TekMetric Repeating Appointments User Manual

Updated 2/1/24

This page explains important features of the add-on system that allows you to create repeating appointments in TekMetric.

If you haven’t purchased the plugin yet, you can do so here. 

If you haven’t gone through the setup process yet, here are the instructions on how to do that.

In the following sections you will find what to expect, some limitations, and instructions on how to create a repeating event and how to stop one. Should you ever find the system not responding as expected, please contact support@theworkflowwiz.com.

Table of Contents

What to Expect

  • When the initial event is created for repeating, the program will create the repeating appointments at the set frequency out to two months from the date of the first appointment. After that, as time moves on, the repeating appointments will continue to be created to stay approximately two months ahead.
  • When you create a new repeating appointment or stop an existing one, there will be an email sent to the email on file notifying you of the fact.
  • The appointments in TekMetric are not actually repeating. They are each stand-alone appointments that mimic the effect of a repeating event in a Google Calendar. This means that if you alter or delete a single event in the series, it will have no effect on the other events in the series.
  • When you create a new appointment, there is a part where a frequency statement is typed into the description. It is vital that it is formatted, spelled, and spaced correctly as that information is read by a computer program that doesn’t understand typos. If you do happen to make an error, the event you created will change to red and the title will change to an error message letting you know it didn’t work.
  • When you stop the repeating appointment there is no way to “restart” it other than creating a new repeating appointment.
  • Likewise, if you wish to change the frequency or other details of the existing repeating appointment, you will need to simply stop the one that is currently running and start a new one with the new settings.

Limitations

As with any computer program, and especially when working with an API, there are limits to what kind of information can be passed and therefore what kind of functionality can be achieved. Here is a list of currently known limitations.

  • Since this is ultimately a work around, there will be no warnings or confirmation popups when you create or stop the appointments.
    • If it works, you will see the extra appointments appear within a minute.
    • If it did not work and it was a formatting error, the event you created will change to red and the title will change to “ERROR – Repeating Appointment Failed – ERROR”. You will then need to delete that event and try again. You will also get an email notification about the error.
    • If some other error occurs in the system, you will simply notice that it didn’t work after a few minutes. If this happens, contact support@theworkflowwiz.com as soon as you can with the details of the event you were trying to create.
  • The TekMetric API does not have the ability to set the Marketing Source of an appointment, therefore all appointments created this way will have that setting blank.
  • The TekMetric API also does not pass information on an employee assigned to an appointment. Therefore, repeating appointments will also be without an employee assigned.

How to Create a New Repeating Appointment

This operation will create the first appointment and all repeating appointments based on the set frequency out to two months from the date of the first appointment.

  1. Choose the date and time for the first appointment in the series and create a new appointment.
  2. Enter all the usual details like normal with ONE addition: Add the “frequency statement” at the beginning of the description block like this followed by three stars like this:

Frequency Statement

***

Whatever other notes you want.

Example: 

Frequency Statement Required Format

***It is vitally important the Frequency Statement is formatted, spaced, and spelled correctly.***

The key words “repeat every” at the beginning is what triggers the creation of the repeating event.

To repeat daily or more -> Type “repeat every X days“

This will repeat every X days at the same time as the original appointment.

Examples:
repeat every 1 day
repeat every 2 days
repeat every 4 days

**Note that the creation of a daily event may take up to a minute to populate the first time.

To repeat weekly or more -> Type “repeat every X weeks“

This will repeat every X weeks at the same time on the same day of the week as the original appointment.

Examples:
repeat every 1 week
repeat every 2 weeks
repeat every 4 weeks

To repeat monthly or more -> Type “repeat every X months“

This will repeat every month on the same date as the original appointment.

Examples:
repeat every 1 month
repeat every 3 months

To repeat monthly on a specific day of the week -> Type “repeat every X months on the NUMBER DAY“

This will repeat every x months on the specific day of the week desired, like the third Thursday, or the last Friday, etc.

NUMBER options: first, second, third, fourth, or last

DAY options: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday

Examples:
repeat every 1 month on the second Monday
repeat every 2 months on the first Friday
repeat every 1 month on the last Tuesday

How to Stop a Repeating Appointment

This operation will delete the selected appointment and all that follow, and will stop the appointment from being repeated again. This action cannot be undone.

  1. Select the appointment in the series that you wish to delete along with all the rest in the series.
  2. Edit the event.
  3. Change the TITLE of the event to “stop repeating”
  4. Save.

Note: Sometimes the event you changed the title on will not be deleted. Has to do with timing… If that happens, you can manually delete the event if it’s still there. 

Other Features

  • Shortcodes – These are specific things you can type into the description below the frequency statement that will turn into specific information when the repeating appointments are created.
    • {address} – This will turn into the attached customer’s address.
    • If you have others you would like added, let me know: support@theworkflowwiz.com
  • Error Messages – If an error occurs while processing the new repeating appointment, then the original appointment you created will turn red and display “ERROR – Repeating Appointment Failed – ERROR” to alert you. 
  • Notifications – The email attached to the plugin will receive an email whenever a new repeating appointment is created, when an existing repeating appointment is stopped, and whenever there is an error.