Advanced Booking in Flex

Written By Natalia Povrozniak (Administrator)

Updated at June 19th, 2024

📌 Applies to app version 2023.02 and later

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Flex offers a separate page for bookings that have more conditions than a one-time space booking. The Advanced Booking page in Flex helps you book a recurring meeting or a linked space with a certain layout along with adding services if needed.

On the Advanced Booking page in Flex, start by adding as many search criteria as you have to filter out applicable spaces for your booking. Select from the following options.

Single booking

You can create here a simple space booking for a single use, but we recommend creating such bookings with no distraction on the Single Booking page in Flex. Read more here: Single booking in Flex.

When creating a single booking, date selection by the system has the following logic:

If current time is before start time of working day preferences, the date is set for today. Read more about working day preferences here: Settings in Flex
If current time is after start time of working day preferences, the date is set for the next day.

In any case, you can change the date manually.

Booking for right now (ASAP)

You can book a space for the nearest time. For this:

Turn on the As soon as possible toggle.

Add duration (How long), location (Building, Floor, Zone), and capacity if you need a meeting room.
Note: The End of working day setting is the one that you defined in User Preferences to be start and end of your working day. Read more about User Preferences settings here: Settings in Flex
Indicate space features that you'll need.
Note: Equipment and catering are available to book at least 24 hours in advance and for meeting room bookings only. Hence, services are not available for ASAP bookings.
Click Search.
Select a space from the search results in the middle column of the page.
Check the associated booking policy or space information on top of the third column.
Add booking name and a description.
(optional) Add Online Meeting Link if you're booking a meeting room.
(optional) Indicate if you Book for Someone Else: an employee or a visitor. For employee, you can select the checkbox to use their default cost codes if they have set any.
(optional) Add Attendees if applicable.
(optional) Indicate one or more Cost Codes if your organisation is using them:
- Add cost codes in free text or by selecting them from a list.
- Edit the default ones if you are booking for yourself. Read the Default Cost Codes section in this article: Settings in Flex.
- Check the cost codes of the person that you book for if you selected to use their default cost codes in the previous step.
Click Confirm Booking.

Note: There're booking policies enforced for each space within your organisation. They can limit the time for booking start to be, for example, at the exact hour or each half an hour. Because of this, booking for right now may be unsuccessful if, for example, your current time is 9:47. In this case, turn off the As soon as possible toggle and adjust timing for your booking to match booking policy requirements.

Recurring booking

For the recurrent events as regular work or meetings, Flex helps your finding and booking the appropriate space.

Recurring bookings in Flex are enabled on the user group permission level along with building permissions. Contact your IBSS representative to enable recurring bookings for your building if they are set in booking policies.

Note: Your organisation may restrict the availability of spaces for your recurring booking or set limitation for the roles who are able to create recurring bookings.

To create recurring bookings, do the following:

Turn on the Add Recurrence toggle along with indicating other relevant search criteria.
Select the recurrence pattern: daily, weekly, monthly.
Select how often you'd like the booking to repeat.
Select when you want the recurrence to end: on a certain date or after a certain number of occurrences.
Click Search to view the list of spaces that can be booked with this recurrence pattern. You can view search results in list or map view, depending on your preferences set under Settings > Workplace Preferences > SEARCH RESULTS:
- In map view, available spaces that you can book will be highlighted in green and the ones that are not available for any of the occurrence are highlighted in navy colour.
  Note: If there are no spaces that match your search criteria, map view will be disabled.
- In list view, you will see all spaces that are available for at least one occurrence that you're searching for.
Select a space that fits. Check its associated booking policy and space information.
Add details to your booking.
Add alternative spaces if needed. You may occasionally see that for one or more of your occurrences your ideal space isn't available. Flex allows you to pick an alternative space for those specific occurrences, rather than have to start your search again. In such case, you will see an Alternative button next to the occurrence that needs your attention. To choose an alternative location:
1. Click Alternative to open the list of available spaces according to your initial search criteria.
2. Select the space that you would like to use and click Use Space Selected.
Return to the previous page with the booking details of your recurring booking.
(optional) Add Online Meeting Link if you're booking a meeting room.
(optional) Indicate if you Book for Someone Else: an employee or a visitor. For employee, you can select the checkbox to use their default cost codes if they have set any.
(optional) Add Attendees if applicable.
(optional) Indicate one or more Cost Codes if your organisation is using them:
- Add cost codes in free text or by selecting them from a list.
- Edit the default ones if you are booking for yourself. Read the Default Cost Codes section in this article: Settings in Flex.
- Check the cost codes of the person that you book for if you selected to use their default cost codes in the previous step.
Click Confirm Booking to create all the bookings for the selected spaces.

Linked spaces

Booking linked spaces in Flex

📌 Applies to app version 2023.02 or later

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For a special meeting you might need a certain large space that is set up with a certain layout of furniture, for example in a square hole, auditorium, or classroom. Your organisation can have adjacent bookable spaces that can be combined into one on request.

⚠️ Linked spaces work with the space type of meeting rooms only.

Note: Linked spaces require time to set them up for your meeting and time to reset them to their original state. Each organisation defines the needed amount of time for these activities in booking policies. That's why during booking of linked spaces, you will have an additional step meant for validation of available slots before and after your meeting for setup and reset activities in the requested spaces.

You can book linked spaces on the Single Booking page and on the Advanced Booking page.

Booking linked spaces on the Single Booking page

To book a linked space when creating a single booking, do the following:

On the Single Booking page, click Edit search criteria to start looking for linked spaces.
Turn the Need a Linked Space? toggle on. The Need Layouts? toggle turns on automatically too.
Click UPDATE to search for linked spaces specifically.
On the booking details page, under Linked Spaces, select the combination of spaces that you want to use and select the layout. Save your selection.
Note: Mind that the other space that is linked to the one that you initially selected might not be available at the time of your meeting. In that case, you will receive a corresponding error message and will have to search for appropriate two spaces that can be linked again.
(optional) Indicate if you Book for Someone Else: an employee or a visitor. For employee, you can select the checkbox to use their default cost codes if they have set any.
(optional) Add Attendees if applicable.
Indicate one or more Cost Codes if your organisation is using them:
- Add cost codes in free text or by selecting them from a list.
- Edit the default ones if you are booking for yourself. Read the Default Cost Codes section in this article: Settings in Flex.
- Check the cost codes of the person that you book for if you selected to use their default cost codes in the previous step.
Click Confirm Booking. At this point, as with booking other spaces, you can add equipment or catering if available for this space.

Booking linked spaces on the Advanced Booking page (preferred method)

To book a linked space for now or later, do the following:

On the Advanced Booking page in Flex, select all search criteria for you event that requires booking linked spaces.
Turn on the Linked Spaces toggle.
Select a space in the search results column.
Check its booking policy and additional space information.
You will see the booking details in the third column of the page.

Read more about the additional setup and reset slots that are added before and after your booking: Setup and reset slots for linked space bookings.
Click Linked: to view the options for these spaces. Select the most appropriate layout for your needs.
Click Save in the popup to move on to check whether there's sufficient setup and reset time to prepare selected linked spaces for your desired time of the meeting.
Click Check Availability to see whether all conditions are met.
If the space is available for booking, add its name and other details including cost codes.
If the space is not available, you will see the corresponding message and will return to selecting another space or another layout for your booking.
(optional) Indicate if you Book for Someone Else: an employee or a visitor. For employee, you can select the checkbox to use their default cost codes if they have set any.
(optional) Add Attendees if applicable.
(optional) Indicate one or more Cost Codes if your organisation is using them:
- Add cost codes in free text or by selecting them from a list.
- Edit the default ones if you are booking for yourself. Read the Default Cost Codes section in this article: Settings in Flex.
- Check the cost codes of the person that you book for if you selected to use their default cost codes in the previous step.
Click Confirm Booking to save your booking of linked spaces.

Now, you will see your booking on the My Schedule page. The team that is responsible for setting up and resetting linked spaces will receive a corresponding notification and will have booked time slots before and after your meeting to set things up and clean it up for you.

Now, you are all set and can view your booking under My Schedule > Bookings.

Note: Checking in to a booking via Flex is security controlled by your organisation. Due to the business policy, it may not be possible to check in to bookings remotely in Flex.