Setting up Time Selection

How to set up time selection

In order to setup time selection on a Project, the Time Selection functionality first needs to be enabled on your account. In order to enable it on your account, please contact the Helpdesk.

Adding Time Selection to your project

Once the Time Selection functionality is enable on your account, while booking a new Realtime Project you will see the field Time Selection with two drop down options - Use Time Selection and Do Not Use Time Selection. 

You need to make a decision whether you want to use this functionality or not right at the time of booking the Project. Once the Project is booked you cannot make changes to the Time Selection field. 

For full details on how to book projects click here: Booking a Realtime project

After Booking the Project with Time Selection

After choosing the option Use Time Selection while booking the project, when you enter the Project, you will land up on the Activities page. 

On the Activities page in your project there will be two sections - Available Slots and Activities.   

Any time slot added to the project that has not yet been selected/ claimed by a participant will appear in the Available Slots  area. 
Any time slot that has been chosen/ claimed by at least one participant will show up in the Activities area.

How to add time slots

To add a new time slot that participants can choose from, click the Add button in the Available Slots or Activities section (both actions will put it into the Available Slots area until a participant chooses it as a time slot).  If you choose the Available Slots option to add the time slots, you will be able to add multiple activities at a time.

On selecting the Add button in the Available Slots section, the Add Real-Time Activities page will open. Select the type of activity that you want to add (whether its Phone IDI, Realtime (Text) or Realtime (Video).

When adding an activity you can enter an Activity Name (this name is not seen by the participants), the number of participants allowed to sign up for the activity, the Start Date, and Estimated Duration.

Once an activity is in this list, you will also be able to use the copy button to copy the activity.  Copied activities in this area do respect the estimated duration and automatically adjust the timing on your start date of the new copied activity. This time can be adjusted as needed. Click Save when done.

Once your available slots are added, you can edit, adjust settings, assign users, copy, or delete using the buttons on the right-hand side.  Items in the Available Slots list will be greyed out - this is normal.

Available Slots Settings

There are some overall settings that you can add at a project level for your time slots.  To do so, click the Edit Settings button. You should see the following page:

Send Email Notifications For All Activity Assignments - if selected, emails will be sent to all moderators and project managers when a time slot is selected with details.

Establish Project Level Quota For the Number of Time Slots That Can Be Claimed - This setting establishes project level quotas that will limit the number of time slots that can be claimed. By setting a "total number of activities allowed" value, you are able to control the total number of booked activities within a project. Once the quota is reached, participants will no longer see a full list of available time slots, however they will be able to register as standby participants for any of the booked activities that have already been created.

Note that this does not look at actual completes just does not present time slots to participants after a certain number of time slots are filled.

Participant Standby Invitation - In cases where time slots are all filled or a time slot that someone wants is not available, they can choose to join an already filled activity as a standby participant. An invitation email template outlining the next steps per your recruit process can be set up here.

For details on what the participants see during this process, the following article can be referenced: What participants can expect when Time Selection is in use.