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essensys Operate Calendar Overview
essensys Operate Calendar Overview

An overview of the calendar within essensys Operate

Stuart avatar
Written by Stuart
Updated over a week ago

In a nutshell, the Calendar is the tool that helps you manage meeting space bookings. You can access it from the Calendars tab, in the top navigation menu. Only products which have been assigned to the reservations product group will be available to book via the calendar.

Finding Available Booking Times

To find available booking times, use the top Availability row to search for the date and the time when you would like to make a booking. The calendar will then highlight the available meeting spaces; giving you the possibility to choose the space you want to book, by simply clicking the calendar slot.

Filtering Calendar Bookings

Use the filters to narrow down your availability search results or simply view the situation of your bookings for a particular location or type of space (for example before doing a bill run).

  1. Layout will filter by meeting room layout, according to the Styles field on your Meeting Room product records.

  2. Area will filter all spaces by a specific area, which is a field you can configure on each Location record.

  3. Floor will display spaces found on the selected floor. The field can be configured on the product record.

  4. People will filter spaces according to the number of people who can be accommodated. The space should allow at least the number you enter. This is also configurable on the product.

  5. Available will show spaces not booked on a specific date and is tied to the Starting field that determines the time from which you would like to check for availability. So, for example, if we select Available on: 16/04/2020 Starting at 14:50, then we will only see spaces that have slots available on the selected date and after the selected time.

  6. If we select a value under For, then the Calendar will narrow down the available spaces to those which have empty slots of at least the interval selected here (e.g.: 1h, 2h, etc.). Spaces that do not have a continuous available slot for the amount of time selected here will not be displayed.

  7. Location will display spaces at the selected Location. The default setting is 'All Locations'. So, for example, if you would like to only look for spaces in a particular building, this is where you need to select it.

  8. Group will display one particular type of space/reservation product: e.g.: Meeting Rooms, Desks, Car Parks, etc. All product groups you mark as 'Reservation product group' will be displayed within this list. Read more about Product Groups.

Turn on the Show Cancellations toggle to show cancelled bookings. The toggle is off by default.

Using the Time Based Calendar Views

The time based calendar views allow you to display your calendar as a timeline, by day, week or month; and as a list of bookings.

To use one of the available views, simply click the corresponding button on the left of the calendar. No matter the view you’re in, use the arrow buttons on the right to go back or forward in time.

By default, the calendar displays the Timeline view, which displays hourly slots for the selected date and the spaces corresponding to the desired location/group (or all spaces if no location/group is selected). Click the Today button to see the timeline corresponding to the current date.

The Day View shows columns for each space (in a specific location if filtered); as well as hourly slots, corresponding to each space.

The Week view displays columns corresponding to days of the week; as well as hourly slots, corresponding to each day. The current date is highlighted in yellow.

The Month View displays columns for each weekday; as well as individual cells for each day of the month. One or more bookings may be grouped within the same cell, depending on how many bookings there are on a specific date. In this view, you can use the Resource filter to see bookings corresponding to specific meeting spaces. If you filter for a Location or Group, the spaces under the Resource list will be restricted to your previous filter criteria.

The List View allows you to see a list of all bookings within the selected period of time. This is the most detailed view, showing you more information about the booking, customer, invoicing status, etc.

You can use the filters above to narrow down your list view. In addition, the Search field allows you to search by text (e.g. Account name) or booking reference.

In addition, you can export the bookings displayed by the list view, by using the export option at the top of the list. Simply click the Export button and Operate will generate a CSV file that will automatically download to your computer. Your export will download according to the filters above, if any have been used.

Booking Options

Once you create a booking, you have the possibility to select it on your Calendar, which reveals a set of options: 

  • Edit Booking allows you to make changes to an existing booking.

  • Confirm Booking is only displayed for Provisional bookings and lets you confirm that particular booking. It will change the color of your record from blue to green. Confirmed bookings are ready to be invoiced. 

  • Cancel Booking works according to your cancellation policies. Cancelled bookings will display onto the Calendar if you turn on the Show Cancellations toggle. 

  • Delete Booking will remove the calendar record and send the booking to the recycle bin.

  • Standard will change the booking color to the standard one, meaning green for confirmed and blue for provisional. 

  • In use is a good way for you to highlight booked spaces that are currently in use. This will change the green color of a confirmed booking to red. You can click the Standard button to remove the 'In Use' highlight once the booking is completed.

  • To Be Cleared changes the color of your booking to orange. It's recommended to use it when your room has recently been vacated and needs to be cleared to prepare it for the next booking. This would only occur during clearence time, therefore, once this passes, the status is no longer relevant, since the room has already been occupied again. 

  • Cleared changes your booking color to a light green and highlights the fact that the room has been cleared and is ready for the next booking. 

  • Booking Form allows you to generate a form that you can send to your customer, for an existing booking. You can also generate it immediately when creating the record. 

  • Function Sheet takes you to a printable form which you can use to manage the booking on-site. 

  • Create Proforma allows you to generate a Proforma Invoice which you can send to your customer. 

  • Produce Invoice lets you invoice the selected booking right away, then send it to your customer. Using this option means that your Bill Run will not pick up the booking, since it has already been invoiced. 

  • Add a Note lets you add more information related to the booking, in the form of a note, which will also be displayed on the Booking Form. 

Please keep in mind that the options relating to the state of your space (In Use, To Be Cleared and Cleared) are meant to be used temporarily, while a particular booking is ongoing. Once that booking is over, the status becomes irrelevant, therefore it needs to be updated constantly, to correspond to the actual state of the space. It requires a staff member to keep track and make updates, so we recommend using these options only if you have a large team which could benefit from seeing what is happening to a space in real time.

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