This glossary explains the terms you see in Robin for office scheduling and management.
A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M|N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z
A
Abandoned desk protection
Abandoned desk protection is a desk setting for hot and hotel desks. Admins can turn it on for a whole building or for specific pods of desks. It frees a reserved desk if nobody checks in within a set time.
Abandoned meeting protection
Abandoned meeting protection is a space scheduling setting. Admins can turn it on for a building or for a specific space. It removes no-show meetings from the room's calendar if nobody checks in, so others can use the meeting space.
Activities
Activities is a feature for social, cultural and community events at the workplace. Users with the Activity Creation permission create, plan and share activities in the web dashboard and mobile app. Users without the permission can view activities and RSVP to them.
Amenities
Equipment in spaces or at desks. Employees can see amenities and filter by them when they book a desk or a space.
Announcements
Announcements is a feature that lets users with the Announcements permission share real-time office updates and policies with employees. All employees can view announcements. An announcement can go live at once or at a scheduled time. There are 2 types of announcements:
- Standard announcement: lands in the "announcement inbox". Users read it when they want to, and it does not need confirmation.
- Priority announcement: needs an acknowledgment and counts as a "mandatory announcement."
Assigned desks
A fixed desk that is assigned to a user by an admin (or by a user with the Manage offices & maps permission, Desk Delegation permission or Assign Desk permission). The assignee, an admin, or both can share an assigned desk.
Authentication methods
The ways users in your organization sign in to Robin.
Types of methods
- SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language), available for Premier plans
- Username and password
- SSO (Single Sign-On)
B
Badge integrations
Outside systems or software connected to Robin. They let access-controlled doors check users in to Robin automatically with a badge swipe.
Building
A location for your office, which usually has a physical address. A building contains spaces and desks. You can organize them by floor.
Booking user
A generic user (service) account that your organization uses, not a personal account, to create and manage events. This keeps personal calendars clear of other users' events.
C
Calendar systems
The calendar software your organization integrates with Robin: Microsoft or Google.
Campus
A group of buildings. Campuses are an optional setting in Robin. People often organize campuses by city or by country (Boston Office, Singapore), and name the buildings in a campus East/West, by nickname or by street address. Employees in a campus often meet in person, even if they work in different buildings.
D
Deliveries
Deliveries are packages entered in Robin that must get to users at a specific location. For a campus or location, users with the View deliveries permission can view a list of deliveries, and users with the Manage deliveries permission can manage deliveries.
Desks
Desks are workstations that belong to a desk pod. A desk can be a permanent assigned seat or a short-term workspace. Each desk can have amenities such as a phone, a monitor or an adjustable desk.
Members book short-term desks in the web dashboard or mobile app. Admins assign permanent seats or reserve short-term desks for users. The desk types are:
- Hot desks
- Hotel desks
- Assigned desk
- Shared assigned desk
Devices
External hardware that employees and guests use to interact with the office.
E
Event
Time booked in a space, such as a meeting, a stand-up or an independent work block. Users most often create an event in their calendar system.
Event composer
The place in the Robin web dashboard and mobile app where users book events and edit their details.
Experience survey
Robin sends the survey to users after they visit the office. Office managers use the results to make changes.
F
Favorites
Favorites are coworkers you mark so you can see their schedules quickly and coordinate work plans. Users usually favorite coworkers they work with closely or often.
G
Groups
Groups are sets of people. You combine groups with permissions to create Roles in Robin. You can define groups in SCIM files or create them in Robin.
H
Health checkpoint survey
A survey that admins configure. Robin sends it to anyone linked to a desk (including people who are not Robin members) to collect information about a person's health before they enter the office.
Hot desks
A flexible desk that you can book for one day only, on the same day only. Users book it themselves, or users with the desk delegation permission book it for someone.
Hotel desks
A flexible desk that you can book for 1 or more days, in advance, like a hotel. Users book it themselves, or users with the desk delegation permission book it for someone.
Hybrid work policies
A feature that lets admins set office visit guidelines in Robin. Employees use them to plan their work week. The guidelines show as a banner in the Workweek view of the Schedule page.
I
Integrations
Outside systems or software connected to Robin. See the Robin integrations page for a list of available integrations.
Issue reporting
A one-way reporting feature. Employees use it to report a problem with a desk or room straight to workplace managers, from the Robin web dashboard, mobile app and room display.
M
Meeting check-ins
In-app meeting reminders in Robin and other integrated tools (Slack and email). They let users confirm or delete a meeting before it starts.
Meeting room calendar
Calendars that represent the physical rooms in your office. When you create these calendars and add them to your organization's address book in Office 365, people can reserve rooms in both Outlook and Robin.
Meeting services
Meeting services are services, such as food and beverage, that users can request when they reserve a meeting room. Admins configure the types of services users can request and the provider for each, so each request goes to the right person.
N
Neighborhoods
Defined work areas on the Robin map. They help employees see the best place to work at a glance. You can base neighborhoods on departments, work styles or teams.
O
Office layouts
Interactive floor plans in Robin that represent the physical office space, including meeting rooms, desks, common areas and neighborhoods.
On-demand spaces
Spaces in the office for ad hoc use. Users cannot book them in advance in Robin. On-demand spaces have no Google or Microsoft calendar connected. They can have a room display mounted outside, where users mark the space as "in use" for walk-up meetings.
Organization name
The ID you use to log in to the Robin dashboard. It is also in the URL of your dashboard. Example: https://dashboard.robinpowered.com/mycompany.
P
People
When you add coworkers to your company account in Robin, they get an invitation to create their own account. After they register, they can schedule events in the rooms you configured, from their web browser, their native calendar with Robin plugins, or the mobile app.
All new users get the "Member" role. You can upgrade them to administrative roles when needed. The roles are:
- Member
- Administrator
- Owner
R
Request-only spaces
Spaces in Robin that users can book in advance, but a designated admin must approve the meeting request before the user can complete the booking. This space type needs a connected Google or Microsoft calendar.
Resource calendar
A Google or Microsoft calendar for shared resources, such as rooms or equipment, that can do only one thing.
Roles
Roles set the permissions, responsibilities and access levels for different types of users in Robin. Robin has 3 default roles: member, admin and owner. Advanced Authentication & User Management users can create custom roles.
Room display
Robin uses several methods to know when someone is in a room. One method is the display app, Rooms. Rooms is a companion app for Robin that runs on iPads and Android tablets. Mount displays outside conference rooms to keep schedules and events updated in real time.
S
Scheduled spaces
Spaces in Robin that users can book in advance. This space type needs a connected Google or Microsoft calendar.
Service account
A user account with a specific purpose: it gives a security context for services, such as your calendars, which run on Windows.
Shared assigned desks
A feature that lets multiple users share one assigned desk on a rotating or scheduled basis.
Smart Room Suggestions
A booking feature in the web dashboard and mobile app. For meetings without a space, it suggests meeting rooms based on the meeting criteria and past room bookings.
Spaces
Spaces belong to a building and, if you use them, a level. Most spaces are rooms in your office, such as conference rooms and on-demand spaces. You can also use spaces to mark departments or common areas such as the cafeteria.
Each space can have calendars, devices and other information connected to it. Users interact with the space itself, so you can switch its calendars or devices without interrupting anyone. The space types are:
Space Planning
Planning the design and arrangement of your physical office space with Robin's layout planning tools, to get the best layout of desks, meeting rooms and other workspaces.
Stickers
QR codes or NFC tags that admins purchase and put on desks in the office. When employees scan a sticker on a desk, the Robin mobile app opens so they can check in, reserve or swap desks.
V
Visits
W
Web Dashboard
"The dashboard" means the Robin application you open on your computer, not on a mobile or tablet device.
Workplace occupancy
Knowing who is present in your office, whatever desks or spaces they booked.
Workplace presence
Data that shows when a person is confirmed to be physically in the office.