Scheduling Terminology
Explained
Learn the language of modern scheduling. From round-robin to buffer times, understand every term you'll encounter when setting up online booking.
38 terms defined
Scheduling software comes with its own vocabulary — terms like "round-robin assignment," "collective availability," and "booking page" appear throughout product documentation, onboarding guides, and comparison sites. If you're evaluating tools for the first time or training your team on a new platform, having a shared understanding of these terms eliminates confusion and speeds up implementation.
This glossary covers the most common scheduling, booking, and calendar management terms used by service businesses, agencies, and SaaS teams. Each definition explains not just what the term means, but why it matters for day-to-day operations — so you can make more informed decisions about the features your business actually needs.
Use the letter navigation below to jump to a specific section, or browse from A to Z. We update this glossary regularly as new concepts and features emerge in the scheduling space.
A
AI Scheduling
The use of artificial intelligence to automate and optimize appointment booking, calendar management, and scheduling workflows.
API & Webhooks
Technical interfaces that allow developers to programmatically interact with scheduling data and receive real-time event notifications.
Appointment Reminder
Automated notifications sent before a scheduled appointment to reduce no-shows and ensure clients remember their booking.
Automated Appointment Booking
A system that handles the entire appointment lifecycle — booking, confirmation, reminders, and follow-up — without manual intervention.
Availability
The time slots when you are open to accepting appointments, based on your schedule preferences and calendar data.
Availability Sharing
The practice of sharing your available meeting times with others to facilitate scheduling.
B
Booking Chatbot
An AI-powered chat widget on a website that handles appointment booking, rescheduling, and FAQs through natural conversation.
Booking Confirmation
The notification sent to clients after successfully booking an appointment, containing all relevant meeting details.
Booking Page
A dedicated web page where clients can view available times and book appointments directly without back-and-forth communication.
Booking Widget
An embeddable scheduling interface that can be added to websites to allow visitors to book appointments directly.
Booking Widget / Embed
A snippet of code that embeds your booking interface directly into your website, allowing scheduling without leaving your pages.
Booking Window
The range of dates into the future when appointments can be scheduled, balancing accessibility with your long-term planning.
Buffer Time
Automatic padding before or after appointments to prevent back-to-back meetings and allow for preparation or decompression.
C
Calendar Sync
Two-way integration between your scheduling tool and calendar application to automatically update availability and create events.
Cancellation Policy
Rules governing how and when clients can cancel appointments, and any associated fees or restrictions.
Collective Scheduling
A scheduling method that finds times when all required attendees are available for a group meeting.
D
M
N
R
Recurring Appointment
Appointments that repeat on a regular schedule, such as weekly, biweekly, or monthly meetings.
Recurring Appointments
Appointments that repeat on a regular schedule, such as weekly sessions or monthly check-ins.
Reschedule Link
A unique URL sent to booked clients that allows them to modify their appointment time without contacting support.
Round Robin Scheduling
A meeting distribution method that automatically rotates new bookings among team members to ensure equal workload distribution.
S
T
Time Blocking
A productivity method of scheduling specific activities into dedicated calendar blocks rather than working from a task list.
Timezone Detection
Automatic identification of a booker's timezone to display appointment times in their local time.
Timezone Handling
The automatic conversion and display of appointment times based on different timezones for hosts and clients.
Further Reading
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