Does your office have students who stop by without a scheduled appointment? Whether it’s a quick question or a longer conversation, Salesforce can help you keep track of those visits — so your team has a record of who came in, when, what was discussed, and who they met with.
This article explains what drop-in appointment tracking looks like, what the experience is like for students and staff, and how to get your office set up.
What Is Drop-In Appointment Tracking in Salesforce?
Drop-in appointments in Salesforce lets your department:
- Keep a record of every student who drops in to your office
- Capture notes from each interaction
- See who on your team met with which students
- Run reports on drop-in volume and status (e.g., completed, no show) over time
When a student checks in, a record is automatically created in Salesforce and added to a queue that your staff can monitor. Staff can then “claim” the visit themselves or for a different staff member, and add notes— all from within Salesforce.
Drop-In Appointments from User Perspectives
Students
The check-in process is simple and takes less than a minute for a student:
- Students scan a QR code in your office, which opens to a page on One St. Thomas.
- They check-in by selecting the button labeled with your department name (e.g., “Study Abroad Check In”).
- They see their name and your department’s name at the top of the page as well as one open-ended question they must complete: “Please provide any additional details that might be helpful for us to know.”
- They click the button. A confirmation message appears: “Thanks for checking in. Someone from [Your Department] will be with you soon. You can close this window.”
A record is automatically created in Salesforce in the background — no manual data entry needed on your end to have the record created.
Staff
Once a student checks in, their appointment shows up in a Drop-In Review list in your department’s Salesforce home page. Here’s how your team would use it:
Monitoring the Queue (optional)
While drop-in hours are active, staff can keep the Drop-In Review page open in Salesforce. New arrivals appear in the list after a quick page refresh. (Of course, staff can also just rely on students walking up to their desk — the digital record will be there either way.)
Updating an Appointment
After meeting with a student, the staff member opens the appointment from the list and fills in a few quick fields:
- Met with — Defaults to whoever is logged in. If a different team member met with the student, they can select the right person from a dropdown of your department’s staff.
- Status — Select the outcome of the visit (see options below).
- Notes — A text box for any notes about the appointment. This field appears when Status is set to “Completed.”
Appointment Status Options
Staff choose one of the following statuses:
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Status
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What It Means
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Scheduled
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Student has checked in but hasn’t been seen yet. This is set automatically at check-in.
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Completed
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The appointment took place. Notes can be added.
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No Show
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The student checked in but didn’t end up meeting with staff.
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Ran Out of Time
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The student and staff member weren’t able to finish within the available time.
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Duplicate
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The record is a duplicate and can be disregarded.
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After Hours
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The drop-in happened outside normal hours. Your team can decide whether this applies to your office.
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Reporting on Drop-In Appointments
Since every drop-in is tracked as a record in Salesforce, your office can report on them just like any other data in the system. Some examples of what you can report on:
- How many students dropped in during a given week, month, or semester
- Which staff members are meeting with students and how often
- Appointment outcomes (completed, no-show, ran out of time, etc.)
- Which individual students have visited your office and how frequently
How to Get Drop-Ins Set Up for Your Department
Setup is handled by the Salesforce CRM team. To request drop-in appointments set up for your department, use this service request form by selecting "Click to Request Service" button, and include the following information:
- Which staff members will be taking drop-in appointments, and
- Whether your office already uses OnceHub/ScheduleOnce for scheduled appointments (it's not required to use OnceHub/ScheduleOnce, but it does effect set up)
The CRM team will follow up to confirm a few details, including which staff members will be using the system. The team configures Salesforce, sets up your student-facing check-in link on One St. Thomas, and tests everything before going live. Once it’s live, your staff can start using it right away. The CRM team can walk you through it before launch.
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