Appointment Approval Workflow
The approval workflow gives you control over which appointments are confirmed before they are added to your schedule. When approval is required, appointments from the Public Booking Page enter a Pending status and wait for your review.
Approval Modes
Approval mode is configured per location. Go to Settings → Locations, select your location, and choose an approval mode under the Booking section.
Auto-Approve
New appointments are confirmed immediately. No manual review is required. Customers receive a confirmation notification as soon as they complete booking.
Use Auto-Approve when you trust your service area configuration and RouteSense™ to only allow bookings you can fulfill.
Require Approval for All
Every appointment submitted through the Public Booking Page enters a Pending status. No appointment is confirmed until a team member reviews and approves it.
Use this mode when you want full control over your schedule before committing to customers.
Changing from Require Approval to Auto-Approve will immediately confirm all currently pending appointments. Review your Approval Queue before switching modes.
How to Review Pending Appointments
Pending appointments appear in the Approval Queue, accessible from:
- The Action Center on your dashboard (shown to Administrators and Schedulers)
- The Schedule menu → Approval Queue
Each pending appointment shows:
- Customer name and contact information
- Service address and distance from your location
- Requested services and estimated duration
- Requested date and time slot
- How long until the soft hold expires
How to Approve an Appointment
- Open the Approval Queue
- Click the appointment you want to review
- Click Approve
The appointment is immediately confirmed. The customer receives a confirmation notification by email (and SMS if enabled).
How to Decline an Appointment
- Open the Approval Queue
- Click the appointment you want to decline
- Click Decline
- Optionally enter a reason
The appointment is cancelled. The customer receives a notification that their appointment was not confirmed. The time slot is released and becomes available for other customers.
Soft Hold Duration
When a customer selects a time slot during booking, Chronicaly places a soft hold on that slot. The hold reserves the slot while the appointment awaits approval. If the appointment is not approved before the hold expires, the slot is released automatically.
Soft hold duration is configurable per location. Go to Settings → Locations → Booking to set the hold duration.
| Tier | Default Hold Duration |
|---|---|
| Standard | 2 hours |
| Extended | 4 hours |
| Long | 24 hours |
Set a longer hold duration if you review your Approval Queue infrequently — for example, if you only check it once per day.
Configuring Lead Time
Lead time is the minimum amount of advance notice required before a customer can book. For example, a 4-hour lead time prevents customers from booking a slot that starts in the next 4 hours.
Go to Settings → Locations → Booking → Minimum Lead Time to configure this value.
Appointment Status Reference
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Submitted through Public Booking Page, awaiting approval |
| Confirmed | Approved and added to the schedule |
| Declined | Rejected by your team |
| Cancelled | Cancelled after being confirmed |
| Completed | Service has been performed |
| Expired | Soft hold elapsed before approval decision was made |