The goal of this specification is to facilitate the communication of scheduling requests and information between applications. Schedules control the occurrence of certain services and the use of particular resources. They consist of a set of open, booked and blocked slots for one particular service or resource. Booked slots are periods of time on a schedule that have already been reserved.
Appointments occupy sets of one or more booked slots on a schedule.
In the context of this chapter, services and resources are those things that are controlled by schedules. Services are real-world events, such as clinic appointments, the performance of which is controlled by a schedule. Often, these kinds of activities relate to the care of a patient. In other words, appointments for services often schedule a service for one or more patients. Resources are tangible items whose use is controlled by a schedule.