Desk booking

A guide to configuring our standard desk booking system

This guide will cover the following steps

1. configuring zones, building and levels

2. configuring the application, domain and application settings

3. configuring a service account for backend queries

4. configuring a tenant for Staff API access

5. configuring location services: StaffAPI, AreaManagement, LocationServices, DeskBookings

Prepare PlaceOS for Desk Booking

Configuring Zones

A typical zone structure is organisation -> building -> level A location services system should be are configured for each building.

Create a building zone with a building tag

Create level zones with the level tag and the appropriate parent zones. The structure is important.

Level zone metadata

For each level desk metadata should be configured

[
    {
        # id tag on the SVG maps
        "id": "table-09.B901",

        # friendly name of the desks
        "name": "B901",

        # should the desk appear in booking search results
        # non-bookable desks might have a sensor associated with them
        "bookable": true,

        # features that can be searched for
        "features": ["sit_to_stand", "dual_monitor"],
        
        # restrict the desk to user groups
        "groups": []
    },
    {
        "id": "table-09.B902",
        "name": "B902",
        "bookable": true,
        "features": [],
        "groups": []
    }
]

Configuring the Application

API access is scoped and configured via applications on the domain. To complete the configuration you'll need the following datapoints

• Client ID: 5217b4fd2f06 (example)

• Redirect URI: https://poc.placeos.com/workplace/oauth-resp.html

Configuring a service account

This will be the account that is used to query Staff API (support for API Keys is coming soon) The account needs to be configured on the same domain as the redirect URI above and you'll need to make note of:

• username: [e-mail] (make up an email address it is unimportant)

• password: yoursecurepassword

Configuring a Staff API tenant

Staff API needs to be configured for each domain that intends to use it. It provides the Google or Office365 / MS Graph API configuration required for an organisation, however this is not a requirement for pure desk booking and dummy config can be provided.

Add a tenant for the required domain, if dummy data is going to be used - configure for Office365

Configure location services

A location services System should be created for each building. Add the following PlaceOS modules to that System for Desk Bookings

• StaffAPI (one instance per-domain, can be shared between buildings)

• AreaManagement

• LocationServices

• DeskBookings

Add settings to StaffAPI module

click the staff API module to configure the following settings, values collected earlier

username: [e-mail]
password: yoursecurepassword
client_id: 5217b4fd2f06
redirect_uri: 'https://poc.placeos.com/workplace/oauth-resp.html'

Add settings to the location services system

AreaManagement and DeskBookings can be configured at the system level (recommended or clarity)

# The LocationServices module is a proxy that collects data from other
# location service modules in the same system. If there is only desk
# bookings being configured, you could change this to DeskBookings
location_service: LocationServices

# The buildings zone ID
building: zone-DGUP0QI0gX

# How often we want to update location data
# NOTE:: the DeskBookings module will signal when updates occur so
# polling is not critical here and updates will be near realtime
poll_rate: 15

# These are the zones we want to query for desk bookings
# easy to filter by building, however you can also add
# multiple level zones if excluding one is desirable
zone_filter:
  - zone-DGUP0QI0gX

# The booking type for the DeskBookings module
# typically not required to be defined however could be changed to
# `parking` if you were tracking car parking spaces etc
booking_type: desk

Once the modules are started you should find the list of desk IDs and any bookings now appear in AreaManagement if you view the state

Configuring automatic desk assignment

Where a user doesn't have the option to select a desk and are placed near others in their department.

In the zone metadata for the workplace_app you can edit the desks configuration adding the auto_allocation configuration option.

Configure Desk Auto Checkin

By default, booked desks will require users to checkin upon arrival at the desk.

The checkin may be manual via QR Code or Workplace App, or more automated via scanning of NFC Badges, Real Time Location etc.

However, it is possible to configure desks to auto-checkin at the start time of the booking. This will remove any required user activity.

This feature may alter your analytics results as all bookings will automatically checkin regardless of weather the user is present or not.

1. In PlaceOS Backoffice, Navigate to Drivers.

2. Check if the Auto Desk Checkin driver is added, if not add the driver from the PlaceOS Drivers repo.
3. Navigate to your tracking or global config system, this is usually identified by a leading * and called *OrgName Services.

4. Add the Auto Desk Checkin driver as a new module to the system.
5. Once the Module is added, enable it and navigate back to the Systems about page.

6. Select Unencrypted.

7. Enter the below configuration where the zone is a single or list of zones you wish to have the auto desk checkin feature enabled for:

   check_in_zones:
     - zone-EDsmY5nNvP

8. Save

9. You should now be able to test creating a desk booking and observe that it is checked in.

Desk Restrictions

Desks can be restricted in PlaceOS through the use of user groups.

User groups may be automatically managed/inherted from the identity management paltform i.e. groups in Azure ActiveDirectory or groups may be manually assigned to a user in PlaceOS User Management.

To restrict a desk to a group of users, simply enter the exact group name in the Groups property of the desk metadata or via the Concierge Desk Manager.