Priority desk booking feature (Beta)

Overview

The Priority Desk Booking feature helps admins allocate desks effectively, giving priority access to specific users while maximizing office space usage. This guide explains how to set up and use the feature successfully. 

How to set up priority desk booking 

To set up priority desk booking for specific users or user groups, you need to create custom booking window policies. To do this:

1. Go to Manage > select a campus > select a building.

2. Scroll down to the "Resource policies" section.

3. Click the Desks tab. 

4. Turn ON the Booking Window setting if you haven't already. 

5. Click Manage Priority Policies.

6. Click + Create a priority policy button in the top right.

7. Use the map to define which desks the policy applies to. You can add the entire floor of desks (+ Add whole floor button) or click specific desk pods, then click  + Add selected desk group. 

   • You can add desk groups that include assigned desks, but the policy only applies to hot/hotel desks. 
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8. Click Next. 

9. Using the module, name the policy. 

10. Then, decide who can book the selected desks before everyone else by clicking Add a group/member.

11. Use the Booking Window drop-downs to specify how far in advance the user/user group can book the selected desks. 

12. Specify the days of the week these permissions apply to for the user/user group.

    • For example, the Engineering department may have a 3-week window M-F, while the Product team might have a 2-week window restricted to Mondays and Tuesdays. 

13. After defining the policies for the priority user/user groups, set the booking window for everyone else (non-priority users).

14. Click Save.

15.  Then, you'll see a list of that building's active priority policies. 

Example Use Case

Let’s say the Engineering department has critical access needs, so the admin sets up a priority policy:

• Engineering Group: 3-week booking window for all days.

• Product Group: 2-week booking window, only for Mondays and Tuesdays.

• Everyone Else: 1-day booking window for all days.

With this configuration, the Engineering team will always have first access to desk booking, followed by the Product team on specific days, and finally, other users with limited access. 

Editing or Deleting a Priority Booking Policy

Editing a Policy:

1. Access the Priority Booking Window section under "Resource policies" on the building management page.
2. Select the policy you wish to edit. The same creation flow will appear, pre-filled with existing information.
3. Make the necessary changes and save them.

Deleting a Policy:

1. Access the Priority Booking Window section under "Resource policies" on the building management page.
2. Select the policy you wish to delete.
3. You will be prompted to confirm deletion before the policy is removed.

Note that deleting a policy will not affect existing reservations, but it will stop the policy from impacting future bookings.

Limitations

While the Priority Booking System offers flexibility for managing desk allocations, there are several key limitations that admins need to consider when creating and applying policies.

• One policy per resource:
  • A desk group or entire floor can only be managed by one policy at a time. You cannot assign multiple policies to the same specific resource. However, if a desk group is part of a floor-wide policy, it can still have its own custom policy. 
  • In such cases, the desk group policy will take precedence over the broader floor policy, ensuring the more specific policy is applied to the desks within that group.
• User and group priorities:
  • Users can appear in multiple policies, either as individuals or as members of groups. If a user is defined in both a group and as an individual within a policy, the individual user priority window will take precedence over the group window. This ensures users with specific needs aren’t hindered by group policies.
  • When a user is part of multiple policies, the system resolves the conflict by prioritizing policies in this order: first within the same policy (individual over group) and then across different policies.
• Specific days vs. all the days policy:
  • If only Specific Days are defined within a policy, the priority window will apply to those specific days, while the "everyone else" window applies to other users for those same days. For the remaining days of the week, the general office booking window will take effect unless a separate policy is applied.
  • If both Specific Days and All Days windows are defined within the same policy, the anchor day rules take precedence on specified days, and for the rest of the week, the all days booking window applies. For "everyone else," the "everyone else" window will be applied to all days.
• Floor and desk group policies:

  • You can define a floor policy for the entire floor and a desk group policy for a specific group of desks (desk group) within that floor. In such cases, the desk group policy will override the floor policy for the desks within the desk group. This allows for finer control of specific areas within a broader floor policy.

  • For example, if a policy covers the entire floor, but a separate policy is created for a desk group within that floor, the system will prioritize the desk group policy when booking desks within that desk group.

These limitations are designed to prevent booking conflicts and ensure that users always have clarity on their priority access while allowing admins to create fine-grained, flexible booking policies.