Single-branch system or multi-branch platform?

Many systems say they “support branches,” meaning that the branch name field can be added at the time of appointment. The difference between this and a platform built for multiple branches appears the first day a specialist works in two locations, or the first time the owner requests a comparison between his two branches.

This is a decision worth making before purchasing, not after, because moving from a single-branch system to a later platform means a whole migration project and paying twice.

When is this comparison important?

This becomes important if you already have a second branch, or if you intend to open it within two years. It also becomes important in a situation that many people do not notice: If you provide your services in one location but with more than one entity – a center and a clinic affiliated with it, for example – then you need a similar separation in reporting and collection.

If you are a single branch with no intention of expanding, do not pay for complexity that you do not use. The important thing is to make sure that the system allows adding a branch later as a setting and not as a new project.

Variations affecting operation

• Practitioners’ participation: A specialist who works three days here and two days there needs one schedule that prevents conflict between the two positions. A single-branch system gives two separate schedules, so double booking inevitably occurs.
• Client transmission: When a client moves to the branch closest to his residence, is his file transferred, copied, or new created? In the real platform, none of this happens: the file is the same and only the location of the service delivery changes.
• Revenue calculation: If a branch provides a service to a client registered in another branch, for which branch is the session counted? The answer determines the accuracy of your financial reports for each location.
• Chapter on access: The branch manager should see only his branch, while senior management sees everyone grouped. This is a structural separation that cannot be achieved by filtering a report.
• Standardizing what should be standardized: Services, forms, documentation templates, and pointer definition are centralized, otherwise branch numbers become uncombinable. Opening hours, rooms and local rates are left to each branch.
• Order routing: A branch with a long waiting list and another with out of capacity — Can the system display a closer appointment at the other branch? This is a direct revenue benefit. See Multi-branch establishments page.

How do you choose according to your facility’s needs?

Answer three questions: Will any of your specialists work in more than one location? Will clients move between your branches? Will your management ask for a comparison between branches? One yes answer is enough to tip the podium.

If you are a single branch today and plan to expand in a year or two, do not buy complexity now – but stipulate in the offer a statement of the cost of adding a branch, and make sure that the structure can support it without migration. The difference between “We will add a branch as a setup” and “We will need a second copy of the system” is fundamental and must be written.

And pay attention to a clue that quickly reveals the structure: Ask how the second branch is created. If the answer is “a second copy of the system with a separate database,” then you have two systems, not a platform — and you will not get a comparative report or a unified schedule for a specialist working in the two locations.

What are you testing at the supplier?

• Create a specialist who works in two branches, and attempt to book two conflicting appointments for him at the two locations.
• Move a client to another branch and check that his file, ring and package remain the same.
• Request a comparative report between branches on the same indicators and for the same period.
• Log in with the account of a branch manager and try to view the data of another branch.
• Ask: How long does it take to create a new branch, what does it cost, and does it require a migration?

Next step to assess suitability

Write your plan for expansion in three lines: the expected number of branches within two years, will you share the difference between them, and will services or prices differ. Send it with your request for a proposal so the preparation is based on your plan, not your situation today.

The order in which services are named and the structure of permissions at the beginning determines the ease of expansion later – this is a provision that does not appear in the presentation, but it appears when the second branch opens.