4.12. Overbooking

Overbooking for spay/neuter occurs when the number of animals scheduled exceeds either:

• The species/sex capacity set for that day, or
• The overall maximum capacity (total appointments for the day).

Because of its impact on scheduling and patient flow, overbooking is an important area for clinics to manage carefully.

E-Appointments and Overbooking

HQ’s scheduling engine prevents overbooking by only offering clients dates and times that have available capacity.

Key concept: As soon as a client submits an online appointment request, the system reserves the spot immediately, even if you have not yet confirmed the request. This ensures no chance of overbooking.

Example scenario:

• Daily capacity = 20.
• All 20 spots are filled, and you receive a pending e-appointment request.
• That request already counts as one of the 20. ** If you confirm the request → the count stays at 20. ** If you cancel/decline the request → the count drops to 19, reopening the spot.

✅ Pro Tip: In the Spay/Neuter Calendar, click Tiles (top right) and check E-Apps. This shows how many pending e-appointment requests exist for each day.

Internal Scheduling and Overbooking

Capacity Full Warning

When scheduling internally, if capacity has been reached for a species/sex/size, a red banner warning will appear. The banner indicates how many animals are already booked in that category.

Manual Overbooking

Manual overbooking is not recommended and should only be approved by a clinic manager or veterinarian.

• Manual overbooking can only be done when scheduling internally.
• To override capacity, select Create the appointment(s) even if the day is overbooked (bottom of the last step in appointment scheduling).

Issues from Intentional Overbooking

When you overbook a specific capacity, you may unintentionally block open spots in other categories from appearing online.

Example:

• Daily capacity = 10 female cats + 10 male cats (20 total).
• Clinic approves overbooking → 12 female cats + 8 male cats (still 20 total).
• Although male cat slots remain open, the system sees the max capacity of 20 reached and removes the day from online booking.

How to Fix This:

To keep the remaining male cat slots available online:

1. Go to the Spay/Neuter Calendar and select the date.
2. Choose Adjust capacity for today only.
3. Increase the overbooked category (e.g., change female cats from 10 → 12).

• Your total is now 12/12 female cats + 8/10 male cats = 20/22 total. #_ Since the overall max capacity (22) is not yet reached, the two male cat slots will remain available online.

Adjusting Capacity

If you have room in one category but are full in another, you can make micro-adjustments for that day.

Steps:

1. Open the Spay/Neuter Calendar.
2. Click the date you want to adjust.
3. Select Adjust capacity for today only.
4. Decrease capacity in one category and increase it in another.

Example: The male dog category has unfilled spots, but you want to add a small female dog. Decrease the male dog capacity and increase the small female dog capacity to allow for the appointment.