What Does This Page Cover? 

Learn about buffer time and how to implement it to ensure that you get enough time in-between appointments for a smooth transition.

Overview 

Buffer time is the extra time added before and after the appointment duration. It can be used to accommodate various purposes like preparing for the next appointment, winding up the ongoing appointment, potential delays in reaching the location, or if the appointment overruns the actual duration.

Buffer time in Zoho Bookings 

In Zoho Bookings, buffer time can be added both before (pre-buffer) and after (post-buffer) an appointment. Let's assume that a service is created with an appointment duration of 30 minutes, pre-buffer of 15 minutes, and a post-buffer of 15 minutes. When an appointment is booked, a time slot will be available only if a total duration of one hour is available for the staff member. In other words, pre-buffer + appointment duration + post-buffer.

Additionally, you can block buffer time in your calendar events along with appointment time. You can choose whether to include or exclude this buffer time.

Buffer time will not be visible to the customers during booking, it is only visible to the staff in the Bookings tool.  However, if the buffer time is also blocked in the calendar events, then the customers view the overall duration, including buffer time. 

Use Case   

A healthcare clinic faces challenges when certain patients exceed their appointment duration, and they'll have to request subsequent patients to wait. This might also prevent them from reviewing the medical history of upcoming appointments. To overcome this, they can implement buffer times, consisting of 15 minutes pre-buffer and 10 minutes post-buffer in each appointment. This change can lead to more smoother transitions between appointments and improve overall efficiency.  

Navigation Guide to Buffer Time

Steps to Add Buffer Time

You can add buffer time while creating a service.

1. Click Services on the Bookings menu bar, then click the add icon on the left pane. Choose the type of service.
   

2. The Add New Service window will appear. Select the Add buffer time checkbox under Duration.

3. Enter the time duration for Pre-buffer and Post-buffer. Click Add.
   

4. Add the other details for creating a service and click Save.
   

For existing services, you can add buffer time under the Service Information tab as mentioned in the next section.

Steps to Edit Buffer Time

1. Click Services on the menu bar. Select the required service on the left pane, then select Service Information in the middle pane.

2. On the right pane, click the edit icon next to Pre-buffer or Post-buffer and enter the required time. Click Save.
   
   
   
    

Steps to Remove Buffer Time

1. Click Services on the menu bar.

2. Select the required service on the left pane, then select Service Information in the middle pane.

3. On the right pane, click the edit icon next to Pre-buffer or Post-buffer and select zero mins. Click Save. Appointments scheduled before the removal of buffer time will follow the old buffer duration set at the time of booking. 

Things to Know

• Include buffer time in calendar events

• Include buffer time in Notifications

• View buffer time

Include Buffer Time in Calendar Events

If you are adding your appointments to any external calendar, you can choose whether to include or exclude buffer time to the calendar event.

To do this: 

1. Go to the Service Information tab.

2. Set the toggle Include Buffer Time in Calendar Events to Yes. This will block the calendar event along with the buffer times.
   

Please note that the customer will also receive the event with buffer time. For example, if the pre-buffer is 15 minutes, appointment duration is 1 hour, the post-buffer is 15 minutes, and the appointment is from 10 - 11am, then an event will be created from 9.45am - 11.15am.

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Note: By default, the toggle Include Buffer Time in Calendar Events will be set to No, which means buffer time will not be added to your calendar events.

Info: The behavior before the release of pre-buffer (i.e 06-Dec-2023) is adding the buffer time to calendar events, so all the services created before the above date will have this toggle set as Yes. You can change it according to your requirement.

Include Buffer Time in Notifications

You can include buffer times in the email and SMS notifications sent to the staff. Use the variables pre_buffer and post_buffer as shown below.

Please note that these variables will not be available for customer's notifications. 

View Buffer Time

Buffer time can be viewed in the Calendar View and Appointment Summary.

Points to Note 

• Each service can have its own buffer time.

• When a buffer time is edited, the appointments made before editing follows the old buffer time and the appointments made after the editing follows the new buffer time.

• Buffer time is not applicable for group booking services.

Related Topics

• Adding one-on-one service

• Adding resource booking services

• Collective booking service