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An Appointment record is used
to store appointment information, including the appointment description, the type
of appointment, the resources used in the appointment (such as an inside
location), the appointment date, and the beginning and ending times of
the appointment. From this record, you can also set the color that the
appointment type will display on the Calendar.
You can also open the associated clientor sessionrecord by using
the tools in the View group of
the ribbon. The Linkage group
of the ribbon contains options to link (or re-link) an appointment as
well as to convert an appointment to a session. Double-clicking on any
existing appointment on the Calendar
will open the appointment.

Appointment Menu and Ribbon #

Appointment Menu #

• Menu button
  – The Menu button will show
  an icon based on the type of record it is. For the appointment
  record, it has a calendar icon. You can click on the icon and
  see some of the menu choices there like Save,
  Save &
  Close,
  Save & New, Delete,
  Payment Methods,
  and Close Form.
  There may be some other choices in that menu depending on some of
  the optional components of Spectra.

• Quick Access
  bar – If you opened the record from a hub, there will be gray
  arrows to select the next or previous record from that list.

• Title bar
  – Once a record has been saved, it will show “Appointment
  -“ followed by the name of the client.

• Notification
  area and Help button – Just under the title bar to the far
  right, you will see flashing notification lights if there is something
  about the client that warrants special attention. Click Help
  to get online help for this window.  

Appointment Ribbon #

Many of the same features available through the drop-down menus are
also available here on the toolbar. If you’re not sure what a certain
button is for, hold your cursor over the button and wait for a tool tip
to be displayed.

Home Tab #

Contains the File, Print,
Clipboard, View Groups,
and Options. There may also be some other groups added when some
other components of Spectra are activated.

File Group #

• Save –
  Simply saves the current record.

• Save & Close
  – Saves the record and closes the appointment record window.

• Save & New
  – Saves the record and opens a new, blank record to create another
  appointment record. If this was a linked appointment, it will create
  a new linked appointment for that client. Otherwise, the new appointment
  will be an unlinked appointment.

• Delete Appointment
  – Deletes the open appointment record. Note that this will also delete
  any advanced calendar events PERMANENTLY.

• Client Image
  – For convenience, the first image imported into the first session
  for a client will be saved as the main client image. You can change
  or import a new one by clicking on this button. You can also import
  a new image by clicking on the headshot icon below. See also: Capturing Images.

Print Group #

• Print Confirmation
  – Print a confirmation that can be mailed to a client with all the
  details of the appointment. .

• Preview Confirmation
  – Preview the confirmation before printing.

• Export Confirmation
  – Export the confirmation as an Adobe PDF. You can also choose other
  electronic formats like text, rich text (RTF), Excel file, or even
  HTML.

• Mailing Label
  – Print a mailing label showing the clients name and address for this
  client.

• Account Label
  – Print a file label with the client’s name, address, phone number
  and client number.

• Custom Reports
  – If you have imported a custom report that can be used from an appointment
  record, you can print, preview or export it to PDF with this button.
  See Custom
  Reports for more information on what kind of reports can be used
  with the appointment.

Clipboard Group #

• You can Paste
  information that you copied or cut from another location or program
  into a single field. You can also Cut
  or Copy text from a single
  field for use elsewhere.

• Special Copy
  – Copies the client information laid out for use in another program.
  The mailing label will be
  copied with the first and last name on the first line, company name
  on the next line (if there is one), address line 1 on the next line,
  address 2 on the next line (if there is one), city, state and zip
  on the next line, and finally the country (if there is one) on the
  last line. The account label
  will have all of the same information, but have the last name first
  on the name line and include lines with home phone and client number.
  You can then paste the text into a different label program, word processing
  document, or any other program where you might need the information
  laid out in that manner.

View Group #

Note: This group will not be displayed for
unlinked appointments.

• Client
  – Open the linked client record with a click of this button.

• Session
  – If this appointment is also linked to a session, click to open the
  session record.

Linkage Group #

• Link –
  Click to link the appointment to an existing client or to re-link
  the appointment to a different client.

• Convert to Session
  – Convert a linked appointment
  to a session. Spectra will copy the appointment information into a
  new session and leave the session record open for additional modification.
  The original appointment will be deleted. Note:
  To convert an unlinked appointment to a session, you must first link
  it to a client.

Options Group #

• Reminder
  – Set a reminder and how long before the appointment to get it.

• Recurrence
  – (only available for an unlinked appointment) Clicking this button
  will cause a Recurring tab
  to appear. See more information below.

• Color
  – Choose the color of the appointment if you would like to change
  it. If you set an appointment type, the color will be taken from that
  type.

Communication tab #

 Phone Calls Group #

• New Call
  – By default, a new call record will be created and have it’s due
  date set to today, but no completed date is set. You can use the call
  today or change the due date in the future.

• Completed Call
  – Creates a call record that has it’s due and completed date set to
  today.

• Dial Phone
  – If you have a TAPI compliant phone system connected to this computer,
  you can use this button to have Spectra automatically dial any of
  the client’s phone numbers.

Messages Group #

• New SMS Text
  – Use this command to create a new SMS text message
  or merge the client information into a form letter send it directly
  to the client.

• New Email
  – Use this command to merge the client information into a form letter
  or custom report and automatically attach it to an email that can
  be sent directly to the client. You would need to have the client’s
  email address entered in the record and email set up on the computer
  you are working on. See also: Workstation
  Preferences – Email

• Completed Email
  – Click on this button to open a form to record information from client
  email that you received or sent outside of Spectra and want to record
  the details for reference later.

Letters Group #

• Print Letter
  – Use this to merge the client and appointment information into a
  form letter and print it.

• Preview Letter
  – If you Preview a Form Letter
  you can modify the text before you print it.

• Export Letter
  – Export the letter as an Adobe Reader PDF. You can also choose other
  electronic formats like text, rich text, Excel file, or even HTML
  formats.

• Mailing Label
  – Print a mailing label showing the clients name and address for this
  client.

• Account Label
  – Print a file label with the client’s name, address, phone number
  and client number.

• Special Copy
  – Copies the client information laid out for use in another program.
  The mailing label will be copied with the first and last name on the
  first line, company name on the next line (if there is one), address
  line 1 on the next line, address 2 on the next line (if there is one)
  City, State and Zip on the next line and finally the country (if there
  is one) on the last line. The account label will have
  all of the same information, but have the last name first on the name
  line and include lines with home phone and client number. You can
  then paste the text into a different label program, word processing
  document, or any other program where you might need the information
  laid out in that manner.

Notes Group #

•  View All
  – Show all notes related to the appointment, including client notes,
  invoice notes, etc.

Appointment Detail Section #

General Tab #

The General tab lists the description
and type of appointment, the resources used in the appointment, the appointment
date and the beginning and ending times of the appointment. You can edit
the color in which the different appointment types display on the Calendar.

Client Information Section #

The Client
information section holds general client information such as client name,
phone numbers, and call warnings, only if this appointment is linked to
a client.

Use the Google Maps icon  to
view the address location. 

Appointment Information Section #

The Appointment
information section holds all of the appointment specific information.

• Description
  – An appointment description provides information on why you set up
  the appointment. It could be something such as “wedding consultation
  with Bill and Sue to finalize session time.”

• Type –
  An appointment type would be something such as “lunch appointment.”
  You can either type in the appointment type or choose it from the
  drop-down box. The drop-down box can be edited from Studio
  Preferences > Scheduling. Appointment types that are typed
  in are not added to the drop-down list. This information is displayed
  on the Calendar hub.

• User –
  The user is the staff person with whom the appointment is made.

• Location
  – The location field indicates where the appointment is to be held
  such as the “consultation room.” Choose this field from the drop-down
  box. This selection is stored as the appointment Resource. This field can be used in form letters, filters, the column chooser, and more.

• Date –
  The appointment date is the date on which the appointment is to take
  place. You can type in the appointment date or choose it from the
  mini calendar.

• Start Time
  – The appointment start time is when the appointment begins. You can
  type in the appointment start time or choose it from the drop-down
  box.

• End Time
  – The appointment end time indicates when the appointment ends. You
  can type in the appointment end time or choose it from the drop-down
  box.

• Color
  – Clicking on the color drop-down button brings up a color pallet.
  From this point, just click on the color you want the appointment
  background to be displayed in on the Calendar
  hub. You can also design your own custom colors.

• Booked By
  – The Spectra user that booked this appointment.

• Booked On
  – The date this appointment was booked or created.

• Appointment Status – The current status of the appointment and the date it is due to advance to the next status. See also: Appointment Statuses

• Reminder
  – Check the Reminder box if
  you want Spectra to pop up a reminder on the screen before the appointment
  starts. Select the number of minutes before the appointment starts
  that you want the reminder to appear.

• All Day Event
  – Check the All Day Event
  box if this appointment should last all day.

• Confirmed
  – Check the Confirmed box
  if this appointment has been confirmed with the client. Doing so will
  show the word ‘Confirmed’ on the calendar next to this appointment. The software will also automatically store the date the appointment was confirmed. The Date Confirmed field can be used in form letters, filters, the column chooser and more.

• No Show
  – Check the No Show box if
  the client doesn’t show up for the appointment. This appointment will
  be flagged as a no show for future reference.

• Cancelled
  – Check the Cancelled box
  if the appointment is canceled. The appointment stays in the system
  but does not show up on the calendar so you can book other appointments
  in that time slot.

• Use Advanced
  Calendar Options – This option allows you to select multiple
  time/date, user, and resource combinations for more advanced scheduling.
  See the Advanced Scheduling – Calendar
  tab section below for more information.

Custom Tab #

Enter custom information about the client that is not already stored within the database. See also: Custom Labels and Lists

Notes Tab #

Appointment notes – This is
a memo field where you can enter any notes regarding an appointment. You
can use Ctrl+T to enter a date
and time stamp into the notes field that includes the initials of the
logged in user. You can also check the spelling by clicking the button
labeled ABC. 

Status notes – Spectra/Stratus automatically
enters status log notes as a read-only field that displays a history of
the statuses for this appointment. A new entry will automatically be created
when the appointment status changes, when the appointment date or time
changes, who confirmed the appointment, when a group email or text message
is sent, or when a group of form letters are printed. 

Click Print These Notes to print
the appointment notes on your appointment confirmations.

Advanced Scheduling – Calendar Tab #

(Available only when the Advanced
Calendar Options
is checked)

The Advanced
Scheduling feature allows you to create multiple time/date user
and resource combinations for one appointment. This will allow you to
create an appointment that has multiple days, users or resources. On appointments
using the Advanced Scheduling
the initial time, date and photographer are designated as the primary
event. The primary event is the time, date and user that Spectra uses
for all reports and cannot be deleted later.

1. On the appointment General
   tab click the Use Advanced Scheduling.

2. A new Calendar
   tab will appear.

3. The Calendar
   tab will list the primary event. This primary record is used to determine
   the primary time and date.

4. Click on a new line to begin another event.

5. Enter the description, the date, start and end
   time. The Hide checkbox will
   prevent this specific event from showing on the calendar.

6. Check off the users, resources and outside locations
   that will be included on this event. Users will show their initials
   instead of their full name.

7. You can sort this table on any of the column headers.
   Click on the button at the start of the line to delete an event line
   from the table.

8. Click Save
   on the main session toolbar. These session events will now appear
   on the corresponding calendars for the users and resources.

Recurring Tab #

(Available only on unlinked appointments
when the Recurrence button is
selected on the ribbon.)

The Recurring tab allows you
to set an unlinked appointment to repeat according to a pattern you can
set on this tab.

• Appointment time
  – Depending on how you created this appointment, the desired start
  time, end time and duration may already be filled in. Select the All Day Event if you want the appointment
  to cover all of the time slots in a day.

• Recurrence pattern
  – Set whether you want this appointment to repeat daily, weekly, monthly,
  or yearly.

• Daily
  – If you want the appointment to occur every day, leave it at
  1. If you want it set for every other day, change the number to
  2, and so on. If you only want the appointment to occur on weekdays
  (Monday through Friday), set the option for every weekday.

• Weekly
  – Just like the daily option, you can leave it at one to occur
  every week, or higher numbers to skip weeks. You can also set
  which day(s) of the week the appointment should occur by the pattern
  set above.

• Monthly
  – Set the appointment for a specific day of the month or relative
  to the day placement in the month. Note that if you set the recurrence
  to the 29th, 30th, or 31st, the appointment will occur on the
  last day of any month that has fewer days.

• Yearly
  – Like monthly, you can set the appointment for a specific day
  or relative to the day’s place in a certain month.

Editing Recurring Appointments #

Once a recurring appointment is saved, it will show on the calendar
for each occurrence. If you double-click on one, you will be prompted
if you want to open the one occurrence or the whole series. For example,
if your monthly golf game gets moved one time, choose the occurrence.
Any changes will not be reflected in the rest of the series. However,
if they are moving you to a different time or day slot every month, choose
the series.

Using Recurrence with Advanced Scheduling #

 If you want to include more than one user or resource, you can
use advanced scheduling to add them. However, you will not be able to
add any more advanced calendar events to the Calendar
tab. For example, if you want to include everyone in your studio and a
room used for lunch, you can use the advanced calendar event to include
them all. However, if you wanted to use the same crew and room for an
afternoon break as well, you would need to create a different recurring
appointment for that.