Setup and cleanup time, and blocked time for maintenance
Keep time free before and after each booking for setting up and clearing. Block facilities for maintenance, cleaning, events or holidays, once or every week.
PLANSEvery plan
The problem it solves
- The next group walks into the hall while chairs from the last event are still being stacked.
- The AC is serviced every Tuesday morning, yet people keep booking that room.
- A room is closed for repairs, and only the person who booked it on the day finds out.
- Holiday closures are told by email and forgotten by the time people book.
How it works
- In the rule set, fill in Setup Time and Cleanup Time in minutes. The Hall / Auditorium rule set keeps 30 minutes on each side.
- Each booking now holds its own time plus those minutes. The next booking cannot start inside them.
- For maintenance or closures, open Facilities > Configuration > Booking Rules > Blocked Time and click New.
- Type the Reason, choose the kind, the site and the facilities (empty means every facility of the site), and the start and end.
- For something regular, choose Every week, tick the weekdays and fill in Repeat until.
- Nobody can book into blocked time, and a manager's Book Anyway cannot move it out either.
Everything it does
Setup and cleanup
- Setup Time (min) and Cleanup Time (min) per rule set; 0 to start with
- Hall / Auditorium: 30 minutes setup and 30 minutes cleanup
- The booker books 10:00 to 12:00; the facility is held 09:30 to 12:30
- Two bookings may not overlap even in their setup or cleanup time
- Kept on the related spaces too: the whole hall and its parts
- Service requests with a booking are timed for the team before the setup time
Blocked time
- Reason (required) and kind: Maintenance (to start with), Cleaning, Event, Closure / Holiday
- Site, Facilities and Entity: chosen facilities; or every facility of the site; or, with no site and no facility, every facility of the Entity
- Start and end; Once or Every week on chosen weekdays until a date (both needed for weekly)
- Weekly blocked time keeps its local time across daylight saving
- Blocked time on a whole space blocks its parts, and on a part blocks the whole
- Archive a line to lift it
- Shown shaded on the day Timeline, and named in the clash message (Blocked: AC servicing)
What blocked time does not do
- It does not cancel or tell bookings already made in that time: move or cancel them yourself
- It cannot be moved out by Book Anyway
Who uses it
Facility managerAdds blocked time and sets setup and cleanup times through the rule set.
AdministratorSets setup and cleanup times on the rule sets.
BookerSees blocked times as taken and is told the reason when a time clashes.
Where you use it
- Web: Facilities > Configuration > Booking Rules > Blocked Time (facility managers) and Booking Policies (Administrator)
- The Timeline, office screens and booking portal: blocked time shows as taken
- The SmartMy Facility app: the same (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Not shown to bookers as their own booking: they see only their booked times, not the setup minutes
What you control
Settings
- Setup Time / Cleanup Time: 0 minutes to start with; 30 / 30 on Hall / Auditorium
- Blocked time kind: Maintenance to start with
- Repeat: Once to start with, or Every week until a date
Works with
SmartMy DeskA problem marked Out of Service Until Fixed blocks the facility from now until the ticket is closed.
Questions
Do bookers see the setup time in their booking?
No. They see the time they booked. The extra minutes are held by the system so the next booking cannot start in them.We service the projectors every Tuesday 09:00 to 10:00. Can that repeat?
Yes. Add blocked time, choose Every week, tick Tuesday and set Repeat until. Each Tuesday is blocked.What happens to bookings already in a new closure?
They stay. The system does not cancel them for you, so move or cancel them from the booking, and the bookers are told.Can a manager book into blocked time for an emergency?
Not with Book Anyway. Archive or shorten the blocked time first, then book.Can a whole site close for a day?
Yes. Add blocked time with the site and no facilities, of the kind Closure / Holiday.Related features
BOOKING RULESBooking rules: slots, notice, limits and exceptionsA rule set says how a facility may be booked. It sets the slots, the notice, how far ahead, how long, and how many bookings each person may hold. Exceptions change it for an Entity, a group or one person.BOOKINGSNo double bookingTwo people can never hold the same facility at the same time. Every booking is checked against other bookings, setup time, hall parts, seats and blocked time, even when two people press Book together.PLACES AND FACILITIESSites with opening hours, holidays and a shared room listEach site has its own time zone, opening hours, working days and facility managers, and holidays are blocked for the whole site. Blocks, floors and rooms are one list that the other SmartMy products use too.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.SERVICES AND PROBLEMSServices with a booking: tea, projector help, extra chairsA booker asks for tea, extra chairs or projector help with the booking. When the booking is confirmed, the team that does it gets a to-do due before the setup time, and marks it done.WITH OTHER SMARTMY PRODUCTSProblem tickets and closed rooms with SmartMy DeskWith SmartMy Desk in the same account, every problem reported on a facility opens a helpdesk ticket for the maintenance team. It carries the room, the photo and the severity as its priority. Tick Out of Service Until Fixed and the room takes no new bookings until the ticket is solved; solving it reopens the room.
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.