Config Hierarchy

How settings cascade from hospital-wide to doctor-specific — the most specific level wins.

Hospital OS uses a layered configuration system. You can set defaults for your entire hospital, then override them for specific centres, departments, or doctors. The most specific setting always wins.

The Four Levels

Settings can be applied at four levels, from broadest to most specific:

Tenant (Hospital-wide) — Applies to every centre, department, and doctor in your hospital
Centre — Overrides tenant settings for a specific location
Department — Overrides centre settings for a specific department
Doctor — Overrides everything for a specific doctor (highest priority)

Most Specific Wins

When the same setting exists at multiple levels, the most specific one is used. Doctor > Department > Centre > Tenant.

How It Works — A Practical Example

Let's say you want to configure slot duration:

Level	Setting	Effect
Tenant	Slot Duration = 15 minutes	All doctors default to 15-minute appointments
Centre (Main Hospital)	Not set	Uses tenant default (15 minutes)
Centre (Express Clinic)	Slot Duration = 10 minutes	Express Clinic doctors get 10-minute slots
Department (Cardiology at Main)	Not set	Uses Main Hospital default (15 minutes)
Doctor (Dr. Patel at Main)	Slot Duration = 30 minutes	Dr. Patel gets 30-minute slots; all other doctors at Main keep 15

Result: Dr. Patel has 30-minute slots. Doctors at Express Clinic have 10-minute slots. Everyone else has 15-minute slots.

What Can Be Configured at Each Level

Tenant Level (Hospital-wide)

Everything — all settings listed in Appointment Settings can be set at the tenant level. These act as your hospital's default values.

Centre Level

Most appointment and scheduling settings, including:

Slot duration and buffer time
Booking rules (advance booking, same-day booking)
Capacity and overbooking
Walk-in reservation
Approval requirements
Working hours and holidays

Department Level

A subset of settings (some settings don't apply at department level):

Slot duration and buffer time
Booking rules
Capacity and overbooking
Approval requirements

Department Exclusions

Walk-in reservation and patient-type duration settings cannot be configured at the department level. These are managed at the centre or doctor level only.

Doctor Level

Per-doctor settings stored on the doctor's profile:

Slot duration and buffer time
Max patients per day
Walk-in settings (enabled, reserve strategy, daily limit)
Patient-type duration (extra time for new/existing/follow-up patients)
Overbooking settings
Approval requirements
Consultation fee

The Resolution Process

When the system needs a setting value, it checks each level in order:

Check Doctor level — If the doctor has this setting configured, use it
Check Department level — If not found on doctor, check their department
Check Centre level — If not found on department, check the centre
Check Tenant level — If not found on centre, check hospital-wide settings
Use System default — If nothing is configured anywhere, use the built-in default

Configuration Versioning

Every configuration change is tracked with version history:

Each change creates a new version with a timestamp
You can see who changed what and when
Previous versions can be restored (rollback)
Changes can require approval before taking effect

Start Broad, Refine Narrow

Set your tenant-level defaults first. Only create centre or doctor overrides when a specific location or doctor needs different behaviour. This keeps configuration simple and maintainable.

What's Next?

For the full list of configurable settings, see Appointment Settings. To configure your tenant's custom types, see Tenant Configuration.

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Config Hierarchy