Objective

Quickstream enables your organization to manage appointment flow by service and leverage Coconut in a capacity-based way.

This article shares use cases for Quickstream, key differences between Coconut with and without Quickstream, and some sample workflows for operationalizing Quickstream.

NOTE: Quickstream is an add-on feature. Please connect with your Customer Success contact to get started.

Why organizations use Quickstream

Quickstream is an alternative usage of the Coconut platform. It fundamentally shifts the focus of Coconut from being staff or location based to service based. While it is a less common usage of Coconut, organizations will choose to use Quickstream when they:

Want to staff for known peak appointment times
Need to limit appointment availability

Key differences: Coconut with Quickstream

With Quickstream, blocks are created that determine your organization’s availability when clients book online. These Quickstream blocks are what fundamentally shift the focus of the Coconut platform when using Quickstream.

This shift results in the following key differences:

Quickstream blocks override any non-appointment details added by staff to their calendars in Schedule
- For example, if a staff adds a busy block to their calendar that overlaps with a Quickstream block, there is no decrease to the number of available appointments that was set in the Quickstream block
- NOTE: An appointment booked through Schedule decreases the number of available appointments in the Quickstream block
Quickstream blocks override details added for locations in Hours
- For example, if a Quickstream block is created for a location and then a team event is scheduled at that location for part of the Quickstream block, there is no decrease to the number of available appointments that was set in the Quickstream block
- NOTE: If your organization uses Lobby, Quickstream blocks do not impact your locations’ ability to take walk-in appointments; a location’s walk-in availability is determined by the location’s business hours and adjustments
All meeting methods associated with a service will be available for online booking during a Quickstream block, regardless of whether a staff member is available to facilitate appointments using this meeting method
At least one staff member at the location needs to be assigned a service in order for that service to be available for online booking by clients

Working with Quickstream

When using Quickstream, appointments are booked unassigned. This can be helpful for locations with fluid schedules and workflows. Unassigned appointments display on the Dashboard as unassigned events, and are also accessible from Schedule when using the No staff assigned or All filters. As a result, branches operationalize Quickstream in the following ways:

Manager-assigned workflow

With a manager-assigned workflow, managers review appointments scheduled for that day from Schedule and assign them to staff working that day at their location as part of branch opening activities. The manager also reviews emails the location receives for same-day bookings and assigns these appointments to available staff using the same method.

To assign appointments from Schedule:

From the navigation menu, click Schedule
From the location dropdown, select your location
From the list of staff assigned to the location, select all staff working at that location that day and No Staff Assigned
Drag the appointments that display in the calendar for No Staff Assigned to working staff members’ calendars as per their availability and expertise