Office screens and the front desk's day
Staff book from the back office on the same simple screens as the portal and the app: cards, a facility's day and one short form. Approvers decide on one screen, and the front desk runs its day from a board of who is expected, inside, done or a no-show.
PLANSEvery plan
The problem it solves
- Booking a room in an office system takes six fields and three clicks before you see whether it is free.
- The caretaker of the hall learns who is coming only when people knock.
- Approvers dig through a list to find the two requests that wait for them.
- Nobody at the desk can say which bookings are a no-show until the day is over.
How it works
- The Facilities app opens on Book a Facility: each facility is a card with its photo, place, size, amenities and whether it is free now. Search, filter by type, or switch on Free now.
- Open a facility to see its day, pick a free time and fill one short form: what for, how long and how many people. Add services, a note, outside guests or Private when you need them. The rules to accept and the price, where it is charged, show before you press Book.
- When the time you want is taken, join the waitlist from the same screen. My Bookings shows Upcoming, Past and Waitlist, and each booking says what happens next and what you can do.
- Approvers open Approvals: each waiting booking with the facility, the time and who asked. Approve, or Reject with a reason the booker sees.
- The front desk opens Operations > Front Desk. It shows the day across the facilities they run, on a timeline and as tiles of Expected, Inside now, Checked out and No-show. They check people in and out, call a booker, or press Walk-in booking.
- For repeat bookings, attendees, booking for someone else and the history, open the full booking record from the booking.
Everything it does
Book a Facility and My Bookings
- Cards with search, type filters and Free now. Operations > Facilities shows each facility with its cover, free or in use, and today's bookings on a day bar
- A facility's day with a strip of days; free times by the policy; Free at the same time lists other facilities when one is taken
- The form: What for, How long, People, Services with quantities, a note for the facility team, Guests from outside, Private, and the rules of use
- On a booking: Check in, Check out, Move to another time, and Cancel booking with an optional reason. Also Accept the offer or Decline, and Report a problem with severity Minor, Needs fixing or Unusable
- Pay now and Sign the agreement where the booking asks for them (Growth)
Approvals
- Facilities > Approvals: the bookings waiting for you, with Approve and Reject
- A rejection asks why; the booker sees the reason
- The list of every booking stays under Operations > All Bookings
The front desk's day
- The facilities where you are named under Front Desk / Caretakers, or that you manage
- Previous and next day, a date box, and a search by booking, name or phone
- Tiles: Expected, Inside now, Checked out and No-show, each a filter
- A timeline of the day across your facilities; each booking opens with the booker's phone and what comes next in the same room
- Check in from the check-in opening time until the end, and Check out while in use
- Walk-in booking opens Book a Facility for a booking on the spot
The other office screens
- Schedule: Calendar, Timeline, Find for a Time and, with Scale, Floor Map
- Operations: All Bookings, Waitlist, Service Requests, Issues and Damages, and with Growth the Public Hire Page
- Reporting: Booking Analysis and Utilisation, for managers
- Repeat bookings (daily, weekly, monthly) are made from the full booking record, with every date checked first
Who uses it
Staff member (Facility Booking)Books, moves, cancels and checks in on their own bookings.
ApproverApproves or rejects the bookings waiting for them.
Front Desk / CaretakerRuns the day of their facilities: checks people in and out, takes walk-ins, reports problems.
Facility ManagerDoes all of this for every facility they manage, books for others and books anyway with a reason.
Where you use it
- Web: Facilities > Book a Facility, My Bookings, Approvals, Operations > Front Desk, and the Schedule, Operations and Reporting menus
- The SmartMy Facility app: the same Book, My Bookings, Approvals and Front Desk on a phone. It is built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- Not on the quick screens: repeat bookings and booking for someone else; use the full booking record
- Not a kiosk: the front desk works from its own login; a tablet at the door is the room display (Scale)
What you control
Settings
- Front Desk / Caretakers, Approvers and Facility Managers: named per facility on its Booking tab
- Roles: Facility Booking, Front Desk / Caretaker, Facility Manager, Administrator
- What the desk can do follows the facility's policy: check-in on or off, its opening time and grace time
Approvals
- Facility booking: the Approvals screen shows the bookings waiting at a level you approve, as the chain says
Notifications
- Facility Booking to Approve: to the approvers of the level, in the app and by email. WhatsApp and SMS go from your message credits, and app push once the apps are in the stores
- The approvers also get a to-do on the booking in the back office
Questions
Does the front desk need a separate screen?
No. Front Desk is in the Facilities menu. It shows the facilities where the person is named as front desk or caretaker.Can the desk see the price before booking for a walk-in?
Yes, with Growth. A charged facility shows the price and the deposit on the form before Book.How do I book the board room every Monday for a year?
Open the full booking record and use the repeat options: daily, weekly or monthly. Every date is checked before anything is booked.Can a manager book over someone else?
Yes. On the full record, Book Anyway moves the other bookings out with a reason, and those bookers are told with free alternatives.Related features
PORTAL, OFFICE SCREENS AND APPThe booking portal for staff, members and hirersPeople without a back-office login book from a web page: parents, students, members, residents and outside hirers. They browse what they may book, pick a free time on a facility's day and book. Then they follow their bookings: check in, accept a waitlist offer, pay, sign or cancel.PORTAL, OFFICE SCREENS AND APPThe SmartMy Facility phone appOne app for everyone who books, approves or runs a facility, on Android and iOS. Bookers find a free room and book in a few taps, scan the door QR to check in and report a problem with a photo. Approvers decide, the front desk runs its day, members see their passes and cashiers sell at the counter.CHECK-IN AND NO-SHOWSCheck-in with the QR code on the door, and no-shows freedAsk people to check in when they arrive, by scanning the QR code on the door or tapping Check in. A booking nobody checks in to is released after the grace time, and leaving early frees the rest of the time.APPROVALBooking approval, with escalation when nobody answersBookings that need a yes, such as the auditorium, wait for the facility's approvers while the time is held. If nobody answers in time, the facility managers are asked. If they do not answer either, the request is turned down, so a forgotten request never locks the time.BOOKINGSRepeat bookings with every date checkedBook the Monday review for the whole term in one go. Every date is checked first, clashes are shown before anything is booked, and the series can be moved or cancelled later as a whole.FINDINGFacility calendars and a day timeline of a siteSee bookings by week on a calendar, one colour per facility. Or see a whole site's day on a timeline, with facilities as rows and hours as columns. Click a free hour to book it.
See it with your own rooms.
Tell us what you run: rooms, halls, courts, desks. We will show you a booking from request to check-out with your rules.