An appointment schedule holds the visit slots participants book into. You can create several per study, for example one per group of participants, and choose for each one how participants can reach it.
Step | What you do | Section |
1. Set up the schedule | Give it a title, a number of visits, a type and a maximum number of slots. | Set up the schedule |
2. Set up each visit | Choose the duration, capacity and availability of every visit, and the slots follow. | Set up each visit |
3. Choose the booking mode | Decide whether only recruiters, link holders or everyone can book. | Choose how participants book |
4. Share it | Invite participants or create one link for one or several schedules. | Share one or several schedules |
5. Follow the bookings | Read who booked what in the booked visits list. | Follow the booked visits |
Set up the schedule
The first screen asks for a title, the number of planned visits, the type of schedule when there is more than one visit, and the expected maximum slots per visit. That last number is the ceiling for the slots you create on each visit. The visit screen then counts them as you go, for example 0/5 Slots. The counter turns green when you reach the maximum.
š ļø Step by step guide
Open the Schedules page of your recruitment study.
Click Create new schedule.
Enter the Appointment Schedule Title.
Enter the Number of planned visits.
If you planned more than one visit, choose the Type of schedule.
Enter the Expected maximum slots per visit.
Click Start creating.
How to choose | Sequential | Open |
How it works | The visits follow a specific sequence. In one click you pick the first visit and the next visits are scheduled automatically. When participants book by themselves, they see, as they pick the first visit, the dates of the following visits (visit 2, visit 3 and so on). | Participants can select any available slot for each of their visits. |
Choose it when | You have more than one visit and want participants to come after a certain time. To avoid any mistake, the next visits are chosen for them. | You have one visit (it is perfect for that), or more than one visit and you want something very easy and flexible, with no sequence: participants book what they want. |
Advantage | The sequence is set for the participant, so there is no booking mistake. | Very flexible: participants pick the slot they prefer for each visit. |
Downside | Less flexibility. | The time between two visits depends on what you set up. If the visits are on different days, a participant may book Monday for visit 1 and Tuesday for visit 2. |
How the next visits are chosen. Datacapt follows the order of the slots. If a participant picks the first slot of visit 1, they get the first slot of visit 2, and so on. If every visit starts on Monday at 9:00, they always get Monday at 9:00. If the first slot of one visit is Monday at 10:00, they get Monday at 10:00 for that visit.
Set up each visit
You build the visits one by one in the Visit scheduler, which shows a visit form on the left and the calendar on the right. Slots are generated from the availability you set, following the characteristics of each visit. Set your availability once and the slots follow.
Field | What to enter |
Visit title | A name for the visit. Datacapt suggests Visit 1, Visit 2 and so on. |
Mark as anchor visit | The anchor visit (D0, baseline) marks the true start of a participant in the study. Only one visit can be the anchor, per schedule and per participant in the study: once it is set, the option is locked on the other visits. Datacapt shows a warning when no anchor is set, and without one study attendance is not recorded. You can set it when you create a schedule, including in a study that is already in Recruiting status. |
Mark as qualifying visit | Only shown when the transition mode is On booked visit. You can flag one visit per schedule: booking it moves the participant from Pre-Qualified to Qualified. See Manage applications and participants. |
Appointment duration | How long each appointment lasts, from 5 minutes to 2 hours, or a custom duration. |
Scheduling interval | Allows consecutive appointments. By default it is the same as the appointment duration, or you can enter a custom interval. |
Slot capacity | How many participants can book the same slot. The default is 1. In a sequential schedule, the later visits keep the capacity of the first visit. |
General availability | The dates and time ranges when slots are created. When you pick a date, Datacapt fills in a default time range of 08:00 to 10:30 and creates the slots, which you can then adjust. Use Add new date for more days, and create them in chronological order. The Time zone button sets the time zone. |
Coordinator | The user in charge of the visit, picked from your users. This field is required. |
Scheduling window | Tick Add minimum time in advance the appointment can be booked to set how far ahead a participant has to book. |
Location | Where the visit takes place. It is prefilled with the center of the study. |
Instruction | Formatted text for the participant. It appears in the visit section of the participant dashboard, as well as in the confirmation and reminder emails. |
Event color | The color of the visit's events in the calendar. |
Payment per visit | If you pay participants per visit, the amount is set here, in the schedule, not on the study. See Configure, Manage, Export payment records. |
š ļø Step by step guide
Fill in the visit form.
Click Next visit.
Repeat for each visit of the schedule.
On the last visit, click Save.
Once you save the last visit, Datacapt confirms that your schedule was created and tells you when your visits start. You also choose its booking mode on that screen. New schedules start as Manual only.
ā ļø Warning:
The availabilities of a visit cannot overlap.
Every visit of a schedule needs the same number of slots.
The schedule needs enough capacity for the participants you expect. If it does not, Datacapt asks you to add slots.
A schedule that already has bookings can no longer be edited.
Deleting a schedule removes its available slots and cancels the scheduled ones. Slots already completed or cancelled are kept.
Choose how participants book
Every schedule has a booking mode, shown under its name in the schedule list with its dates. It decides who can book into it. You choose it on the confirmation screen when you create the schedule, and you can change it later.
Booking mode | Who can book |
Manual only | Booking can only be done by the recruiter via the Datacapt platform. |
Link only | Participants can only book via the schedule link you share with them. |
Public | Participants can book via any channel: QR code, invitation email, personal workspace, or shareable link. |
š ļø Step by step guide
Open the Schedules page of your recruitment study.
Click the ā® menu next to the schedule.
Choose the booking mode you want.
ā ļø Warning: a participant can book themselves into one Public schedule per study. Once enrolled, they see their own bookings instead of the calendar, and the link of another Public schedule redirects them there. Only the link of a Link only schedule, or a link created with Share schedule(s), can add a booking on top.
Share one or several schedules
Use Share schedule(s) to send participants to one or several schedules at once. This is how you recruit several groups in parallel, with all their slots in one place. Schedules in Manual only mode cannot be selected.
š ļø Step by step guide
Open the Schedules page of your recruitment study.
Click Share schedule(s) under the schedule list.
Tick the schedules you want to share.
Click Invite users to send the booking link by email or SMS, to selected participants or to all participants. You can customize the email first.
Or click Create a link to get one link to a calendar that gathers the slots of the selected schedules. Datacapt confirms that the link was created and copied to your clipboard.
ā ļø Warning: shared links bypass the pre-screening and cannot be revoked. To close one, move its schedules to Manual only.
Follow the booked visits
The Booked visits list tab, next to Appointment schedule, lists every visit participants have booked. A calendar and counters show how many visits are Scheduled, Completed, Not Done or Cancelled. Each row gives the date and time, the visit name with its schedule, the participant, the location and the visit status.
Narrow the list with the date filter, the visit status filter or the other filters.