Overview
gaiia gives you two ways to book and communicate appointments with customers: Arrival Windows and Scheduled Time. This setting is configured in Settings > Appointments and applies across your checkout, client portal, and internal booking experience.
This article explains how each method works, how to configure it, and what to expect when booking appointments.
Arrival Windows are currently available for clients using auto-assignment.
Arrival windows vs. scheduled time
Choosing an appointment method impacts how appointments are booked and communicated across all customer and internal touchpoints.
| Arrival window | Scheduled time | |
|---|---|---|
| What the customer sees | A multi-hour arrival range (e.g., "Your technician will arrive between 8AM–12PM") | An exact appointment time range (e.g., "Your appointment is 8–10AM") |
| Scheduling flexibility | High — jobs can shift within the window and between technicians | Lower — job time is fixed, but can still be reassigned between technicians |
| Best for | High-volume operations, route optimization, and same-day adjustments | Teams that can reliably hold precise appointment times |
| Technician mobile app | Displays both the arrival window and exact scheduled time | Displays the scheduled time only |
| Smart notifications | No notification if a job moves within the same window (same day) | Notifications are triggered on any time change |
Choose Arrival Windows if your team needs flexibility to optimize routes and manage changes throughout the day.
Choose Scheduled Time if your team can consistently meet exact appointment times and wants to offer that precision to customers.
Setting up your appointment method
Follow these steps to configure how appointments are booked and communicated.
1. Navigate to appointments settings
- Go to Settings
- Select Appointments
2. Select your appointment method
Under Appointment Method, choose one of the following:
- Arrival Window — show a time range for technician arrival
- Scheduled Time — require a specific appointment time
3. Configure scheduling windows (arrival windows only)
Define the time windows used for scheduling.
- Click
+ Add window - Set a start and end time
- Edit or replace default windows as needed
Multi-time zone behavior:
Scheduling windows are currently based on your default time zone.
Example: If your default time zone is Eastern Time, a customer in another time zone will see adjusted hours based on their location.
Future updates will allow windows to align with the service address time zone.
Checkout and client portal behavior
Appointment availability can be controlled globally or overridden using workflows.
- Global settings in Settings > Appointments apply by default
- Workflows can override availability for checkout and client portal
How appointment times are communicated:
- Arrival Window: customers see the selected window (e.g., 8–11AM)
- Scheduled Time: customers see the exact booked time within the window (e.g., 9–10AM)
Appointments booked internally always follow the global settings.
Permissions
Permissions for appointment settings are managed in Settings > Roles > Settings > Appointments.
- View — allows access to the settings page
- Edit — allows changes to appointment methods and scheduling windows
Assigning work orders
The assignment experience differs depending on the selected appointment method.
- Arrival Window: users select from available windows
- Scheduled Time: users select a start time in 15-minute increments
Additional behavior:
- Auto-assignment can be enabled or disabled in both modes
- Customers are notified only after a technician is assigned
Smart notifications
Notification behavior depends on how an appointment changes.
| Scenario | Customer notification | Technician notification |
|---|---|---|
| Same window, same technician | Off by default | Off by default |
| Same window, different technician | Off by default | On by default |
| Different window or date | On by default | On by default |
Editing arrival windows
Changes to arrival windows only apply to new work orders. Existing work orders retain their original confirmed window.
Merge tags for customer communications
New merge tags allow you to display arrival windows in notifications instead of exact times.
| Variable | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| workOrder.appointmentDisplayMode | Display mode: ARRIVAL_WINDOW or SCHEDULED_APPOINTMENT | ARRIVAL_WINDOW |
| workOrder.arrivalWindowStartDate | Start of the arrival window | 9:00 AM |
| workOrder.arrivalWindowEndDate | End of the arrival window | 11:00 AM |
Existing templates continue to work without changes. Update them only if you want to display arrival windows instead of scheduled times.
Technician experience
In the technician mobile app:
- Arrival Window mode: both the window and exact scheduled time are displayed
- Scheduled Time mode: only the scheduled time is displayed