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Line Me Up for clinics, salons, car care and counters

Line Me Up is one product for every kind of place where people wait. This page shows how each kind of place uses it — what setup gives you to start with, which words change, and a worked example you can copy.

One product, five kinds of place#

Every business on Line Me Up runs the same loop at the desk: Call Next, serve, Complete. What changes from one kind of place to another is the setup around that loop — how many lines you have, whether people book or walk in, whether a visit moves from one desk to another — and, for a clinic, a few of the words on screen.

When you set up your business, the first question is What kind of place is this? You pick one of five cards. Your choice does three things:

• It fills in sensible starting lines and people, which you correct rather than type from nothing.
• It decides which starting processes are waiting for you on the Processes page.
• It sets the handful of words that depend on the kind of place — today, only a clinic has words of its own.

Customers who browse the directory can also filter by it. The five kinds, as you and your customers see them:

Choose your kind of place#

You make this choice once, at the start of setup.

1. Sign up, or log in to a business that has not finished setup. Setup opens at its first step, Your place.
2. Under What kind of place is this?, tap the card that fits best.
3. Line Me Up takes you straight to step 2, Your lines, with the starting lines for that kind of place already filled in.
4. Change anything that does not fit: rename a line, change How do people join? and How long does it usually take?, remove a row, or press Add another. Then press Continue.
5. On step 3, Your people, the starting rows are filled in too. For each row, say whether it is A person or A shared desk, and tick the lines under What do they handle?. Press Continue.

Nothing is final. You can go Back to an earlier step, and change every line and every person later. The full walk-through is in Set up your business.

Change it later#

1. Open Settings, then Business.
2. In What kind of place, choose the new kind.
3. Press Save changes.

What setup starts you with#

These are the rows setup fills in for each kind of place. They are a starting point to correct, not a template you are locked into: an owner who deletes every row and types their own ends up with exactly the same kind of business.

How many lines and desks your plan includes is on Pricing. A line that takes bookings needs a plan that includes booking.

The three ways people join a line#

Every line has one of three types, chosen in How do people join?:

Words that change for a clinic#

Most of Line Me Up uses the same words everywhere. A business set up as a Clinic or hospital sees a few of them changed, so the screen speaks the way a clinic does. Salons, car care, cafés and counters see the general words.

Every one of these words is translated into all of Line Me Up's languages. See Languages and the words on screen.

Starting processes for your kind of place#

A process says what happens around a service: where somebody goes before it, after it, or by a choice. The first time anyone opens Processes, Line Me Up copies in the starting processes for your kind of place. Each step in them names a line by its job, such as Billing; if you have a line with exactly that name, it is filled in for you, and otherwise the step asks you to pick the line.

They are copies: edit them, rename them, or ignore them. How to build and attach one is in Processes: visits with several steps.

Clinics and hospitals#

A clinic's day is usually a few consultation rooms fed by one front desk, with patients sent on to the lab, billing or the pharmacy and then back to the doctor for a review. Some lines take bookings, some only walk-ins, and an emergency has to go first without anybody arguing about it.

How a clinic typically sets up#

• Lines: one per thing people wait for — a General Consultation (walk-in and booked together), a specialist line that takes bookings only, and quick walk-in lines such as Lab & Tests and Pharmacy.
• Services: what a patient chooses on your page, such as a first visit, a follow-up or a blood test. Each belongs to a line.
• Desks: one per room or counter — Consultation Room 1, Lab Counter, Pharmacy Counter. Doctors who work one room each day can be set up as people; rooms shared across shifts as shared desks.
• Sending on: a doctor finishing a consultation uses Send to… to put the patient in the lab's line, and the patient comes back to that doctor as a Review.
• Emergencies: owners and managers can Mark emergency on the Waitlist to put somebody first; give the front desk the Emergency ability on Team so they can too, on the lines they handle.

Worked setup: a three-doctor clinic#

1. At setup, choose Clinic or hospital.
2. On Your lines, keep General Consultation. Rename Specialist to your specialty — for example, Skin & Hair Clinic — and set it to Walk-in + booking if you also take walk-ins there. Rename Pharmacy / Billing to Pharmacy, and press Add another for a Lab & Tests line (Walk-in, 10 min). Press Continue.
3. On Your people, add a row for each doctor as A person with their email, and tick the lines they handle. Keep Front desk as A shared desk. If you see patients yourself, tick your lines under Do you see customers yourself? on your own row. Press Continue.
4. Copy the logins shown under Logins — they are shown once. Press Go to my board, or Work my own desk if you are seeing patients straight away.
5. Open Services and add what patients choose: First Visit Consultation and Follow-up Consultation under General Consultation, Blood Test and ECG under Lab & Tests.
6. Open Team, and tick Emergency and Front desk for the person who runs reception.
7. Open Processes. In Pay, test, review, pick your lab or billing line for any step that asks, and attach it to the services that need it.
8. Print your poster from Settings and put it up at reception.

Salons and spas#

A salon mixes walk-ins and booked clients across chairs, and a client often wants more than one thing — a haircut and a manicure, or a colour that needs a wait while it sets.

How a salon typically sets up#

• Lines: one per area of the salon — Hair, Skin & Facials, Nails, and a quick walk-in line for men's grooming.
• Services: the menu — haircut, blow-dry, root touch-up, facials, manicure — each under the line that serves it.
• Desks: one per chair or station — Styling Chair 1, Nail Station, Skin Room.
• More than one thing at once: when a service is set to Book with other lines, a client can choose it together with services from another line, and holds a token in each.
• Sending on: a stylist can Send to… the skin room and get the client back afterwards — they appear under Back to you on the Workboard.

Worked setup: a four-chair salon#

1. At setup, choose Salon or spa.
2. On Your lines, keep Haircut, Colour & Treatment and Nails. Press Add another for Men's Grooming as a Walk-in line of 20 minutes. Press Continue.
3. On Your people, add each stylist as A person and tick the lines they take. Keep Reception as A shared desk. Press Continue, copy the logins, and press Go to my board.
4. Open Desks, press New desk and add one per chair — Styling Chair 1 to 4, Nail Station — each on its line.
5. Open Services and add your menu. For services clients often pair — a haircut with a manicure — turn on Book with other lines.
6. If you use colour-then-finish, open Processes and attach Colour and finish to your colour services.

Car washes and garages#

A car care centre runs bays rather than rooms. Many customers drop the car off and go, so the service desk often adds the visit for them; a quick wash is walk-in, while detailing and repairs are booked.

How car care typically sets up#

• Lines: Express Wash and Interior Cleaning as walk-ins, a Detailing Studio that takes bookings, and a Billing & Delivery line where the customer pays and collects the keys.
• Services: by vehicle and job — Foam Wash for a hatchback, sedan or SUV, a bike wash, seat shampoo, polish, coating.
• Desks: one per bay, plus the service desk and the billing counter.
• Cars without a phone: a person with the Front desk ability adds the visit with Add visit and can hand the customer a code to follow it.
• Sending on: when a wash is done, the bay uses Send to… to put the car in the Billing & Delivery line.

Worked setup: a three-bay car wash#

1. At setup, choose Car wash or garage.
2. On Your lines, keep Express Wash and Full Detailing. Press Add another for Billing & Delivery (Walk-in, 5 min). Press Continue.
3. On Your people, keep Bay 1 and Service desk as shared desks and add Bay 2 and Bay 3. Add each washer as A person only if they need their own login — a shared bay needs none, because whoever works it signs in with their own login and picks it. Press Continue.
4. Open Services and add the menu under each line — the washes under Express Wash, the polish and coating under Full Detailing.
5. Open Team and tick Front desk for your service advisor, so they can add visits for cars dropped off.
6. Optionally, open Processes and adapt Repair with sign-off if your jobs need an estimate approved before work starts.

Service counters: offices, banks and help desks#

A citizen service centre, a bank branch or a government office is many short visits at many counters. People often do not know which counter they need, so a help desk points them on; one counter may cover two lines on a quiet afternoon. Choose Something else at setup.

How a counter business typically sets up#

• Lines: one per kind of errand — Bill Payments, Certificates, ID & Document Services, and an Enquiries & Help Desk line. Short walk-in lines suit most of them; a line for longer form-filling can take bookings too.
• Desks: numbered counters — Counter 1, Counter 2 — and a Help Desk.
• Sending on: the help desk uses Send to… to put each person in the right line, with an optional Note for the next desk.
• One counter, two lines: on Desks, give a counter more than one line it calls from, and it calls from both (a plan from Basic up — see Pricing).

Worked setup: a five-counter service centre#

1. At setup, choose Something else.
2. On Your lines, rename Main line to Bill Payments and set it to 5 minutes. Press Add another for Certificates (10 min), ID & Document Services (Walk-in + booking, 15 min) and Enquiries & Help Desk (5 min). Press Continue.
3. On Your people, add Counter 1 to Counter 5 and Help Desk as shared desks, each with the line it handles. Press Continue, then Go to my board.
4. Open Services and add the errands under each line — Electricity Bill, Income Certificate, ID Card Update.
5. If an application needs checking and a fee before it is processed, open Processes and adapt Verified application.
6. Put a TV in the waiting hall so people see which token is called to which counter.

Cafés and restaurants#

A café usually needs two lines: people waiting for an order at the counter, and people waiting for a table. Choose Café or restaurant at setup, and you start with Counter orders and Table waitlist, both walk-in, with a Counter and a Host desk. There are no starting processes for a café, and no live demo yet.

Not sure which kind to choose?#

• Choose the card whose starting lines look closest to your day; you will change the names anyway.
• A diagnostic lab or a pharmacy on its own is still a Clinic or hospital if you want the clinic's words, such as Hospital ID and Review.
• A barber, a spa or a nail bar is a Salon or spa.
• A bank, a passport office or a college admissions desk is Something else.

To see a whole day of each kind running before you choose, open the live demos: a clinic, a salon, a car wash and a service centre.