Important: This feature is only available on the Zenbooker Enterprise plan or higher.
The "Limit Distance Between Jobs" feature ensures that providers are only considered available if the distance between their existing job locations and a potential new booking is within a specified limit. This setting prevents providers from being marked as "available" when a customer is scheduling at a location that is geographically distant from the provider's existing assignments on any given day
This feature is applicable only in territories where the availability calculation method is set to based on service provider availability.
Configuration
Navigate to Territories > [Name of territory]
Click Manage in the Scheduling Rules section
Make sure Based on service provider availability is selected under Availability Options
Toggle on Limit Distance Between Jobs and set the maximum allowable distance (in miles) between consecutive job assignments
Each territory can be configured independently to reflect varying geographic sizes and provider densities
How It Works
Let’s imagine a territory where the maximum distance allowed between jobs is set to 6 miles. For simplicity, let's say this territory only has one provider. Assume the provider in this territory has regular availability from 9 AM to 5 PM and is already scheduled for a job from 11 AM to 1 PM.
Now let's say a customer in Alexandria, VA is booking online and they're checking which slots are available.
Normal Availability
Without any kind of max distance limit, this provider would be available for new bookings at any location in the territory between:
9 AM to 11 AM
1 PM to 5 PM
With Distance Limitation
When the distance limitation is active, an additional check is required:
Existing Job Location: Silver Spring, MD (11 AM - 1 PM).
Customer Location Example: Alexandria, VA.
Distance Considerations:
The distance from Silver Spring, MD to Alexandria, VA is 9 miles, exceeding the 6-mile limit.
Resulting Availability:
The provider is marked as unavailable from 9 AM to 11 AM and 1 PM to 5 PM due to the excessive distance to the existing job in Silver Spring.
Subsequent Bookings
Now let's see what happens if another booking is made for a location in Washington, DC, which is less than 6 miles from Silver Spring.
The provider remains unavailable from 9 AM to 11 AM for Alexandria because of the Silver Spring job.
However, the provider becomes available from 3 PM to 5 PM for the Alexandria customer as the distance from the newly booked DC job to Alexandria falls within the 6-mile limit.