Room Booking System - Web Site Help

Home Page: Room Booking System

The home page allows the user to navigate to the various functions of the Room Booking System.

The links to the primary functions of the Room Booking System are:

• Room Availability and Booking
• Room Booking Change or Cancellation
• Help (these pages)
• Room Booking Status (available only to Room Booking Officers (RBO's) with login privileges)

To use the Room Booking System site simply click on the appropriate link in the left hand row of boxes.

There are also secondary links to the Term Dates and Campus Maps pages and these Help pages.

Step #1 - Select Room Requirements

This page is the first step in the Room Booking process. It allows the user to specify date(s), time, duration and any other special room requirements for an activity/booking. Once specified, these requirements will 'filter' the subsequent room selection display in 'Step #2 - Select Matching Rooms'.

Some fields are required, but most are optional - as a rule, try not to choose too many options (only those which are essential) or you will severely limit the choice of rooms subsequently displayed. When you have selected the booking requirements, click on the "Next" button at the bottom of the page.

Weeks:

You are required to indicate the week - or range of weeks - within which you wish to check room availability and/or to book a room. Choose a start week in the left drop-down list and (optionally) an end week in the right drop-down list. The week/range you select will 'filter' the room availability display for any rooms you subsequently select. The default values for the start-week and end-week are the current week, or in the case of future year bookings, the first week of the year.

Day:

Optional. You do not need to choose a day but this may help in identifying an appropriate room. Default value is 'Any'.

Start time:

Optional. You do not need to choose a start time but this may help in identifying an appropriate room. Default value is 'Any'.

Duration:

You are required to indicate the duration of the activity/booking in hours. Select the booking duration you plan to use from the drop-down list. Default value is '1:00' (one hour).

Number of people:

You are required to indicate - as accurately as possible - the number of people who will attend the activity that you wish to book. This value must be an number and will act as a filter on the rooms that are subsequently displayed. The web site will not display any rooms that are smaller in capacity than the number of people you have indicated. Default value is '1' (one).

Campus:

Optional. This system accepts bookings on several of the University's campuses. Default value is 'North Terrace'.

Building:

Optional. You do not need to choose a Building, but if you do so, only the buildings found on the selected Campus will be displayed in the Buildings drop-down list. If you select a Building, this in turn will 'filter' the room availability display to display only rooms within the selected building. Default value is 'Any'.

Room:

Optional. You do not need to choose a specific room. Rooms are only displayed in the drop-down list if a Building has already been selected. No selection can be made until a building is selected. The user can select a particular room which will complete all the necessary selections. Click on the "Next" button at the bottom of the page. Default value is 'Any'.

Room Control:

Optional. You should only select room control if you wish to 'filter' your room choices by rooms under the control of a specific School or Faculty. The default room control will display all rooms which are designated as 'common space' i.e. unrestricted venues which are freely available for booking by all users. Default value is 'Campus Development'.

Room Type:

Optional. Allows you to select a room type that is appropriate for your activity/booking e.g. meeting room, seminar room, tutorial/general purpose. Default value is 'Any'.

Seating:

Optional. You should only select Seating if you have specific seating requirements within a Room Type e.g. activity must be limited to seminar rooms with tables & chairs x2. In most cases, the Room Type will be a sufficient filter to provide a suitable room. Default value is 'Any'.

Board:

Optional. You should only select Board if you have specific Board requirements within a Room Type e.g. activity must be limited to lecture rooms containing Board with Staves. In most cases, the Room Type will be a sufficient filter to provide a suitable room. Default value is 'Any'.

Audio Visual:

Optional. You should only select AV equipment if it is a specific requirement for your activity/booking. These choices place serious limits on the number of rooms that will be available for subsequent selection. Special AV facilities should be booked through Campus Development or a Departmental Office.

Once you have made all required and any optional selections from the page - click on the "Next" button at the bottom of the page.

Step #2 - Select Matching Room(s)

The rooms listed on this page are those that have met all the requirements that were entered in 'Step #1 - Select Room Requirements'. If there are no rooms listed, it is because the requirements specified are so restrictive that no match could be found with any existing rooms at the University. If this occurs, use the 'Back' button, or the link 'return to the previous page' to return to 'Step #1 - Select Room Requirements' and remove any unnecessary requirements before searching again.

To check the availability of a room listed, click on it's check box and then click on the 'Check Availability of Room(s)' button. You may select multiple rooms if you wish - this is useful if you wish to compare the availability of several locations before choosing the most suitable one.

The list of rooms can be sorted by (Controlling) Department, Building & Room or Capacity by clicking on the name of the heading in each column.

Step #3 - Check Room Availability

The rooms listed on this page are those that were selected by the user in 'Step #2 - Select Matching Room(s)'. Each room is displayed in the form of a colour-coded Day/Time 'availability grid' - where each grid square represents a half-hour time block. The Campus, Building and Room details are provided at the top of each grid.

Where you have chosen a preferred Day, Time and Duration, this should appear as a 'requested time' - highlighted as yellow blocks on the grid display. If no yellow blocks appear in a grid, this means (1) that no specific Day, Time and Duration was selected in 'Step #1 - Select Room Requirements', or (2) that the room is already booked for another activity.

If you move your cursor over the grid it will change from the normal arrow to a 'pointing finger' depending upon whether the cursor is over an existing activity (red, green or blue block), or over a vacant (white) or 'requested time' (yellow) block. You can proceed to book the room by (1) clicking on the requested grid block i.e. the first yellow block, indicating the required start time of your activity, or (2) by clicking on any vacant block i.e. any white block, indicating the required start time of your activity. However, it is important to consider the duration of the activity when selecting a grid block, since there must be sufficient free blocks between the start of the requested activity and the next activity.

Selecting a vacant or available block in the availability grid will take the user to 'Step #4 - Enter Booking Details'.

Where there are no suitable day/times available in the rooms displayed, you may return to Step #2 - Select Matching Room(s)' and make a new selection, or return to Step #1 - Select Room Requirements' and change the room requirements, using either the links at the top of the page or by using the browser 'Back' button.

Step #4 - Enter Booking Details

This page requires the user to fill in the details that are necessary to submit a booking request.

If entering this page from 'Step #3 - Check Room Availability', the default Date, Start, Duration and Location details are those selected in 'Step #3'. If 'Step #3' was skipped then the default Location details are those selected in 'Step #2 - Select Matching Room(s)' and the Date, Start and Duration details are those selected in 'Step #1 - Select Room Requirements', if any. In either case you may amend any of the default values but only do so if you are sure that the room is available as per the amended values.

You must fill in all blanks where the heading is in bold letters and followed by an asterisk (*). Your booking request will not be processed without this essential information.

Please use a unique and descriptive name for the booking event (e.g. "Ski Club - July Meeting" rather than just "Meeting")

Notes containing any request for further action must be confirmed separately and are not automatically confirmed by this request form.

If you are booking on behalf of an external organisation, you must choose "External" from the Customer type/Department drop-down list and you must fill in the name of the External Organisation e.g 'Astronomical Society of SA'.

If you select the 'Go to Multi Booking' button, you will be directed to the 'Step #4a - Enter Multi Day/Week Details' screen to allow you to book a room for multiple weeks and/or days.

Once you have correctly filled out the required fields you may select the the 'Submit Single Booking' button to submit a booking request. You will then be directed to the final step - 'Step #5 - Booking Request Receipt'.

The button options are:

• Submit Single Booking - use this option if you are finalising a single day booking request
• RBO Login - use this option only if you are an authorised Room Booking Officer, i.e. making an approved booking into Dept. controlled space.
• Go to Multi Booking - use this option if you are requesting a multiple day/week booking ('Step #4a - Enter Multi Day/Week Details')
• Return to Step #1 - use this option to return to Step #1 (start over)

Step #4a - Enter Multi Day/Week Details

This page allows the user to make a room booking for multiple days and/or weeks.

By placing or removing ticks in the boxes indicated in the Week Grid or Day Grid, users are able to:

• Select a span of weeks, or any combination of weeks i.e. they need not be consecutive weeks.
• Select a span of days, or any combination of days i.e. they need not be consecutive days.
• Select a single day, booked over multiple weeks or vice versa.

To use this option successfully, it is important to carefully perform a prior check of the room availability over the entire range of weeks required.

The button options are:

• Submit Multi Booking - use this option if you are requesting a multi-day/week booking
• RBO Login - use this option only if you are an authorised Room Booking Officer, i.e. making an approved booking into Dept. controlled space.
• Go to Single Booking - use this option if you change your mind, and wish to return to the single day booking page ('Step #4 - Enter Booking Details')
• Return to Step #1 - use this option to return to Step #1 (start over)

Once you have correctly filled out the required fields you may select the the 'Submit Multi Booking' button to submit a booking request. You will then be directed to the final step - 'Step #5 - Booking Request Receipt'.

Alternatively, if you change your mind you may select 'Go to Single Booking' or 'Return to Step #1' (start over).

RBO note: use the Login button only for booking rooms under your Department's own control - for other Department rooms or common space use the appropriate 'Submit' or 'Go to' button.

Step #5 - Booking Request Receipt

This page will display a summary of the booking information, in confirmation that the system has received your request for a Room Booking.

This is not a confirmation that your booking request has been approved (you will receive separate confirmation of approval or decline by email, usually within a few days).

Please make sure that you print a copy of this booking request receipt. It is especially important that you retain the booking reference number which is to be used in any correspondence relating to booking inquiries, confirmations, changes or cancellations.

Function - Room Booking Change or Cancellation

This page allows a user to request a change, or to cancel a booking that has been made through the Room Booking System. Changes to time and place cannot be guaranteed, even if you have checked on the system to see if the time and place you wish to change to are available.

This page will generate an email to the controlling department of the room, and will be handled as a manual request.

Confirmation of any change or cancellation will be communicated back to you by the controlling department. You should not assume that any change has been recorded and/or approved until it has been validated by the controlling department and you have received written confirmation via email.

Function - Room Booking Status

This page is available only to Room Booking Officers (RBO's) with login privileges. It provides users with the option of performing a quick search on current bookings, or go to an advanced search by various room requirement criteria.

Quick Search Option

Quick search allows the user to check the status of bookings filtered by the user's Department, rooms controlled by the user's Department, or all bookings (the Department is automatically determined by the username and password that are entered).

• All bookings made by my Department
• All bookings for rooms controlled by my Department
• All activities for rooms controlled by my Department
• All bookings

Select which type of display to you wish to see by choosing the appropriate radio button and then click on the 'Show Bookings' button. See 'Room Booking Status Table' below for explanation of the details displayed.

Optionally, users may go to the Advance Search option by clicking on the 'Go to Advanced Search' button.

Advanced Search Option

Advanced search allows the user to check the status of bookings filtered by many of the original booking requirements entered (e.g. Day, Start, Duration, Room etc.) Searches may also be performed by Reference # and/or Status.

As with room requirements, try not to choose too many options in Advance Search as this may result in no bookings being displayed in the Room Bookings Status Table if the search is too restrictive.

Select the search criteria and press the 'Show Bookings' button. See 'Room Booking Status Table' below for explanation of the details displayed.

Optionally, users may return to the Quick Search option by clicking on the 'Return to Quick Search' button.

Room Booking Status Table

The table contains the important information about bookings made in any room(s) via the Room Booking System. Information for each booking includes:

• Reference number
• Booking made by (Dept.)
• Event name
• Location details
• Room control Dept.
• Date of booking
• Day of booking
• Start time of booking
• Duration (in hours) of booking
• Booking status

The table can be sorted by any of the data categories by clicking on the label (column heading) at the top of the column.

To perform a new search, click on the 'New Search' button at the bottom of the page, or click on the Room Booking Status' link.

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