Adding a new calendar appointment to your diary

How to add appointments to your calendar, how to trigger an email to the attendees you invite, and how to track all viewings & valuations you've booked in.

To add a calendar appointment:

• Login to VIA

• Go to the Property Editor, Lead Manager or CRM tab at the top of the menu

• Click the Add Appointment button in the top left, or click the calendar date/time slot you want to add an appointment to

• Select the appointment Type (Property Valuation, Property Viewing etc)

• Type the Subject. This is a free text box for you to type whatever you need

• Select the Location. This can either be at:

  • An Office. You can select which office from a drop down list of offices you have added to VIA

  • A Property. You can select any property record which you have added to VIA. If you select property, click the Property tab at the top to search and select the property you want to define as the meeting place for your appointment. For any property you select, if the appointment type is a Valuation or Viewing, the appointment will be saved against the property record in VIA so you can see all appointments of this type that have occurred at that property, giving you a complete history of visits to the property. To view the history, go into any property and go to the Activity section.

  • Other. A free text box for you to type whichever location you choose

• Select the Start Date

• Select the End Date (you have the option to tick the appointment as an All Day appointment)

• Add a Description, any further notes you'd like to make about the property

• To invite your attendees to an appointment, click the Attendees tab at the top. You can search and select both internal staff members to attend the appointment, or any contacts added to VIA. As with properties, for any contacts you add to the appointment, if the appointment type is a Valuation or Viewing, the appointment will be saved against the contact record in VIA so you can see all appointments of this type that this attendee has attended, giving you a complete history of the attendee's activity. To view the history, go into any contact and go to the Activity section.

• To save your appointment click Add

• To save your appointment and sync it to any calendars you have open on your device, click Add and Export

You also have the option to add a Property Valuation or a Property Viewing from either the Contacts or Property search, or directly from the Property or Contact record within VIA. If you are in the edit view of a property or contact, go to the Activity section and select the Add Valuation or Add viewing buttons. If you are in the search/list view of properties or contacts, right click the property or contact, select Add Appointment, then select the appropriate Valuation or Viewing option.

If you add an appointment through either of these means, the appropriate property or attendee will automatically be added to the appointment for you.

Email notifications

An email will automatically be sent to all attendees added to an appointment if the Notify all attendees box is ticked. Unticking this box will ensure an email is not sent when you add an appointment

• The subject line of the email will confirm the appointment Type and confirm the User who added the appointment

  • It will be addressed personally using the name and surname of the attendee

  • The email will confirm the Subject, Type, Start Time, End Time and Location of the appointment

  • The email will enable the attendees to Accept or Reject the appointment. This is then viewable in both the Calendar appointment itself, and in the Appointments tile on your dashboard (this tile will show upcoming appointments for today and tomorrow). The attendee will be listed with

    • A tick for and accepted appointment

    • A red cross for rejected appointment

    • A question mark if the attendee has neither accepted or declined allowing you to chase up the contact

  • Once accepted, the attendee is able to download the appointment to the calendar which is synced to the device they are on (iPhone calendar, Outlook, Google calendar etc)

  • If the appointment Start Date or Location is edited,  a new email will be sent to all attendees and staff members. They will also be alerted if the appointment is deleted