User Guide

Step-by-step instructions for the Admin of a business that takes bookings with SlotWise. Your customers book by writing to your business WhatsApp number: an assistant answers them, offers only the times that are really free and books them. Your customers do not sign in. You can also book for a customer yourself.

1. Introduction

1.1 Who uses the system

Your business is created for you by the SlotWise owner, who gives you a phone number or email and a password.

1.2 How to read the steps

2. Getting Started

2.1 Signing in

1. Open the SlotWise address given to you.
2. Enter your email address or phone number and your password.
3. Select Sign In.

After 10 wrong attempts sign-in is paused for 2 minutes. To change your password, open your name in the top menu and choose Change password.

2.2 Setting up a new business

Do these in order. Each one is explained in this guide.

1. Business settings: check your name, address, time zone and currency (see 3.7).
2. Booking types: add the services you offer (see 3.1).
3. Custom fields: add any questions you want to ask for a service (see 3.2).
4. Working hours: set the days and hours you work (see 3.3).
5. Breaks and days off: add your lunch break and holidays (see 3.4).
6. Free times: check that the times customers can book look right (see 3.5).
7. AI and WhatsApp: write your master prompt and connect your business WhatsApp number (see 3.11). Customers can only book by WhatsApp after this step, and the assistant needs AI credits from the SlotWise owner (see 3.9).

3. Admin Guide

3.1 Services (booking types)

A service is something a customer can book, such as a haircut or a 30 minute consultation.

1. Open Booking types and select New booking type.
2. Fill in the form:
   • Name and Description.
   • Duration (minutes): how long the service takes.
   • Slot every (minutes): how often a start time is offered, for example every 15 or 30 minutes.
   • Seats per slot or session: how many customers can book the same slot. Use 1 for one-to-one work, or more for a class.
   • Buffer before and Buffer after: spare minutes around the service that nobody can book.
   • Minimum notice: how soon before the start a customer may still book.
   • Book up to (days ahead): how far ahead customers may book.
   • Free cancellation until (hours before): after this point a customer cannot cancel by themselves.
   • Price, shown in your currency.
3. Select Save.

To stop offering a service, choose Archive. Old bookings keep it. You can bring it back with Restore.

3.2 Custom questions (custom fields)

Use these to ask the customer something when they book, for example "Car number" or "Allergies".

1. Open Custom fields and select New.
2. Enter the Label (the question), choose the Type (text, long text, number, date, choice, multiple choice, checkbox, phone or email) and tick Required if an answer is a must.
3. For choice types, write one option per line under Options.
4. Under Where it is asked, pick On every service or Only on the services I tick.
5. Check the Preview, then select Save.

Use the arrows in the list to change the order. Changing a question later never changes old bookings.

3.3 Working hours

1. Open Working hours.
2. For each day, enter From and To. Use Add to add another line on the same day, for example a morning and an evening shift. Remove a line with its remove button. Leave a day empty if you do not work.
3. Select Save working hours.

Customers are only offered times inside these hours.

3.4 Breaks and days off

Open Breaks and days off (from the Working hours page).

• Days off: choose the Day, optionally a time range and a Reason, then Add day off.
• Weekly breaks: tick the Days, set From and To, add a Label such as "Lunch", then Add break.

Use the remove button on a line to delete it. Bookings that already exist are not removed, so move or cancel them yourself.

3.5 Free times and booking a customer

1. Open Free times.
2. Choose the Service and the From day. The page lists the free times for the next 7 days.
3. Select a time. The Book form opens.
4. Choose the Customer. If the person is not in the list, register them first (see 3.8).
5. Set the number of Seats, answer any questions, add Notes if you want, and select Confirm booking.

If two people try for the last place at the same moment, only one gets it and the other sees a message to pick another time.

3.6 Appointments, cancel and reschedule

Open Appointments to see every booking. Select one to open it.

• Cancel appointment: confirm the question. The time becomes free again.
• Reschedule: choose Reschedule, pick a new free time on the page that opens, and select Move appointment. The old time is freed.
• No show: when the customer did not come, mark the booking as no show.
• Mark as Completed: mark a finished booking as completed.

Open Calendar to see bookings by day, week or month. Select a booking to see it, and use the filters to show one service. A booking made by WhatsApp appears here under the customer's name.

3.7 Business settings

Open Business settings.

• Business details: name, address, phone, email and website.
• Region: your Time zone and the Currency for your prices. All times are shown in your time zone.
• Logo: upload or replace your logo.
• Plan and trial: your plan and when the free trial ends.

Select Save after any change.

3.8 Customers

1. Open Customers. Use the search box to find a customer by name or phone.
2. To add one, select New and enter First name, Last name, Phone number and, if you like, Address.
3. Open a customer to see their bookings and to Edit their details.

When a new person writes to your WhatsApp number, SlotWise adds them to this list by themselves, using the name from their WhatsApp profile and their phone number. You can open them and correct the name. Each phone number can belong to one customer only. Customers cannot be deleted.

3.9 Subscription and AI credits

Open Subscription and AI credits from your name in the top menu. Subscription fees and AI credits are two separate things.

Your subscription is the right to use SlotWise for a period. The page shows your plan, its status and the date it ends.

AI credits are what the assistant uses to answer customers. They are bought separately and are never included in a plan. The page shows:

• AI status: On, On (usage measured, not charged yet), Paused: no credits, Paused: subscription not active, Switched off by the platform, or Not active.
• Credits available. A small number is held for an answer that is being written right now.
• A warning when the credits are running low.
• A list of recent top-ups and AI use.

Your credits are never lost when your subscription ends: they stay in your account and work again as soon as the subscription is renewed. Some credits may have an expiry date if the SlotWise owner set one when adding them. You cannot top up yourself: ask the SlotWise owner to renew your plan or add credits.

3.10 Notifications

The bell in the top bar shows a number when something new happens: a booking is made, cancelled, moved, or marked as a no-show. Select the bell to open Notifications.

1. Each line says who, what and when, and where the booking came from (Admin, WhatsApp or API).
2. Select a line to open the booking. It is marked as read.
3. Select Mark all as read to clear the number.

Notifications are kept for 90 days.

3.11 AI and WhatsApp

Open AI and WhatsApp. This is where customers reach you: they write to your business WhatsApp number, the assistant answers them, and you can see everything.

Connect your number

1. Select Connect WhatsApp number. A QR code appears.
2. On the phone that has your business WhatsApp: open WhatsApp, Settings, Linked devices, Link a device, and scan the code. (If you cannot scan, enter the number and use Get pairing code.)
3. The page shows the status: Not linked, Connected (with the phone number) or Disconnected. If it says Disconnected, select Reconnect.
4. Select Send test message to my own number to check that it works.

The AI switch and the fallback message

• AI answers customers switched on: the assistant answers every text message from a customer, in the customer's language, using your master prompt. A booking the assistant makes is confirmed at once.
• AI answers customers switched off (by you): the assistant does nothing. Messages are still saved and shown on the Messages page, but customers get no automatic reply at all. You answer them yourself from your phone. These messages are not marked "needs attention", because you chose this.
• The fallback message is a short text such as "Thank you for your message. We will get back to you soon." It is sent only when the assistant is on but something goes wrong: no AI credits, subscription not active, assistant not connected, no master prompt, or no answer in time. A customer gets it at most once every 6 hours. Leave it empty to send nothing.

Master prompt

The master prompt is your instruction sheet for the assistant. Write it in plain words, as if you were training a new receptionist. Include:

• who you are and what you offer;
• opening times, address and how to find you;
• your rules (late arrivals, cancellations, payment, what to bring);
• the tone to use (friendly, short, polite) and the languages you accept.

You do not need to list your services and prices: the assistant reads them live from Booking types, so they are always up to date.

Example:

You are the receptionist of Glow Salon in Lahore. Be friendly and short, like a message from a helpful person. Answer in the language the customer uses (English or Roman Urdu). We are open Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 6 pm, and closed on Sunday. We are on Main Boulevard, near the bank. Please arrive 5 minutes early; after 15 minutes late we may have to move your booking. Payment is at the salon, cash or card. If the customer asks for something we do not offer, say so politely. If the customer is upset or asks about a refund, say that the owner will call them back.

What the assistant will do: show your services, price and free times, make, move and cancel the customer's own bookings, ask the questions you set for each service, and answer questions about your business that are in the prompt.

What the assistant will not do: make up prices, times or services that are not in SlotWise; look at or change anyone else's bookings; change your settings; give refunds or discounts; or take payments. If it does not know something, it should say so and tell the customer that you will follow up. Check the answers now and then on the Messages page and improve the prompt when you see a mistake.

Every change to the prompt is saved as a new version. Select Restore on an older version to bring its text back (it becomes a new version; nothing is erased).

Assistant connection

At the top of the page, the section Assistant connection shows whether the assistant is connected to SlotWise's AI service.

• Configured: everything the assistant needs is set up on the SlotWise side.
• Not configured (a yellow warning that lists what is missing): the assistant is not connected yet, so customers only get your fallback message. You cannot fix this yourself: send the list of missing items to your SlotWise administrator.
• Needs attention (a red badge with a number): in the last 7 days this many customer messages got no answer from the assistant because something went wrong. Look at the table below to see which ones.
• Last 20 messages passed to the assistant: time, customer, result, how long it took, and whether it needs attention. Results you may see: Waiting for the answer, Answered, Not answered: AI is off (you answer), Skipped: no AI credits, Skipped: subscription not active, Skipped: assistant not connected, Skipped: no master prompt, Skipped: credits check failed, Failed, No answer in time.

What to do when a row needs attention:

1. Open Messages and reply to that customer yourself from your phone. The customer may already have received the fallback message.
2. No AI credits or subscription not active: ask the SlotWise owner to add credits or renew the subscription (see Subscription and AI credits).
3. Assistant not connected, Failed or No answer in time: tell your SlotWise administrator. If it happens again and again, switch AI answers customers off until it is fixed, and answer customers yourself.
4. No master prompt: write the prompt and save it.

Messages

Select Messages to read every WhatsApp conversation, newest first, in your business time zone. It is read-only: to answer a customer yourself, use WhatsApp on your phone.

3.12 Audit log

Open Audit log to see who changed what and when. You can filter it and export it.

4. Mobile app

The mobile app shows the same system with a phone layout. Sign in once and the app keeps you signed in for 30 days.