Pre-release Documentation for Ascent Direct Booking. Not yet approved for commercial release. View availability details

Questions and answers

Short answers for this candidate. Where a control was not proved, the answer says so.

Is Ascent Booking right for my business?

What does Ascent Booking help me do?

It runs appointment booking for one business on a WordPress installation: services, people, hours, a customer booking page, and an owner app. Candidate 1.2.104 is a local pilot, not an accepted commercial release.

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Which kinds of appointment-based businesses is this edition intended for?

Appointment businesses that can work as one business on one site. A specialist clinic can read the clinical section, but those tools are older source and are not the standard pilot.

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Can I use it when I work alone?

Yes, one installation can be a single business. The fresh pilot did not re-test a diary where the owner is the only bookable person.

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Can I manage more than one practitioner?

Yes. The fresh pilot invited a practitioner, set a password from the latest link, and later blocked that access.

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What do I need to install and run the current plugin edition?

A WordPress installation for that business. This guide does not certify a PHP, database, or host range, and it does not authorise a live install.

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Can customers use a dedicated booking page, an embedded form, or both?

The dedicated booking page is the path the pilot published. Embedding the form on another website was not re-tested.

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Can one installation manage several business locations?

No. The edition is one business for each installation. A second business needs its own site.

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Which specialist features are optional rather than part of the standard product?

Clinical notes, photos, clinical registration, aftercare, credits, and commissions are older source. They are not counted as generally offered 1.2.104 features. Payments, calendar sync, SMS, and WhatsApp are not included at all.

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Getting started and business settings

What should I prepare before setting up my business?

A business name, the currency (IDR or GBP), the timezone, at least one service, the people who perform it, and the weekly hours. Have a backup plan before any real upgrade.

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Who installs the plugin and who becomes the business owner?

The site administrator installs and designates the first owner. A second designation is refused. After that, the owner uses the owner app without the WordPress administrator capability.

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How do I add my business name, contact details and address?

They belong in owner setup. The fresh pilot’s passed identity evidence is the published currency and timezone, not a field-by-field address check.

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How do I choose my business type and terminology?

A business type can be stored. This guide does not list what each type renames, and a type does not add clinical tools.

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How do I choose the correct currency and timezone?

Choose IDR or GBP, and the business timezone, before real services and visits exist. The fresh pilot used IDR and Asia/Makassar. Changing currency after records exist was refused on an earlier candidate.

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Can I save setup progress and return later?

The accepted owner-foundation slice stores setup progress. The fresh pilot did not re-test an interrupted return. Progress is not the same as publishing.

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What must be ready before I publish booking?

The required pages, a resolved currency and timezone, and password recovery using the current site address. Publication stays closed if that recovery link does not match.

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How do I pause booking and reopen it safely?

Publishing is evidenced. A separate pause and reopen control was not in the 1.2.104 ledger. Closing one date was shown on an earlier candidate.

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Branding and the booking experience

How do I add or change my logo?

Logo upload was not part of the passed appearance check. Do not treat it as verified.

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How do I change colours, fonts and backgrounds?

Saved colour, muted text, a dark treatment, and reset were reused for 1.2.104. Background images were not part of that check.

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Which headings, labels and help text can I edit?

Heading colour was part of the appearance evidence. A full list of editable sentences was not re-checked. Interface language does not rewrite your own service names until you save a translation.

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How do I add my business’s booking policies?

Policy text was not a passed 1.2.104 check. A registration question is not a policy.

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How do I preview what a customer will see?

Appearance preview was part of the earlier evidence reused for colour. Question preview was part of the publish flow. This guide’s journeys are written descriptions, not a live preview.

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How do I reset appearance without deleting my services or bookings?

The reused reset put the tested appearance fields back. It is not described as deleting services. Two-tab reset was not repeated.

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Where do I find the booking link and supported embed instructions?

Use the booking page created at setup. Embed instructions were not re-tested, so this guide does not supply a copy-and-paste embed.

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What should I check on a phone before publishing?

The fresh pilot found no horizontal overflow at 390 and 320 pixels on the customer, owner, and booking screens it opened, and Tab moved from the skip link.

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Services and products

How do I create my first bookable service?

In the owner catalogue, add the service in the business currency and choose who can perform it. That editor was accepted on 22 October 2026 and not re-run on the fresh pilot.

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How do I group services into categories?

Category grouping was not given its own passing check in the 1.2.104 ledger. Create the service itself first.

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How do I set a service’s price and duration?

Enter them in the service editor, in the business currency. Stored timings survived the later upgrade. A price in the other currency is refused.

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What is preparation or cleanup time, and how does it affect availability?

It is time the visit occupies besides the customer-facing duration. Stored buffers were kept on upgrade. A fresh edit of those minutes was not the pilot check, and a free-looking start can still be too short.

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How do I decide which staff can perform a service?

Set eligibility on the service. It was part of the accepted slice. It is not a professional qualification.

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Can a customer book several services in one visit in this edition?

That is not determined. Do not promise combined visits.

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What happens to existing bookings when I change, archive or hide a service?

Upgrade kept stored timings and prices. An archive or hide action was not re-tested, so this guide does not promise the customer-facing result.

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What is the difference between a product catalogue and an online shop?

A catalogue stores a name, price, and image. The fresh pilot previewed an image. A cart, stock, shipping, and refunds are not included.

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Team and access

How do I add or invite a team member?

Create the practitioner and send an invitation. The fresh pilot resent it, rejected the old link, and set a password from the new link.

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How do I set myself up when I work alone?

Designate yourself as owner and add the bookable practitioner record the service needs. The fresh pilot did not run a one-person diary as its only case.

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What can an owner, operational staff member and practitioner see?

The owner uses the owner app without the WordPress administrator capability. A revoked practitioner was refused the staff diary. A positive own-work view was not re-checked on 1.2.104.

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How do I assign services to the right practitioner?

Use eligibility. Shared-room or assistant rules are not part of the standard pilot.

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How do I resend an invitation or recover staff access?

Resend replaces the previous link. The old link was refused. Local mail capture is not proof the message left the server.

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How do I remove someone’s access without deleting appointment history?

Revoke the practitioner. The fresh proof blocked staff 2 and did not describe deleting visits. It did not revoke the owner.

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How does a practitioner view their own assigned work?

That screen was not re-checked in the fresh pilot notes. Self-service reschedule by a practitioner should not be promised.

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Why can one staff member see an option that another cannot?

The owner and a practitioner are different access levels. Revocation removes the revoked person’s staff diary. Clinical screens are not granted by ordinary owner access.

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Hours and availability

How do I set normal working hours?

In the weekly hours editor from the accepted slice. The fresh pilot preserved stored hours and did not repeat the editor.

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How do I add split shifts and breaks?

An earlier candidate showed a morning block and an afternoon block. It was not repeated on 1.2.104.

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How do I record holidays, leave or a one-off closure?

The fresh pilot approved a leave record. Finding and reopening a closed day was an earlier candidate.

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How do business hours and individual staff hours work together?

Both exist in the accepted weekly-hours slice. A person on leave is a further limit. The fresh pilot did not redraw the combination.

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Why is a time missing even though the business is open?

The service may not fit, the eligible person may be on leave, or a buffer may occupy the gap. An empty diary is not proof that the time is bookable.

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Why do a long service and a short service show different times?

The whole duration, including stored preparation or cleanup, has to fit. Stored buffers survived upgrade.

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Can authorised staff arrange an appointment outside public booking hours?

That override was not shown in the 1.2.104 ledger. Do not promise it.

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What happens when a requested appointment conflicts with existing work?

On an earlier candidate, two concurrent bookings for one practitioner stored one visit. A second decision on a change request left the visit at the original time.

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Running the diary

How do I see today’s bookings and upcoming appointments?

In the owner app. The fresh pilot’s owner list showed the no-show and the unmoved visit. A full day-and-week demonstration was not the fresh check.

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How do I filter the calendar by practitioner?

Practitioner filtering was not given a fresh 1.2.104 pass in the ledger used here.

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How do I create a booking on behalf of a customer?

An earlier candidate let the owner store a named visit. It was not repeated on the fresh pilot.

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How do I assign or change the practitioner for an appointment?

Eligibility chooses who can perform the service. Changing the person on an existing visit was not a fresh 1.2.104 check.

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How do I move an appointment safely?

An earlier candidate moved a visit. The fresh pilot did not repeat move. Check the stored time before trying twice.

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How do I cancel an appointment and see whether the customer was notified?

Cancellation plus a notification result was not a fresh 1.2.104 check. Confirmation capture on a new booking is a different event, and capture is not inbox delivery.

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How do I mark an appointment completed or record a no-show?

The fresh pilot recorded a no-show. Complete was proved on an earlier candidate and not repeated.

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How can I tell whether an action saved, failed, or needs checking before retrying?

Read the stored visit. A second conflicting change decision did not move it. If mail was only captured locally, do not call it delivered.

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Customers and change requests

How do I find a customer’s contact details and appointment history?

The directory was not given a fresh 1.2.104 demonstration. Do not use older clinic screens as proof of the standard owner list.

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Can customers book without an account, and what controls that option?

Only if the owner opts in. The fresh pilot used the guest form to reject an invalid email and did not store a new guest visit. An earlier candidate did store guest visits.

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How does a customer claim a booking or set up account access?

The ledger says claim exists in source. The fresh demonstration that passed was a password reset, not a guest claim walked through on screen.

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How does a customer sign in or reset a forgotten password?

They use the latest reset link. The fresh pilot completed that reset from the captured key and signed in. The owner never sees the password.

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Which personal details can customers update themselves?

That self-service profile edit was not a fresh 1.2.104 check. Password reset was.

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How does a customer ask to change an appointment?

They submit a request. The fresh evidence is what happens when it is decided twice, not a new customer screenshot.

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How do I approve, decline or propose a different appointment time?

The fresh pilot showed a second decision conflicting and the time staying put. Propose-and-accept was an earlier candidate and the customer reply was not re-checked.

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What happens after a customer accepts or rejects a proposed change?

That customer reply was not re-checked on 1.2.104. Do not say the proposed time is reserved.

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Registration questions and customer information

How do I add an ordinary registration question?

Add it, preview, and publish. Draft questions stay off the live form. The upgrade clone published a new version.

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How do I make a question required or optional where supported?

Required questions are enforced for the context they target. The exact required switch was part of that question system and was not redrawn as a separate fresh click-through in this guide.

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Where can authorised staff see submitted answers?

Answers stay with the visit that stored them. Who else can open them was not a fresh access matrix in the 1.2.104 rows used here.

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What happens to past answers when I edit a form?

On the upgrade clone, publishing version 7 left the existing answers unchanged. An unknown version is rejected as stale.

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What is the difference between a business policy and optional marketing consent?

They are different, and neither was given its own 1.2.104 control check. A registration answer is not marketing consent.

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Who can see customer details and ordinary internal notes?

Ordinary notes were not re-demonstrated. Clinical notes are a different, historical tool. A customer export was refused for a subscriber account on an earlier candidate.

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How are general registration questions different from optional clinical records?

Registration questions publish a version and keep old answers. Clinical registration, photos, and doctor notes are older source and are not the standard question editor.

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What customer information should I avoid including in a support request?

Names, contact details, dates of birth, medical text, passwords, reset links, and payment data. These guide pages do not send what you type.

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Emails and reminders

Which emails are actually sent by this release, and what triggers each one?

A signed-in booking captured confirmation mail locally. Reminder evidence was reused and not rerun. Other template names in source are not proof they are sent. Review requests are not sent.

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How do I edit and preview an email template?

Preview and reset were shown on an earlier candidate, not repeated on 1.2.104.

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How do I send a deliberate test to an authorised recipient?

A test-send button was not a 1.2.104 ledger item. Do not use a customer’s address as a test.

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What is the difference between sender name, From address and reply-to?

They are different fields, and this guide does not have a passed 1.2.104 check that separates them. Local capture still does not prove delivery.

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How do appointment reminders use the business timezone?

The reused Makassar example displayed 9:30 am on the business clock. It was not rerun for 1.2.104.

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What do queued, accepted, delivered, bounced and failed mean when those states are evidenced?

The fresh capture does not define those words. Say “captured locally” only when a local record exists, and do not call that delivered.

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What should I check when a customer says an email never arrived?

Look for a local capture, confirm you are not expecting SMS, and remember external delivery was not proved. The troubleshooter does not resend the message.

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Are SMS or WhatsApp messages included in this edition?

No. Email capture is the communication evidence. WhatsApp delivery is not a working integration.

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Subscription and money

What does my Ascent software subscription pay for?

It would pay for the booking software, not for a customer’s appointment. Purchase is blocked because no merchant is connected, and this guide states no price.

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Where do I find my current plan, billing status and available invoices?

There is no live subscription to inspect. A development test double is not a bill and not a plan.

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What should I check when a subscription payment or activation fails?

Do not retry a real card from this candidate. Entitlement checkout was not exercised. Booking publication is a separate step and does not mean the software has been paid for.

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What happens to access and existing data when a subscription changes or ends?

That grace or end-of-access behaviour was not exercised. The upgrade evidence is about plugin activation, not about a paid subscription lapsing.

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How is the software subscription different from my customers’ appointment payments?

The subscription would be your payment for the software. Appointment value stored on a visit is your business’s price. Neither one is collected by this candidate.

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Does this edition actually collect deposits or online appointment payments?

No.

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What do appointment charges, documents and any enabled credits mean?

A visit can store a currency and an amount. That is recorded value, not cash received. Credits and commission ledgers are older source and are not in the standard pilot count.

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Can I change currency after services or bookings have been recorded?

An earlier candidate refused that change. Saving the same currency again is allowed. The fresh pilot did not convert historical rows.

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Troubleshooting, data and support

Why can a customer not see any available appointments?

Check publication, the service, hours, leave, eligibility, and whether the whole duration fits. The troubleshooter lists those without changing settings.

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Why is a service missing from the booking page?

The page may be unpublished, or the service may not be the active one you expect. Embed on another site was not re-tested.

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Why does the time shown appear wrong?

Appointments use the business clock. A language switch does not change the timezone. The customer’s device zone can look different without changing the stored business time.

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What should I do when a customer or staff member cannot sign in?

Use the latest reset or invitation link. A revoked practitioner is refused. Do not send passwords to support.

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What should I do when a save fails or the result is uncertain?

Read the stored record before repeating the action. A second conflicting decision did not move the visit.

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How do I export the data this edition supports?

An earlier candidate exported appointment rows with amount, currency, and scale, and refused a subscriber. It omitted schedules, question definitions, and email bodies. The fresh pilot did not repeat the download.

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What is the supported update, backup and rollback process?

The pilot activated a fresh site and upgraded a populated clone. Rollback is putting back the previous plugin installer. Take a database and private-file backup from the same moment. A live host restore was not run.

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How do I contact support with useful, redacted diagnostic information?

Use the support route the installation already has. Include the page, the time, and the on-screen result. Remove names, contact details, medical text, and secrets. This guide does not add a support address.

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Buyer check

Does the booking page take a deposit?

No. Online appointment payments and deposits are not included. A stored price is the value recorded on the visit.

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Will appointments sync to Google Calendar?

No. External calendar sync is not included.

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Is the software subscription the same as my customer’s payment?

No. They are different, and this candidate completes neither collection path. No public price is stated.

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Can one site run two of my businesses?

No. Use one installation for each business.

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Does a clinical business type include medical records?

No. Clinical tools in older source are not turned on by a label, and they are not a certified medical-record system.

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