Blackbaud User Guide

Introduction

PickAtime is an award-winning Blackbaud-approved partner providing online scheduling solutions built for schools and organizations in the United States and Canada, as well as around the globe. Our products allow schools to easily schedule parent-teacher conferences, school tours, admissions evenings, interviews, counseling appointments, school fairs, and much more. 

Our integration with Blackbaud has two components:

1) a Single Sign-On option for your parents. Parents can access the pickAtime Online Scheduler directly from the Blackbaud Resource Board via a pickAtime tile, and

2) an easy transfer of your school data from Blackbaud to your pickAtime account. This data transfer populates your pickAtime account with student, parent, teacher, class, and enrollment data. When your parents click on the conference scheduling link on your school portal, they will see the list of their students' teachers, and they will immediately see the schedule of availability for this select group of teachers. 

Note: In addition to the pickAtime per teacher rates, there is also a $350 annual Blackbaud integration fee. This is paid directly to pickAtime as we are charged this fee by Blackbaud.

Admin UI

When you first log in to your pickAtime account, you will automatically land on the Administrative User Interface, with the Event Reports displayed by default.

Profile & Sidebar Navigation

Left-Hand Navigation Menu

Events Preview page

There are 5 navigation buttons:

 

To add a new event, select this button. 

 

To remove the event, select the event first, then click on the 'Delete' button. 

To navigate to the Event Management page, select an event first, then click on this button.

To edit Event Details (Description), select an event first, then click on the 'Edit Details' button. 

To duplicate PTA events. NOTE: This button is available on accounts with PTA events only.  

On the far right-hand side, you can see the 'Event Settings' button. This will allow you to customize some of the features for your events and to add columns to the Event Listing (Events / Preview) page.

Events Management page

Appointments

This page allows you to view your appointments by date, book appointments for your parents, cancel appointments, or send one-off reminder emails. This page is also where you will create and delete your time slots.  The Appointments tab will have three menu drop-downs: Teachers, Slots, and Appointments. 

Teachers menu drop-down

Slots menu drop-down

Appointments menu drop-down

Sort Teachers

Assign Contact

Create Slots

Delete Time Slot

Update Slots

Copy Slots

Move Slots

Confirm Appointment

Cancel Appointment

Edit Appointment

Change Time

Send Reminder

Customer Info

Class Editor

This page displays your list of imported teachers, along with each class and the enrollment in each class. On this page, you will be able to make class changes, such as adding or deleting a class or moving a class from one teacher to another. You will also be able to make enrollment changes, such as adding or removing students from a class.

Settings has seven sub-tabs:

UI Setup - This page allows you to adjust numerous settings related to your event. Some examples include: when the scheduler should open to parents and when it should close, how many appointments a parent can book, and when and if a parent should receive an email reminder.

Vendor UI Setup - Controls the display of the Appointments page and the Slot Editor page, as well as the time markings displayed on the Online Scheduler page.

Services Setup - Allows you to create services for your appointments.

Notification Setup - This page allows you to edit the three email types - the Confirmation Email, the Cancellation Email, and the Reminder Email. You can also optionally edit a Custom Email.

CUI Messages - Allows you to edit the majority of the messages displayed on the Online Scheduler.

Appointment Fields - This page allows you to create prompts for collecting information from your parents when they book an appointment.

Credit Card Setup - This page allows you to set up payments for appointment booking.

Customer User Interface (CUI) or Online Scheduler

This is where your parents will go to schedule and manage their appointments. On the left-hand dashboard in the Admin UI, select Online Scheduler. Note that when you access the Online Scheduler when you are logged into the Reporting Interface, you will also then be logged into the Online Scheduler.

Information for Previous Users

If you have previously created an account with pickAtime, you will not need to create a new account for new conferences. Once you log in to your account, you should create a new event on your account, for example, a "Parent Teacher Conferences 2026" event. Then you can delete the previous semester or the previous year's event. By creating the new event prior to deleting the old event, you will retain the settings (UI Setup / Notification Setup / CUI Messages) from your previous event.

Please do not simply rename your old event. Importing new class and enrollment data to an old event that has been renamed will add the new class and enrollment data to your previous year's class and enrollment data.

Deleting your old event will delete all class and enrollment data, so do not delete your old event if you will be reusing your previous class and enrollment data. To reuse your previous class and enrollment data, use the Duplicate PTA option on the Events page. 

Contact Information

The contact information from your previous parent-teacher conference is retained in the pickAtime system and is not removed when you delete an event. Contacts are the parents, students, and teachers. 

To remove all previous contact information, select the Global Setup / Contacts page, click on the Show advanced options... at the top of the page. You will see a button labeled "Remove all customers." Selecting this button will bring up a pull-down that will allow you to delete your contacts based on their access level. The five access levels are:

Customer Access Only - parents and students

Admin Level - Appointment Viewer - teachers

Admin Level - Appointment Maker - any administrators with Appointment Maker access

Admin Level - Resource Administrator - any administrators with access to only a select group of Resources (teachers)

Admin Level - Event Administrator - any administrators with access to an Event or Events

Deleting an access level will delete the level that is listed above it in the list as well. For example, if you select Admin Level - Resource Administrator as your level to delete, it will also delete those with Admin Level - Appointment Maker, Admin Level - Appointment Viewer, and those with only Customer access (your parents). To remove your students, select the "remove All students" option. 

Note that removing the contacts will not remove any contacts who have logged in during the previous two months or any contacts who have created an appointment in the last two months. The "remove all contacts" will not remove any students who have enrollment in any events on your account.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have any changes to key fields (for example, if new teachers will be using departing teachers' teacherIDs), then you will also want to have your previous conference contact information deleted. Or if your student ID's have changed for each student, you will want to remove the stored students.

NOTE: Preventing Duplicate Contacts for Existing pickAtime Accounts

If your school has used pickAtime without integration, imported data files manually, and now wants to enable the Blackbaud integration, duplicate contact records may occur due to differing contact IDs (teacherID, studentID, parentID).

Recommendation: Clear old data before the new import.

Steps to remove old data:

    1. Create a new event using a past event as a template to preserve settings, notifications, and appointment fields.
    2. (Optional) Export reports from past events on the Reports page.
    3. Delete all past events except the new one.
    4. Go to Global Setup / Contacts / Advanced Options, then click Delete All Contacts. In the pop-up, select Level to delete: Admin Level - Event Administrator (this removes contacts with lower access level and contacts with customer access level - parents and students).
    5. Run the new integration import.

This ensures clean data syncing without duplicates. Contact support@pickatime.com if needed.

Setup Steps

Setup Steps

Blackbaud Checklist

To set up your Parent Teacher Conference event using the PTA scheduler, you will need to follow these steps:

1. INTEGRATE WITH SKY API, SET UP YOUR ACCOUNT, AND SET UP EVENT 

You will need to create your conference event and name it appropriately for your conference (ex. Fall 2026 Conferences). You will also need to adjust the settings on your account for the Blackbaud SSO. 

2. EXPORT YOUR DATA  

Our system will need information from your school to identify the students, the teachers, the classes taught by each teacher, and the enrollment in each class. You will need to export this data from Blackbaud. Once you have exported your data, you should view the data in the Admin UI and verify that it has been imported correctly.

3. CREATE SLOTS FOR THE EVENT

After verifying your data, you can create the time slots (including the date(s), times, and duration of appointments).

4. CREATE THE SSO

Create the SSO - new schools

This page is for new schools that do not currently have a pickAtime / Blackbaud integration and need to create their SSO link.

Create the SSO - current schools

This page is for schools that already have a pickAtime / Blackbaud integration and simply need to update their SSO link.

5. CONFIGURE SETTINGS

Appointment Settings

There are several appointment settings that you can modify for the specifics of your event.

Configure Email (optional)

The pickAtime system offers the capability of sending out email confirmations and email reminder notices. You may choose to modify the default settings for these emails.

6. TURN IT ON and TEST THE SCHEDULER  

Once your data is complete in the system and you have created the appointment time slots, you can turn on the display of the appointment booking web page.

Setup Steps

Setup Account

Integrating with BLACKBAUD SKY API

Prior to connecting to pickAtime in the SKY API please be sure that you have a pickAtime account for your school. If you do not you can create a pickAtime account here. 

Ensure that your school meets the prerequisites for the SKY API as defined by Blackbaud. There is also a $350 annual integration fee. 

Connecting the pickAtime app. 

In Blackbaud.com, click on Marketplace

  1. Search for PickAtime
  2. Select pickAtime in the search results.
  3. Click 'Connect' button.
  4. Click 'Go To Application Website'

Next Steps

Once you have created a new pickAtime account (or currently already have one) and have connected to SKY API you will want to update your Account Settings and begin Setting up Your SSO.

Account Settings

  1. Select Login from the pickAtime home page and log in with your email address and password to your pickAtime account.
  2. Select the Global Setup / Business page.
  3. Locate the Single Sign On section (Advanced options) and ensure that the SSO Provider pull-down is set to Blackbaud. 

**Doing this will remove the Account URL from the account. This is because when using the Blackbaud integration parents and students will be accessing the school's account via the Blackbaud resource tile.**

Create Your Event

When you first log in to your account from the pickAtime home page, you will be in the Admin tool and on the Event Reporting page. 

  1. Select the Events/Preview button on the Admin UI sidebar (left side). 
  2. Click on the ’Add’ button.
  3. Enter a name for your event, for example, "Fall 2026 Conferences."
  4. Select the type of PTA
  5. If you have previously used pickAtime, you will then have a pull-down where you can select a template from one of your previous events. The template will determine the starting settings (from the UI Setup, CUI Messages, and the Notifications Setup pages) for your event.
  6. Select the event time zone.
  7. Optionally, you can add the Date and Location for your event.

You will then see a row listed for your event. The date and location column can be left blank. They are used to differentiate between the different events when more than one event is available. The date field is simply a label. If your conference has multiple dates, you can list all dates in this column, or you can leave it blank.

For any event, you can also use the Event Details box on the screen to fill in any event-specific information that you may want to use in the display of your scheduler or in your emails for this event. Any text that you add in the Event Details box will be available as a macro field that you can use in your CUI Messages or in your Notifications Setup. The macro for the Event Details is $(E_DESCRIPTION).

If you've used the system before and you will be importing new data, you can now delete the previous event(s). To delete an event, click on the ‘Delete’ button. Doing so after you have created the new event will allow you to use your previous conference event as a template for your new conference event. Please also confirm that your new event is of type PTA.

Setup Steps

Export your Data

In the Admin UI tool, select the Importer on the sidebar. 

  1. Click Sign in to Blackbaud. **SKY API requires at least one admin user to be authenticated with Blackbaud ID, has one of the following roles ('Academic Group Manager', 'Schedule Manager', or 'Platform Manager'), and the SKY API Data Sync role.** To import Advisory data, you must also have the role of Advisory Group Manager.
  2. Click Authorize. You are now set up!
  3. Select your event, Import Type, Event, and Term, Import

There are 3 different import options. 

To import Academic data for Parent Teacher Conferences, you would do an Academic data import.

  1. Select the import type of PTA event.
  2. Select a specific event to import the class and enrollment data to.
  3. Select Academics from the Offering type.
  4. Select a specific Term ID.

To import Advisory data for Advisory-only conferences, you would do an Advisory data import.     

NOTE: If you remove teacher/class/student data in pickAtime, please be aware that the next time you do a data transport into your event from Blackbaud, the data will be added back in. We suggest that you change the class slot type to 'hidden' instead of completely deleting unwanted classes. This way, classes would not get reimported during subsequent manual imports or auto-sync.

To import parent data for an Admission event, you would do an Admissions import. 

This import offers a Parent Type selector, allowing Admin to select either the Parent of Incoming or Parent of Candidate or both.

NOTE: The Admission import will include contact records with roles: Parent of Candidate; Parent of Incoming Student.

NOTE: Contacts imported via admission import do not have the Resource Board on their end.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If your school does not have Academic data with Blackbaud, you will want to do an import of a teacher file, a class file, and an enrollment file. To do this, you will need to toggle off the Blackbaud SKY API importer. Go to the Global Setup / Business Setup page, Single Sign On section, and uncheck the Use SKY API Importer option. 

Then, create and import your data files.

View Your Data

Once you have imported your data, you should go to the Class Editor page to confirm that your data is correct.

  1. From the Admin UI on the Events Preview page, select your event from the list and click on the  button.
  2. Select the Class Editor tab. This tab will display your list of teachers. If you select a teacher's name from the left-hand side, then you will see the list of classes for the teacher. See the Modifying Teacher or Room Data section of the manual to add or remove teachers. Clicking on a class will bring up the list of students in that class. 

NOTE: If you would like to view the data in class order, check the box on the far right-hand side, "show only classes." See the Moving a Class section to move a class and see the Modifying Enrollment Data section to add or remove students from classes.

Setup Steps

Creating Time Slots

Create Slots Function

The Create Slots function is used to generate appointment dates, times, and appointment durations for your event.

Accessing the Create Slots Function

  1. Navigate to Events / Preview from the navigation menu.

  2. Select your event from the list.

  3. Click the Appointments button.

  4. Select the Appointments tab.

On the left-hand side of the page, you will see a calendar. Select the date you would like to create slots for. If your event spans multiple days, begin with the first date.

On the right-hand side, you will see a list of your teachers/resources.

Slot Menu Options

The Slots drop-down menu includes the following options:

Select Create Slots to open the Slot Generator window.

Creating Appointment Slots

Step 1: Select Teachers

Choose whether the slots should be created for:

Step 2: Configure Time Settings

Example:

This creates:

Appointment Types

Select the appointment format you would like to offer.

In-Person
Virtual
In-Person or Virtual

Slot Types

Select how the slot should appear to parents.

Visible for Customer - The slot is visible and available for booking on the Online Scheduler (CUI).

Hidden from Customer - The slot is hidden from parents but remains visible in the Admin UI. This can be used for reserved appointments.

Shown with “Call” Status - The slot is visible, but parents are instructed to contact the school directly when selecting the appointment.

Make Unavailable - The slot appears in the Admin UI but cannot be booked online. This is commonly used for:

You may optionally enter a custom message for unavailable slots.

Maximum Appointments Per Slot

Use the Maximum allowed appointments per slot field to determine how many appointments can be booked during each time slot.

This is commonly used for:

Creating Multiple Days of Slots

If multiple days will use the same schedule:

If each day has a different schedule:

  1. Create slots for the first day

  2. Select the next date from the calendar

  3. Repeat the slot creation process

Creating Different Schedules for Different Teachers

If teachers/resources require different schedules:

  1. Select the teacher or group of teachers

  2. Create their slots and click save

  3. Select the next teacher/group

  4. Repeat as needed

To select multiple teachers:

Note that if you have created the same slots for all your teachers, you will not see the individual slots displayed unless you select one of the teacher names (from the right-hand side). This allows you to create identical schedules for selected groups of teachers/resources.

Viewing Teacher Slots

If slots are created for all teachers at once, individual appointment slots may not immediately display.

To view a specific teacher’s slots:

Time Increment Display

The time increments displayed on the Appointments page automatically adjust based on your slot durations.

Examples:

If multiple slot durations exist, the display will use the lowest common denominator.

Example:

Result:

To manually adjust display increments:

  1. Navigate to Settings / Vendor UI Setup

  2. Modify the Draw Time Every setting

If using Travel Breaks, you may also want to adjust this setting to align with your break duration.

Important Notes: Create Slots Does Not Replace Existing Slots

The Create Slots function only adds new slots. It does not automatically overwrite or remove existing slots.

Example:

You must either:

Updating Slots

The Update Slots feature will allow you to update the characteristics of existing slots. This feature will allow you to:

Note: The Update Slots feature does not change the start time, end time, or duration of existing slots.

Accessing Update Slots

  1. Navigate to Events / Preview from the navigation menu.
  2. Select your event from the list.
  3. Click the Appointments tab.
  4. Choose the appropriate date from the calendar on the left-hand side.
  5. Select the teacher/resource name on the right-hand side.
  6. Select the Appointments drop-down menu.
  7. Select Slots /Update Slots.

This will open the Slot Updater dialog box.

The dialog box will allow you to enter a range of times. You will have several options for making changes to an existing slot.

The "Keep existing slot type on slots being updated" checkbox allows you to change the appointment type (i.e., from in-person to virtual) without changing the slot type. It is very helpful if all teachers have already blocked their schedules.

Update Slots will only change the characteristics of existing slots. It does not change the duration, start, or end time of existing slots. 

Removing Slots -  individual scheduling exceptions

The Delete Time Slots feature allows you to remove existing appointment slots for:

This is commonly used for:

Accessing Delete Time Slots

  1. Navigate to Events / Preview from the navigation menu.
  2. Select your event from the list.
  3. Click the Appointments tab.
  4. Choose the appropriate date from the calendar on the left-hand side.
  5. Select the teacher/resource name on the right-hand side.
  6. Select the Appointments drop-down menu.
  7. Select Slots > Delete Time Slots. This will open the deletion dialog box.
  8. The dialog box will ask you for details on the deletion. Please read carefully to ensure that you are only deleting slots on the correct date/teacher/time combination.

You will be able to delete all slots that occur at that time for all teachers. For example, if you want to schedule a lunch break for all teachers, you could enter the start and end times of the lunch break and delete any slots during that time. 

You can also create breaks by using the Update Slots feature.  

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are deleting slots with appointments on them, a second dialog box will come up.

This dialog box will provide you with several options for the appointments that are on your soon-to-be-deleted slots.

Best Practices

Blocking Slots

How to Block a Slot

  1. Navigate to the Appointments page in the Admin UI.
  2. Locate the appointment slot you would like to block.
  3. Click the X in the corner of the slot.

The slot will:

You may leave the default message or replace it with a custom message, such as:

This slot will then not be displayed on the scheduling page to your parents. At any time, you can "unblock" the slot by clicking on the x in the corner and returning the slot to blue with the word Available listed in the slot. Blocked Slots will display on your reports when the "show all slots" option is checked.

As an alternative to blocking slots, you can always delete slots.

Blocking Slots vs. Deleting Slots

Blocking Slots
Deleting Slots

In most cases, blocking slots is the preferred option for temporary scheduling changes.

Changing Slot Start Times, End Times, or Duration

If you need to modify:

You must first delete the existing slots before creating new ones.

The Create Slots feature does not overwrite or replace existing appointment slots.

Example

Existing Schedule:

New Desired Schedule:

You cannot simply create the new schedule on top of the existing slots.

Instead, you must either:

OR

Best Practices

Move Slots

The Move Slots feature will allow you to move all your slots and appointments (if any) to a new date.

This feature is commonly used when:

The Move Slots button will bring up a dialog box where you can enter a destination date for your slots and appointments to be moved to. You will have the option of sending an explanation email to all parents with an appointment. You also have the option to move the slots only for a selected teacher or teachers.

Accessing Move Slots

  1. Navigate to Events / Preview from the navigation menu.
  2. Select your event from the list.
  3. Click the Appointments tab.
  4. Choose the appropriate date from the calendar on the left-hand side.
  5. Select the teacher/resource name on the right-hand side.
  6. Select the Appointments drop-down menu.
  7. Select Slots > Move Slots. 

    This will open the Move Slots dialog box.

    In the Move Slots dialog box:

    1. Select the destination date
    2. Choose whether to:
      • Move slots for all teachers/resources
      • Move slots only for selected teachers/resources
    3. Confirm the move

    All selected slots and any associated appointments will be transferred to the new date.

When slots are moved:

Important Note: New calendar notification emails will not be sent, so participants should be advised to update any calendar entries they have set.

Parent Notification Options

If appointments already exist on the slots being moved, you will have the option to send an informational email to affected parents.

This email can be used to explain:

Best Practices

Copy Slots

The Copy Slots feature will allow you to copy one day of slots to another day. You can also selectively copy slots from one teacher to another teacher.

The Copy Slots feature allows you to duplicate existing appointment slots from one date or teacher/resource to another.

This is useful when:

Common Uses for Copy Slots

Copy One Day to Another Day

Example: Copy Monday’s conference schedule to Tuesday

Copy Slots Between Teachers

Example: Copy one teacher’s availability setup to another teacher/resource

Reuse Standard Scheduling Templates

Example: Recreate standard office hours or conference blocks across multiple days

Accessing Copy Slots

  1. Navigate to Events / Preview from the navigation menu.
  2. Select your event from the list.
  3. Click the Appointments tab.
  4. Choose the appropriate date from the calendar on the left-hand side.
  5. Select the teacher/resource name on the right-hand side.
  6. Select the Appointments drop-down menu.
  7. Select Slots > Copy Slots

This will open the Copy Slots dialog box.

Copying Slots

In the Copy Slots dialog box:

  1. Select the destination date
  2. Optionally select destination teacher/resource(s)
  3. Confirm the copy action

The selected slots will be duplicated to the new location.

Important Notes

Best Practices

FAQ on Creating Slots

I created slots on the wrong date

On the Appointments page, select the Slots drop-down and then select the Move Slots option. This will allow you to move all slots (and any appointments) to a new date. You will have the option to send an email to any appointment holder whose appointment was moved. 

My slots are 20 minutes in duration, but I wanted a 30-minute break for lunch

If your break will not have the same duration as your slots or is not a multiple of your slots (e.g. you have time slots of 20 minutes, and you want a 40-minute break), you will need to create your slots in sections. First, create the slots BEFORE your break time, and then create your slots AFTER your break time. 

Why are some of my slots grey?

Grey time slots indicate that the teacher is booked elsewhere and is not available at that time. Either the teacher is having meetings as part of a team, or the teacher has booked her own appointments in her role as a parent. If you click on the grey time slot, a message will display telling you where the teacher is booked.

Why are my time slots yellow? 

Yellow indicates that the time has passed.

I created time slots with the wrong duration, but my parents have already booked appointments.

Time slots can not be changed from one duration to another. If you need a different duration than what you originally created, you will need to delete your time slots with the incorrect duration and create new time slots with the correct duration. When you delete the time slots, the system will ask you what you want to do with the appointments. You can cancel them and send an email to each customer requesting that they rebook their appointment. Or you can put the appointments "on hold" and then cancel and manually rebook each appointment. 

After selecting the Delete Time Slots option, you will see a new dialog box telling you the number of appointments on your soon-to-be-deleted slots:

The default option is set to move the appointments to a holding area on the Appointments List page. If you choose this option, you will have a list of the appointments that you need to either cancel or cancel and rebook.

FAQ on Creating Slots

I created slots on the wrong date

On the Appointments page, select the Slots drop-down and then select the Move Slots option. This will allow you to move all slots (and any appointments) to a new date. You will have the option to send an email to any appointment that is being moved. 

My slots are 20 minutes in duration, but I want a 30-minute break in the middle

If your break will not have the same duration as your slots or is not a multiple of your slots (e.g., you have time slots of 20 minutes, and you want a 40-minute break), you will need to create your slots in sections. First, create the slots BEFORE your break time, and then create your slots AFTER your break time. 

Why are some of my time slots grey? 

Grey time slots indicate that the teacher is booked elsewhere and is not available at that time. Either the teacher is having meetings as part of a team, or the teacher has booked her own appointments in her role as a parent. If you click on the grey time slot, a message will display telling you where the teacher is booked.

Why are my time slots yellow? 

Slots are displayed in yellow when the time has passed. 

I created time slots with the wrong duration

Time slots can not be changed from one duration to another. If you need a different duration than what you originally created, you will need to delete your time slots with the incorrect duration and create new time slots with the correct duration. 

I created time slots with the wrong duration, but my customers have already booked appointments. 

Time slots can not be changed from one duration to another. If you need a different duration than what you originally created, you will need to delete your time slots with the incorrect duration and create new time slots with the correct duration. When you delete the time slots, the system will ask you what you want to do with the appointments. You can cancel them and send an email to each customer requesting that they rebook their appointment. Or you can put the appointments "to the red list" and then cancel and manually rebook each appointment. 

After selecting the Delete Time Slots option, you will see a new dialog box telling you the number of appointments on your soon-to-be-deleted slots

The default option is set to move the appointments to a holding area on the Appointments List page. If you choose this option, you will have a list of the appointments that you need to either cancel or cancel and rebook.

Setup Steps

Configure Settings

Appointment Settings

On the UI Setup (Events Management, Settings / UI Setup) page, you can adjust various settings specific to your event.

  1. From the Admin UI on the Events / Preview page, select your event. Click on the  button to open the Event Management page.
  2. Select the Settings tab and then the UI Setup tab.

Scheduler Availability

Scheduler Display

Appointment Number Limits

Appointment Cancellations

Close Appointment Booking

Scheduler Display Limits

Teacher Display

Teacher's Group Name

Advanced Settings

Online Meeting Provider - Use 'X' for online meetings. Select from the drop-down menu which Online Meeting Provider you want to use for this event. 

Multiple Appointment Booking - Allow a parent to make conflicting appointments for themselves If this box is checked, the parent will be able to make more than one appointment at the same time. 

Appointment Changes 

Allow customers to see and cancel past appointments - Check this box to allow your customers to see and cancel past appointments 

Don't allow customers to change appointment time - Check this if you do not want the participant to have the option to change the time of their appointment.

Notification Setup

The Notification Setup tab in the Settings section:

Send confirmation email - Check this box if you would like a confirmation email sent after the appointment is made. This is generally left unchecked for schools.

Reply To Email - Enter an email address in this box, and you will receive a reply when your customer selects "reply" in the confirmation, reminder, or cancellation emails. If you leave this blank, any replies will receive an automated email response directing them to contact the scheduling organization. 

Send Reminder Emails - Select Add and enter the time (in hours) prior to the appointment that you would like an email reminder to be sent. You can add multiple times. The duplicated values are not allowed and would be removed automatically.

There are two ways reminder emails are sent:

Confirmation Email / Cancellation Email / Reminder Email / Custom Email / Follow-up Email - Allows you to toggle between the email types: Confirmation Email, Cancellation Email, Reminder Email, Custom Email, and Follow-up Email. 

Subject - Allows you to change the text in the subject line of the email.

Header - Allows you to change the text in the header line of the email.

Body - Allows you to change the text in the body of the email.

Replace the Email Body with the Printable Schedule or Appointments - Allows you to have the option to include the "printable schedule" as the body of the email on the Confirmation and Reminder emails. The printable schedule is a table that summarizes all the appointments a parent has booked. When you check this box, your email will contain the header text, the printable schedule, and the footer text. 

Footer - Allows you to change the text in the footer of the email. 

Subject for combined email - When a combination email will be sent, for example, when an appointment is canceled and immediately rescheduled, the text here will be in the subject line of the combined email. 

On the Confirmation and Reminder emails, you have the option to insert the printable schedule or appointments as the body of the email. The printable schedule or appointments is a table that summarizes all the appointments a parent has booked. To include this option, check the "Replace the Email Body with the Printable Schedule or Appointments" box. When you check this box, your email will contain the Header text, the printable schedule, and the Footer text. See the CUI Messages / Print Schedule section for the formatting of the printable schedule. 

The format of the table of appointments that is included is referred to as the printable schedule, as this table will be the same as the table a parent would see if they clicked on the Printable Schedule link on the parent scheduling page. The information included in this table is set on the Settings /CUI Messages page under the Print Schedule section.

When the "printable schedule or appointments" option is selected, one email will be sent containing the schedule of appointments made by the parent. The parent will not receive one email per appointment booked.

Configure CUI

The pickAtime system allows you to customize many of the display settings that your parents will see when booking appointments.

 To modify the CUI Messages:

  1. From the Admin UI select the Events / Preview option on the dashboard. Then select your event from the list and click on the  button. 
  2. Select the Settings tab and then the CUI messages tab. 
  3. On the left-hand side you see many different labels that you can optionally modify. When you select a label the right-hand side will display the text that will show up on the CUI. The text on any of these labels can be changed. 
  4. To edit the title on the login page for your scheduler, select Login page / Login message at the top* and edit the text on the right-hand side. 
  5. To add a logo to your scheduler, go to the Global Setup/Business page, Account Logo section. select Other / Account Logo*. Click on the Insert/Edit Image icon and then select Insert image. 

Note: to edit (or view) the HTML, select the HTML icon (<>) on the toolbar.

Setup Steps

Turn it On and Test the Scheduler

  1. From the Admin UI on the Events Preview page, select your event. Click on the  button to open the Event Management page.
  2. Select the Settings tab and then the UI Setup tab.
  3. To turn on the online scheduler so parents can use the website and schedule appointments, modify the “Open scheduler to customers on ” and the “Close scheduler to customers on”  Any days that you want to make available for parents to schedule appointments should be within the start and end date specified.

To allow yourself (and other Administrators) access to the scheduler when it is closed to your parents, check the box "allow Admins access to the CUI at all times".

Create the SSO - new schools

PickAtime can be used to create a direct link (via Single Sign On) from the Blackboard Resource Board to the Parent Teacher Conference event for your parents. For quick access on how to build a Resource Board, visit Blackbaud’s Helpfile on Resource Board. This page is for new schools that do not currently have a pickAtime / Blackbaud integration and need to create their SSO link. If you are a current pickAtime school that has been using the pickAtime / Blackbaud integration and needs to change to the SKY API, please click here. 

You can also watch our video on Setting Up Your School's Single Sign On.

Part 1: Establish the Single Sign On (SSO) between Blackbaud and pickAtime

This step requires you to copy a Redirect URL from pickatime to your Blackbaud account. You will then copy your Secret Key from Blackbaud to your pickatime account. You will need to log in to both accounts to copy and paste between them. 

  1. First, log in to your pickAtime account and go to Global Setup / Business, select Show Advanced options, then under the Single Sign On Options, select Blackbaud as your SSO Provider. You will see a Redirect URL listed. Copy this redirect URL, as you will need to paste this to your Blackbaud settings in the following steps. 
  2. On your Blackbaud account, as a platform manager, navigate to Core, Security, Authentication settings, SSO Settings
  3. Select Add new.
  4. Enter a Name for your new SSO. When you click Save, the Slug is generated based on the name you enter.
  5. Enter your Redirect URL (what you had previously copied from your pickatime account in step 1).  This is the external URL where the user will be sent with a token from a valid session from Blackbaud Education Management. Be sure to include the {token} placeholder (include the curly braces).
  6. To allow impersonation, select Allow impersonation. 
  7. Save your settings. 
  8. Select to edit the item you just created. 
  9. Select and copy the Secret Key from the dialog box. Tip: Your Secret Key is 88 characters - it is longer than the field, so be sure to select the entire key. Triple-click on the text field to select the whole string.
  10. Return to your pickatime account, and again go to Global Setup / Business page, select Show Advanced Options, and under the Single Sign On Options, paste the Blackbaud Secret Key to the SSO Secret Key box.

You have successfully made the connection between Blackbaud and pickAtime. You will now want to ensure that your school has a Blackbaud Resource Board tile that points to pickatime. 

Part 2: Add the SSO link to a resource board

From SSO Settings, copy the URL next to the SSO item you created. You'll need this in an upcoming step.

As a platform manager or content editor, navigate to Core, Content, Additional content types, Links.

  1. Select Add new category. 
  2. Name your category
  3. Save & add link. 
  4. Enter the Title. 
  5. In the URL field, combine your school's app URL (i.e., https://SCHOOLNAME.myschoolapp.com) with the URL segment from the first step (i.e.,/app/sso/auth/test-sso), replacing the last part, which is the slug. https://SCHOOLNAME.myschoolapp.com/app/sso/auth/SLUG 
  6. Save
  7. Go to Core, Content, and Resource boards.
  8. Next to View boards, choose the appropriate role (security group) such as parent.
  9. Select Add post,
  10. Enter the Title, Description, and add a Cover photo. 
  11. For the Post cover, go to select the Direct link.
  12. Select Category and find the category you created in the previous steps.
  13. Select Link and choose your SSO link
  14. Save. 

Create the SSO - current schools

PickAtime can be used to create a direct link (via Single Sign On) from the Blackboard Resource Board to the Parent Teacher Conference event for your parents. For quick access on how to build a Resource Board, visit Blackbaud’s Helpfile on Resource Board. This page is for schools that already have a pickAtime / Blackbaud integration and simply needs to update their SSO link.

 If you are a new school that does not currently have a pickAtime / Blackbaud integration and needs to create their SSO link, please click here.

Watch our video on Setting Up Your School's Single Sign-On.

To configure the Single Sign On (SSO) for your school account, please do the following:

Part 1: Establish the Single Sign On (SSO) between Blackbaud and pickAtime

This step requires you to copy a Redirect URL from pickatime to your Blackbaud account. You will then copy your Secret Key from Blackbaud to your pickatime account. You will need to log in to both accounts to copy and paste between them. 

  1. First, log into your pickAtime account and go to Global Setup / Business, select show Advanced options, then under the Single Sign On Options, select Blackbaud as your SSO Provider. You will see a Redirect URL listed. Copy this redirect URL, as you will need to paste this into your Blackbaud settings in the following steps. 
  2. On your Blackbaud account, as a platform manager, navigate to Core, Security, Authentication settings, SSO Settings
  3. Select Add new.
  4. Enter a Name for your new SSO. When you save, the Slug is generated based on the name you enter.
  5. Enter your Redirect URL (what you had previously copied from your pickatime account in step 1).  This is the external URL where the user will be sent with a token from a valid session from Blackbaud Education Management. Be sure to include the {token} placeholder (include the curly braces).
  6. To allow impersonation, select Allow impersonation. 
  7. Save your settings. 
  8. Select to edit the item you just created. 
  9. Select and copy the Secret Key from the dialog box. Tip: Your Secret Key is 88 characters - it is longer than the field, so be sure to select the entire key. Triple-click on the text field to select the whole string.
  10. Return to your pickatime account, and again go to Global Setup / Business page, select show Advanced Options, and under the Single Sign On Options, paste the Blackbaud Secret Key to the SSO Secret Key box.

You have successfully made the connection between Blackbaud and pickAtime. You will now want to ensure that your school has a Blackbaud Resource Board tile that points to pickatime. 

Part 2: Update your Resource Board
  1. From SSO Settings, copy the URL next to the SSO item you created. You'll need this in an upcoming step. 
  2. As a platform manager or content editor, navigate to Core, Content, Additional content types, Links.
  3. Locate your current pickatime link and click on it. 
  4. Click on the edit icon, locate the link destination and then click Change.
  5. Select the Link / URL option
  6. In the URL field, combine your school's app URL (i.e., https://SCHOOLNAME.myschoolapp.com) with the URL segment from the first step (i.e.,/app/sso/auth/test-sso), replacing the last part, which is the slug. https://SCHOOLNAME.myschoolapp.com/app/sso/auth/SLUG
  7. Save
Test the SSO URL
  1. To allow impersonation, navigate to Security, Authentication settings, SSO settings.
  2. Edit the SSO link settings to allow impersonation.​
  3. Under your profile menu, select the Impersonate User option. Blackbaud will allow you to find a user to impersonate. Ensure that this user is in pickAtime as well (note that the User IDs in Blackbaud tell pickAtime what role that User has).
  4. Once you are impersonating a user, go to their Resource Board.
  5. Click the pickAtime link to access the event.

Notes: