How Policies Give Your Agent Business Rules

Policies are business rules that tell your agent how to handle specific situations. While Quick Facts answer "what" questions and FAQs answer "how" questions, policies answer "what should you do when" questions.

What Policies Are

A policy defines behavior for a specific situation:

• Cancellation Policy — 24-hour notice required. Same-day cancellations incur a $50 fee. No-shows are charged the full appointment cost.
• Emergency Protocol — For dental emergencies during business hours, route to the first available provider. After hours, provide the emergency number and advise going to the ER if severe.
• New Patient Policy — New patients must complete intake forms before their first visit. Offer to email the forms or complete them at arrival (15 minutes early).
• Refund Policy — Services rendered are non-refundable. Prepaid packages can be refunded within 30 days minus services used.

How Your Agent Uses Policies

Policies are part of your agent's knowledge base. When a situation arises that matches a policy, the agent follows the rules you've defined.

For example: a caller says "I need to cancel my appointment tomorrow." The agent retrieves the cancellation policy, sees that 24-hour notice is required, confirms the appointment is more than 24 hours away, and processes the cancellation. If the appointment is in 3 hours, the agent explains the same-day cancellation fee before proceeding.

The agent doesn't quote the policy verbatim — it applies the rules naturally in conversation. "I can cancel that for you. Since it's more than 24 hours out, there's no fee."

Org-Level vs Location-Level Policies

Policies follow the same scoping as other knowledge:

• Org-level policies apply to all locations
• Location-level policies override the org-level policy with the same key for that specific location

This lets you have a standard cancellation policy across your business but customize it for a location that has different rules (e.g., a location that requires 48-hour notice instead of 24).

Policies vs Facts vs FAQs

• Facts = what is true (hours, address, accepted insurance)
• FAQs = how to answer common questions (new patient process, what to bring)
• Policies = what to do in specific situations (cancellation rules, emergency protocol, refund conditions)

If the information guides the agent's behavior or decision-making, it's a policy. If it just answers a question, it's a fact or FAQ.

You can add, update, or delete policies by asking Allison — through the dashboard chat or by calling Allison.