Overview

Service Offerings Administration lists the various types of advising and academic services offered at the institution. Please see the Naming Conventions for Meeting Scheduler article to learn more about the naming convention for Meeting Scheduler.

Service Offering Configuration

Service offerings must have a duration to be visible within the scheduler.

Each service offering can be offered at any number of offices; this association must be made from the Offices configuration paged.

Advisor-restricted scheduling

Summary

Institutions can now require students to schedule selected services with their assigned advisor (or coach), with an optional, system-controlled fallback when there is no near‑term availability. This protects advising continuity and policy while still ensuring students can access timely support.

1. Advisor Scheduling Requirement (per service)

In Admin > Meetings > Service Offerings, each service now has an Advisor Scheduling Requirement setting:

• No restriction – Students can book with any eligible staff member (current behavior).
• Require assigned advisor – Students must book the service with their assigned advisor.
• Uses institution‑customized terminology for “advisor” where configured.

This allows institutions to enforce advisor continuity only for targeted services (e.g., academic advising).

2. Optional Coach Alternative

When Require assigned advisor is enabled, admins can optionally allow coaches:

• Allow assigned coach as an alternative to advisor
  • Students may schedule with either their assigned advisor or their assigned coach.
  • The experience still emphasizes the primary advisor while recognizing institutions where the coach is the main point of contact.
  • Uses customized “advisor/coach” language where applicable.

3. Availability-Based Fallback (Institution Controlled)

To prevent access issues when advisors are booked out, admins can configure a time-bound fallback:

• Allow scheduling with other staff if advisor has no availability within X days
  • Only available when Require assigned advisor is on.
  • X is an integer number of days (min 1, max 90).
  • If the assigned advisor (or advisor/coach, when enabled) has no appointments within X days:
    • The student is informed that their assigned advisor has no availability in that timeframe.
    • The system allows the student to select and book with other eligible staff for that service.
  • Fallback is triggered only by system-detected lack of availability, not by a student choice.

4. Custom Text for Scheduling Help

For services where advisor restriction is enabled, admins can add short guidance:

• Custom text for scheduling help (label text to match this phrasing)
  • Free-text field, up to 100 characters.
  • Displays to students when advisor scheduling is enforced for that service.
  • Example uses:
    • “Need help scheduling? Contact advising at advising@institution.edu.”

This gives institutions a clear way to direct students who need additional assistance.

Sharable link for Service

This stable link leads students into the scheduler with a filter already applied for the given service. Read Shareable scheduling links for more information.

Hide Staff Names

By default, students can choose to meet with specific staff members; for some services, institutions may wish to assign staff randomly. Enabling this setting will hide staff names from the service and assign a staff member randomly from any available within the chosen time slot. Student will not know who they are booking with until the meeting has been confirmed. If a student has first chosen a specific staff member and then chooses a service with staff names hidden, their staff selection will be cleared and assigned randomly.

When staff are booking on behalf of a student, the staff member will always view staff names normally.

Within the Meeting Scheduler

To book a meeting, a service must be selected. The following screenshot shows that three services are offered.

Next Kiosk System

When a student checks in to a meeting using the SS&E Next Kiosk application, they will be asked to choose from a list of services, aka service offerings, that are currently offered at the Campus and department (Office) they've selected.

• The following screenshot displays the Next view for the active service offerings (Completing the FAFSA and Financial Aid) that are offered at the Main Campus campus/location in the Financial Aid - Building 6 - Upper Lobby department/Office.
• For more information about the Next Kiosk - Student View, click Next - Student View.