Instructor availability tells Viking when an instructor can be assigned to lessons.
Instructors can manage their own availability from their instructor dashboard, or planners can manage it for them from the Viking admin. Viking is designed to support instructor self-service, but both workflows can be used depending on how your school organizes its planning.
Before you start
The instructor must already be set up correctly.
Make sure the instructor has:
- the Instructor role;
- at least one Instructor location;
- at least one Instructor product.
For the complete setup, see Set up an instructor.
Open Instructor availability
From the Viking admin, open Availability from the main menu.
At the top of the page you can select:
- the month;
- the instructor;
- a location or All locations.
The calendar then shows the available start times for that instructor.
Set availability for individual start times
Each time shown in the calendar represents a possible lesson start time.
Select the checkbox next to a time to make the instructor available for that start time.
For example, if an instructor selects 09:00, Viking can use that instructor for a lesson starting at 09:00.
Availability does not set an end time
Instructor availability only applies to the start time.
It does not specify how long the instructor is available after that time.
The duration of the lesson is determined by the product settings.
This means that if an instructor is available at 09:00, Viking may assign:
- a one-hour lesson starting at 09:00;
- a two-hour lesson starting at 09:00;
- a three-hour lesson starting at 09:00;
depending on the product being booked.
There is no separate instructor availability end time.
Instructors should therefore only open a start time when they are able to teach the full duration of the lessons that may be scheduled from that time.
Set availability per location
If your school uses multiple locations, instructor availability can be managed separately for each location.
Use the location selector to choose a specific location before changing the availability.
You can also select All locations to set availability across all of the instructor's locations at once.
Remember that the instructor must also have the relevant location assigned to their profile.
Set recurring availability
Use Set recurring availability when the instructor follows a repeating schedule.
Click Set recurring availability and choose:
- Start date
- End date
- Weekdays
- Time slots
- Location
Then click Set availability.
For example, you can make an instructor available:
- every Monday to Friday;
- from the beginning of May until the end of September;
- at 09:00, 11:00 and 13:00;
- at one specific location.
This is faster than selecting every start time individually.
Replace existing availability
The recurring availability window also includes:
Delete existing availability in the selected date range
Use this when you want the new recurring schedule to replace availability that was already entered for the selected period.
If you do not want to remove existing availability, leave this option set to No.
Choose who manages instructor availability
Instructor availability can be managed in two ways:
- instructors can manage their own availability from the instructor dashboard;
- planners can manage availability for instructors from Availability in the Viking admin.
Viking is designed to let instructors keep their own availability up to date. For many schools, this reduces work for the planning team and keeps availability close to the person who actually knows when they can work.
However, this is not required.
Some schools prefer planners to manage availability for one, several or all instructors. This can work just as well, especially when working schedules are agreed centrally or instructors should not manage their own availability.
You can also combine both workflows. For example, some instructors can manage their own availability while the planner manages it for others.
Regardless of who enters the availability, Viking uses it in the same way when calculating which instructors can be assigned to lessons.
Control when instructors can remove availability
Schools can control how close to a lesson date instructors are allowed to remove availability they previously entered.
This setting is available under:
Settings → Planning
Use this to prevent instructors from removing their availability at short notice after customers may already have booked based on that availability.
Instructors can still add availability, but removing previously entered availability can be restricted based on the school's setting.
How Viking uses instructor availability
Instructor availability is only one part of deciding whether Viking can assign an instructor.
Viking also checks whether the instructor:
- can teach the relevant product;
- is assigned to the relevant location;
- is available at the required start time.
When several suitable instructors are available, Instructor Priority helps determine which instructor Viking uses first.
For more information, see Set up an instructor.
Check the result
After adding availability:
- Select the instructor in Availability.
- Select the relevant location.
- Check that the expected start times are selected.
If a product still does not show the expected availability in the booking form, use the Availability Tester to check whether Instructor Availability or another availability condition is preventing the booking.
See Test product availability.