How do I set the moments that customers can book?

The way in which settings are being configured, determines the outcome of the times that can be booked in the booking dialog. The usecases below help configuring these settings. In basic there are two types of configuration, continuous periods or a time table (opening times). The latter can have divergent time slots in which continuous periods have an even structure.

Setting that are of influence on the bookable times are to be found on the basic dashboard of an object. These settings will be setup using the usecases below. Furthermore the periods (dashboard extra) and opening times (dashboard schema) will be applicable for setup.

Visually a choice can be made including dropdown boxes with times or time slots (buttons with times). These need to be set up in the confirm dialog but will not be part of the usecases.

The usecases below are examples of configurations that are often used and mean serve as a basis. By adapting or combining settings there are more possible outcomes to think of.

Scenario 1 - Every hour booking possible for multiple hours

Opening times:
Daily from 08:00 - 18:00

Output:
The start time will be bookable every hour from 08:00 till 17:00.
The reason for this is that the period of 60 is set as default and periods will be shown continuously. Because a minimum of 1 period of 60m should be booked, the start time is to be selected at a maximum of an hour before the end of the opening time scheme.

The end time is bookable from 1 hour after the chosen start time until the end of the opening time scheme (in this case 18:00).
The reason for this is that there is no limit to the maximum amount of periods. This means that the periods will be shown per hour till the end of the opening time scheme.

Variation (min/max time before booking):
By determining that the min. time before a booking is 180m, it is possible to set a minimum time of 3 hours for a booking. With a start time of 08:00, the minimum end time will be 11:00 instead of 09:00. The same goes for max. time before booking. When the max. time before a booking is set to e.g. 300m, a booking of max. 5 hours can be made. With these two settings configured as mentioned the output using a starting time of 08:00 will have the possibility to book till 11:00, 12:00 or 13:00.

Scenario 2 - Every hour booking possible for minimal 1 hour or maximal 2 hours

Opening times:
Daily from 08:00 - 18:00

Output:
The start time will be bookable every hour from 08:00 till 17:00.
The reason for this is that the period of 60 is set as default and periods will be shown continuously. Because a minimum of 1 period of 60m should be booked, the start time is to be selected at a maximum of an hour before the end of the opening time scheme.

The end time is bookable from 1 hour or 2 hours after the chosen start time with the exception of 17:00 where only 1 hour can be booked.
The reason for this is that a maximum of 2 periods can be booked in which the default period is set to 60m.

Variation (time before/after sessions):
By setting the time before a session to 30m, there is left space before the session to e.g. set up the area or when time after the session is being used to clean up the area before the next booking. The time set up will be extracted or added to the start time. Using an opening time scheme from 08:00 - 18:00, a session will start at 08:30 so that there is 30m before the first session available. A session period is set up to be an hour so the first session will be till 09:30. The next session will then start 30m later at 10:00 so that there is again 30m in front of that session.

Scenario 3 - Every hour booking possible for maximal 4 hours

Opening times:
Daily from 08:00 - 18:00

Output:
The start time will be bookable every hour from 08:00 till 14:00.
The reason for this is that the time between sessions is set to 60m and the default period is set to 240m (4 hours). A booking will be made of 4 hours which sets the end time to 14:00, 4 hours before the end time of the opening time schema (18:00). A booking can be made every hour starting at 08:00 because periods continuous is set and uses a time between sessions of 60m.

The end time is bookable from 4 hour after the chosen start time.
The reason for this is that the default period is set to 240m (4 hours).

Variation (time between sessions):
By lowering the time between sessions to 30m, the start time will be bookable per 30 minutes. The end time will shift 30 minutes as well since bookings will be made using 4 hour periods.

Scenario 4 - Booking one or more dayparts based on the opening time scheme

Opening times:
Daily from 08:00 - 12:00 / 13:00 - 17:00 / 18:00 - 22:00

Output:
The start time will be bookable every first hour of a block in the opening time scheme (08:00, 13:00 and 18:00).
The reason for this is that the opening time schema has blocks set up for 4 hours each and there is also a period of 4 hours set up. By disabling the setting periods continuous the periods can be booked according to the opening time scheme.

The end time is bookable per block until the ending time of that specific block or the opening time scheme.
The reason for this is that a period of 240m can be booked in which there is no limit set to the max. bookable periods. Therefore it is also possible to book from 08:00 till 22:00. The end time is determined by the blocks in the opening time scheme where multiple blocks can be booked and the hours between the blocks are no longer taken into account.

Variation (max. periods):
A variation could be to set max. periods to 2. In this case a maximum of 2 periods can be booked leaving the customer the choice to book loose dayparts or a combination of 2 dayparts e.g. morning/afternoon or afternoon/evening. In contrast to the example above where all three daypars can be booked.

Scenario 5 - Book using a variable opening time scheme

Opening times:
Daily from 09:30 - 13:00 / van 13:30 - 17:30 / van 18:00 - 21:30

Output:
The start time will be bookable every first hour of a block in the opening time scheme (08:00, 13:30 and 18:00).
The reason for this is that the opening time schema has blocks set up for 3,5 and 4 hours each and there are also two period set up of the same amount of hours. By disabling the setting periods continuous the periods can be booked according to the opening time scheme.

The end time is bookable per block until the ending time of that specific block or the opening time scheme.
The reason for this is that periods of 210m and 240m can be booked in which there is no limit set to the max. bookable periods. Therefore it is also possible to book from 08:00 till 22:00. The end time is determined by the blocks in the opening time scheme where multiple blocks can be booked and the hours between the blocks are no longer taken into account.

Scenario 6 - Book a complete day using the opening time scheme

Opening times:
Ma: 10:00 - 17:00
Di: 08:00 - 17:00
Wo: 08:00 - 17:00
Do: 09:00 - 21:00
Vr: 08:00 - 17:00
Za: Gesloten
Zo: Gesloten

Output:
The start time will be bookable every hour according the the opening times of the selected day.
The reason for this is that the period are not set continuously in which the blocks of the opening time scheme will be used.

The end time is bookable till the last hour of the opening time scheme of the selected day.
The reason for this is that a period is set up for every block in the opening time scheme (7 hours - 430m, 9 hours - 540m, 10 hours - 600m).

Scenario 7 - Book for multiple periods (golf branche)

Opening times:
Daily from 08:00 - 18:00

Remark:
An extra setting is used called "Use multiple periods". Using this setting automatically provides a button "Times" in the booking dialog which refers to the use of slots. Slots therefore need to be set up on the confirm dialog page as well while using this setting. When setting up slots the setting show endtime is advised to set to NO in order to create a view with only start times.

Output:
The times shown are the start times on which a certain activity can start. By setting up the period for 5 minutes, an activity can start every 5 minutes. The start times will therefore be each 5 minutes.

Scenario 8 - Boeken per uur met een prijs per dag (tijdmodus)

Opening times:
Daily from 09:00 - 17:00

Output:
The start time will be bookable every hour according the the opening times of the selected day.
The reason for this is that the period are not set continuously in which the blocks of the opening time scheme will be used.

The end time is bookable till the last hour of the opening time scheme of the selected day.
The reason for this is that a period is set up for every block in the opening time scheme.

The price will be per day because all 8 periods have the same price.