier for each account so that when Red Ant and Appointedd servers communicate with each other, the information sent and received is specific to that client. This can be found in the account API settings or with the help of Appointedd support. ### 3. Setup webhooks Red Ant will then set up the webhooks needed to pull information from Appointedd when events are created or modified. More information on how these are setup can be found [here](https://support.appointedd.com/en/articles/1361736-how-to-set-up-webhooks?_ga=2.45358500.1297921590.1658741374-1588469760.1596528368). ### 4. Assign resources (calendars) & services When a client first sets up an account with Appointedd, a number of 'resources' will need to be agreed. Each resource equates to a bookable calendar in the RetailOS system, against which appointment bookings are made and displayed. Calendars can be organised in different ways to match client needs - for example a calendar can be assigned per store so that when a booking is made against that calendar, it is specific to a store and visible to all users assigned to that store. Alternatively, a calendar can be assigned per user where bookings made would be specific to that user, or even a mixture of both. Red Ant will work with the client to agree the required resources to be set up within Appointedd, and how best to associate these within RetailOS. Once the initial setup is complete, calendar association can be managed between Appointedd and the RetailOS platform by admins. > ℹ️ If a client’s setup involves more than one Appointedd account in which resources have the same name, the Appointedd account name(s) will need to be added as a suffix in our integrations table - this will append the Appointedd account associated with that resource to the end of the calendar name in Store Management to avoid overwrites and provide clarity on the resource selected. The required virtual and / or in-store services will also need to be setup within Appointedd - note that virtual services will require Zoom to be setup (see point 5 below). For more information on setting up services see the section [setting up a new service](https://redantdigital.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RET/pages/24543234/Appointedd#Setting-up-a-new-service) below. For more information on setting up calendars see the section [setting up a new resource (calendar)](https://redantdigital.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RET/pages/24543234/Appointedd#Setting-up-a-new-resource-(calendar)) below. ### 5. Setup Zoom (optional) Virtual consultations use [Zoom](https://zoom.us/) for the user and customer to interact via video, alongside the RetailOS platform where the mutual basket is created. This requires retailers to setup a Zoom account that is then connected to their Appointedd account(s). There are several Zoom plans to consider based on the client’s needs, from basic to business - further information on plans and licenses can be found [here](https://zoom.us/pricing). Once the Zoom account has been setup, there is some further configuration required in Appointedd to: - Assign calendars to specific Zoom users - Enable Zoom for the required services These are important steps that need to be carried out before Zoom will work with virtual consultations. Further information on how to connect Zoom accounts, assign users to calendars and configure Appointedd services to have Zoom enabled can be found [here](https://support.appointedd.com/en/articles/1361876-how-to-use-zoom-meetings-with-appointedd). Red Ant will then configure the virtual consultations setup to pull Zoom links from Appointedd into the RetailOS platform, so that when both the user and customer join via video it will initiate Zoom and connect both parties to the Zoom session. > ℹ️ A Red Ant user will need to be setup with a sub-account on the client’s Zoom account and associated to a ‘Red Ant Test’ calendar with an assigned test service, to allow for end-to-end testing across all environments. > ⚠️ **IMPORTANT:** The 'waiting room' option within Zoom should be disabled at an account level so that users and customers are able to connect to the Zoom meeting straight away without needing to wait for the host to join. This is important on mobile, because if the customer has backgrounded the app whilst in the waiting room, neither party will be informed that the other is waiting to connect until the customer brings the app back to the forefront. ### 6. Communications setup All communications regarding appointment bookings are managed within the Appointedd system. Emails can be customised to reflect client branding, and depending on use-cases the content will vary between in-store and virtual consultations (a virtual consultation will require a link for example). Red Ant use Appointedd’s Zoom integration in parallel with our app for virtual consultations (further information below), which requires configuring the customer booking confirmation emails to include a link to the RetailOS platform landing page, from which they can then launch the Zoom app. The link should look something like this for example: [https://domain-name.com/consultations/virtual/{{booking_id}}/customer](https://domain.name/consultations/virtual/%7B%7Bbooking_id%7D%7D/customer) whereby the {{booking ID}} will be automatically populated with a unique identifier for that particular appointment when the booking is generated. It is possible to configure the customer platform landing page URL if required so that the internal domain is not exposed, this will require the client to set up a space on their domain to host a user-friendly customer URL e.g. [consultations.client.com](http://consultations.client.com) which will then appended within the customer URL. For further support getting emails setup, clients should contact their allocated Appointedd team. ### 7. Historic data import (optional) If the client is already offering appointments via Appointedd prior to setup within RetailOS, historic data will need to be considered. The RetailOS platform is primarily for current and future appointments, however historic appointments do appear on a customer’s profile so clients may want to consider importing this information if it is available. Red Ant will need to discuss with the client: 1. If historic appointment data should be made be available in RetailOS 2. How far back the data should be imported (e.g. entire historic data, last 6 months, last 2 years etc) ### 8. Go-live As there are several parties involved with this integration, when planning a go-live it is important to ensure all teams are coordinated and clear on the expected tasks and timeline, so that the launch can be as smooth and efficient as possible. Red Ant will communicate the dependencies and activities that need to take place on their side, so that these can be factored into plans. It is important to note that when first launching an Appointedd integration in a client’s production environment, there may be some tasks Red Ant will only be able to do once the integration is live. Additionally once your integration is live, there are certain processes that will need to take place when making changes to the live setup, which is detailed in the ‘ongoing management’ section below. ## Setup guides Below are some guides on common updates you may wish to make to your Appointedd setup. ### Setting up a new resource (calendar) Note that this step can be done by the client and does not require coordination with Red Ant. 1. Client sets up the new resource in Appointedd, assigning it a test service (no live services at this point) and ensuring it has been connected to a Zoom account 2. Client schedules an appointment for today against that resource’s calendar within Appointedd 3. Client navigates to the Store Management tile within the Red Ant app and selects the associated store(s) the Appointedd account is connected to that the calendar needs to be added to 4. Within the ‘Appointments’ section of the store details, opens the calendar dropdown and selects the new calendar that should appear within the dropdown so that it is highlighted, then hits ‘save store’ 5. Client navigates to the Consultations tile, selects the calendar dropdown at the top left and selects the new calendar so that the appointments are filtered, following which they should see the appointment appear that they booked from within Appointedd 6. It is recommended that the client should also start the appointment from within the Red Ant app as the user, to check that the ‘join video’ CTA appears and opens Zoom, which will indicate that the Zoom connection is also working as expected 7. When ready for use, back within Appointedd client updates the resource to have the relevant live services associated to it, and removes the Red Ant test service - this resource will now be bookable by customers ### Setting up a new service > ℹ️ Once the integration with Appointedd is in place on production any changes the client wishes to make to live services currently in use **must **be coordinated with Red Ant and Appointedd, as this will avoid potential issues occurring that could affect customer bookings or the integration with our platform. 1. Appointedd / client sets up the new service(s) as required in the client’s live Appointedd account, making sure these are ‘hidden’ from public view i.e. not surfaced in the customer booking widget 2. Red Ant developer adds the new service name(s) and category name(s) (ensure these are provided exactly as they are specified in Appointedd as these are case sensitive) to our config, in the details there should be specification as to whether services are virtual or in-store 3. Red Ant schedules an appointment for today against that resource’s calendar within Appointedd 4. Red Ant tests that the new service(s) pull into our system, checks that confirmation emails with the consultation link are sent to the customer, and that the Zoom link is pulled through - Note that if the new service is a virtual one, Red Ant will test that the ‘join’ link is included in the email, as well as ensuring that the user / customer are able to connect via Zoom from the link 5. If the new service(s) pass testing, Appointedd / client switches the service(s) ‘live’ and ensures they are added to the customer booking widget > ⚠️ **IMPORTANT:**** **Red Ant will need to assign the new service(s) to a test resource / calendar within Appointedd which has an associated Zoom account setup as part of the Zoom integration, to avoid the live resources / calendars from being impacted when testing. ## Important information - Sandbox and live Appointedd accounts should mirror one another as much as possible in terms of calendars and services, this allows Red Ant to test changes and capture issues in test before they occur in production - Appointedd currently offer the concept of group appointments - this is not currently available in RetailOS but is on our roadmap - Customers are matched between Appointedd and RetailOS using their email address, therefore information such as customer name may vary between appointment details and that customers profile in RetailOS, depending on the information submitted during the booking of the appointment - Clients should be careful when changing any settings within Appointedd that could affect live services, or calendars, as this could cause the integration to break, see the ‘ongoing management’ section above for more information - For testing and service desk purposes, a Red Ant user will need to be created under the client’s Zoom account and assigned to a resource (calendar) in Appointedd on both UAT and PROD ## Considerations / limitations #### Using the Appointedd widget within RetailOS - When scheduling an appointment for a calendar that is connected to Appointedd using the Appointedd widget within RetailOS, it is important to note that if resource selection is turned off for the Appointedd customer widget (which will be in the majority of cases), then regardless of which calendar you select Appointedd will automatically assign the appointment to any available calendar within the connected Appointedd account - This is because currently Red Ant can only display the Appointedd customer widget within our app, which bypasses the calendar selection as customers would not be given this option on the client’s website - This means that if not all calendars from Appointedd have been selected to display within the RetailOS app, there is the risk of an appointment not appearing after using the widget within our app to schedule it - as the assignment is random, sometimes the appointment may appear against the calendar you selected, but chances are it will not - Note that this is only the case when scheduling an appointment against a calendar that has been synced with Appointedd (see ‘Setting up a new resource (calendar)’ above) from within the RetailOS app, scheduling an appointment using a RetailOS calendar will not have this issue - The best way to bypass this is by scheduling appointments from within the Appointedd dashboard itself, as resource calendar selection is mandatory as part of the back-end scheduling process ## FAQs
Can you customise the appearance of the Appointedd booking widget? Yes! Here is a [guide](https://redantdigital.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RET/pages/202047509) on how to do this.
How can I make it clear which calendars (resources) belong to which stores if I have several Appointedd accounts setup? We have in-built prefix / suffix logic that supports same name calendars (resources) in different integrations i.e. if you have a calendar named ‘Store Team’ in more than one Appointedd account, the name of the Appointedd account will appear at the end of the calendar name in Store Management within our app, so it’s clear which one you need to select.
I have several Appointedd accounts with resources that have the same name - how will I tell them apart in Red Ant? We can add the Appointedd account name as a suffix in our integrations table that will append it to the end of the calendar name in Store Management, to ensure