Resource Reservation App

Overview

The Resource Reservation app allows faculty to request resources (rooms, equipment, and more) directly from their Teacher Portal. From the Resource Reservation homepage, teachers can view all resources they currently have active for single-day, multi-day, or recurring reservations.

Active reservations will be tagged with the specific resource type so teachers can easily see what types of resource requests they have open. Additionally, the approval status (if applicable) displays for each reservation that has been configured to require approval. Teachers can track whether their event has been approved by scanning the right column for the updated statuses. Teachers also have the option to cancel requests by clicking Cancel. If a responsible person has been assigned to the resource, a direct contact link for that person will also be available beneath the approval status.

Request Processing
Resource Reservations can be managed from the “Resource Scheduling” tab in Axiom. All reservations requiring approval will be included in the “Reservations for Approval” report. Additionally, users can use the “Find Resource Reservations” query to search for an open reservations or add a reservation directly from Axiom using the + Reserve a Resource button.

Resource Reservation Entry

There are two options for entering a resource reservation from the Resource Reservation homepage in the Teacher Portal. Choose the best option for the immediate reservation need.

1. + New Reservation
   The “+ New Reservation” launches the Resource Reservation app, allowing the teacher to start from scratch in their resource selection. Use this option for reservations in the future, whether later in the week or further out.
2. Find Free Room Now
   The “Find Free Room Now” button launches the app at step four, which is the final step in the reservation process. Only resources that are open (or free) within the hour will be displayed. Use this option for scheduling resources immediately.

New Reservations

There are four steps to the resource reservation process, each designed to filter the specific resources available according to selected criteria. As each step is completed, information will populate the bar at the top of each step section.

Step 1: Find Available Resources by Type

Select a filtering option from either the “Places” or “Resources” categories, depending on the purpose of the reservation. These reflect the resource types that have already been preconfigured in the system. Available “places” for reservation are determined by their assigned Resource Category, which must be one of the following: classroom, special room, other room, or field.

Step 2: Find Available Resources by Date

Select a date from either the calendar or choose one of the quick date buttons such as today, tomorrow, or a week from today.

Step 3: View and Select Available Resources

Select from one of five filtering options to view the list of total available resources during a specific time. If a teacher wants to see all resource options regardless of time, select either the “All Places” filter or the “Name” filter. To view resources available at specific times, select either the “Time Range, “Block,” or “Block Group” filter.

• All Places: Selecting the “all places” option displays a list of all available resources according to the filters set in steps one and two. Use the calendar to view already-reserved resources and then click the grey Reserve button next to the desired resource. This will open the reservation detail window where the final details may be entered (see below for further instructions).
• Name: Select the resource from a dropdown list of all available resources in the system. To make a reservation, select its starting time slot. The time will automatically populate for the duration of a half hour, but it can be easily adjusted on the reservation detail window.
• Time Range: Select a time range for the reservation by using the time range slider at the top of the box. Click  Reserve to open the reservation detail window. The time information will already be filled out based on the time range selected.
• Block: Select a block by school level from the dropdown. This displays a list of all available resources only for that block. Click Reserve to open the reservation detail window. The time information will already be filled out based on the block selected.
• Block Group: Select a block group from the dropdown. This displays the block schedule for the selected group with the total number of available resources for each block. Click on the block to make a reservation and then select from the dropdown list the name of the desired resource. The reservation detail window will open with the time prepopulated to the selected block information.

Step 4: Select Time & Reserve

Once the resource has been selected in step three, complete the reservation process by selecting the time from the calendar, time ranger slider, block group, or by clicking Reserve. To select a time-range, drag over the time rows in the calendar between the desired start and end time. This opens the reservation detail window from which the final steps of the reservation may be completed.

Complete the reservation by filling out the information on the reservation detail window. Depending on the filtering option selected in step three, some of this information may be prepopulated, including date, reservation range, and time. All reservations must have a description in order for it to be submitted. Enter any notes necessary in the “Notes” field and click Reserve Resource to finalize the reservation.

Reservations default to single day, but teachers can opt to make them multi-day or recurring.

• Multi-Day
  If entering a reservation for a resource that spans multiple days (such as a weekend room reservation), select the “multi-day” button. A date range picker will appear in which the desired dates may be selected from a calendar. All multi-day reservations are automatically set for the reservation range of all day.
• Recurring
  If entering a resource reservation for a recurring activity, click Recurring. Use the date range to set the entire range within which this reservation should occur (e.g., a grading period such as a semester). Select the day(s) and time on which the reservation will occur, and enter a description.

Find Free Room Now

Entering a reservation using the “Find Free Room Now” feature starts the process at step four. Step two and three will be filtered automatically to display resources available today and within the next hour of when the reservation was started. Teachers can adjust the total time needed for the reservation by using the time range slider. See step four above for further instructions on how to complete the reservation.

Conflict Management

The resource reservation app assists with resource conflict management by displaying in calendar format when resources are reserved, and by providing an alert message if a conflicting date/time combination is chosen from the reservation detail window. If there are conflicting reservations, a yellow alert message will appear detailing the specific time and the name of the person who made the reservation.

Conflicts with other reservations will display, but will not prevent the user from creating a reservation unless the “Allow Simultaneous Reservations” field on the Resource record is set to “No.”

Once all information has been completed on the reservation detail window, click Reserve Resource and the new reservation will populate on the calendar and in the list of active reservations on the teacher’s Resource Reservation homepage.

Reservations Conflicts System Parameter

“Allow Simultaneous Reservations” set on the resource record is not the same as setting the “Reservations Conflicts” system parameter to 0 (“Allow Conflict”). Veracross does not currently support resource-specific “allow/disallow conflict” settings. “Allow simultaneous reservations” only becomes meaningful if a school does not allow conflicts. Once the system parameter is set to disallow conflicts, no resources will allow you to make conflicting resources unless they are marked with “Allow simultaneous reservations” and capacity has not been reached. Resources that would make sense for this scenario include:

• a large gym (reservable by more then one teacher at a time because the gym has dividers or something)
• a large outdoor field
• a cafeteria

Request Processing

At the time a reservation is submitted from the Teacher Portal, an email notification will be sent to the person responsible for the resource. This begins the processing and approval process for confirming the reservation. Note that only the resources that have been configured to require approval will trigger the email and start the process.

Reservation Approval

Reservation approval is controlled from the Resource record. Responsible people for the resource should be assigned using the “Responsible Person” field. If a formal approval process is required for the reservation, set the “Reservation Approval” toggle button to “yes.” This will trigger the appropriate email template to be sent to the responsible person, from which they are able to view details of the reservation, and process the request from the Resource Reservation record. If a responsible person should be assigned for the resource, but reservations do not require approval, simply assign a person and keep the “Reservation Approval” toggle button set to “no.”

Email Templates

There are two email templates that facilitate the reservation approval process:

• Resource_Reservation_Approval_Request
  This email template is used in the email sent to the responsible person when the request is made from the Teacher Portal. This template contains basic information about the reservation such as requestor, resource, date, time, and description. Additional information such as potential conflicts or notes may be includes as well.
• Resource_Reservation_Status_Update
  This email template is  used in the email sent to the person who requested it after the approval status has been marked “approved” or “denied.” It communicates the status of the reservation (approved or denied) as well as basic information about the reservation.

Processing the Request

All requests requiring approval will appear on the Resource Scheduling homepage in Axiom, under the “Reservations for Approval” report, which displays all reservations with the status “Needs Approval.” When the responsible person receives the email notifying them that a new reservation requires attention, they can open this query, click on the appropriate reservation ID number, and then view the details of the specific request.

To approve or deny the reservation, change the “Approval Status” field to the appropriate status. This will send an email using the status_update template to the person who submitted the request, informing them whether their reservation has been approved or denied. The status will also be reflected on the Resource Reservation homepage in the Teacher Portal.

Additionally, the resource reservation record displays information that helps the person responsible decide whether this reservation should be approved or not. For example, if the reservation is in conflict with another reservation, the “Conflict” checkbox will be selected on the General tab, and the details of the conflicting reservation will be displayed on the Conflict tab. The person responsible can manage all conflicts right from the Resource Reservation record.

Tie a Group Event to an Existing Resource Reservation

The Event field on a resource reservation record is updatable, meaning that a school can approve a user’s original resource reservation request and manually select an existing group event from the resource reservation record to tie the two together.

When an event is applied to an existing resource reservation, that resource will become the event’s primary resource. There is also validation in place to ensure that the resource reservation start/end date and time falls within the given event’s date/time range.