# Understanding Teachers, Resources, and Teams

In pickAtime, **Teachers (Contacts)** and **Resources** are connected but serve different purposes. Understanding this relationship is important when managing teacher schedules, creating teams, and troubleshooting scheduling conflicts.

## 1. What is the difference between a Teacher and a Resource?

**Teacher (Contact)**

A Teacher is an individual person stored in the pickAtime Contacts database. The teacher's contact record contains information such as their name, email address, login credentials, and access permissions.

**Resource**

A Resource represents the teacher or team that parents can book appointments with. Resources appear on the **Appointments** and **Class Editor** pages and are associated with classes and appointment time slots.

A single Teacher Contact can be associated with multiple Resources. For example, a teacher may have an individual Resource and also belong to one or more Team Resources.

**Team**

A Team is a Resource that can be connected to multiple Teacher Contacts. When parents book an appointment with a Team, all teachers connected to that Team are considered unavailable at that time.

### Example

<table id="bkmrk-teacher-contact-reso"><tbody><tr><th>Teacher Contact</th><th>Resource</th><th>Relationship</th></tr><tr><td>Andrea Smith</td><td>Andrea Smith</td><td>Individual teacher</td></tr><tr><td>Barbara Zook</td><td>Barbara Zook</td><td>Individual teacher</td></tr><tr><td>Andrea Smith</td><td>Andrea Smith; Barbara Zook</td><td>Team member</td></tr><tr><td>Barbara Zook</td><td>Andrea Smith; Barbara Zook</td><td>Team member</td></tr></tbody></table>

In this example, Andrea Smith is connected to two Resources: her individual Resource and the shared Team Resource.

If a parent books an appointment with Andrea Smith individually, the Team Resource will also become unavailable for that time because Andrea cannot be booked twice.

## 2. How do I check which Teacher is connected to a Resource?

You can review the Teacher Contacts assigned to a Resource from the **Class Editor** page.

1. Go to **Class Editor** in the Admin UI.
2. Select the Resource you want to review from the teacher list on the left.
3. From the **Assign Contact/Team** dropdown, select **Assign Contact**.
4. The **Select Person** dialog will display the Teacher Contact or team of teachers currently connected to that Resource.
5. Review the assigned teacher or team members.

This is particularly useful if the Resource name does not match the teacher's name or if you suspect that an incorrect teacher has been assigned.

**Important:** The name displayed for a Resource is not necessarily the same as the Teacher Contact connected to it. Always check the actual Contact assignment when troubleshooting.

## 3. How do I check which Resources a Teacher can access?

You can also review Resource Access from the Teacher's contact record.

1. Go to **Contacts** in the Admin UI.
2. Search for the teacher by name or email address.
3. Select the teacher's contact record.
4. Open the **Vendor Access** tab.
5. Under **Resource Access**, review the Resources for which the teacher has been granted access.

The selected checkboxes indicate which Resource schedules the teacher has permission to view or manage, according to their access level.

**Important:** Resource Access permissions are different from team membership. Granting a teacher access to a Resource does not necessarily make that teacher a member of the Team for scheduling purposes.

## 4. How do I remove a Teacher from a Team?

If a teacher is no longer participating in a Team, you can remove the teacher from the Team Resource without deleting the teacher's Contact record.

1. Go to **Class Editor**.
2. Select the Team Resource from the teacher list on the left.
3. From the **Assign Contact/Team** dropdown, select **Assign Contact**.
4. The **Select Person** dialog will display the teachers currently connected to the Team.
5. Remove the teacher who should no longer belong to the Team.
6. Confirm the change.

The remaining teachers will continue to be associated with the Team Resource.

**Important:** Removing a teacher from a Team is different from selecting **Remove Teacher** in Class Editor. The Remove Teacher option removes a Resource listing, rather than simply removing one member from a Team.

Before making changes, review any existing appointments and time slots associated with the Team.

## 5. Why does an appointment with one Teacher affect another Resource?

pickAtime prevents teachers from being double-booked.

If the same Teacher Contact is connected to multiple Resources, an appointment with one Resource can make the corresponding time slot unavailable on the other Resources.

For example:

- Andrea Smith is connected to her individual Resource and a Team Resource with Barbara Zook.
- A parent books Andrea Smith individually at 10:00 AM.
- The Team Resource becomes unavailable at 10:00 AM because Andrea is already booked.
- Barbara Zook's individual Resource remains available, provided she has no other conflicting appointment.

This behavior is expected and helps prevent scheduling conflicts.

If a Resource is unexpectedly unavailable, check the Teacher Contacts connected to that Resource and determine whether any of them have conflicting appointments.

## 6. Common Questions

### Can one Teacher be connected to more than one Resource?

Yes. A teacher may have an individual Resource and also be a member of one or more Team Resources. pickAtime uses these connections to prevent double-booking.

### Can multiple Teachers be connected to one Resource?

Yes. This is how a Team Resource works. When a parent books an appointment with the Team, all connected teachers are considered booked for that time.

### If I remove a Teacher from a Team, will their Contact record be deleted?

No. Removing a teacher from a Team does not delete the teacher's Contact record from pickAtime.

### Why does a Teacher see a schedule that does not belong to them?

Check the teacher's **Resource Access** permissions under Contacts and verify the Resource's assigned Teacher Contacts in Class Editor.

### Why does a Resource show a greyed-out appointment slot?

A greyed-out slot may indicate that one of the Teacher Contacts associated with the Resource has another appointment at that time.

Check the Resource's teacher assignments and the teacher's other appointments to identify the conflict.

## Related Documentation

- [Teachers — Frequently Asked Questions](https://help.pickatime.com/books/pta-faqs/page/teachers)
- [Teams — Frequently Asked Questions](https://help.pickatime.com/books/pta-faqs/page/teams)
- [Importing Teacher and Class Data](https://help.pickatime.com/books/pta-setup-guide/page/step-two-import-data-files)