web based scheduling

Debras_Angel

Hi Guys,

Need some help please. I've searched the site to see if anyone has commented on web based diaries or scheduling and can't find anything.

I'm looking to set up something web based for my business to enable people to confirm room hire (there are 6 therapists booking hourly slots). I currently use an excel spreadsheet with 3 rooms listed and they have to email, text or call me and I email the updated diary out to everyone. As you can imagine this is time consuming and if we could all access something web based it would be much easier.

I have googled and there are sites but I would aprreciate it if someone is already using one and can give me some feedback.

Cheers

Debs

bob_a_builder

Google calendar must be one of the best choices.

most likely to be around in the future
most likely to gain ongoing new features
one of the best prices going

does all I need, but your need may be different

texranger

Debras_Angel wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Need some help please. I've searched the site to see if anyone has commented on web based diaries or scheduling and can't find anything.

I'm looking to set up something web based for my business to enable people to confirm room hire (there are 6 therapists booking hourly slots). I currently use an excel spreadsheet with 3 rooms listed and they have to email, text or call me and I email the updated diary out to everyone. As you can imagine this is time consuming and if we could all access something web based it would be much easier.

I have googled and there are sites but I would aprreciate it if someone is already using one and can give me some feedback.

Cheers

Debs

what you need is a webhost that has a paid Softaculous licence and then you can install

phpScheduleIt - phpScheduleIt is an Open Source web-based reservation and scheduling system

or you could get this yourself from http://www.php.brickhost.com/ see demo at http://www.php.brickhost.com/demo2/Web/

paddyrg

Google calendars now have a beta of an appointments booking scheme, sounds ideal?

http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=190998

Debras_Angel

Thank you to all of you for your replies. I will research each of them to see what suits best.

Cheers

Debs

patman99

Trouble with Google is that if they even think your gmail account is being used for spam, they will close the account and with it, access to your Google Calender, Google Docs, Piccassa and Android mobile services.

By using a hosted service, then as long as you pay your bill, your site remains live.
Unless you are expecting a massive amount of web traffic then a shared hosting package will do just fine.
As you rent rooms out to therapists, then it would be worth your while creating a website promoting your business, but only allowing registered persons the right to book rooms. If done right, it should be possible for a person to visit your site, choose the right therapist for their needs, then contact the therapist in order to book an appointment.

You can also install Drupal along with the 'Bookings API'. This is free, will be around for years to come and with the addition of other modules, can be grown in to a very powerful site.
I am playing with Drupal + Ubercart with a view to re-doing a customer's e-shop. Quite a learning curve, but it will be worth it in the end.

paddyrg

Agreed re using Gmail to send spam - but then nobody should be sending spam ;-) Better bet is to use a service like constantcontact which actively manages the opt-outs and opt-ins, and due to its responsible list management processes is on an active whitelist - this means more email marketing actually reaches your subscribers. I gather the penetration is something like 99% compared with 40% for just using a private email account, so it is worthwhile.

Drupal with the bookings API is a great idea - but a LOT more work for a similar result as the GMail appointments. It is probably an excellent second step for when it is time to upgrade the whole website in a year or two.

Debras_Angel

Thanks guys I'm still researching.