OP 21.3 - New Calendar Overview | Office Practicum Help Center

The content listed here is transitional documentation and is subject to change.

About

The Schedule Calendar is being refreshed! Whether you're a single-location or multi-location practice, you have a lot to look forward to. Don't wait until you're required to implement the new Calendar in 2024 to start taking advantage of all of the benefits that the improved Calendar has to offer - a new layout, colors, and features -- including a multi-location calendar that practices have been asking for. Practices currently have the option to:

Configure OP to switch to the new calendar and explore its features or
Take no action and continue using the current one until the new schedule is rolled out to everyone.

OP will be rolling out the New Calendar in Jan/Feb 2024! Your practice will receive an email with more information including your roll-out date. Print out our checklists for single or multi-location practices to be ready for the update!

We recommend attending one of our webinars, divided by and tailored for single- and multi-location practices. This more tailored education will help you learn about and navigate the new OP Calendar, as it applies directly to how your practice interacts with the Calendar in OP.

There are several dates and times available. Please see the Upcoming Webinars page to register!

Table of Contents:

Setup

If you choose to switch to using the new Calendar, you must manually turn it on. Please see this article on Setup Requirements to enable the updated Schedule (including using Appointment Zones), and, if your practice uses Slots to add Appointment Zones, this article for how to create a Schedule using Slots for Multi-Location with the new Calendar view.

CAUTION: In order to use multi-location mode you MUST have scheduled with APPOINTMENT ZONES. You can apply these Appointment Zones to provider schedules using Schedule Templates or Slots.

Failure to do so will result in issues, specifically around moving, adding, and viewing appointments.

Highlights

Some highlights include:

Single calendar view can contain multiple locations simultaneously.
Timeslot can contain the name of the zone for intended appointment types.
Wave-over hints make it easy to see full event details on crowded days without having to open the appointment.
In multi-location mode, both timeslots and appointments contain location name, to avoid confusion about what is happening where.

Other updates include:

Resource column limit (number of providers) increased from 15 to 75.
In multi-location weekly mode, providers can see their entire week at a glance, even if they are scheduled at more than one location.
Calendar fills and draws more efficiently, so we expect it will perform faster, even under higher loads.
In multi-location mode, administrators can monitor the entire practice at a glance and calculate slot usage/load factors.
While adding slots to a provider's schedule, you can specify the location.
Even with all these improvements and changes, core user operations have not changed. The same action buttons and context menus mean you don't have to learn new behaviors.

Visual Changes

Change	Details	New Calendar	Old Calendar
Appointment Symbols	The appointment Symbols now appear next to the appointment information rather than on top of the appointment information.
Tentative Appointment	When marking an appointment as tentative the side of the appointment will appear in stripes vs showing the question mark.
Column Headers	The columns in the new calendar show the provider's full name, the time and locations they will be at when using multi-location mode. Previously, just the ID and initials were displayed.
Non-Patient Notes	The steps to add non-patient notes have changed.	Right click in the time slot. Select Add Non-Patient Note. A text box appears. Click to type, then click the OK button.	Click in the time slot. Start typing.
Column Width	The new calendar offers more white space between provider schedule columns for better visibility.
Calendar/Tracking Tab	The new calendar has the Calendar and Tracking screen selection located on the left side of the window in the form of tabs for easier viewing and navigating.
Time Slot Selection	The new calendar indicates a time slot is selected by highlighting the selection in an off white color. Upon initial opening of the calendar the first time slot on the first listed provider will always be selected. As you navigate throughout the day this selection will change. A slot will always be selected allowing for you to quickly add an appointment by clicking the Add button.