How to set business hours

Business hours allow you to control the times, days, dates, and circumstances under which your chat buttons are shown to visitors.

Business hours can be set for the BoldChat entities Website and Department.

Department-level business hours and exceptions override website-level business hours and exceptions. Departments without unique business hours and/or exceptions use the same settings as associated websites.

You can also set operator hours to establish an individual operator's availability during a given time range. Operator hours are applied independently of business hours. See How to set operator hours.

Set website-level business hours

Business hours can be set for the BoldChat entity called Website.

To activate website-level business hours, you must create a website definition and then associate it with an HTML snippet. The HTML snippet will also have an associated custom chat button definition or visitor monitoring definition. Your business hours are applied to the button or visitor monitoring insofar as they are associated with the same HTML snippet as the website definition.

Create a website definition, as follows:
1. From the main menu of the operator client, go to Setup > Account Setup. The Account Setup window is displayed.
2. On the left menu of the Account Setup window, click General > Websites > New.
Result: The New Website window is displayed.
Name the website definition.
This is for your own internal reference and is not seen by visitors.
Select Enable business hours for chats.
Option. To make chat buttons available within business hours even when no operators are available, select Even when no operators are available.
Result:

CAUTION: This may result in unanswered chats. Chats may continue to be queued even when no operators are available.
Select the Time Zone used by the From/To time settings.
Set your Standard Weekly Business Hours, which are periods of time (day/time combinations) that reflect your regular hours of operation.
1. Select the hours between which you want chat to be potentially available, expressed as From/To.
  Outside of this time period, your chat buttons display as unavailable even when operators are available. For example, if business hours are set for 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, the Chat button associated with this website reference will become available at 9:00 AM (if operators are available) and will be disabled at 5:00 PM.
2. Select the Days to which the From/To setting is applied.
3. To set unique hours for the weekend (or any day of the week), click Add period and set the days and time as described above.
Result: Outside of these time periods, chat is unavailable unless you set exceptions (Enterprise subscribers only).
Option. Enterprise subscribers can alter Standard Weekly Business Hours (opening hours) on specific dates throughout the year, such as holidays or for special events, you can add exceptions under Exceptions by date.
Save your changes.
Result: The settings are applied to the website definition.

Your website definition is ready to be associated with an HTML snippet. Unless this association is made, your business hours are not applied.

Set department-level business hours

Department-level business hours allow Enterprise subscribers to control the times, days, dates, and circumstances under which chat with the department is available.

Department-level business hours and exceptions override website-level business hours and exceptions respectively. Departments without unique business hours and/or exceptions use the same settings as associated websites.

A department cannot receive new chats outside of business hours, even when operators are available (unless you choose otherwise, as described below) or a rollover department has been designated.

Note: An Enterprise subscription is required.

Create a department, as follows:
1. From the main menu of the BoldChat Operator Client, go to Setup > Account Setup. The Account Setup window is displayed.
2. On the left menu of the Account Setup window, click General > Departments > New
Result: The New Department window is displayed.
Name the department definition.
This may be seen by visitors.
Click the Business Hours tab.
Select Enable business hours for chats.
Option. To make chat buttons available within business hours even when no operators are available, select Even when no operators are available.
Result:

CAUTION: This may result in unanswered chats. Chats may continue to be queued even when no operators are available.
Select the Time Zone used by the From/To time settings.
Set your Standard Weekly Business Hours, which are periods of time (day/time combinations) that reflect your regular hours of operation.
1. Select the hours between which you want chat to be potentially available, expressed as From/To.
  Outside of this time period, your chat buttons display as unavailable even when operators are available. For example, if business hours are set for 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, the Chat button associated with this website reference will become available at 9:00 AM (if operators are available) and will be disabled at 5:00 PM.
2. Select the Days to which the From/To setting is applied.
3. To set unique hours for the weekend (or any day of the week), click Add period and set the days and time as described above.
Result: Outside of these time periods, chat is unavailable unless you set exceptions (Enterprise subscribers only).
Option. To alter your Standard Weekly Business Hours (opening hours) on specific dates throughout the year, such as holidays or for special events, you can add exceptions under Exceptions by date. See What are exceptions to business hours? below.
- Same as website exceptions. The department uses the same exceptions as associated websites
- Override website exceptions on specific dates. On the dates specified here, department exceptions override website exceptions. Otherwise, the department uses the same exceptions as associated websites.
- Override all website exceptions. The department uses unique exceptions and ignores all website exceptions.
Result:

Tip: When adding exceptions, you may find it useful to copy previously used exceptions (when available). To do this, select Show expired from: and copy expired exceptions.

Remember: A department that serves as a Rollover department cannot receive rollover chats outside of its own business hours.

What are exceptions to business hours?

An exception is valid for one day only. By defining an exception, you override normal business hours. In other words, an exception defines the time when your agents are available to chat on a specific day.

Think of a business hours exception as an exception in your daily routine: You may provide support from 9 AM to 5 PM, but on an exceptional day, like Black Friday, you may want to provide chat support for longer hours. In this case, you can define an exception for that single day by defining your availability, say, from 9 AM to 9 PM.

Similarly, if you have a meeting on November 20, from 2 PM to 3.30 PM and you are not available to support your customers, you have to change your standard business hours by setting two exceptions for the day:

One exception for November 20 from 9 AM to 2 PM
Another one for November 20 from 3.30 PM to 5 PM

This way, you can let Digital DX, and your customers, know that this is an exceptional day when you are available from 9 AM to 2 PM and from 3.30 PM to 5 PM only.