Requires EspoCRM v9.0.
Available in the Meeting Scheduler extension.
With the Meeting Scheduler tool you can create online pages where contacts can book meetings with CRM users. Contacts can choose from time slots when the host is available. The scheduler configuration can help avoid meeting overload. You can also set up automated meeting distribution among multiple hosts.
In this article:
- Access
- General
- Setting up
- Overrides
- Questions
- One-time links
- Requests
- Round-robin host distribution
- Zoom integration
- Microsoft Teams integration
Access to Meeting Schedulers and Meeting Requests are controlled by roles.
An administrator can allow regular users to create and edit scheduler pages by setting needed access levels for the Meeting Scheduler scope.
There's a possible configuration where a Meeting Scheduler is managed by one user but requests are distributed to other users. To be able to access Meeting Requests where a user is a host, the user should have the Meeting Scheduler scope enabled. Setting the action levels for the scope is not required – they all can be set to 'no'.
The Meeting Scheduler Hosts scope allows users to configure schedulers that distribute meetings to other users.
The system uses the parameter Free/Busy Entity List when determining busy time slots. This parameter is available under: Administration > Settings.
!!! note
An attendee is required to fill in the email address when booking a meeting.
You can access the Meeting Schedulers list view from the navbar. There, you can create a new Meeting Scheduler.
It's also possible to access Meeting Schedulers from the Meeting's list view.
The name field will be used for meeting names and for the page title of the scheduling page.
If a scheduler is not set as Active, the scheduling page will be unaccessible.
The Date Start and Date End fields allow to set a period during which the scheduling page is functional.
The description does not play any role other than of a description text for a user who view the scheduler.
Specify meeting duration options an invitee can pick from.
The granularity of time slots available for scheduling meetings.
The amount of time automatically reserved before a meeting starts to prevent back-to-back scheduling.
The amount of time automatically reserved after a meeting ends to prevent back-to-back scheduling.
The shortest amount of time that must pass between the moment a meeting is scheduled and its start time.
How far in the future a meeting can be scheduled.
As of v1.1.
Maximum number of meetings that can be scheduled in a day. If more than the specified number are scheduled via the form, the day will be excluded from availability.
A meeting won't be created until the request is approved by the host. The primary host can approve requests.
If a meeting request is created by an invitee that already exists in the CRM as a Contact, then the approval step will be skipped. The email address is used to find a matching Contact.
If checked, then while a request is created but still is unapproved, it won't affect the host's availability. Multiple requests on the same time slots are possible in this case.
A meeting won't be created until the request is confirmed by the invitee. The invitee will receive an email asking for confirmation. They can also cancel the request from the email.
If a meeting request is created by an invitee that already exists in the CRM as a Contact, then the confirmation step will be skipped. The email address is used to find a matching Contact.
If checked, then while a request is created but still is unconfirmed, it won't affect the host's availability. Multiple requests on the same time slots are possible in this case.
A period during which the invitee can confirm the request. After its expiration, the request will be marked as Expired.
If checked, then an email invitation will be sent to the invitee upon meeting creation. The email invitations functionality is an out-of-the-box feature of EspoCRM. The email template can be configured under Administration > Template Manager > Invitation · Meeting.
The invitee can accept or decline the meeting from the invitation email.
Specify the external service that will be used for online meetings. See below about the Zoom integration.
If checked, an invitee won't be able to specify an email address of free email providers. Such as gmail.com, outlook.com, etc. They will be asked to use their work email address.
Selected Target Lists will be used as blocklists. If an invitee uses an email address that matches the email address of any target of the selected Target List, they won't be able to create a request.
The description text that will be added to the meeting record.
Here you need to specify the availability schedule.
The Schedule field defines time ranges of the general day schedule. Below, specify available weekdays. For each weekday, it's possible to define a custom day schedule. For example, on Friday you can have a shorter working day.
The Time Zone defines the time zone of the configured schedule. Only this time zone is taken into account for the availability schedule. The user's time zone and the system default time zone have no effect here.
If checked, the working time of a host will be taken into account in their availability. For example, if a host is on day-off, they won't be available in the scheduler.
The Working Time Calendar is the out-of-the-box feature in EspoCRM.
Note that it's possible to override the availability schedule for specific day ranges and for specific hosts. See below about overrides.
Here you configure the scheduling page (form). The form URL will be generated after the Meeting Scheduler record is created. You can also re-generate the form URL. After re-generating, the form won't be accessible by the previous URL.
Choose the language that will be used on the scheduling form. You can edit labels for the needed language under Administration > Label Manager > Meeting Scheduler, Meeting Request.
It's possible to include the scheduling form in an inline frame element (iframe) on a website. You need to specify the host of the website you are going to include the form on.
Enables ReCaptcha for the form. To be able to use Captcha, you need to configure it under Administration > Integrations.
The text will be displayed on the scheduling page at the top.
If specified, once an invitee submits the form, they will be redirected to the specified URL.
The meetingSchedulerRequest URI parameter with the request ID will be appended to the URL. This allows to retrieve the request data (for software developers).
The text that will be displayed to an invitee once they submitted the form.
If not checked, the form won't be accessible by the form URL.
Here you can specify hosts and configure their distribution.
If no hosts are specified, then meetings will be assigned to the assigned user of the Meeting Scheduler record.
Only users who have the Meeting Scheduler Hosts scope enabled in their roles can edit the Hosts section.
More information about host distribution is available in the Round-Robin section below.
Designate hosts that should always attend a meeting. If at least one of the fixed hosts is not available at a specific time, it won't be possible to schedule a meeting then.
One of the fixed hosts is designated as primary. Meetings will be assigned to the primary host.
It's possible to have no fixed hosts.
Rotating hosts are automatically picked by a specific round-robin algorithm. If at least one rotating host is available at a specific time, the time slot is treated as available for scheduling.
It's possible to have multiple rotating hosts picked per meeting. A meeting cannot be scheduled if the number of available hosts is fewer than the specified number.
If the value is not specified, it's treated as one – only one rotating host will be picked.
Overrides allow to change scheduling for a specific date period. There are two types of overrides: Not Available and Available.
An override can be associate with a specific user (host). If the host is not specified, the override is applied to the entire scheduler.
By default, there are two mandatory fields on the scheduling form: Name and Email Address. It's possible to add additional custom question.
Available field types:
- String
- Text
- Enum
- Checkbox
- Checklist
- Phone
- Number
- Decimal
Questions can be set as required or optional. It's possible to specify a tooltip text for specific questions. Certain questions can be inactivated.
An attendee's answers to the questions will be available in the Meeting Request record. They will be also added to the meeting's description.
One-time links are useful when you don't want to share your main scheduler page to avoid unwanted meetings. You can send a one-time link to a specific customer, allowing them to book a meeting with you.
- Once a link is consumed, it's not available anymore.
- Optionally, you can set an expiration date and time for a link.
- A link can be associated with a specific Contact or Lead. In this case the created meeting will be automatically associated with that contact regardless of what email address the attendee specified. On the scheduling form, the email address will be pre-filled with the contact's email address.
Note that one-time links function even if the Form URL is deactivated.
Once an invitee filled in the scheduling form a Meeting Request is created. The request is assigned to the primary host of the meeting. If neither approval nor confirmation are required, the request will be set as Completed. Otherwise, it will be set as Pending.
Requests can be approved and canceled by the request assignee, the scheduler assignee, and users who have edit access to the scheduler.
Meetings requests can be accessed from navbar. The My Meeting Requests dashlet can be added on the dashboard.
Unconfirmed requests expire. The expiry period is defined by the scheduler's configuration.
On the Meeting Request detail view you can view the attendee's answers to the questions.
!!! note
Host distribution can be configured only by users who have the Meeting Scheduler Hosts scope enabled in their roles.
There are two distribution methods available:
- Priority-Least-Recent
- Balanced
Available hosts with the highest priority are picked. Among them, the one that has been scheduled least recently is chosen.
There are three priority levels for hosts: Low, Medium, and High.
You can view and edit hosts selection orders by clicking View Rotating Hosts next to the Edit button.
A host assigned to the Contact will receive the priority boost. This value defines the number of priority steps to increase.
The available host with the fewest past selections adjusted by weight is chosen.
You can view and edit hosts' weights and selection numbers by clicking View Rotating Hosts next to the Edit button.
Weight can be an arbitrary number. A host with a weight of 100 will receive twice as many meetings as a host with a weight of 50.
A host assigned to the Contact will receive the specified weight boost.
Use this parameter if you want to give priority to a contact's assignee.
Hosts that were selected more than the average, exceeding the specified threshold, will be excluded from availability. Weights are taken into account in calculation.
Use this parameter if you don't want having hosts who received substantially more meetings than other hosts.
The Zoom integration is available as a separate extension.
With the Zoom integration installed, Zoom is available as an option in the Online Location field of a Meeting Scheduler record. To be able to select the Zoom location, users need to have access to the Zoom Meetings scope in their roles.
When a meeting is created through the scheduler, a Zoom meeting is automatically created in the meeting assignee's Zoom account. The Join URL is stored in the Espo meeting.
The integration with Microsoft Teams is implemented in the Outlook Integration extension.
With the extension installed, the Microsoft is available as an option in the Online Location field of a Meeting Scheduler record. To be able to select the Microsoft location, users need to have access to the Outlook Calendar scope in their roles. They also need to be connected to Outlook in their External Account settings and to have the Calendar checkbox enabled. Note that the sync direction can be set to any value including None.
When a meeting is created through the scheduler, a Microsoft meeting is automatically created in the meeting assignee's calendar. The Join URL is stored in the Espo meeting.