I’m in the 30-day freebie period and so far I love what I am seeing.  This product really does a LOT!  There is only one major thing I need that it does not have quite yet, and I think it would be beneficial to many.

Let’s say a client calls me and asks for an appointment.  Right now, as I understand it, I can go to the calendar view, see when I am free to meet, click on the open slot, create the meeting, link it to the contact, and have it send them a notification and a reminder.  Fantastic.  But what if the client has a conflict come up and needs to move the appointment?  They could call or email me, but wouldn’t it be nice if they could view my calendar (without details), see what my availability is, and pick a replacement slot?  Or even if they don’t yet have an appointment scheduled, they could see what my availability is and make the request for the meeting?

There are a few services through Google Apps that are offering this sort of thing: Tungle and Timebridge are a more informal meeting-request option, and Appointy is true scheduling software.  They all have read/write Google calendar access, which is great, but if I were to allow a client to book a meeting with me using one of those services there isn’t a way for it to automatically update my calendar in S360, which could still create conflict.  And really, who wants to pay for two separate services?

I’ve discovered also that if I create an appointment on the calendar it shows the time as booked, but if I go to another contact or project blog and create a meeting during that same time it doesn’t do anything to prevent me from doing it.  It would be great if there was a “show time as busy” option to throw up an error and ensure I don’t double book myself.

I envision a “meeting availability” feature as a natural continuation of the option for the client to view project blogs.  I could create a link for the client in a similar fashion that shows him a graphic of my calendar with unavailable portions shaded out, and appointments with him and open slots as blocks he can click on.  Currently if he wants to attempt to make changes to the scheduled appointment shown in the project blog he has to have read/write access to the whole thing, which may not be what I want him to have.  Also there is no way for him to request a new meeting.

Why this would be beneficial:  I have client appointments all day long and I rarely can get to my emails or return phone calls in between them.  Some days I am only able to return emails and phone calls first thing in the morning or late at night.  If I’m playing phone tag it could be days before the client and I can get a hold of each other to figure out when we’re both available.  If he can “book himself” without having to get a hold of me, it keeps my schedule full (earning money) and keeps him from being frustrated and going elsewhere.

Thanks!