In YCBM is it possible to allow only 40 minute meetings and only to start on the hour or half hour?
One of our departments is interested in YCBM but this is a requirement and it’s not clear to us that it can be done. Calendly apparently supports this.
Thank you,
Max
@max welcome to the Forum! Right now folks can use Custom Availability to control the start times they need each day. (Setting specific Start times) The challenge with offering 40 minutes is that everything is built around the grid display increment you have set. So by default with a 40 minute duration and increment you can only have start times every 40 minutes. If this is adjusted to 10 minutes that will allow start times at the top and half hour. Coupled with the Custom Availability times this will allow for more start times while having a 40 minute duration.
Our product team has been looking at scoping out a solution that will allow users to select a specific start time or internal (top and half hour) and a duration so make them separate. What other requirements do does your team need?
Hi @Ben. Thanks for the response. This is the primary requirement they could not achieve with YCBM currently. It’s good to know you guys are looking into it. I’m assuming you don’t have an ETA yet, but let me know when might be good timeframe to check back.
Cheers,
Max
@max no ETA as of yet, but our design and product team are mapping out all of this to expose the firction and explore new options. We will be sure to update you once we have more information.
Sounds good, thanks Ben.
Hi @Ben - checking in on this one again. Not sure what kind of demand you are seeing for this feature, but we still have at least one department that needs this.
Cheers,
Max
@max we have been working on building out some functionality that will have more options for controlling start times. This is currently blocked with a huge infrastructure change we are working on which is taking place now and hopefully will be wrapped up by the end of the year. From then that opens the gates for more improvements. I wish I had more definitive information for you.
Got it. Thanks for the update Ben.
I’m looking for something similar. I need 20 or 50-minute meetings to take place at the top of the hour. I run a conference where presenters book their time slots. Is there any progress in providing this type of customization?
@elemenous welcome to the Forum. This is a bit tricky. With Custom Availability you could set time blocks at the start of every hour to ensure the start times begin each hour. The challenge is offering a 20 minute and 50 minute duration in each of these blocks. If you set this up it would allow a 20 minute booking at 10, 20, 30 past the hour because the 20 minutes would be available. One option is to just have folks book an entire hour so then the bookings are always at the top of the hour. Then in the booking form you can have them select if they are 20 minutes or fifty minutes.
@Ben - I’m having a similar issue. I want to have 40 minute appointments, with fixed slots at 10:00, 10:40, 11:20; then a 1 hour break 12-1, then 40 minute appointments with fixed slots again in the afternoon starting immediately after the break, at 1:00, 1:40, 2:20, 3:00, 3:40. I looked at various articles/tutorials and tried different suggestions. A) If I set both the grid display and the appointment duration to 40 minutes, I have fixed appointment start times, but the afternoon appointments default to starting at 1:20. It continues to count time in 40 minute increments during the break time. B) When I set the grid display for 10 minutes and the appointment duration for 40 minutes, the afternoon appointments now start at 1:00, but the appointment times are no longer fixed (ie someone could book 10:10-10:50, which I don’t want.) C) One of the tutorials I looked at suggested creating custom time slots on my linked calendar, for the specific slots I need (10:00, 10:40, 11:20, 1:00, 1:40, etc.). That did work, but at this point I might as well just be using my external calendar for my appointments!
Is there a way that YCBM can exclude the 1 hour break from the 40 minute pattern of appointments? If that could be configured, then option A would work. Or is there another workaround?
@ctinsley welcome to the Forum! The only way to accomplish this would be the Custom Availability route (option C), since your break time is not in an even 40 minute block. Having a booking page is a better experience for your bookers and you can control the notifications, gather specific information with the form.
This rigid grid concept will soon be a thing of the past. The team is working on more flexibility with controlling these start times and duration to be more customizable.
Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately it looks like YCBM won’t work for my needs right now because of the rigid grid structure. Maybe in the future, once your team has more customization options available!
Hello Ben,
When will this rigid grip concept will be a thing of the past ?
Our team also need that kind a flexibility on exclatly the same issue.
Cheers
@MPoupi early next week we will have a beta release of Calendar Layout which will allow for more start time intervals. I will let you know once it is released.
