Specialists

Owned by Kim Saunders
Last updated: Oct 11, 2024 by Emily Carlson
8 min read

Table of Contents

Overview

Used to to configure the profiles of the professionals that provide services at your club.

Required Permissions

  • Professional Service Admin

Specialists

The Specialists tab is used to configure the profiles of the professionals that provide services at your club. The label you see in your Professional Services/Lessons Reservation and Management system will be the name entered in the Specialist Label field within System Settings (how your club refers to the staff professionals providing services; i.e. Specialist, Trainer, Professional, etc.) This training article refers to them as specialists but your Professional Services/Lessons system may refer to them differently. 

Configuration includes general information about the specialist, their individual hours of availability, their individual booking open and close times, the services they provide, and any additional prep and cleanup time they require for their services.

To edit an existing specialist:

  • Click on the specialist in the left hand column. 

  • The specialist information will open in the main window where changes can be made. 

To add a new specialist:

  • Select the club location of the specialist (if applicable).  

  • Click the + Add New button. 

  • Select the specialist from the staff website directory. 

    • Only staff members that are defined within the club’s website Staff Directory are available for selection as a specialist.

  • Click the arrow icon to begin configuring the specialist. 

To delete a specialist:

  • Click the trash can icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

To edit the order in which specialists appear within the listing on the left hand side:

  • Click the Edit Order button to activate the drag and drop functionality 

  • Click a name then drag and drop the specialists into the order desired.

  • Click Save to save the new order. 

  • Click Cancel Edit Order to cancel and deactivate the reordering operation.   

After adding or modifying a specialist, click Save at the bottom of the screen to save the changes. 

Specialist General Information

  • Is View Only for Scheduling?: Toggle this on to allow providers to be able to view their schedule, but not edit it.

  • First Name 

  • Last Name

  • Display Name: How the specialist name will appear throughout the Professional Services/Lessons system; within the schedule, the booking search, the appointment details, etc.  

  • Email Address (required field)

  • Calendar Sync URL: Click Generate to generate a calendar sync URL for the specialist to be able to sync their calendar to their mobile device. Next, email the URL to the specialist for them to complete the syncing process on their device (Note: The device syncing process will vary based on device type.).

  • Gratuity Item: Type in the SKU for the specialist’s unique gratuity item. This option is only available to Clubessential Accounting and Mobile POS users.

    • For further information on creating an item, refer to this knowledge article on Creating an Item.

  • Phone Number (required)

  • Gender (optional)

  • Description: Information about the specialist that will assist members in deciding whether the specialist is the right fit for them or simply their title (i.e. Golf Pro, Tennis Pro, Certified Professional Trainer, etc.)

  • Active Start Date: The date the specialist will become active and appear within the Professional Services/Lessons schedule as available for booking. 

  • Configure active end date? checkbox: Controls whether the club wants to define a date where the specialist no longer appears on the schedule as available for booking.  Check this box to set the active end date. Leave this box unchecked if the specialist is to remain on the schedule indefinitely for booking. 

  • Active End Date: The date the specialist is no longer available for booking. 

Specialist Schedule (Hours of Availability) 

  • There will be two schedule options to choose between:

    • Default Schedule: This is the primary working hours for the provider/specialist throughout the calendar year.

    • Alternate Schedule: This is the secondary working hours for the provider/specialist that are used temporarily during the year. The alternate schedule can be activated with the alternate schedule start and end dates.

  • The specialist schedule automatically defaults to the System Open Time and System Close Time set for the club in the System Settings; however, it can be changed to be specific to the specialist.   

    • Note: When setting the specialist’s schedule, the start and end times are limited to the System Open Time and System Close Time set for the club.  The specialist cannot set a start time earlier than the System Open Time, nor can they set an end time later than System Close Time. 

  • The benefit to configuring the specialist’s schedule is that the system will only show the specialist as available for booking during their scheduled hours. These will be the default scheduled hours week to week, but the specialist can also block their schedule directly from the Daily Schedule grid. 

    • For example: If a specialist is off every Wednesday, their schedule can be set-up accordingly, preventing the Admin from having to block the specialist out every Wednesday from the Daily Schedule. 

  • + Add New Row:  Adds a new row to the schedule defaulting the start and end times to the club hours setup within the System Settings (System Open Time and System Close Time). 

  • Copy Icon:  Adds a new row to the schedule duplicating the start and end times of the row copied. 

  • Delete Icon: Deletes the row from the schedule.  

  • Drop Down Arrow next on the Start and End Times: Used to select the time desired. The times available for selection are based on the booking intervals set for your club in the Booking Rules.  Select N/A for the Start and End times to show a specialist as not available for the entire day. 

  • Schedule Examples: 

  • Here is an example of a specialist’s schedule that works part-time:

    • Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM  

    • Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday: Off 

  • Here is an example of a specialist’s schedule that works a broken schedule; morning hours, followed by a gap, followed by afternoon hours.

    • Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 7:00 - 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM - 7:00 PM  

    • Tuesday and Thursday: 7:00 AM - 1:00 PM   

    • Saturday: 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM 

    • Sunday: Off 

When changing an already existing schedule for a specialist: 

  • The changes will be effective immediately; on the day the changes are made.  

  • If there are already booked appointments for a time/day that the specialist is changed to be “not available”, the booked appointments will remain on the schedule. They will need to be canceled or moved by the Professional Service Admin.   

Specialist Booking Availability 

  • If the Specialist Preferred Booking Open and Closing Options is enabled (within Master Setup > System Settings), then specific open and close times can be configured for the specialist. The open and close times will initially default to the open and close times configured for the club (within Master Setup > Booking Rules), but can be changed. 

  • If Specialist Preferred Booking Open and Closing Options is not enabled, then specialist specific open and close times cannot be configured. The fields will not appear on the page. The booking availability set for the club (within Master Setup > Booking Rules) will always be used. 

  • Open Time Period and Open Duration: Enter the window of time the specialist wants to allow for when appointments can be booked in relation to the appointment time itself.  Example: Booking Opens 30 days prior to appointment. 

    • Durations can be set in Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks and Months.

    • Note: these settings will impact both admin and member booking (when available).

  • Close Time Period and Close Duration: Enter the window of time the specialist wants to allow for when appointments can no longer be booked in relation to the appointment time itself.  Example: Booking closes 4 hours prior to appointment. 

    • Durations can be set in Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks and Months.

    • Note: these settings will impact both admin and member booking when available.

Specialist Associations 

  • This section is used to indicate the services that the specialist offers. 

  • Note: If you have not yet set up any services for your club, there will not be any services to select. Specialists and services work in conjunction with each other. Specialists are related to services and vice versa.  As a result, this association cannot be made until both are set up.  Once set up, the associations can be managed in  either of the following areas: Admin Setup > Specialists or Admin Setup > Services. 

  • Fill out the Commission percentage that the specialist will receive.

    • Note: If your Spa is utilizing categories, the services will be grouped by category. If the specialist provides services in more than one category, commission percentage will need to be filled out for each category the specialist provides services in.

  • Check off the services that the specialist will offer. 

    • Note: If your Professional Services/Lessons system is utilizing categories, the services will be grouped by category.  Clicking Select All next to the category name will automatically select all the services within that category.

  • If the specialist requires Additional Prep Time and/or Additional Cleanup Time for a category of services, select the number of minutes needed for each. Prep and Cleanup Time can also be managed for each service. The Additional Prep Time and/or Additional Cleanup Time is in addition to the prep and cleanup time indicated for the service. (Note: Each service can have its own Prep Time and Cleanup Time configured. Click here to learn more.)  Additional Prep Time and Additional Cleanup Time is used when a particular specialist requires more time in between appointments than another specialist.

    • Duration is in minutes. Options are 5 to 30 in 5 minute increments. 

    • The Additional Prep Time and/or Additional Cleanup Time is applied to all services within the Category.  If Categories are not being utilized, the Additional Prep Time and Additional Cleanup Time is applied to all services. 

      • The time indicated will systematically add an additional buffer between appointment bookings for the services for that specialist, allowing them additional time needed to prep for an appointment and/or cleanup after an appointment.

      • Example: If the Physical Therapy service has a 5 minute prep time but Tommy (who is a Physical Therapy specialist) needs an additional 10 minutes of prep time, then enter 10 in the Additional Prep Time for Tommy as shown here. This will result in the system applying a 15 minute buffer between Physical Therapy appointments for Tommy. For example, if Tommy has a 1:00 PM appointment booked for a 60 minute physical therapy session, any appointment booked prior to 1:00 would need to conclude by 12:45 PM allowing Tommy the full 15 minutes of prep time (5 minutes for the Physical Therapy service plus an additional 10 minutes for Tommy himself). Therefore, Professional Service Admins and/or members would be systematically prevented from booking an appointment with Tommy going past 12:45 PM. 

      • Example: If the service of Personal Training has a 5 minute cleanup time but Lindsey (who provides personal training) needs an additional 10 minutes of cleanup time, then enter 10 in the Additional Cleanup Time for Lindsey as shown here. This will result in the system applying a 15 minute buffer between personal training sessions with Lindsey.  For example, if Lindsey has a 5:00 PM appointment booked for a 60 minute personal training session, the next available appointment for Lindsey would not be until 6:15 PM allowing Lindsey the full 15 minutes of cleanup time (5 minutes for the Personal Training service plus an additional 10 minutes for Lindsey herself). Therefore, Professional Service Admins and/or members would be systematically prevented from booking Lindsey’s next appointment until 6:15 PM. 

Best Practices

  1. For specialists that are seasonal, instead of deleting the specialist altogether, you can configure an active end date for the specialist by entering the date they will no longer be available for booking. The benefit to this approach is that when the specialist returns to working at the club, the Professional Service Admin will not have to set up the specialist from scratch. Instead, the active end date for the specialist can be removed making them immediately available for booking. This also allows you to maintain the historical data for that specialist in reports.

  2. Before deleting a specialist from the Professional Services/Lessons system, check if the specialist has any booked appointments. If so, reschedule those appointments for a different specialist.

  3. The Save button changes from gray to green color when any changes are made to the specialist. This serves as an indication that changes were made and need to be saved.   

FAQs

  1. How do I add the specialist photo to the specialist profile?

    1. Add the specialist photo in the directory profile. The photo then syncs to the specialist profile in the professional services reservation system.