Open topic with navigation

Workplace Services / Reservations

Create a Resource Reservation

Use the Create New Resource Reservation task when you want to reserve only a resource and do not need to also reserve a room. You can create resource reservations for either a one-time or a recurring schedule. This topic describes creating reserving resources for a single date, and as a recurring reservation.

If you are reserving a room along with the resource, use the Create Room and Resource Reservation task. This task enables you to reserve the room and the resource from one screen. By reserving the room and resources together, you can manage them together. For example, if you need to cancel the room, you cancel the resource in the same operation. See Create a Room and Resource Reservation.

You can create a resource reservation to reserve:

• Equipment and services, such as tables, chairs, projectors, TVs, and IT support. These are unique or limited resources for which the application does a quantity check.
• Catering services, such as coffee, tea and sandwiches for which there is an unlimited quantity. Catering is an unlimited resource.

The resources that are shown depend on the information you enter in the filter, your user role, and how the resources is defined. For more information, see the below sections:

• Viewing resource availability by time period
• Other factors that affect resource availability

Note: The only type of resource that you do not have to reserve is a Fixed Resource, such as a projection screen, which always remains in a room.The fixed resource is always included when reserving that room. You can use the filter to see only rooms that have a fixed projector.

Viewing resource availability by time period

When creating a resource reservation, you have a choice about how to specify the time. The method you use depends on how flexible you are about the time you need the resource.

• If you have a specific time when the resource is needed, select a date from the calendar, and enter the time in the From and To fields in the filter. This ensures that only resources that are available during that time frame appear in the Equipment and Services pane when you apply the filter. If you do not see the resource you need in the Choose Equipment and Services form, try removing the From and To times to see if the resources are available at another time, or select a different day from the calendar to see how that affects availability.
• If you would rather specify the time after reviewing available time slots, select a date from the calendar, and leave the From and To fields blank. This means you will see all resources matching your criteria, including any confirmed reservations (shown in blue) these resources have. You can then decide on a reservation time for the resource after reviewing the available time slots.

Other factors that affect resource availability

In addition, for the general user (including the AFM user), the following variables determine whether a resource will appear after you conduct your resource search. Consult your business process owner for information on how these variables have been defined. For information on defining these variables, see Define General Resources.

Note: Restrictions vary based on your role. For information, see Understanding User Roles.

• If you are using the Create New Resource Reservation view to create your reservation, the resource Room Service Available variable must be set to Yes.
• The resource must be defined as reservable.
• The user who is reserving the resource must be a member of the group that is allowed to reserve the resource.
• The quantity of the resource that you are requesting must be below the available quantity.
• The resource must have been defined as belonging to the building that you are reserving the resource for.
• You must be reserving the resource after the maximum number of days ahead value and before the minimum number of days value (Announcement Number of Days Ahead) allowed before the reservation.
• The system checks that the resource's announcement time - the cutoff date/time to make a reservation - is later than the site's current time.
• If you are reserving on the final day a reservation is allowed, you must be reserving before the deadline reservation time (Announcement Time) value.

Using the timeline

You can use the graphical timeline to specify a time period (start time and end time) for a resource. To select a time period in the timeline, you click and drag your mouse over the time period. When you click and drag, the From and To fields in the Filter fill in with the start and end time for the resource reservation.

The time period for the resource that you selected is highlighted by green and yellow. For detailed information on using the timeline, see Understanding the Timeline.

• The green area specifies the time that the resource is reserved.
• The yellow areas before and after the time specify the setup time before the meeting and the cleanup time after the meeting.
• The pale blue areas show the times when the resource is never available for scheduling.
• The pale gray areas in the timeline define the preblock and postblock setup time for the arrangement.

Recurring Resource Reservations

You can set up a recurring reservation for a resource, as you can also do for rooms. You set up a recurring resource by clicking Define Recurrence... in the filter of the Create Resource Reservations form. The application then opens a dialog in which you can enter the recurrence pattern. The recurrence pattern is applied to the filter, so it determines the resources that are shown in the Equipment and Service form; if a resource is not available for even one of the recurrence dates, it is not shown in the results.

Note the following about defining recurring reservations:

• As with all reservations, if you do not enter a From and To time in the Filter, the application shows all resources matching the criteria you enter, and shows the existing confirmed reservations for the resource. This enables you to assess what is the best time to set up your recurring reservation based on the available time slots.
• If you specify both an end date and a number of occurrences, the most limiting of the two is applied when you click ‘Apply’ in the Define Recurrence Pattern dialog.
• The MaxRecurrencesToCreate application parameter limits the number of occurrences that can be created. By default, this is set to 250. See Configuring Parameters for the Reservations Application.

• Note: There is a limit of 500 occurrences applied to all types of recurring reservations (daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly). The number of occurrences can be limited by this overall limit, the end date or maximum occurrences you enter when defining the reservation, or the number entered for the application parameter MaxOccurrencesToCreate. The most restrictive limit on the number of reservations is the limit that the application uses, but the application will never create more than the number specified in the MaxOccurrenceToCreate parameter.

• If you try to save a recurring reservation that has a number of occurrences that exceeds the MaxRecurrencesToCreate Reservations application parameter, or that has no end date entered, you get the message: "Continue without reservation?"
  • If you click OK, the location is removed from the appointment, and the action you initiated (Save, Save & Close, or Send & Close) proceeds.
  • If you click Cancel, whatever action you initiated is aborted, the appointment is not saved, and the location is not removed. The Plugin refreshes the list of available rooms. You can now create a reservation that does not exceed the MaxRecurrencesToCreate application parameter.

• After you define a recurrence pattern, a description of the pattern is shown on the filtering panel below the time filter.

The steps to create a recurring resource reservation are included in the below procedure.

Procedure - creating a resource reservation (regular or recurring)

The following procedure describes creating a resource reservation for a single date or as a recurring reservation.

1. Locate the resources you need by setting the filter:

   The selections you make in the filter affect the equipment and services that are shown; only equipment and services that are available for the criteria you select are shown in the Choose Equipment and Services form.

   1. Select the day from the calendar.
   2. Do one of the following:
      • Enter a From and To time if you cannot be flexible about when you need the resource. If a From and To time is entered, the equipment or service is not shown if it is already booked for that time period.
      • Do not enter a From and To time to see resources and any confirmed reservations they might have. Using this method, you are able to decide on the time after reviewing the available time slots.
2. .If this is a recurring reservation, define how of the reservation occurs:
   1. Click Define Recurrence....
   2. In the form, select how often the resource reservation occurs and the pattern (such as every two weeks, or the first Tuesday of the month).
   3. Optionally, enter an ending for the series by entering the number of occurrences or an end date.

      Note: There is a limit of 500 occurrences applied to recurring reservations.

   4. Click Save in the Define Recurrence Pattern form, and this information will be included in the filter.
   5. Click Apply Filter.
3. Reserve equipment and services:

   Note: When you add equipment and services on a recurring basis, these resources are added for all the occurrences. To add a resource to a single reservation, you would edit the single occurrence to add the resource. See Editing Recurring Reservations.

   1. In the Equipment and Services pane, click Choose.

      The Choose Equipment and Services form shows the equipment and services, such as chairs, IT support, projectors, and IT cables that are available based on the criteria entered in the filter, and the other factors affecting availability as described above. If the resource is not available in the list and you have entered a From and To time, remove these times from the filter to see how this affects availability, or select a different day from the calendar.

   2. For each resource you want to reserve, enter the quantity in the Required Quantity column and click Show.
   3. When you have added all needed resources, click Close.

      The selected equipment and services are shown in the Equipment and Services timeline.

   4. In the Equipment and Services pane, if you have entered a time frame in the filter, the time line for the selected resources shows the green bar using the entered time. Otherwise, click and drag in the timeline to specify the time you need this resource.

      When you create a time on the timeline for the resource, the check box for the resource becomes selected.

      If you selected multiple resources, simply select the check box for the second resource and it will be shown in the timeline using the same time as the first resource.If needed, you can adjust this time.

      The From and To fields in the Filter fill in with the selected times.

      If you select additional resources from the Equipment and Services form by repeating steps a through c, the application automatically adds these resources to the timeline for the same time frame you specified for the first resource. You are able to adjust this if needed.

   5. To remove a resource from the reservation, clear the selection from its check box in the Equipment and Services pane. You can also remove a resource from the edit form.
   6. Access the Edit form by double-clicking the green bar for the resource in the timeline. The Edit Equipment and Service Reservation form appears.
      • If needed, enter Comments in the Comments field and click Save.
      • To remove a resource, click the Remove button.
   7. On the Create Resource Reservation form, to see details for the equipment or resources, in the Equipment and Services pane, click the Resource Name.

      The Equipment and Services Details pane shows details for the selected resource. Click Close to dismiss the window.

4. Add catering services:
   1. In the Catering pane, click Add Catering.

      The Add Catering form appears showing the available catering resources. See the above sections of this topic that describe how the application determines availability.

   2. In the Quantity column, enter the quantity you need for that catering item.
   3. Add comments in the Comments field.
   4. Click Save.

      The Create Resource Reservation form appears. The catering resource is added for the time you specified for the meeting. If you have not yet specified a time, the available time defined for the catering resource is shown.

   5. To adjust the time frame for the catering, click Edit in the row for the catering item. In the Add Catering form, enter the start and end time for which you need the item, and click Save.

      Note: If you are changing the time from AM to PM, or from PM to AM, be sure to enter the AM or PM as part of the time.

   6. To remove a catering item, click Edit in the row for the item. Click Remove in the Add Catering form that appears.
5. Confirm the resource reservation.

   To finalize the reservation, you must confirm it.

   1. Click Confirm Reservation.

      The Confirm Reservation form appears. The total cost is calculated, and the requestor's division and department are used by default for the chargeback, but this can be changed.

   2. Enter a Subject that appears as the subject line in the email notification that is sent to the requestor.
   3. Optionally, enter Comments that will appear in the body of the email.

   4. Click Submit.

      When you submit a room or resource reservation (from Web Central), or save the reservation (from the Plugin), the availability of the room or resources, for all dates, is checked again; if the room or resource is not available, an error message - "The room (or resource) is not available" - is shown and the process is aborted.

      The My Resource Reservation form appears with the reservation in the list.

      Note: Exchange integration is not used for resource-only reservations. For resource-only reservations, the email doesn’t show the list of dates, and also no ics files are generated. This applies to both single and recurring resource-only reservations.

   5. Review the resource reservation you created in the Resources list. Note that the reservation's Status is Confirmed if the resource reservation does not require approval. If the resource does require approval, the reservation's Status is Awaiting Approval.