Departments
Departments group users and appointment types together. Where a department is used determines what it does.
Why this matters
Assigned to an appointment type, a department is used for appointment reporting and analysis. Assigned to a user record, a department is also used for user access control and for filtering of appointments, as well as appointment reporting.
Before you start
Managing departments requires one of the Account Owner, Account Administrator or Change Settings privileges.
The elements of a department
| Field | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Name | A short friendly name for the department that your users will recognize. |
| Description | A longer description to appear in formal reports (optional). |
Managing departments
Go to the Settings area and select Departments. The screen shows a list of your departments, showing each department’s name and description.
Adding or editing a department
Click Add Department in the toolbar to create one, or click an existing row to edit it.
Deleting a department
Tick one or more departments in the list, then click Delete. Deleting a department is allowed even if users or appointment types are still assigned to it — Diarybook warns you first:
Deleting this department will remove it from any users and appointment types assigned to it. Users who rely on View/Edit Department Appointments permissions may lose access to appointments, and department-based filtering and reporting will no longer be available for this department.
Assigning a department to a user
Go to the Users area, then add or edit a user record and select their department. A user can only belong to one department.
Department permissions
Two permission fields on the user record control access to appointments outside the user’s own:
| Field | Controls |
|---|---|
| View Department Appointments | Whether the user can view appointments belonging to other users in their department |
| Edit Department Appointments | Whether the user can edit appointments belonging to other users in their department |
These two fields only take effect when the user doesn’t already have Account Owner, Account Administrator, Can View All Appointments or Can Edit All Appointments — any of those already grant account-wide access, so the department-level fields have nothing left to add.
What to watch for
View/Edit Department Appointments look like they’re not working
They’re silently overridden by broader permissions. Check whether the user already has Account Owner, Account Administrator, Can View All Appointments or Can Edit All Appointments — any one of those makes the department-level fields irrelevant.
Deleting a department affects more than the list
Removing a department un-assigns it from every user and appointment type that used it. Users relying on View/Edit Department Appointments for that department may lose access to appointments they could previously see or edit, and reporting or filtering by that department stops being available.