Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 ResourceXpress is a powerful and extensible hybrid workspace management platform that: Workspace booking systems our customers rely on BENEFITS The […]
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 Resource Central is a comprehensive workspace and resource scheduling solution that includes: Designed from the ‘ground up’ to support the […]
Overview Find your ideal desk booking system for Microsoft 365 There’s lots to consider when choosing a desk booking system that works with Microsoft 365, and we can help you […]
Overview Create a great agile workspace experience for your workforce EBOOK M365 workspace resource mailboxes Read More Desk booking devices our customers rely on Help your workforce find their […]
Do you need to allow an external audience to book desks or workspaces in your office? Sometimes it’s handy to be able to give clients and partners access to meeting […]
You’ve probably seen examples of room booking systems that use Power Apps to allow selection of available workspaces from a list. For example, you can find one here. Click ‘Create’, […]
Check out our desk booking system in Power Apps that uses interactive floor plans. You may have seen an existing Power Apps template that’s freely available called ‘Book a Room’. […]
Pre-COVID-19 and hybrid working, the need for a desk numbering system to identify desks was of minimal importance, as individuals would typically sit at the same desk every day. Now, […]
Interactive floor plans prove essential for desk booking in large, multi directorate office space Portsmouth City Council is a prominent local authority serving the dynamic city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, […]
Leading specialist lender adopts new hybrid working model and hot desking as part of its forward-thinking response to climate change. Incorporated in 1955, United Trust Bank (UTB) is a specialist […]
When not having a dedicated desk becomes an attractive proposition We started promoting the benefits of what was then termed ‘hot desking’ almost 15 years ago, at which time the […]
Will the newly announced 4-step plan to ease England’s lockdown give enterprises a timeline along which they can plan their return to the workplace? Implementing a workspace booking system is […]
Navigating a safe return to the office for 2 and 4-legged colleagues Since March 2020 when Covid-19 hit, the UK’s leading specialist retailer of pet food, accessories and services, has […]
Virtually all the office workspace booking systems you’ll encounter these days feature the ability to book a desk, room or even car parking space from an interactive map or ‘floor plan’.
Whilst it’s usually possible to upload the latest architectural/CAD diagram of your office floors into the system, we’ve learned over the last 15 years of working with booking systems that this does not lead to the best end user experience.
In this session you’ll hear from our design guru, Sara Appleyard, on her top considerations when creating a floor plan for your workspace booking system.
It includes:
What you should include on (and leave off) your floor plan graphics
Examples of do’s and don’ts
‘Before’ & ‘after’ images
How to create a future-proof floor plan
How you can leverage your floor plan to boost your hybrid working comms strategy
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 ResourceXpress is a powerful and extensible hybrid workspace management platform that: Workspace booking systems our customers rely on BENEFITS The […]
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 Resource Central is a comprehensive workspace and resource scheduling solution that includes: Designed from the ‘ground up’ to support the […]
Overview Find your ideal desk booking system for Microsoft 365 There’s lots to consider when choosing a desk booking system that works with Microsoft 365, and we can help you […]
Overview Create a great agile workspace experience for your workforce EBOOK M365 workspace resource mailboxes Read More Desk booking devices our customers rely on Help your workforce find their […]
Virtually all the office workspace booking systems you’ll encounter these days feature the ability to book a desk, room or even car parking space from an interactive map or ‘floor […]
You’ve probably seen examples of room booking systems that use Power Apps to allow selection of available workspaces from a list. For example, you can find one here. Click ‘Create’, […]
Check out our desk booking system in Power Apps that uses interactive floor plans. You may have seen an existing Power Apps template that’s freely available called ‘Book a Room’. […]
Pre-COVID-19 and hybrid working, the need for a desk numbering system to identify desks was of minimal importance, as individuals would typically sit at the same desk every day. Now, […]
Interactive floor plans prove essential for desk booking in large, multi directorate office space Portsmouth City Council is a prominent local authority serving the dynamic city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, […]
Leading specialist lender adopts new hybrid working model and hot desking as part of its forward-thinking response to climate change. Incorporated in 1955, United Trust Bank (UTB) is a specialist […]
When not having a dedicated desk becomes an attractive proposition We started promoting the benefits of what was then termed ‘hot desking’ almost 15 years ago, at which time the […]
Will the newly announced 4-step plan to ease England’s lockdown give enterprises a timeline along which they can plan their return to the workplace? Implementing a workspace booking system is […]
Navigating a safe return to the office for 2 and 4-legged colleagues Since March 2020 when Covid-19 hit, the UK’s leading specialist retailer of pet food, accessories and services, has […]
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 ResourceXpress is a powerful and extensible hybrid workspace management platform that: Workspace booking systems our customers rely on BENEFITS The […]
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 Resource Central is a comprehensive workspace and resource scheduling solution that includes: Designed from the ‘ground up’ to support the […]
Overview Find your ideal desk booking system for Microsoft 365 There’s lots to consider when choosing a desk booking system that works with Microsoft 365, and we can help you […]
Overview Create a great agile workspace experience for your workforce EBOOK M365 workspace resource mailboxes Read More Desk booking devices our customers rely on Help your workforce find their […]
Virtually all the office workspace booking systems you’ll encounter these days feature the ability to book a desk, room or even car parking space from an interactive map or ‘floor […]
Do you need to allow an external audience to book desks or workspaces in your office? Sometimes it’s handy to be able to give clients and partners access to meeting […]
Check out our desk booking system in Power Apps that uses interactive floor plans. You may have seen an existing Power Apps template that’s freely available called ‘Book a Room’. […]
Pre-COVID-19 and hybrid working, the need for a desk numbering system to identify desks was of minimal importance, as individuals would typically sit at the same desk every day. Now, […]
Interactive floor plans prove essential for desk booking in large, multi directorate office space Portsmouth City Council is a prominent local authority serving the dynamic city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, […]
Leading specialist lender adopts new hybrid working model and hot desking as part of its forward-thinking response to climate change. Incorporated in 1955, United Trust Bank (UTB) is a specialist […]
When not having a dedicated desk becomes an attractive proposition We started promoting the benefits of what was then termed ‘hot desking’ almost 15 years ago, at which time the […]
Will the newly announced 4-step plan to ease England’s lockdown give enterprises a timeline along which they can plan their return to the workplace? Implementing a workspace booking system is […]
Navigating a safe return to the office for 2 and 4-legged colleagues Since March 2020 when Covid-19 hit, the UK’s leading specialist retailer of pet food, accessories and services, has […]
You’ve probably seen examples of room booking systems that use Power Apps to allow selection of available workspaces from a list.
For example, you can find one here. Click ‘Create’, and scroll to the Book A Room ‘Canvas template’.
TL;DR?
Apologies – this IS a long article!
The fact is, creating your own workspace booking system IS possible using PowerApps, but be prepared to do a lot of work to get something that meets everyone’s needs.
In this article we wanted to explain how to use Power Apps to book desks and meeting rooms via a floor plan with interactive ‘hotspots’ thatin turn link to Microsoft resource mailboxes.
Here’s what we’ll cover.
Overall design and functionality
How to create an interactive floor plan view that allows bookings in Power Apps
All the other bits and bobs that setting this up entails!
Additional functionality considerations
Overall design of your workspace booking system using PowerApps
The Power App UX design and workflow for a workspace booking system is endlessly variable.
In our example we created a one-screen, 3-step design that guides individuals through the process of:
Selecting the date and time they want to come into the office,
Showing workspace availability on an interactive floor plan using red/green hotspots, and
Allowing them to select and confirm the workspace they wish to book.
The fact is, you can design it to look and work however you want.
I’m therefore NOT going to attempt to go into the specific coding behind the flow, buttons, and input fields, as this part is easily researched online.
It’s also subject to how you want your application to look.
Instead, we are going to discuss some of the trickier aspects of creating an interactive floor plan from which end users can book workspaces, starting with how to get the hotspots working.
Buckle in, we’re going to go into some detail!
How to create hotspots on an interactive floor plan in Power Apps
The interactive floor plan is based on a combination of an ‘underlying’ floor plan image with an ‘overlying’ Gallery control which governs the hot spots. You can read more about Gallery control in Power Apps here.
Each bookable workspace on the floor plan corresponds to a record in the Gallery (in our example we used a circle shape).
This is how we set everything up:
Gather the x,y coordinates for each bookable workspace on our floor plan
Store these coordinates in a SharePoint list
Position our gallery of ‘hot spots’ (circles) according to these coordinates
Fine tune your hotspot positions
Colour each hotspot according to free/busy status
Allow users to select an available workspace
Use the selection to book the relevant workspace in Outlook.
1. Gather workspace coordinates
First place your floor plan graphic file onto the PowerApp screen, bearing in mind any screen content you may want around your floor plan. For example:
Note, for tips on how to design your floor plan for the optimal user experience, check out this article.
You have the flexibility to adjust its size and position according to your needs, but it’s advisable to ‘lock in’ the position before proceeding to the next step of gathering the x and y coordinates for each workspace and placing them on your floor plan.
To do this:
Add a shape into the app and size it relative to the floorplan, for example here is a circle I added:
Now, move the shape onto the first workspace and note the x and y coordinates.
Record these co-ordinates into an Excel spreadsheet.
Repeat this for each workspace until you have collected all the x and y coordinates.
2. Write your workspace coordinates into a SharePoint List
Create a SharePoint list to store the coordinates
Upload your x & Y coordinates from your Excel spreadsheet
Use a column that will have a unique reference for each workspace. As our app is integrated with resource mailboxes, we are using the resource mailbox email address as the reference.
For example:
In our example we used meeting room resource mailboxes for the meeting rooms, and a workspace resource mailbox with a capacity of 1 for the desks.
You can read more about how to create resource mailboxes, including the more recent workspace resource in this separate eBook.
IMPORTANT: As we will be using this SharePoint List as a data source in the Power App, every user that will use the app requires read rights to this list in SharePoint.
3. Position a gallery of ‘hot spots’ (circles) according to your coordinates
In your app, add a Blank Vertical Gallery and connect it to the coordinates list created in the step above
Size and position the gallery so that it exactly overlays the floor plan image
Set the following properties of the gallery to 0:
TemplateSize
TemplatePadding
WrapCount
Next, insert a shape or icon that will be used as a hotspot on the workspace. We are using a circle. You won’t see much yet as we have not pulled in the x and y coordinates:
Select the shape that you have added into your gallery
Set the x to be ThisItem.x and y to be ThisItem.y. See right>
Set the size of the shape, in our example we used width 20 and height 20.
Now, you should see your hotspots roughly over the workspaces you have configured.
For example:
Next, we’re going to line up the hot spots. Warning: This can take a bit of effort.
4. Fine tune your hotspot positions
You may notice that the circles don’t quite line up in the first pass, despite the coordinates being correct.
This is because the gallery doesn’t quite handle the y coordinate in the way that we want.Bother!
It actually increments the offset for each record by 1. So over time, the hotspots become increasingly out of line. This calls for a slight adjustment to the y value.
One way to handle this is to load the list of workspaces into a string variable in the app and then to use a formula which removes the increment based on the entry’s position in the string.
To do this, add this code to the OnVisible property of your screen:
Set(AllWorkspaces, Concat(FloorplanCoords, Title & ";"));
This will populate the string AllWorkspaces with the names of the workspaces separated by a semi-colon. We will see later that this string is also used to collect the resource availability from Exchange.
Change the ‘y value’ for the circle to use this formula:
If not, your hotspots might benefit from a little shift to the right, so a small change to the x coordinate will do that.
TIP: You may have to Save, leave the App and open it again for the OnVisible code to take effect.
Additional TIP: If you did not place your floor plan image and gallery to fill the screen or any position other than top left, you may see your hotspots in the wrong position. To fix this you will need to adjust the x and y of the circle based on the position of your gallery.
In my case my gallery position is like this>
So I had subtract these x and y values in the circle formulas, like this:
And my hotspots about lined up – Phew!
Other things you’ll need to configure
Getting the hot-spots lined up is a bit of a pain, but that’s the hard bit out of the way.
In this next section we’ll look at the other components you’ll need to configure in the application in order to get your interactive floor plan to work.
Fancy a mental break?
Check out our video which shows our demo Power Apps desk booking system.
So far, we have kept all the hotspots as their default colour. In our app we used the colour of the hotspot to indicate whether the resource is available or already booked: Green = available, Red = busy
This requires that we lookup the free/busy status of the related mailboxes for the date/time chosen by the user of the workspace booking system:
Connect to Exchange
The connection to Exchange will be managed with the “Office365Outlook” data source.
Add this to your app using ‘Add data’.
Prompt the end user to select the date and times they want to book.
In our app we used a date picker and some AM/PM/All day buttons.
For our example, we assumed that the booking will be or an all-day booking for today. So, we created some variables to hold this information as follows:
Use the “FindMeetingTimes” function to determine free/busy status
We passed this function the list of resource email addresses, along with our required date and times. The function returns a table with the results, and we can store this in a collection:
The table returned contains nested tables and records and we can make this much easier to work with by creating a new table which has just two columns:
Our hotspots now show the availability for the selected times:
Allow users to select an available workspace
To facilitate the display of the selected workspace and to set the location when we they make a booking, add an extra column to your SharePoint list for the workspace name. For example:
First add a new variable that will be set to the selected workspace name when a hotspot is clicked. Add this to your map screen OnVisible code:
Set(SelectedWorkspace,"");
Select the hotspot shape in the gallery again and we’ll add some code to the OnSelect property:
Set(SelectedWorkspace,ThisItem.Title);
Display the selected workspace
Add a Text Label to your screen and set the Text property to lookup the name of the workspace. Initially, this will be blank. For example:
Now if you play your app, the name of the workspace will be shown when you click a hotspot.
Book the relevant workspace in Outlook.
The final step is to send a booking request to Outlook for the selected workspace.
You could book the workspace at the same time as clicking on a hotspot, but let’s make the code more sophisticated and add a Book button. To do this:
Add a button underneath the text label
Set the Text property of the button to ‘Book’
Set the Visible property to the following formula, which will make the button visible when a hotspot is selected, and the corresponding workspace is also available:
To make a booking we will utilise the Office365Outlook connection again.
We need to set some variables up front, which can be added to the App OnStart property. These will capture the details for the current user and the Calendar folder of their mailbox.
Add the “Office 365 Users” data connection to your app. Then add the following code to the App OnStart property:
Note: if you have multi-language mailboxes, you will need to cater for different names for “Calendar” folder. See the out-of-the-box ‘Book a Room’ app for how this can be done.
We’ll add the booking code to the OnSelect property of the Book button:
Select a hotspot and the name of the workspace is shown with the Book button:
Click the book button to make a booking.
The resource mailbox will accept or decline the request based on its calendar policy.
As with regular resource mailbox bookings in Outlook calendar, this will also create an appointment in the user’s calendar and send a meeting request to the resource mailbox.
Additional Functionality Considerations
We hope this article has helped you navigate your way around some of the stickier bits of developing a floor-plan-based, interactive workspace booking system using Power Apps.
As mentioned earlier in this article, there are many ways you can build your app and enhance it to ensure it caters for the very wide range of scenarios encountered when delivering an enterprise desk booking systems.
Here are some extra checks and balances we incorporated into ours:
Workspace attributes:
Workspace names: Meeting room, collaboration pod, quiet desk, etc.
Capacity (relevant for rooms and other spaces)
Desk attributes, such as riser desk, 2 screens, accessible
Labels, labels, labels. For example:
A ‘Booked’ message that appears after booking
A label that shows ‘Unavailable’ if a red hotspot is selected
Links to help
Timers that refresh hotspot status/colours, for example:
Immediately refresh the hotspot colours after booking
Periodically update hotspots (to reflect any bookings made whilst the user is ‘deciding’)
Automatically ‘unselect’ a workspace if the user does not proceed to make a booking within a specified time-window.
To deliver a fully-formed workspace booking system for anything other than a small team, or one small office, you might also need:
Filters to only show workspaces of a specific type or with certain attributes
Multi-level, multi-location navigation across floor plans
Support for additional resource requests, such as seating layouts or catering for meeting rooms
Indicators of where colleagues are already booked to visit the office
Policies that govern what workspaces can be booked based on factors like department, accessibility needs, cut-off times, etc.
The ability for FMs to manage what’s been booked, and perhaps move bookings around
Reporting and analytics on what’s been booked.
The list goes on. And on.
Discover workspace booking systems that build on your Microsoft 365 investment.
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 ResourceXpress is a powerful and extensible hybrid workspace management platform that: Workspace booking systems our customers rely on BENEFITS The […]
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 Resource Central is a comprehensive workspace and resource scheduling solution that includes: Designed from the ‘ground up’ to support the […]
Overview Find your ideal desk booking system for Microsoft 365 There’s lots to consider when choosing a desk booking system that works with Microsoft 365, and we can help you […]
Overview Create a great agile workspace experience for your workforce EBOOK M365 workspace resource mailboxes Read More Desk booking devices our customers rely on Help your workforce find their […]
Virtually all the office workspace booking systems you’ll encounter these days feature the ability to book a desk, room or even car parking space from an interactive map or ‘floor […]
Do you need to allow an external audience to book desks or workspaces in your office? Sometimes it’s handy to be able to give clients and partners access to meeting […]
You’ve probably seen examples of room booking systems that use Power Apps to allow selection of available workspaces from a list. For example, you can find one here. Click ‘Create’, […]
Pre-COVID-19 and hybrid working, the need for a desk numbering system to identify desks was of minimal importance, as individuals would typically sit at the same desk every day. Now, […]
Interactive floor plans prove essential for desk booking in large, multi directorate office space Portsmouth City Council is a prominent local authority serving the dynamic city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, […]
Leading specialist lender adopts new hybrid working model and hot desking as part of its forward-thinking response to climate change. Incorporated in 1955, United Trust Bank (UTB) is a specialist […]
When not having a dedicated desk becomes an attractive proposition We started promoting the benefits of what was then termed ‘hot desking’ almost 15 years ago, at which time the […]
Will the newly announced 4-step plan to ease England’s lockdown give enterprises a timeline along which they can plan their return to the workplace? Implementing a workspace booking system is […]
Navigating a safe return to the office for 2 and 4-legged colleagues Since March 2020 when Covid-19 hit, the UK’s leading specialist retailer of pet food, accessories and services, has […]
Check out our desk booking system in Power Apps that uses interactive floor plans.
You may have seen an existing Power Apps template that’s freely available called ‘Book a Room’.
It offers a room booking service that’s accessible via a list view, and links up with your meeting room resource mailboxes in Exchange.
Well, our resource management expert, Nigel, wanted to go one step better and see if it was possible to create a more visual, interactive floor plan, via which users could book desks, meeting rooms and other workspaces.
This video demonstrates the results: A desk booking system built using Microsoft Power Apps.
It features the booking system Nigel created that allows booking using an interactive floor plan.
It also and discusses the various pros and cons of the approach.
See also our accompanying guide that provides a detailed, technical explanation of how to create interactive hot spots that enable booking from an office floor plan.
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 ResourceXpress is a powerful and extensible hybrid workspace management platform that: Workspace booking systems our customers rely on BENEFITS The […]
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 Resource Central is a comprehensive workspace and resource scheduling solution that includes: Designed from the ‘ground up’ to support the […]
Overview Find your ideal desk booking system for Microsoft 365 There’s lots to consider when choosing a desk booking system that works with Microsoft 365, and we can help you […]
Overview Create a great agile workspace experience for your workforce EBOOK M365 workspace resource mailboxes Read More Desk booking devices our customers rely on Help your workforce find their […]
Virtually all the office workspace booking systems you’ll encounter these days feature the ability to book a desk, room or even car parking space from an interactive map or ‘floor […]
Do you need to allow an external audience to book desks or workspaces in your office? Sometimes it’s handy to be able to give clients and partners access to meeting […]
You’ve probably seen examples of room booking systems that use Power Apps to allow selection of available workspaces from a list. For example, you can find one here. Click ‘Create’, […]
Check out our desk booking system in Power Apps that uses interactive floor plans. You may have seen an existing Power Apps template that’s freely available called ‘Book a Room’. […]
Pre-COVID-19 and hybrid working, the need for a desk numbering system to identify desks was of minimal importance, as individuals would typically sit at the same desk every day. Now, […]
Interactive floor plans prove essential for desk booking in large, multi directorate office space Portsmouth City Council is a prominent local authority serving the dynamic city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, […]
Leading specialist lender adopts new hybrid working model and hot desking as part of its forward-thinking response to climate change. Incorporated in 1955, United Trust Bank (UTB) is a specialist […]
When not having a dedicated desk becomes an attractive proposition We started promoting the benefits of what was then termed ‘hot desking’ almost 15 years ago, at which time the […]
Will the newly announced 4-step plan to ease England’s lockdown give enterprises a timeline along which they can plan their return to the workplace? Implementing a workspace booking system is […]
Navigating a safe return to the office for 2 and 4-legged colleagues Since March 2020 when Covid-19 hit, the UK’s leading specialist retailer of pet food, accessories and services, has […]
Booking a meeting with colleagues and inviting a meeting room as part of that booking has been a well used – and robust – feature in Microsoft Outlook for many years. It is now also available in Microsoft Teams.
The approach of booking workspaces and resources is made possible through using resource mailboxes.
What is a resource mailbox?
A resource mailbox is a Microsoft Exchange mailbox that can be associated with resources, such as meeting rooms and equipment. Unlike a typical mailbox, it is disabled for sending or receiving emails, but it does have a calendar associated with it.
If the resource’s calendar indicates availability, the resource can be configured to auto-accept an invitation to a meeting.
You can also associate rules with the mailbox, for example, making accepting an ‘invitation’ subject to approval by a ‘delegate’ associated with that mailbox, such as a facilities manager.
Resource mailboxes can also have attributes, such as room capacity and location, which, when properly configured, can assist with selection of the resource.
Can I use resource mailboxes to book hot desks?
Yes.
Until recently there were only two resource mailbox types:
Room mailboxes – ideal for representing available meeting rooms but they can also be used for other location-specific workspaces such as a demo suite or training room.
Equipment mailboxes – ideal for representing ‘floating’ resources such as projectors and pool cars. They are not typically associated with a given location and have fewer attributes.
Microsoft has now introduced a third type of resource mailbox that lends itself well to hybrid working spaces and hot desks.
Called workspace mailboxes, they are bookable resources that have an overall capacity associated with them. This capacity is then enforced by Exchange by allowing multiple bookings for a workspace up to the maximum available.
For example, if you configured “Neighbourhood A” with a maximum capacity of 30, it would allow 30 separate bookings to be made, all managed by just one resource mailbox, rather than 30 individual ones.
You can, of course, have a workspace that has a capacity of 1, which is ideal for hot desk booking.
Download our free eBook for the steps required to configure workspace resources in Microsoft 365.
The problems of using resource mailboxes to book hot desks in Microsoft 365
Although using resource mailboxes to represent and book desks is possible, you will find it falls short in the following areas:
1. It’s not easy for users to select their preferred desk
With the correct configuration you can give users a list of hot desks to select from according to location and attributes like ‘number of screens’ and ‘docking station’.
However, if you have anything other than a handful of hot desks, you may want something more useful than a list.
For example, interactive floor plans let users see at-a-glance where they’d like to sit:
Is it near to the coffee area?
Will it have a view out of the window?
Can I book a seat near my colleagues?
You can use Microsoft Power Apps to build an interactive floor plan that ‘layers’ on top of native Microsoft resource mailboxes, and we’ll write about this in an upcoming article.
2. Maintaining workspace resource mailboxes is challenging for FM professionals.
If you download our eBook, you will see that the steps involved in creating mailboxes and lists, adding attributes, involve working with PowerShell and the Exchange Admin Center.
This makes defining and maintaining available hot desks, meeting rooms, huddle spaces, etc., very much an IT function, and not one that can be easily managed by facilities staff.
Even if the initial work of adding workspaces is carried out, there will be an ongoing maintenance overhead to reflect office re-organisations, decrease/increase in capacity, and so on.
3. You may need a lot more workspace & resource booking functionality
In addition to booking workspaces there may be other features and functionality you want, such as:
Automatically releasing workspaces in the event of a ‘no show’
Booking catering, additional equipment, visitor passes, and so on.
Digital signage to show free/busy status at a glance & on demand bookings
Workflows that update the AV, cleaning, catering, security teams, etc. on requests
Policies to govern who can book which resources when. E.g., Giving certain departments priority for specific workspaces, make certain team spaces only available on a Monday or Friday
The ability for the FM team to move bookings (e.g., switch a meeting to a different room)
Capturing utilisation metrics to report on workspace occupancy and trends.
The list goes on.
4. Microsoft workspace booking is an evolving area
Microsoft is working hard in the whole area of connecting people in person and optimising workspace utilisation and developing the way resources are used and managed is part of this vision.
In fact, functionality was changing over the course of writing our eBook. For example, one day, the Location picker in the Teams Calendar App listed workspace resources, the next day the workspaces we’d added were missing from the list!
Also, at the time of writing, Microsoft was due to launch a new Outlook RSVP feature that allows attendees to select if they’re joining virtually or in-person to a hybrid meeting. This feature is now long overdue, and it is not clear whether it will operate as intended with the ‘capacity counter’ associated with workspace resources. You can read more about this in our earlier blog.
Although the RSVP issue is not related to a desk bookings per se, this constant change without warning means it’s difficult to build a system you can rely on.
Conclusion
Taking advantage of native resource mailboxes is undoubtedly a smart approach for Microsoft enterprises – especially larger ones.
As an approach it offers several advantages, including seamless integration with Outlook and Teams, multi-location scalability, automated security measures, prevention of double bookings, and much more.
Plus, you’ve already paid for it, right?
Out of the plethora of great-looking desk booking systems available on the market, there are a few that are able to take everything that is great about Microsoft resource mailboxes but fill in the gaps.
If you’re interested in exploring these solutions further and discovering how they can meet your specific needs, don’t hesitate to reach out to us for more information.
Find out how our workspace booking systems can build on your Microsoft 365 investment.
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 ResourceXpress is a powerful and extensible hybrid workspace management platform that: Workspace booking systems our customers rely on BENEFITS The […]
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 Resource Central is a comprehensive workspace and resource scheduling solution that includes: Designed from the ‘ground up’ to support the […]
Overview Find your ideal desk booking system for Microsoft 365 There’s lots to consider when choosing a desk booking system that works with Microsoft 365, and we can help you […]
Overview Create a great agile workspace experience for your workforce EBOOK M365 workspace resource mailboxes Read More Desk booking devices our customers rely on Help your workforce find their […]
Virtually all the office workspace booking systems you’ll encounter these days feature the ability to book a desk, room or even car parking space from an interactive map or ‘floor […]
Do you need to allow an external audience to book desks or workspaces in your office? Sometimes it’s handy to be able to give clients and partners access to meeting […]
You’ve probably seen examples of room booking systems that use Power Apps to allow selection of available workspaces from a list. For example, you can find one here. Click ‘Create’, […]
Check out our desk booking system in Power Apps that uses interactive floor plans. You may have seen an existing Power Apps template that’s freely available called ‘Book a Room’. […]
Pre-COVID-19 and hybrid working, the need for a desk numbering system to identify desks was of minimal importance, as individuals would typically sit at the same desk every day. Now, […]
Interactive floor plans prove essential for desk booking in large, multi directorate office space Portsmouth City Council is a prominent local authority serving the dynamic city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, […]
Leading specialist lender adopts new hybrid working model and hot desking as part of its forward-thinking response to climate change. Incorporated in 1955, United Trust Bank (UTB) is a specialist […]
When not having a dedicated desk becomes an attractive proposition We started promoting the benefits of what was then termed ‘hot desking’ almost 15 years ago, at which time the […]
Will the newly announced 4-step plan to ease England’s lockdown give enterprises a timeline along which they can plan their return to the workplace? Implementing a workspace booking system is […]
Navigating a safe return to the office for 2 and 4-legged colleagues Since March 2020 when Covid-19 hit, the UK’s leading specialist retailer of pet food, accessories and services, has […]
Hot desking is a common term used to describe the concept of a desk that’s shared by multiple users. Quite literally, the desk (or rather the seat) might still be hot when the next user arrives.
The goal of hot desking is to use office space more economically, especially when not everyone is in the office at once, which – thanks to hybrid working – is now a common scenario.
Why maintain a dedicated desk for each employee when they only visit the office occasionally?
To ensure there will be a desk available for when employees come into the office, companies typically use desk booking systems, which allow hot desks to be booked in advance.
This article is intended to guide you through the process of selecting the most suitable hot desk booking software for your organisation’s needs. We’ll explore key features, benefits, and considerations to ensure you make an informed decision.
Before we delve into the selection process, let’s delve a bit deeper into what hot desk booking software is and how it relates to hot desking.
What is Hot Desk Booking Software?
Hot desk booking software is a digital tool created to simplify the administration of shared work areas.
Since hot desking involves having fewer desks than potential users, this software enables employees to book hot desks ahead of time for their office visits, ensuring they have a workspace reserved.
Hot desk booking systems offer features like selecting desks based on personal preferences, picking desks from interactive floor plans, helping employees find desks that will be near their colleagues so they can collaborate more easily, and providing analytical insights.
Key Considerations for Choosing Hot Desk Booking Software
Whilst the idea of sharing desks is widely recognised, hot desking – and the need to pre-book a hot desk – can still be considered an inconvenience for your workforce.
Making it as easy to pre-book a desk, and then locate it on the day of arrival at the office is therefore essential to making hot desking work for your company.
With this in mind, here are some features to look for when choosing a hot desking solution:
A unified experience across all user interfaces.
Ensuring the simplicity of hot desk booking is crucial for your workforce. If it’s difficult or inconvenient to use, they won’t use it.
Ideally the process of booking a hot desk should integrate seamlessly into their everyday work and scheduling tools. For example, Microsoft Outlook calendaring, Microsoft Teams, and the company intranet.
Additionally, since many individuals work remotely, it’s wise to choose hot desk booking software that’s accessible on mobile devices. This way, employees can easily reserve desks from their smartphones or tablets while on the move.
If you plan to allow on-the-day hot desk bookings, you might also consider providing on-demand desk booking that’s accessible from kiosks placed in foyers or prominent areas, or using desk devices placed on each individual hot desk.
It additionally goes without saying that the experience of booking a desk should have a similar user experience across all platforms.
Ease of hot desk selection.
Not being tied to a specific desk gives individuals the freedom to choose a different desk each time, matching the facilities available to their planned activity in the workplace.
For instance, a quiet booth is perfect for focused work, while an adjustable/standing desk might be preferred by those with back issues.
A hot desk booking system should therefore enable desk selection according to desk attributes.
Some desk booking systems use AI to make intelligent desk booking recommendations based on individual habits and preferences.
An interactive floor plan or ‘indoor map’ is also useful, enabling users to select a desk near the coffee area or a printer, and orientate themselves in an unfamiliar or re-vamped workspace.
Floor plans can also indicate where colleagues will be sitting, enabling users to select a desk nearby.
Features that make it easy to be with co-workers.
A visit to the office often coincides with the need to connect with co-workers face-to-face.
For this reason, look for collaboration enhancing features, such as a “Where’s My Colleague?” tool.
With the ability to view a colleague’s chosen seat and reserve a nearby desk, teams can optimise their productivity during office hours.
It also ensures that teams maximise the rewards of face-to-face collaboration when ‘hot desking’.
Ability to book additional amenities.
Many organisations are seeking to encourage employees back into the office with extra facilities and services to enhance their visit.
So, addition to making it easy to book a workspace, look for a hot desk booking service that makes it easy for employees to book additional facilities such as:
Offering additional services – and making it easy to book them – fosters a more inviting and convenient office experience for employees.
Policy-based desk allocation.
In larger enterprises, fine-tuning hot desk utilisation often requires sophisticated management controls.
For instance, you might want to:
Dedicate certain hot desk areas to specific departments
Make specific desks and spaces available to people with accessibility needs
Set rules that even out utilisation across the week
The ability to set desk booking policies, and leverage systems like Microsoft Entra ID (that hold information on group membership) can be beneficial for this purpose.
A range of desk signage options.
Hot desking systems typically revolve around having a coherent and logical desk numbering system – both on the desk booking system itself and on the physical desks themselves.
In short, if you’ve booked desk 151 in advance but you can’t easily locate this desk on arrival and instead sit at desk 99, you risk upsetting the entire system.
When selecting a hot desking system, we recommend you seek a solution that helps individuals quickly and easily locate their booked desk on arrival to the office.
Elements that help with this include:
Apps that help with way finding, for example, by pinpointing your booked desk in the context of the office floor and key landmarks.
Another key component of an efficient hot desking system is the ability to check in on arrival to your pre-booked desk.
Check ins – or rather a failure to check into a desk within a pre-defined time-window – allow desks to be released and used by other individuals, albeit on an ad-hoc basis.
Check ins also give facilities managers a much more accurate view of actual desk utilisation.
As with all aspects of hot desking – ease of check in is vital (otherwise it might not happen). Therefore, look for a hot desking solution that offers a range of convenient check in options to suit your budget.
Some contactless check-in examples include:
Desk devices that allow check-ins using existing RFID security cards
QR codes that can be used on desk signs and scanned using a desk booking mobile app
A desk check-in link in a reminder email.
A flexible and scalable hot desking solution.
As your organisation grows and evolves, your hot desking requirements may change.
To accommodate these changes, choose hot desk booking software that is scalable and easily updated.
Scalability ensures that the software can handle an increasing number of users and workspaces without sacrificing performance. For example, if you have hundreds of bookable desks on one floor plan, how long will it take to render the latest free/busy status of all desks.
Any changes to desk layouts should also be easy to make for those administrating the hot desk booking software and for your facilities management team.
Data-driven decision making is essential for optimising office space and improving overall efficiency.
Look for hot desk booking software that offers robust analytics and detailed usage reports.
These insights will provide valuable data on hot desk utilisation, peak usage hours, and popular desk choices.
By analysing this information, you can identify trends and patterns, allowing you to make informed decisions about office layout adjustments, desk allocation, and resource management.
Conclusion
As the demand for flexible office solutions continues to rise, choosing the right hot desk booking software becomes essential for optimising workspace utilisation and enhancing employee experience.
By considering key features, integration capabilities, scalability, and reporting, you can make a well-informed decision that aligns with your organisation’s unique needs.
Even with the best hot desking solution in place, the approach to this approach to saving office space costs comes with challenges.
For example, employees may find it difficult to adjust to not having a dedicated workspace, and concerns about cleanliness, availability of desks, and personalisation of work areas may arise.
Ensuring hot desking is introduced sensitively, and with all the relevant benefits outlined.
Providing adequate personal storage in the form of lockers.
Taking the opportunity to redesign workspaces and make them more vibrant and inviting.
Stepping up the frequency with which desks are cleaned – ideally between each usage.
Introducing the Desk Booking for Microsoft 365
Discover how to leverage Microsoft 365 to deliver hot desking for your enterprise
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 ResourceXpress is a powerful and extensible hybrid workspace management platform that: Workspace booking systems our customers rely on BENEFITS The […]
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 Resource Central is a comprehensive workspace and resource scheduling solution that includes: Designed from the ‘ground up’ to support the […]
Overview Find your ideal desk booking system for Microsoft 365 There’s lots to consider when choosing a desk booking system that works with Microsoft 365, and we can help you […]
Overview Create a great agile workspace experience for your workforce EBOOK M365 workspace resource mailboxes Read More Desk booking devices our customers rely on Help your workforce find their […]
Virtually all the office workspace booking systems you’ll encounter these days feature the ability to book a desk, room or even car parking space from an interactive map or ‘floor […]
Do you need to allow an external audience to book desks or workspaces in your office? Sometimes it’s handy to be able to give clients and partners access to meeting […]
You’ve probably seen examples of room booking systems that use Power Apps to allow selection of available workspaces from a list. For example, you can find one here. Click ‘Create’, […]
Check out our desk booking system in Power Apps that uses interactive floor plans. You may have seen an existing Power Apps template that’s freely available called ‘Book a Room’. […]
Interactive floor plans prove essential for desk booking in large, multi directorate office space Portsmouth City Council is a prominent local authority serving the dynamic city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, […]
Leading specialist lender adopts new hybrid working model and hot desking as part of its forward-thinking response to climate change. Incorporated in 1955, United Trust Bank (UTB) is a specialist […]
When not having a dedicated desk becomes an attractive proposition We started promoting the benefits of what was then termed ‘hot desking’ almost 15 years ago, at which time the […]
Will the newly announced 4-step plan to ease England’s lockdown give enterprises a timeline along which they can plan their return to the workplace? Implementing a workspace booking system is […]
Navigating a safe return to the office for 2 and 4-legged colleagues Since March 2020 when Covid-19 hit, the UK’s leading specialist retailer of pet food, accessories and services, has […]
Pre-COVID-19 and hybrid working, the need for a desk numbering system to identify desks was of minimal importance, as individuals would typically sit at the same desk every day.
Now, as office spaces are being re-modelled and, in many cases, reduced, to suit a hybrid working model, it’s likely that people will need to pre-book a desk to ensure there’s enough room for their visit.
And it’s highly likely this could be a different desk each time, depending on availability and the purpose of the office visit.
For example, you may wish to sit in a quiet space one day, or with colleagues the next.
This makes having a logical desk numbering system that makes it easy for users of the system to find their booked work desk on arrival of vital importance.
Here are the top best practices when it comes to numbering and labelling your desks and workspaces.
Although it is possible to reflect pre-existing desk numbers in your booking system, many organisations are taking the opportunity to re-number their desks ‘from scratch’.
In our experience old CAD diagrams and numbering systems can quickly become out-of-date: Desks can get informally ‘nudged’ around and added or removed over the years.
This can lead to out of sequence numbers that will make it extremely difficult for users of the system to locate their booked desk without lots of ‘hunting around’.
2. ‘Walk the floor’ in person
If possible, the best way to number workspaces is to ‘walk the floor’ in person.
We recommend that you make ‘desk number 1‘ the first desk you would physically see/encounter if you walked clockwise* through the office space, starting from the main entrance.
Numbering should be applied logically from that point on using the following conventions:
Apply numbers to each ‘bank’ of desks in a clockwise fashion where possible.
If there is a logical area, zone or room, treat that area as a separate entity and circulate clockwise within that zone, even if the zone cuts across a walkway.
Consistency is key, as is visibility of your numbers (see point 5). This will help ‘users’ of your office intuitively understand how to navigate to their booked workspace.
It will also minimise ‘criss-crossing’ across the floor – this being an important consideration should social distancing requirements emerge in the future.
This example shows the right way and the wrong way to number your desks:
*Depending on your office layout, clockwise may not always be the best choice. Ultimately follow the most logical ‘travel flow’ from the entrance to the office, floor, room of desks or other ‘compartmentalised’ area within a floor.
3. Future proof your desk numbering system
It’s inevitable that your office floor plans will change over time, but here are a few tips that will minimise the amount of changes you will need to make to your desk booking system.
Number all workspaces – We recommend that all potentially bookable workspaces are assigned numbers, even if not all of them are currently bookable within your desk booking system.
This means if anything changes in the future, you’ll just have to amend what’s bookable in your workspace management system, and not need to make any changes to your floor plan or physical signage.
We have seen (and thankfully, averted) more than one project where the initial intention was to number just to the ‘safely distanced’ desks (see example below).
As this company has now progressed to a fully bookable hybrid working space, an approach like this would have rapidly become out of date had it been implemented.
For example:
The key downside to this approach is that social distancing requirements may change.
Build in ‘air gaps’ – Whenever it appears that there is space ‘on plan’ to accommodate additional desks, we recommend you apply an ‘airgap’ and commence numbering in the next logical section with suitable break or say, 5 or 10 desks.
This means that additional desks can be introduced without adding ‘out of sequence’ numbers.
4. Simplify your desk numbering convention for users
If you have a single, relatively small office space and just a few floors, a numbering scheme that by design accommodates the ‘floor level issue’ is to prefix the desk number with the floor number.
E.g., 038 would be desk 38 on the ground floor, desk 139 would be the 39th desk on the first floor.
Having a convention for identifying desks in larger organisation can be a challenge, especially when there’s many different locations, buildings, floors and so on.
It’s not untypical for our customers to use a numbering nomenclature that includes the following attributes into a desk ID:
Whilst this lengthy code can exist ‘behind the scenes’ in your desk booking system (for example, so you can report on desk utilisation by location), it’s not necessary to label your floor plans or desks with this full code.
Why? Consider these points:
Physically applying such a long number to each desk on the floor plan would be visually confusing
Desk availability, location and facilities are typically more important factors than the actual desk number at the point of booking the desk*
The location, building and floor level is embedded in the floor plan navigation experience and can be added to the floor plan graphic, making ‘LOCATION CODE’ + ‘BUILDING CODE’ + ‘FLOOR NUMBER’ + irrelevant
Ditto, your office buildings will be physically labelled with the location and floor levels.
These are our recommendations:
Use just ranges of numbers on floor plans
For the best UX when labelling your floor plans, we recommend adding just a range of numbers under each bank of desks or logical area.
Add desk way-finding signage to your office spaces
To help individuals locate their booked desk on arrival, emulating the convention that’s used to signpost hotel rooms will help your staff rapidly locate their workspace with the minimum of effort (and minimal criss-crossing the floor).
5. Individually label your physical desks
Returning to a ‘hybrid office’ space, with different desk layouts and new collaboration spaces can be daunting enough – even more so if you’re a ‘new start’.
The last thing you’ll want is an argument over whether you’re sitting at the right desk or not.
Surprisingly, it’s not uncommon for this vital component of implementing a successful desk booking system (i.e. labelling desks) to be overlooked.
In short, the desk numbers or ‘IDs’ used in your desk booking systemand floor plansshould always beindicated on your physical workspace.
Only this way can users of the system ensure that the desk they have pre-booked is the desk they’ve arrived at.
You may also wish to enforce authenticated check-in (e.g., using your staff ID cards) to ensure that the correct user has arrived at the correct desk.
As discussed in the previous point, for the best user experience, your label should put the emphasis on the most relevant aspects of the desk ID, i.e., Desk Number and Floor number, and have the other elements in ‘small print’.
6. What’s the best way to physically number desks?
When considering how you’ll apply numbers to your desks, there are many neat and low cost options open to you.
For example, you can use individual desk devices that incorporate desk numbers and other features such as:
Glowing free/busy status
Desk ID or bookee’s name
Contactless booking and check-in functionality
Your company branding
Desk devices also make change desk numbers really easy!
If you don’t have the budget available, our low-cost favourites include:
Engraved disks – During the pandemic, many restaurant and bar owners scrambled to adopt QR code ordering for contactless service and deliveries. This same approach is supported by many desk booking apps.
Not only are they nice and neat, they don’t cost a lot at all and come with different fixings. Check out our favourite supplier’s options.
As part of our workspace booking systems delivery service, our team will help you generate an excel spreadsheet of QR codes to create your desk disks. Get in touch for more information.
Simple cards
Combined with a card holder clip that sits nicely on top of workstations, this is a simple but elegant approach to ensuring your desk booking system works smoothly. They can also be made highly visible as shown in the customer example below.
They cost just 5 pence each and all you need is some coloured cards and a printer! You could also incorporate a QR code into the sign. Again, our service includes creating a spreadsheet of your workspace IDs so you can create labels in Microsoft Word.
Enterprise Desk & Room Booking Systems
Thinking of updating how you use your workspace? We have over 15 year’s experience and can help guide you through your options.
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 ResourceXpress is a powerful and extensible hybrid workspace management platform that: Workspace booking systems our customers rely on BENEFITS The […]
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 Resource Central is a comprehensive workspace and resource scheduling solution that includes: Designed from the ‘ground up’ to support the […]
Overview Find your ideal desk booking system for Microsoft 365 There’s lots to consider when choosing a desk booking system that works with Microsoft 365, and we can help you […]
Overview Create a great agile workspace experience for your workforce EBOOK M365 workspace resource mailboxes Read More Desk booking devices our customers rely on Help your workforce find their […]
Virtually all the office workspace booking systems you’ll encounter these days feature the ability to book a desk, room or even car parking space from an interactive map or ‘floor […]
Do you need to allow an external audience to book desks or workspaces in your office? Sometimes it’s handy to be able to give clients and partners access to meeting […]
You’ve probably seen examples of room booking systems that use Power Apps to allow selection of available workspaces from a list. For example, you can find one here. Click ‘Create’, […]
Check out our desk booking system in Power Apps that uses interactive floor plans. You may have seen an existing Power Apps template that’s freely available called ‘Book a Room’. […]
Interactive floor plans prove essential for desk booking in large, multi directorate office space Portsmouth City Council is a prominent local authority serving the dynamic city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, […]
Leading specialist lender adopts new hybrid working model and hot desking as part of its forward-thinking response to climate change. Incorporated in 1955, United Trust Bank (UTB) is a specialist […]
When not having a dedicated desk becomes an attractive proposition We started promoting the benefits of what was then termed ‘hot desking’ almost 15 years ago, at which time the […]
Will the newly announced 4-step plan to ease England’s lockdown give enterprises a timeline along which they can plan their return to the workplace? Implementing a workspace booking system is […]
Navigating a safe return to the office for 2 and 4-legged colleagues Since March 2020 when Covid-19 hit, the UK’s leading specialist retailer of pet food, accessories and services, has […]
In the not-so-distant past, changes to the office landscape were minimal and a visit to the office meant sitting in your usual, dedicated desk.
With hybrid working, however, enterprises are employing a more dynamic approach, giving employees the flexibility to choose where they sit. This approach typically uses unique and logically-organised desk IDsto provide a structured way to identify and book a desk in advance, and then locate their desk on arrival to the office.
But what happens when your desk layout needs to change?
For example, if you use a desk booking system, you might have office utilisation insights that justify the need to expand or reduce how many desks you have.
You might also plan to do an office re-fit that leads to a ‘desk re-jig’.
The physical lifting and shifting of office furniture is just one part of a workspace re-organisation. There are many more considerations that need to be made to ensure a smooth transition to a new desk layout.
In this article, I will look at the steps we recommend to minimise the impact of a desk layout change – especially where you have a desk booking system in place.
Desk layout scenarios within the office
There are several different scenarios that you might face when adjusting the desk layout of your office.
If you’re lucky, you might be adding or removing desks to the end of an existing sequence, each of which is easy to achieve as there’s little impact on the remaining desks.
Another tip to accommodate future, ad-hoc additions of desks to your floor plan is to plan in advance and for example, leave ‘air gaps’ between logical areas or zones across your office floor. That is, spaces that are separated by walls, room dividers, corridors, etc.
For example, if an area of your office has desks 1-55 in it, but looks as though it may accommodate more, start your desk numbering sequence in the next ‘space’ at 60.
But what if you’re having to add or remove a bank of desks in the middle of an existing desk numbering sequence?
Using out-of-sequence desk numbers can make it difficult for your workforce to find their booked workspaces in a large or unfamiliar office space.
Renumbering your desks to accommodate any change will help keep your hybrid desk booking strategy as streamlined and stress-free as possible, however there’s some things I recommend you do to make this transition as smooth as possible:
Discover best strategies for numbering your desks to support hybrid working
Let staff know well in advance that the desk numbering and office layout is going to change. Explain the reason for the change and then, when available, a timeline for when any steps will be taken.
Create a comprehensive plan for your new office layout
Make a clear plan for the changes that are to be made. Try and figure out the best way to alter the desk locations to minimise effort elsewhere.
Is there any way to better future proof the layout for future modifications? Do the changes need to be made in one go or is a staged approach suitable?
Whichever way you approach it, be sure to create a new layout plan, making this available to staff so that they can locate their desks post-change and in any interim transition period.
Consider any existing desk bookings
If you’re going to re-number your desks, it’s important to think about any existing bookings that might reside on the desks over the coming weeks.
It’s a heavy-handed approach to just cancel everyone’s bookings and get them to re-book once the changes have been made…. It could cause a lot of confusion. Also ask yourself if it’s acceptable to arbitrarily move people.
If Bob has booked Desk 23 because it’s near a window and the bathroom, if the transition moves Desk 23 next to the elevator will this cause discontent?
Update your office wayfinding
Changing your office layout has the knock-on effect of requiring updates to your physical desk signage.
In addition to re-numbering your desks, there may be other wayfinding (both physical and/or electronic) that needs changing as well as any documentation that details desk booking in your company.
You may also need to update any interactive floor plans that underpin a desk booking system.
Discover best strategies for numbering your desks to support hybrid working
Effectively co-ordinate the workload amongst relevant teams
Be sure to pull all available and relevant teams together to share the workload. For example, facilities management may be able to assist with desk numbering and wayfinding changes.
The training department can help with updating documentation. Reception could be trained to help with directions to new locations in the early days of the change within the office environment.
Provide extra support on the ‘transition day’
On the day of switching to the new office layout and numbering system, have staff on hand to assist colleagues with directions to minimise disruption.
Provide a means of ongoing support to address any questions or confusion. Encouraging feedback from colleagues and keeping lines of communication open will help towards achieving a successful transition.
Can technology help with your desk layout?
The simple answer is yes! A desk booking system not only assists with the day-to-day management of a desk estate, it can also help when it comes to desk layout modifications.
Look for the following options to help with any desk layout changes you might have:
The ability to easily move existing bookings between desks
Taking desks out of service for a defined period of time to allow for ‘physical’ changes to your office layout
Desk devices which can be centrally managed in order to re-number desks quickly (i.e. no need to physically remove existing desk signage)
Another strategy you might pursue is to not individually number desks, but to create zones linked to specific departments or ‘area types’, such as ‘Quiet Zone’ or ‘Open area’, that have a specified number of spaces available for booking. Also read our article on pooled resources for more information about this concept in action.
Conclusion
As the ways in which we work continue to change and evolve over time, it’s become ever more important to have flexibility in our approaches to desk quantities and layouts.
Planning and communication are critical parts of executing change and technology can help smooth this process both for those making the changes and those affected by them.
Whatever you plan to do with yourdesk layout within the office, it’s important to consider all the ramifications of what you are doing, alongside the benefits the changes will afford.
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 ResourceXpress is a powerful and extensible hybrid workspace management platform that: Workspace booking systems our customers rely on BENEFITS The […]
Overview Discover the ideal workspace booking system for Microsoft 365 Resource Central is a comprehensive workspace and resource scheduling solution that includes: Designed from the ‘ground up’ to support the […]
Overview Find your ideal desk booking system for Microsoft 365 There’s lots to consider when choosing a desk booking system that works with Microsoft 365, and we can help you […]
Overview Create a great agile workspace experience for your workforce EBOOK M365 workspace resource mailboxes Read More Desk booking devices our customers rely on Help your workforce find their […]
Virtually all the office workspace booking systems you’ll encounter these days feature the ability to book a desk, room or even car parking space from an interactive map or ‘floor […]
Do you need to allow an external audience to book desks or workspaces in your office? Sometimes it’s handy to be able to give clients and partners access to meeting […]
You’ve probably seen examples of room booking systems that use Power Apps to allow selection of available workspaces from a list. For example, you can find one here. Click ‘Create’, […]
Check out our desk booking system in Power Apps that uses interactive floor plans. You may have seen an existing Power Apps template that’s freely available called ‘Book a Room’. […]
Interactive floor plans prove essential for desk booking in large, multi directorate office space Portsmouth City Council is a prominent local authority serving the dynamic city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, […]
Leading specialist lender adopts new hybrid working model and hot desking as part of its forward-thinking response to climate change. Incorporated in 1955, United Trust Bank (UTB) is a specialist […]
When not having a dedicated desk becomes an attractive proposition We started promoting the benefits of what was then termed ‘hot desking’ almost 15 years ago, at which time the […]
Will the newly announced 4-step plan to ease England’s lockdown give enterprises a timeline along which they can plan their return to the workplace? Implementing a workspace booking system is […]
Navigating a safe return to the office for 2 and 4-legged colleagues Since March 2020 when Covid-19 hit, the UK’s leading specialist retailer of pet food, accessories and services, has […]
Microsoft Bookings is a user-friendly tool that enables external audiences to seamlessly explore and schedule available meeting slots or services you provide.
While its primary focus is on managing people’s time and services, we wanted to explore whether it can be adapted to allow an external audience to book other valuable resources you might want to offer (and monetise), such as unused office space.
This article takes you through the steps you need to carry out to set up desks (or other meeting spaces) for external ‘guests’ to book using Microsoft Bookings.
TL;DR?
No apologies – this IS a long article intended for a technical audience.
The fact is, you can create a very simplistic desk reservation system for using Microsoft Bookings. If you want something a bit more sophisticated, however…..
How to configure Microsoft Bookings to allow external desk bookings
A bit of background before we start: As we’re going to be booking workspace services instead of people’s services, we need to configure Microsoft Bookings to work with Microsoft resource mailboxes.
A resource mailbox is a type of mailbox that represents an inanimate resource, such as a meeting room, piece of equipment, or a desk.
As with ‘human mailboxes’, each resource mailbox has a calendar associated with it, however to ‘work its magic’, Microsoft Bookings uses the power of shared calendars. Shared calendars let you consolidate the availability of multiple participants (in this case, desk availability) into one view.
So here’s a step-by-step guide:
1. Create some test resource mailboxes
If you’re already using Microsoft resource mailboxes for internal meeting room and workspace bookings, it can be beneficial to use the same resources for both internal and external use.
By doing so, you can prevent double bookings and ensure that Microsoft Bookings only displays available resources that haven’t been booked by your own workforce.
To get started, however, I recommend creating some test resource mailboxes.
For more information on how to configure resource mailboxes, including the NEW workspace resources in Microsoft 365, check out our eBook.
This is where you can configure your own booking page and any shared booking pages.
Create a new Shared booking page
2.1 Click “Create” to add a new Shared booking page
2.2 Specify a name for the booking page, e.g., ‘Book a desk’.
2.3 Select a logo file for your page, such as your company logo or an icon for your desk booking service.
2.4 For Business hours, set the hours when the desks will be available.
Add staff members
2.5 On the next page, you can add the staff members that will be administrators for this calendar, and the resources which will be bookable. You must add each resource by searching for its name.
Note that you can revise any of these settings later.
At this point you need to overlook the fact that the prompt says ‘Invite staff’. You are basically treating your desk resource mailboxes as though they are members of staff.
2.6 Click next to skip setting up services as we will configure these later
2.7 On the last page you can specify whether the booking page will be available to your organisation only or to anyone who has the link.
2.8 Click Create.
After the page is created you will be taken to the management view.
Here you can view the calendar for all the resources you’ve specified and change the configuration.
You can also amend bookings, such as changing a booking for Desk 05 to Desk 01.
3. Refine the Microsoft Bookings Settings
Customise your desks
First select the “Staff” section and one at a time, set the initials and colour for each desk.
The settings we recommend are as follows
Set initials for desk – maximum 3 characters
Set colour for desk – you may want to colour code desks. E.g., you may want to set riser desks as a different colour
Untick the option to Notify
Tick the ‘Events on the Office calendar affect availability’. This prevents double bookings by taking into account any other bookings of the resource.
Customise your booking times
Select the Booking Page and then expand the Default scheduling policy.
Here you can set the increments available for bookings, the minimum lead time and maximum future booking period.
For desk bookings, the following options are recommended
Disable email notifications to the business – unless someone wants to receive an email whenever a desk is booked
Enable ‘Send a meeting invite to the customer’ – this will send a meeting request to the desk booker so that they have the booking in their calendar. The meeting also contains a link to reschedule or cancel the booking.
By default, a user can choose which staff member (i.e., desk) to book.
We recommend you untick the Staff Control option.
This will avoid any confusion where users of the system are prompted to ‘Select Staff’. Additionally, unticking this option will show availability across the pool of available desks (and not just the selected desk number), offering a better service to the end user.
Click Save at the top of the page.
Customise your services
Now, select the Services section.
You can see the 30-min meeting that was created by default. This can be deleted after other services are created.
In this next stage we are going to create two services:
A Full day desk booking, and a
A Half day desk booking
Basic Details
Add a new service, and then for each service:
Supply some basic details
Specify the name of your desk booking offerings (e.g. Full day)
Set the relevant duration (e.g. 7 hours, 30 mins)
Setting a buffer time here will allow for a between-desk clean, which makes most sense for shorter bookings.
Optionally specify a cost for a full day booking.
Specify your availability options
This will use the default scheduling policy set earlier, but you can customise for each service if required.
Assign ‘staff’
Here we will assign the desk resources you’ve created to your ‘full day booking service’:
Your service type could potentially allow multiple desks to be selected, but we suggest you make this ‘single’ for the sake of simplicity.
If you didn’t untick ‘Staff control’ as a default earlier, this is where you can individually control the ability to select a particular staff (desk) for booking. To re-iterate, only enable this option if you want users to be able to choose a particular desk from a list of desks. By doing so, however, they will see the confusing prompt ‘select staff’, and they will individually need to check the availability of each desk.
Next, you can tick all the staff (desks) which are available for the service. In this case we will tick all the desks that are potentially available for full day booking.
Customised fields
Select what the booker must enter when booking. Note that their name will always be requested.
For an internal desk booking system this can just be email. Select to make it Required.
If there are any custom fields that you need you can add them here.
Notifications
The Default scheduling policy is used unless you choose to change it.
You can tailor the content in the email confirmation. E.g., you might include a floor plan showing the location of their booked desk and any other information.
You can also configure email reminders regarding their booking. A 1-day reminder is enabled by default.
A follow up email is added by default. You can delete this unless you want a follow up to go to the user after every desk booking.
Repeat similarly for your ‘Half day’ desk booking service.
When you have created the services you need, you can delete the 30-minute service.
4. Publish Your Desk Booking Service
Now your system is configured, you can share the link with those that need it.
It is also possible to create a link to embed the booking page into SharePoint and/or your intranet.
Click Back to all booking pages
From the main page, click Share to create and copy the links
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Hot desking, also known as desk sharing or flexible seating, is a modern office trend that allows employees to use any available workspace instead of being assigned to a permanent desk.
With the rise of remote work and the need for more flexible and reduced office spaces, hot desking has become increasingly popular in recent years. In this article, we’ll explore the ins and outs of hot desking and whether it’s right for your enterprise.
Below we outline some of the key questions our customers have enquired about, if you have any other enquiries not answered here, please head over to our contact page and send us a message and we will call you right back.
Hot desking is when multiple employees share the same desk or workspace but use it at different times, therefore, instead of being assigned a specific desk, hot desking allows employees to choose an available desk that suits their needs for that day.
Hot desking can be done in various ways, from a first-come, first-served (hot desking) to desk pooling (hoteling) to a booking system (desk-booking).
By enabling your employees to choose where they sit and work each day based on their needs and preferences, hot desking can encourage collaboration and social interaction among colleagues. This approach in turn can save office space and therefore overheads.
Hot desking can present some challenges, such as the need for clear communication and organisation, the potential for employees to feel disconnected or disengaged especially for those who prefer a more structured or private workspace is ever present and understanding some of the challenges when implementing hot desking into your enterprise, can go a long way in helping your employees enjoy hot desking.
Is hot desking right for your enterprise?
Hot desking can be an excellent solution for enterprises with a large number of employees, a high degree of mobility or a flexible work schedule. However, it may not be suitable for every organisation. Some employees may prefer to have a permanent workspace, and others may find it challenging to work in a shared environment. Therefore, it’s essential to weigh the pros and cons and determine whether hot desking aligns with your company’s culture and goals.
Here are some factors to consider when deciding whether hot desking is a good fit for your enterprise
Business needs: Consider whether hot desking aligns with your business needs and goals. Hot desking can be an effective way to reduce real estate costs, increase flexibility, and promote collaboration. However, it may not be suitable for all types of businesses or work styles.
Office layout: Consider whether your office space is suitable for hot desking. Hot desking requires a flexible and adaptable workspace, with sufficient space for employees to move around and work in different areas. You may need to make adjustments to your office layout to accommodate hot desking.
Employee preferences: Consider how your employees feel about hot desking. Some employees may welcome the flexibility and variety of working in different areas, while others may prefer a dedicated workspace. Consider surveying employees to gauge their preferences and concerns.
Technology infrastructure: Consider whether your technology infrastructure can support hot desking. Hot desking requires a reliable and flexible IT system, with the ability to support remote workers and allow employees to reserve and access shared resources.
Policies and procedures: Consider whether your organisation has the policies and procedures in place to support hot desking. This may include guidelines on desk reservations, equipment usage, and cleanliness and hygiene.
Overall, whether hot desking is right for your enterprise depends on a careful assessment of your business needs, office space, and employee preferences, as well as your ability to support the technology and policies required for the system to be successful.
How does hot desking benefit your enterprise?
Hot desking offers several benefits to both employers and employees, for employers, it can lead to cost savings, increased productivity, and better collaboration among teams. Employees can enjoy more flexibility, improved work-life balance, and the ability to work in a variety of environments. Hot desking can also promote a more egalitarian workplace, where everyone has access to the same resources and opportunities. Overall, hot desking can help create a more dynamic and collaborative office environment while also reducing costs and improving space utilisation.
Hot desking can benefit an office in several ways:
Space utilisation: Hot desking allows for better use of office space, since employees don’t have assigned desks, the workspace can be designed to accommodate more people in less space, making the office more efficient.
Collaboration: Hot desking can promote collaboration and communication among colleagues by encouraging you to work in different areas and interact with different people. This can help you build stronger relationships with your co-workers and improve teamwork.
Flexibility: Hot desking offers employees greater flexibility in terms of where and how they work. It allows them to work from different locations within the office or even remotely, which can improve work-life balance.
Cost savings: Hot desking can be more cost-effective for businesses because it reduces the need for expensive office real estate. Instead of paying for individual workstations, businesses can create a shared workspace that is more affordable.
Networking: Hot desking can provide opportunities to network and meet new people within your organisation. By working in different areas of the office, you may be able to connect with colleagues from other departments or teams that you may not have had the chance to interact with otherwise.
Reduced boredom: Hot desking can help reduce boredom and monotony by providing you with a variety of work environments and co-workers to interact with. This can help keep you engaged and motivated throughout the day.
Improved productivity: Hot desking can improve productivity by reducing distractions and providing you with the opportunity to work in an environment that suits your specific needs for that day. For example, you may choose to work in a quiet area when you need to focus, or in a more collaborative space when you need to brainstorm.
Sustainability: If your office is focused on sustainability and reducing its carbon footprint, hot desking can help by reducing the amount of energy used for heating, cooling, and lighting unused office space.
The decision to implement hot desking should be based on your company’s specific needs and goals, as well as the needs of your team and organisation. If you value flexibility, collaboration, and networking, and feel that hot desking could improve your productivity and work experience, it may be worth considering.
However, before deciding to implement hot desking, it’s important to consider the potential challenges, such as concerns about privacy, storage space, and employee preferences. It may also be helpful to conduct a trial period or survey employees to gauge their interest and satisfaction with the arrangement. Ultimately, the decision to use hot desking should be based on the specific needs and goals of your office.
What are the challenges and disadvantages of hot desking?
Hot desking is not without its challenges and drawbacks. One of the biggest concerns is the potential for reduced productivity due to distractions or difficulty finding a suitable workspace.
Here are some of the most common disadvantages associated with hot desking:
Lack of personalisation: With hot desking, employees do not have a dedicated workspace that they can personalise to their liking. This can make it difficult for employees to feel a sense of ownership over their workspace and create a space that feels comfortable and inviting.
Reduced productivity: Hot desking can lead to distractions, which can make it difficult for employees to focus on their work and be productive. Employees may spend more time trying to find a suitable workspace than they would if they had a dedicated desk.
Difficulty building relationships: With hot desking, employees may not have the opportunity to build relationships with their colleagues in the same way that they would if they were seated near each other. This can make it challenging to build a strong sense of team spirit and collaboration.
Technology challenges: With hot desking, employees may need to adjust to different computer systems, monitors, and other tools every time they switch desks. This can create challenges when it comes to technology and equipment, which can be frustrating for employees.
Hygiene and cleanliness concerns: With multiple people using the same workspace, it can be difficult to maintain a clean and hygienic workspace. This can create concerns around the spread of germs and illness.
Emotional stress: With hot desking, employees may feel stressed or anxious about finding a suitable workspace, particularly if there are limited options available or if they are seated in a noisy or distracting area.
Logistics: Hot desking can create logistical challenges, particularly for organisations that have a large number of employees or multiple office locations. Ensuring that there are enough available workspaces, booking systems, and other tools can require significant planning and coordination.
While hot desking can be an effective way to optimise office space and increase flexibility, it is important for organisations to carefully consider these disadvantages and take steps to address them in order to ensure that the system is successful. Below we outline tips on implementing a hot desking system to help ease the transition for you and your employees.
Tips on implementing a hot desking system
Planning for hot desking can offer several benefits to your organisation from real-estate costs to employee collaboration but get it wrong and you may be in for some trouble down the line. Introducing hot desking to an organisation requires careful planning and effective communication.
Here are some steps to consider when introducing hot desking:
Assess the space: Before introducing hot desking, it’s important to assess the available office space to determine how many people can comfortably work in the space at the same time. This will help you to determine how many desks or workstations you need.
Address concerns: Address any concerns that employees may have about the hot desking system, such as concerns about privacy, hygiene, or noise. Consider creating a feedback mechanism so that employees can provide feedback on the system and suggest improvements.
Implement a desk booking system: A desk booking system enables employees to reserve desks and workspaces in advance, reducing the chance of overbooking and ensuring that there are enough desks available for everyone who needs them.
Provide training: Provide training to employees on how to use the hot desking system, including how to reserve a desk, how to set up equipment, and how to troubleshoot any issues.
Use a flexible seating plan: A flexible seating plan allows employees to move around the office and work in different locations depending on their needs. This can include open seating, hot desking, and collaborative spaces.
Consider ergonomic design: When designing your workspace, consider ergonomic principles to ensure that your employees are comfortable and productive. This can include adjustable desks, comfortable chairs, and good lighting.
Encourage collaboration: Collaborative workspaces can help to foster teamwork and creativity. Consider setting up designated spaces for team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and other collaborative activities.
Implement clear desk policies: A clear desk policy ensures that employees keep their workspace clean and tidy, reducing the risk of clutter and improving productivity.
Develop clear guidelines: Develop clear guidelines for how hot desking will work in your organisation. This should include information on how to reserve desks, how long employees can work at a desk, and how to handle lost or stolen equipment.
Provide adequate equipment: Ensure that each desk has the necessary equipment and resources that employees need to work effectively, such as a computer, a phone, and a comfortable chair.
Consider privacy and noise levels: Ensure that employees have adequate privacy and can work in a comfortable environment. Consider using noise-cancelling headphones or soundproofing materials to reduce distractions and promote concentration.
Monitor and adjust the system: Monitor the hot desking system on an ongoing basis to ensure that it is meeting the needs of employees and the organisation. Consider making adjustments to the system as needed to improve its effectiveness and address any issues that arise.
Introducing hot desking requires careful planning and effective communication in order to ensure that employees are comfortable with the system and that it meets the needs of the organisation.
In conclusion, hot desking can be an effective solution for enterprises looking to optimise their office space and promote a more flexible and collaborative work environment. By considering the pros and cons, implementing best practices, and addressing potential challenges, you can create a successful hot desking system that benefits both employees and the company.
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