# Build a supervised appointment assistant

By Hammad Yousuf

https://withhammad.com/resources/ai-business/ai-appointment-assistant

## Who this is for
A service team with a shared calendar and appointment enquiries

## Problem
Scheduling replies take time, and a slot can disappear between the first lookup and confirmation.

## A concrete pilot offer
An appointment-drafting assistant that suggests valid slots, checks again at confirmation and prevents duplicate bookings.

## Build steps
1. Parse the requested service, duration and explicit time zone.
2. Fetch allowed availability from the calendar without exposing other customers.
3. Offer a small set of slots and wait for the customer’s choice.
4. Recheck the chosen slot, use a stable booking key and confirm only after a successful write.

## Synthetic worked example
Synthetic calendar: two customers choose 14:00. Customer A is confirmed first. Customer B must get a refreshed choice rather than a false confirmation for the same slot.

## Full prompt
```text
Draft scheduling messages using the supplied SERVICE RULES and AVAILABLE SLOTS only. Preserve the explicit time zone. Do not invent availability, expose other customers or claim a booking is confirmed. If the user has not chosen a valid slot, ask one clarifying question. Confirmation belongs to the application after the calendar write succeeds.

REQUEST: [redacted enquiry]
SERVICE RULES: [duration, hours and zone]
AVAILABLE SLOTS: [approved timestamps]
OUTPUT: proposed_slots, time_zone, reply_draft, missing_information
```

## Acceptance checks
- The time zone is explicit in every offer.
- A lost write response does not create a second booking.
- A newly occupied slot returns alternatives.

## Measure
Scheduling exchanges and duplicate-booking rate

## Commercial scope
Agree the input volume, permitted data, exact output, integration access, reviewer, test cases, handover and maintenance responsibilities. Estimate effort, software/API costs, review time and support before quoting. These are service ideas and teaching templates, not evidence of demand or earnings.

## Engineering detail
https://withhammad.com/resources/ai-engineering/idempotency-retry-test