I want to use Amelia's resource and bookings management, with the WooCommerce Product page as the first entry point.

For example:

• The customer chooses a teacher in the WooCommerce shop. Every teacher is a "product", as shown in the attached URL.
• However, I want the customers to be able to book the teacher on the Amelia calendar. It must link to the WooCommerce ecosystem (subscriptions, coupons, etc). And the teacher must be able to manage their bookings and availability with the Amelia frontend panel.
  

To make it clear I want to use the WooCommerce shop, but also integrate the Amelia Booking and employee management system. This means I can use the WooCommerce ecosystem, whilst also allowing the teachers to maintain their schedule with Amelia.

I know this must be possible! I just can't figure out how. This will allow me to integrate things like WooCommerce Subscriptions and Store Coupons, whilst also getting the benefits of Amelia and it's incredible interface and backend employee management.

Thanks very much for your help! And let me know what I can do to make this happen.

Couldn't you achieve that like this?

1. Create a booking page for each teacher with the Amelia wizard on it
2. Edit your WooCommerce producttype; choose External/Affiliate producttype (in stead of simple product)
3. Paste the url for the booking page in field Product-url on tab General of the product and edit the button text
4. Save

So when someone chooses the product in the shop, they are redirected to the booking page. I presume the product that is connected to the Amelia service can be one and the same.

I like your idea, but it's not quite right for my case. Once you zoom out a bit, I don't think this solution would work, unless I could have the Amelia wizard on a WooCommerce product page? In my case, I think teachers need to be listed as WooCommerce products. Then, you can easily display them in search results with reviews, and have video popups in the search results, etc. It's also easy to sort them by popularity, sales, etc. All of these functions are possible when the teacher is a "product" in WooCommerce.

Customers need to go to the WooCommerce shop to find a product (a teacher), and then book them with the Amelia booking form. This way, the teacher would be able to manage their booking schedule and calendar with the Employee Frontend Panel. The process needs to go through WooCommerce (to enable search functionality and a shop-like interface for the teachers).

My other solutions would be...

1. Embed the Amelia shortcode on each teacher's product page.
2. Remove the WooCommerce Add to Cart button.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think it might be possible?

Thank you very much for helping me, and putting your time and thought into this! 😁

@Peter in my suggestion you don't have the Amelia shortcode on the productpage. The button Add to cart will say 'Book appointment'. After clicking that button the customer goes to a specific booking page for that employee, where they can choose a date, time and complete the Amelia wizard.

@Blazenka, thanks very much for forwarding this to level 2. I look forward to chatting with someone in regards to this.

@Debbie, yeah I understand, but the teachers will need to be found in the WooCommerce shop. This would give the student the ability to search through the results. Each teacher would have a "product video", showcasing their talents, reviews, and ratings, etc. This would create a "store" of teachers in a sense, that you can browse.

I want the Amelia booking experience and employee management, but with the WooCommerce product management system. This is because all automation and integrations between plugins stem from the WooCommerce ecosystem.

Hi Peter, I tested my theory this morning. You need two products per teacher: 

• one external/affiliate product for the shop, that contains the "product video", showcasing their talents, reviews, and ratings, etc AND the link to the personal booking page (separate page with Amelia shortcode).
• one simple product that is connected to the Amelia service for one teacher to be able to complete the purchase.

Maybe a bit much if you have a lot of teachers, but doable, AND you have your catalogue of teachers. If you are interested I can make a video of the setup. If you're not I won't bother.

Debbie, that sounds fantastic! Yes, please send over a video. I'm very interested in this setup :-)

Hi Peter and Aleksandar,

I created this short Loom video. I did not explain how to set up the booking page per teacher, as I presume you know how to do that.

https://www.loom.com/share/1d896f9ed6c942a0a298bf1aae761bb6

Hi @Debbie and @Aleksandar,

Thanks very much for your video, Debbie! I really appreciate it. I've had the chance to test this idea, and I've made progress forwards. It's a great idea, but I have decided not to use this External/Affiliate link method because using manual links in this way could cause lots of problems with 1000+ teachers. I've come to the conclusion that it would be a serious problem if the permalinks changed, or the URL structure changed. Suddenly you would have broken links between all products/teachers which means the customers wouldn't be able to book.

However, I really appreciate your feedback, and I have come up with a method that build upon your suggestion. Please look into it below. I have hit some new obstacles ahead, but first I'll describe what I did...

Amelia Setup >>

1. Created Amelia service. Called it "English Class". Set rate of $25 per class. 

2. Created WP User "Angelique". Created Amelia employee "Angelique". User Role = Amelia Employee.

3. Linked "English Class" service to Amelia Employee Angelique.

4. Created packages with 5-classes and 10-classes in Amelia > Services > Packages.

WooCommerce Setup >>

1. Created a new simple product. Called it "Angelique's Class".

2. Entered the Amelia shortcode for Angelique into the product description [ameliabooking employee=1].

3. Turned OFF the Add to Cart button in WooCommerce, to force user to enter the Amelia Booking flow.

4. User books 5-class package, then books at least the 1st class. They can book the remaining classes from the Customer Panel, later. (This is a fantastic and exceptional feature!).

5. Zoom meetings are sent out to both parties.

This integration is almost perfect! 

But there is 1 major problem that prevents it from working. That is due to the way Amelia handles employees in an open/freelance marketplace.

Problem: "Working Hours" in the Employee Frontend Panel. The need for a new "Flexible Hours" tab with a calendar-booking interface.

Amelia currently allows employees to choose their fixed "Work Hours" in the Frontend Panel. This is great. It allows teachers to choose their general availability and schedule. But freelancers, teachers, and tutors need more. Freelancers need the flexibility to choose their schedule on a week-by-week basis, due to changes and fluctuations in their commitment and responsibilities in all areas. For example, there needs to be a second tab with "Flexible Hours" that overrides the "Work Hours" tab that comes before it. This is an essential update for any marketplace that offers the services of freelancers, tutors, teachers, counselors, nutritionists, dieticians, etc. The "Employee" or freelancer must be able to quickly choose when they are free, or busy, as they often balance a very busy lifestyle and juggle 3-4 different jobs at once. This means they might need to close a slot suddenly, due to a booking with their other job. This means that by only letting employees choose strict times (such as 9-5pm), Amelia is not able to be used on a freelance marketplace with tutors and teachers, etc.

Therefore the employees need to be able to open and close their slots flexibly with a calendar interface, that overrides the "Work Hours" tab which sets 'general availability. This would also allow traditional employees to open up overtime slots, for example. This change gives employees and freelancers the ability to manage their own schedules and bookings availability with a simple calendar interface. All it would need to have is one click to open a slot, and one-click to close it. It would draw the open and closed data from the "Work Hours" tab. You could also create a modifier button with 15-minute/30-minute/60-minutes which allows you to select bigger or smaller blocks of time in the booking calendar. This would allow "employees" to select detailed schedules, and to close or open extra slots easily.

I think this update is very important. It opens up Amelia to all freelance marketplaces. At the moment, Amelia 'employees' can't be freelancers. Because they can't really manage their own time in a flexible way on a week-by-week basis. This update would open up Amelia to work for all marketplaces that offer services, including coaches, tutors, teachers, ESL language teachers, counselors, dietricians and nutritionists, personal trainers, etc. This simple change will empower employees to manage themselves from the frontend, with a simple calendar interface. It will also complement the "Work Hours" section, and build upon it (because employees would still have a general schedule which they can flexibly shift and change with the "Flexible Hours" section).

Thanks for your time, and I'm really looking forward to hearing your feedback @Aleksandar and @Debbie.

I am very happy to make a Loom video or jump on a call if this is lost in translation 👍

Hi Aleksandar,

I've taken the time to create this Loom video to help me describe this User Journey for you 🙂

This is a small update that will expand Amelia's target market and potential customer base. It will open up Amelia to be used on all freelance marketplaces for live services and paid Zoom calls.

This functionality is made possible because all freelancers will be able to choose their own hours on a week-by-week basis. They will be able to do this with absolute simplicity. 😊

https://www.loom.com/share/776267e8d43846c9afc1be7f78c7db1e

Please find a way to integrate this, and send my Loom video to your exceptional development team. This small change to the Employee Panel will allow Amelia to integrate with all freelance marketplace that offer live services. I.e. language classes, consultancy calls, financial or business training, tutoring, counseling, personal fitness training, telehealth, dietary and nutrition advice, etc.

In your roadmap this would resolve all the following "Feature Requests":

- Calendar View for Frontend Panel ☑️
- Ability to select 'days working' instead of 'days off' ☑️
- Allow selecting multiple time slots (employee) ☑️

I would be happy to help you understand this user journey further. Please feel free to ask me any follow-up questions, and email me anything that might help. I am happy to provide support.

Thanks and best regards,
Peter