Services, staff and the hours behind them

This is the setup behind the appointment list: what can be booked, who can deliver it, and when they are actually there.

The four screens under Bookings are one chain. A client picks a Category, then a Service inside it, then a Staff member who can deliver that service, then a time that fits that person's hours. Break any link and the client sees an empty calendar rather than an error, which is why an empty calendar is nearly always a setup problem and not a booking problem.

1. Open Bookings, then Categories, and create the groups a client would recognise — the headings they choose between first.
2. Open Services and add what you sell. Give each one a duration, because duration is what the calendar blocks out, and a price.
3. Set which category each service belongs to, and whether it has variations — a length, a size, a tier. A variation with its own duration changes how long the slot is.
4. Open Staff and add each person who takes appointments.
5. Assign services to each staff member. A service with nobody assigned to it cannot be booked at all.
6. Set each person's working hours, and add time off for the days they are away.
7. Open Booking Config to set the hours the shop accepts bookings, the gap between appointments, and how far ahead a client may book.

Categories

The groups a client chooses between first

Services

What is bookable, with duration and price

Staff

Who delivers it, and when they are available

Booking Config

Shop-level hours, gaps, and how far ahead clients may book

Order the categories the way you want a client to read them, not alphabetically. The first category in the list is the first thing someone sees when they open your booking page, and that position is worth using deliberately.

Services you no longer offer are better hidden than deleted. A deleted service takes its history with it, and the appointments it produced are then hard to explain on a report.