Define what can be booked
List services, duration, required people or resources, breaks and buffers between slots. A displayed opening must correspond to real capacity. Check exceptional hours, relevant time zones and the point at which a slot is held during entry.
Prepare a small matrix: ordinary booking, last free slot, two people attempting the same slot, unavailable service and an out-of-hours request. For each, write the expected result for the visitor and in the team calendar. The form guide helps keep requested information proportionate.
- Capacity and duration documented.
- Slot conflicts tested.
- Named owner for hours and closures.
Follow the request through confirmation
Start from a service page and complete a booking on a phone, then with keyboard navigation. Check slot selection, summary, any fees, required fields and the message after submission. If payment is required, test acceptance, refusal and abandonment separately; a success screen alone does not prove payment was received.
Compare the customer confirmation, the booking saved for the team and internal notifications. They should describe the same service, date, status and route to correct a mistake. Do not call a booking confirmed if human approval is still required.
- Matching status across the three places.
- Understandable confirmation.
- Failure without a falsely confirmed slot.
Plan for changes, cancellations and absence
Test a change that releases the old slot and occupies the new one, then a cancellation that returns capacity according to stated rules. A request arriving by phone or email must also reach the calendar. Check what both parties see when a change fails halfway through.
Use wording approved by the organisation for its commercial terms and show it before the decision. Do not imply that a cancellation message automatically means a refund. Provide an alternative contact route when the booking service is unavailable.
- Old and new slots stay consistent.
- Terms visible before confirmation.
- Fallback route known to the team.
Accept the daily operating work
Ask appointment managers to carry out ordinary tasks: open hours, close an absence, move an appointment, find an enquiry and review a busy day. Record any double entry or dependence on another tool; these are common sources of mistakes.
Before launch, assign monitoring for confirmations and failures, keep repeatable test scenarios and verify the first live booking with an authorised person. The prelaunch checklist covers the rest of the site.
- Manager trained with real cases.
- Failures visible and actionable.
- First production booking verified.