Appointments & Scheduling · How-to guide

Create or receive an external contact appointment

Understand how a public or client booking becomes an external appointment associated with contact details and a pending or approved workflow.

Audience: Customers, visitors and staff who approve appointmentsFeature: External appointmentModule v1.3.6

Feature pathPublic booking form / Client portal > Book appointment

Before you beginThis guide follows the supplied Britixo Appointments & Scheduling module version 1.3.6. The relevant access is Public booking access or customer Appointments permission. A menu, button, provider, time slot or client action can remain hidden when the signed-in user lacks the required permission, the module setting is disabled, the related record is in an ineligible state, or availability validation rejects the request.

What this feature does

Understand how a public or client booking becomes an external appointment associated with contact details and a pending or approved workflow. It uses Britixo's permission-aware appointment, availability, status and integration flow rather than an unconnected diary entry.

How the module flow works

The public controller validates the submitted service, provider, date, time, availability, contact data, terms and optional reCAPTCHA before creating the record.

External source identifies a booking initiated outside the staff create form; the contact may be a logged-in customer or supplied visitor details according to configuration.

After creation, the record follows the configured approval, notification, calendar and optional invoice rules.

Step-by-step workflow

Open the published booking form or the client portal booking action.
Select an active service and available provider.
Choose an offered date and time slot.
Complete contact, subject, description, location, terms and verification fields.
Submit and use the returned appointment link or portal page to review the booking.

Important fields and decisions

External sourceMarks the booking as created through a public or client-facing flow.

Contact detailsIdentify the person making the booking and support notifications.

Availability tokenRepresents a slot revalidated during submission.

Initial statusFollows the module's external booking and approval configuration.

What happens after completion

After this workflow completes, Britixo keeps the appointment and its supported relationships connected. Reopen the appointment and verify the saved status, date, timezone, customer or lead, service, provider, attendees, reminder state, calendar or meeting reference, invoice reference and history that apply to this feature. External email, SMS, Google, Microsoft or payment outcomes must be checked separately from the Britixo database save.

Open the saved appointment and confirm the final status and source.
Check the participant, provider, timing and timezone from the full detail page.
Review the relevant table filter, calendar, history, report or linked invoice instead of relying only on a success message.

Controls, checks and common mistakes

A displayed slot can become unavailable before submission and must be revalidated.
Guest details should be checked before staff approval.
Do not assume an external booking has an invoice unless all automatic invoice conditions are met.
Use the least destructive correction and retain the appointment history when the booking existed operationally.
Never bypass a permission, availability, approval, client-access or verification control by changing an unrelated route or setting.

Scheduling and data safetyAppointment changes can notify customers, reserve provider time, update remote calendars, create meeting links or invoices and alter reports. Confirm the exact record, timezone, status and recipients before saving.

Browse connected topics:appointment booking form client portal customers approval invoice payment check report scheduling service provider availability reminders

Was this guide helpful?