Available slots on the scheduler can be effected by multiple reasons, and some of the most common scenarios are:
You already have calls scheduled which is blocking your availability
You have event in the connected Google Calendar/s that is in status "busy"
Your availability does not match with the Event Time & Limits conditions
A rule has been applied in iClosed Automations → Rules
Here're the troubleshooting steps that will help you understand why your availability is blocked:
#1 - Check your Availability
Before we dive into detailed troubleshooting, let's doublecheck if your Availability in iClosed is properly set. Head to AI Scheduler → Availability to check following:
In the Active On dropdown, make sure the Event for which you are checking your time slots is available to be selected
Select the correct time zone from the "Time zone" dropdown
(usually correct time zone in Availability is time of your market, not necessarily your actual time zone. Learn more here)
If the first two are confirmed, check times set in your availability real quick:
Make sure that your availability for the days is set properly and the it is
Turned On for the day
Check start and end times (basically times when your working hours start and end)
If all is good, let's take the last step. Please check if the Date override has been set for a specific date.
In case it is, Date-specific availability is highest in the hierarchy and will override availability and event setup (learn more about date-specific availability here).
#2 - Troubleshoot Availability
If Availability is set up correctly, use the "Troubleshoot availability" feature for getting more precise information about slots blocked.
Navigate to AI Scheduler → Availability
Click on "Launch troubleshooter" button on top right of "Set Availability" pane
This will open a troubleshooter on the side.
Displaying for: By default All Events you participate in will be selected, but you can also select a specific event to narrow the search
Overview of your day on: Select the specific date you want to troubleshoot
Check the details: Below you will see the busy slots of the selected date and why they are busy.
On top you will see when your Day Starts according to time set in Availability
In the middle you will see busy slots
On bottom you will see when your Day Ends according to time set in Availability
Your busy slots source will be marked as follows:
iClosed: Slot is busy because of the "Scheduled Call" on iClosed. You can see the time, invitee and event
Calendar: Availability blocked by Google Calendar event. You can see the title of the event
Learn more
Admin/Sales manager have the option to troubleshoot availability of any of their users/hosts. Learn more about troubleshooting:
Alternatively, you can troubleshoot specific Event with iClosed Live Event troubleshooter (see how here).
#3 - Google Calendar
In case you've found that there's an event in your Google Calendar that is impacting your availability (tagged as "Calendar" in Availability troubleshooter, as explained above), follow next steps to change Google Calendar appointment status:
Locate the event in your Google Calendar and click on it
Click on the "Pencil" button to edit
make this event "Free", instead of busy
Hit "Save"
iClosed will then automatically count you as "available" for this particular time slot.
#4 - Check Event Time & Limits
Event Time & Limits options in event creation can affect your available slots in multiple ways. Here are potential scenarios:
Date Range
Example: If the date range of your event is set to 10 days, the available slots on the scheduler will be shown for the upcoming next 10 days only.
Durations of event
Example: If the duration of your event is 45 mins but the host is available for 30 mins only, such hosts will not be included in available slots.
Start time increments
Example: Call duration is set to 45 minutes, but start time increments have been set to 30 minutes. This would mean that the lead on the scheduler can select slots only on every 30 minutes, so every slot take will block off full hour from your scheduler.
Break buffers
Example: If you have break buffer added before and/or after a scheduled call, the extra time will be added, and the host will be marked as unavailable for that slot.
Set the limitations
Example: If the scheduling limit is set as "can not book within 24 hours", no slots will be shown to leads for 24 hours from the current time.
Example
Your total availability is 8 hours today and call duration is set for 30 mins (8am-4pm).
Buffer before the meeting is set to 5 minutes.
Buffer before the meeting is set to 5 minutes.
This would mean that according to your Event setup, every call booked will take 40 minutes, meaning that maximum number of calls you will be able to take today is
12 calls (in perfect case scenario).
The longer the buffer between and after calls is set, added to the Event time set, the less number of calls you will be able to have during the day.
If you add Start time increments into equation, and set that the lead can schedule a call on every 30 minutes, you will reduce potential number slots even more. For example:
Lead can schedule a call on every 30 minutes
Lead scheduled a call at 8:30am
Call duration with buffers included takes 35 minutes with buffer after the call, which affects next slot to be available at 9:30
To avoid this, set time increments to 15 minutes