Panel Scheduling in EyeQuestion
Introduction
One of the more challenging tasks in conducting sensory and consumer research is the process of manually checking the availability of your panellists participation by calling or emailing them. This traditional approach is not ideal as it is time consuming as well as resource-heavy for both the user and panellist. Users are burdened with extra work whilst panellists can feel overwhelmed if they need to reschedule their appointment and a check with the study coordinator for the next available timeslot is required.
In order to make this process more user friendly for both sides we have improved the option to schedule appointments in EyeQuestion 5 for all users who do not have access to EyeContact Advanced Panel Management. Using a regular EyeQuestion Project, users can add timeslots and send automatic emails from the application to a panel. Panellists can easily make an appointment for a certain timeslot and reschedule on their own if needed.
How does it work?
Timeslots creation
After creating a Project, timeslots can be added under the “Schedule” tab.
When a user clicks on + icon then the following pop-up appears allowing the user to add multiple timeslots in one click.
Location: Select the location where the test will be run.
Select the start and end time.
Capacity: It corresponds to the number of booths in a location and it will be automatically filled in when a user selects the location. But it can be adjusted if needed.
Duration of test
Clean up time: add the time needed to clean the booths in between the sessions.
Break time: This can be used to add a lunch break (for example: 12 noon to 1:00 PM) and out of office hours (5:30 PM - 8:00 AM) so that those appointments are not created. Make sure to always click on + icon to add multiple breaks.
Tip:If a research will be conducted on multiple days and you would like to remove the weekend timeslots then it is possible to do so using the search functionality and bulk delete.
Add the dates in the search box.
Make sure to select the highest entries from the show drop down.
Click on the top left square to select all entries on that page.
Scheduling settings
Adjust the schedule settings before sending email to panelists.
Add the number of maximum panelists.
Appointment deadline refers to the time when panelists can still make an appointment. For example: if you would like to provide flexibility to panelists to make an appointment 30 minutes before the test starts, then you can add the deadline as 30 minutes. This setting is applicable for each timeslot. If a timeslot starts within 30 minutes (deadline) then a panelist cannot make or change an appointment for that timeslot anymore but can make appointment for others.
Add the time when reminder email should be sent.
Review the confirmation, reminder and cancellation email templates.
The email templates can be adjusted but make sure not to remove the placeholders for appointment time.
Email panelist(s) to make an appointment
Users can send the email immediately or at a specific date and time to the panellist via the option Schedule Email.
Panellist will receive an email with a portal link to view all the available timeslots and select one that works best for them to create an appointment.
Once a timeslot is booked, panelist will get an automatic confirmation email with a calendar invite so that panelists can add the appointment date and time in their calendar. This calendar invite works for the email providers such as: Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo!Mail
Once a panelist accepts the invitation then it will be added in their calendar.
The confirmation message can be customised to add more details like the study location, general guidelines etc.
A quota is automatically applied for each timeslot:
if you invite 10 panellists for a location with 6 booths. After the 6th appointment is scheduled, the next panellist won’t be able to book.
Monitoring appointment
Project managers can easily track the status of panellists appointment via “Appointment status” tab in the Project and plan the sample preparation accordingly.
The projects that are using timeslots can be viewed in the Allocate > Calendar which makes it easy for a user to coordinate sensory studies if there are multiple departments running sensory and consumer studies frequently. To view more details about the Project, click on the timeslot in the Calendar.
Questions?
If you have any further questions about this feature, please do not hesitate to contact our friendly Support team on support@eyequestion.nl
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