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Navigating the AI Scheduling Optimizer (Beta)

This article serves as a training guide for the Motivity AI Optimizer, a tool designed to automate and refine the complex process of scheduling in an ABA clinic setting.

Overview

The AI Optimizer is a sophisticated scheduling engine designed to eliminate the "manual puzzle" of ABA clinic operations. This guide walks you through the strategic value, technical setup, and practical application of the Optimizer to ensure you can lead successful customer demonstrations and implementations.

Enabling the Feature

The AI Optimizer is toggled at the User Access Level within the Admin Module.

  • Quick Tip: Navigate to Admin > Access Levels and use Ctrl+F to search for "AI Scheduling" to find and enable the feature quickly.

What the AI Optimizer Does

The Optimizer streamlines clinic management by aligning three core pillars: Staff Availability, Client Needs, and Compliance Requirements.

Key Functions:

  • Clinic-Focused Optimization: Focuses purely on clinic operations to ensure a balanced, efficient week.

  • Reduced Manual Work: Proposes a full schedule that meets all conditions, saving hours of back-and-forth communication.

  • Flexible Options:

    • Brand New Schedule: Start the week with a fresh, optimized slate.

    • Add to Existing: Fill gaps caused by cancellations, staff resignations, or last-minute changes.

The Workflow:

How to Configure the AI Scheduling Optimizer

  1. Navigate to Scheduler → All Providers View

  2. Open the AI Scheduling Optimizer by selecting "Generate Schedule - Configuration"

  1. Click the Gear icon in the top-right corner of the dialog

  1. In the Configuration panel, set the following options:

    • Service (Therapy): Select which therapy services the Optimizer should include when building schedules

    • Roles: Choose which provider roles should be considered for matching

    • Designations: Select the provider designations eligible for AI scheduling

    • Hire Date Greater Than (Days): Set a minimum number of days since hire before a provider is included — for example, entering 30 will exclude providers hired within the last 30 days

    • Minimum Session Time (Minutes): Define the shortest session duration the Optimizer is allowed to create

    • Target %: Set your scheduling fill target — for example, 100% to fill authorized hours exactly, or 120% to intentionally over-schedule as a buffer

  2. Click Save — your saved configuration will now apply to all future runs across your organization

  3. Define Logic: Choose between "Brand New" or "Add to Existing."

  4. Review: Access the results in Project Results.

  5. Publish: Review the "distinct style" proposed appointments.

    1. You can accept them in bulk or individually.

Patient Exclusions in the Configuration Wizard

The AI Optimizer Configuration Wizard displays patients who are excluded from optimization due to missing or inactive authorizations during the selected scheduling period. Excluded patients are visible in the wizard so you can quickly understand why they're unavailable rather than having to investigate manually.

Here's what to expect:

  • Excluded patients appear in a dedicated informational section on the first step of the Configuration Wizard

  • Their checkboxes are displayed in a disabled (greyed-out) state and cannot be selected

  • An information icon next to each excluded patient explains why they are unavailable — hover over it for details about the authorization requirement

  • This section only appears when one or more patients are excluded due to authorization criteria

Schedule Configurations

How to Drag and Resize AI-Projected Appointments

  1. Navigate to Scheduler → All Providers View

  2. Open the AI Scheduling Optimizer and run it to generate projected appointments

  3. Review the projected schedule that appears

  4. To move an appointment, click and drag it to a new time within the same provider lane. Note that availability restrictions do not apply during this step — you have full flexibility within the lane.

  5. To adjust the duration, drag the edges of the appointment to extend or shorten the suggested session time

  6. Once you're satisfied with your adjustments, click Accept — the appointments will be created with your updated times and positions

  7. If you'd like to discard a suggestion entirely, click Reject — the projected appointment will be removed and nothing will be created

Reviewing Coverage Before You Publish

Once you've run the Optimizer and reviewed the projected schedule, you can check exactly how well the generated schedule covers each patient's authorization before any of it reaches the live calendar.

The Coverage List

Every patient included in the run appears in a list showing:

  • Authorized Hours

  • Scheduled Hours

  • Utilization — the percentage of the patient's authorization the generated schedule fills

Patients furthest short of their authorized hours are listed first, so the biggest gaps get your attention before you commit anything.

Note: A patient scheduled into every slot their authorization allows shows 100% utilization. Because the Optimizer aims slightly higher than full coverage by design, figures above 100% are normal and not an error.

Downloading the List

Select Download to export the same four values shown on screen (Patient, Authorized Hours, Scheduled Hours, Utilization) — useful for sharing coverage numbers with a supervisor or filing them for reference outside of Motivity.

Accepting or Rejecting Suggestions

Suggested appointments appear on the calendar in light blue, and you're not limited to an all-or-nothing choice — you can review and decide at whatever level makes sense:

  • Individual appointments — select specific suggested appointments one at a time

  • A whole patient — check off all of a patient's suggested appointments together

  • The entire run — select everything at once

Once you've made your selections, choose Accept or Reject for the batch. Nothing reaches the live schedule until you accept it.

As You Work Through Decisions

Once every one of a patient's suggested appointments has been decided (accepted or rejected), that patient grays out and drops to the bottom of the coverage list. The names still shown in black are the ones you still have left to review — so you always know what's outstanding without losing your place.

Reviewing a Patient's Full Week

Before deciding on a patient, you can check how their suggested sessions are spread across the entire week:

  • Hover over a patient in the list to highlight only their sessions on the calendar, filtering out the noise from everyone else's suggestions.

  • Switch to Week View to see all seven days of the run at once, color-coded to show what's been accepted, rejected, and what's still pending.

This makes it easy to tell whether a patient's hours are spread sensibly across the week, rather than paging through one day at a time.

Beta Status: This feature is currently in Beta. If you would like to integrate this feature into your PM instance, have your team member with either the Super Admin or Owner access level submit the request through the Motivity chat box!

Last Updated: 9/15/26 by Tatum Winslow

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