In many venues, space is flexible and you can divide large rooms into smaller rooms using mobile walls. In these cases, the bookings need to reflect that when one of the smaller spaces is booked, then the larger space and other groups of related spaces are also booked. This helps to prevent accidental double-booking conflicts. In this scenario, the smallest spaces you can book (spaces you cannot make any smaller) are called base spaces and the larger combined spaces are called component spaces.
For example:
Room ABCD is a large space.
You can use Room ABCD as one large room or divide it into four smaller rentable spaces, named Rooms A, B, C, and D.
You can also combine the rooms into a variety of configurations:
When creating your composite spaces, pay attention to the number of room entrances and exits available!
To configure the system to book the component space when a base space is booked, you need to create the base spaces and then create the component space in the Spaces screen.
To create the base space(s):
- Click the Spaces link from the Main Menu. The Spaces screen opens.
- Click the Add button. The Add Space screen opens.
- Enter the necessary information for the space.
- Click OK. Repeat the steps for each of the base (smaller) spaces.
After you create the smallest spaces, then you can configure the component space(s). Start with the least complex combinations and move to more complex combinations.
- Click the Spaces link from the Main Menu. The Spaces screen opens.
- Click the Add button. The Add Space screen opens.
- Enter the necessary information for the space.
- Select the Components tab.
- Click the Manage button. The Select Components screen opens.
- Select the base spaces(s) for the component space from the Available section of the screen. Use Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click to select multiple spaces. Make sure you include all related spaces. For example, if you are creating the large ABCD space in the above example, you need to add all the related base and composite space combinations to define the composite space.
- Click the single right arrow button to move the selected space(s) to the Selected section of the screen.
- Click OK. Now that the base and related composite spaces are assigned to the space, the space is automatically set to a Composite space.
- Click OK.
When one of the base spaces is booked, the composite space also shows as booked on the Booking Calendar.
The Components tab for the rooms listed in our above example would appear as:
By using component spaces, you can notify users when a conflict arises and avoid double-booking a space.
Comments
48 comments
Is there a way of having the composite spaces showing within the booking line of the event.
E.g. Hall A books out an organizers office in the calendar but doesn't show within the bookings of the event.
Thanks
Kris
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Hi Kris - There isn't a way to show indirect bookings on the bookings grid of an event. It will only display directly booked spaces. However, in the Daily Booking window, you are able to show indirectly booked spaces as well. There is a filter called Type you can use to toggle on and off whether you want to see direct, indirect bookings or both.
Mark F
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Thanks Mark
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Kris - A little late follow up here, but there is also a column you can show on the Bookings grid called Booked Spaces. It will show any spaces that are indirectly booked associated with the directly booked space. Thanks.
Mark F
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Thanks Mark
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Should I only add base spaces as components of composite spaces?
For example if there are base spaces A, B, C, D, E.
Should my composite space of BCDE include:
- B
- C
- D
- E
- BC
- BCD
- CD
- CDE
- DE
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Hi Svend,
Without knowing the exact shape of your space, I can't say for sure. The components of a composite space should consist of all the base spaces and the various bookable combinations of those base spaces.
Kaitlyn Batliner
Ungerboeck Consultant
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From memory, I think we have taken the opposite approach. You will see conflicts when trying to book a composite space if any of the components are booked (directly or indirectly). It would be a nightmare to manage otherwise!
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So I've tried it both ways with different results. If I only add the base spaces to the composite B,C,D,E then when it is booked, the base spaces are blocked out correctly but composites of CD, DE, CDE show as available. If I add all the composites AND base spaces to B,C,D,E and it's booked everything blocks out correct BUT let's say I book C,D,E then B,C,D,E still shows available. It seems like the only way around that is to add B,C,D,E as a composite of C,D,E but that seems like a bad idea since B is not part of C,D,E.
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Hi Svend,
There may be a layer in the configuration you are missing. If your Hall can be broken into the following, below the image lists the how each room should be configured.
Room A
Room B
Room C
Room D
Room E
Room AB Components: A, B
Room BC Components: B,C
Room CD Components: C, D
Room DE Components: D, E
Room ABC Components: A, B, C, AB, BC, BCD, BCDE, CD, CDE
Room BCD Components: B, C, D, BC, CD, AB, DE, ABC, CDE, ABCD, BCDE
Room CDE Components: C, D, E, CD, DE, BC, ABC, BCD, ABCD
and so on
If you need any additional assistance, please reach out and set up time with one of our consultants.
Have a great day!
Kaitlyn Batliner
Ungerboeck Consultant
Note: This comment was edited on 13 November 2018 to display additional components when configuring a composite space. All spaces that should be unavailable (because they are indirectly booked) should be listed as components of a composite space. Edited/added components are shown in italics.
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Hi
If a composite space is part of another space is there a way we can have an exception to the rule for the composite space based on Usage, I don't think we can but I just thought I would ask the question for clarification.
Thanks
Kris
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Hi Kris,
There isn't a way to configure exceptions to the composite space rules.
Thanks,
Maggie
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Hi,
Is the composite/base space the only way to link two spaces? We have a theater and a dressing room that we would like to be linked. When the theater is booked we want the dressing room to show as a conflict, but not the reverse (when the dressing room is booked we still want people to be able to book the theater). I don't think the composite/base settings would work for this and I can't find anything else that links two spaces.
Thanks,
Michelle
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Michelle, you are correct, the only way to "link" these 2 Spaces would be to use Composite and when you do that, you will get the blocked results you have received. There isn't a way to Block one way only.
Now, there is a secondary issue which is worth discussing. If the Dressing Room is truly to be Booked/Blocked when the Theatre Space is Booked, using Composite does not actually "Book" the Dressing Room, so you would not be able to show this to a Client as a part of their Booking.
You could create a new Space called Theatre/Dressing Room which would be a Composite of the Theater and Dressing Room, which would Block both when it is Booked and would display that combination Name on Client facing reports/invoices etc. This would give you 3 Spaces:
Theatre (Base)
Dressing Room (Base)
Theatre/Dressing Room (Composite of Theatre and Dressing Room)
This would allow you to Book the Theater without Booking/Blocking the Dressing Room
The Dressing Room without Booking/Blocking the Theatre
And Book the Combo when you wan that result.
If it were me, I'd configure this way and train my Staff on how and when to use each Space.
1 upvotes
Michelle: One other note... when you add the Spaces to your Booking Calendar, only display the Composite Space which is the Theater/Dressing Room and the Dressing Room (Base) space. That way, if they book the Theater/Dressing Room you get the Theater and Dressing Room Blocked and if they book the Dressing Room it does not Block the Theater.
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Thanks Dave!
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I seem to be going in circles with component space configurations. In the example in this article would the component spaces for ABC need to include BCD and CD? My experience is that if ABC only includes A, B, C, AB, and BC then when someone books CD the ABC space still shows as available in the booking calendar when the C base space is actually already be booked as a component of CD.
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Svend, review the explanation from Kaitlyn about 8 Comments up... she perfectly explains the configuration. You do have to include any Space or Composite which would be included in the booked combination.
Note: The previous comment regarding space configuration referenced in this comment was edited on 13 November 2018 to update information.
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Dave, I think that's what confuses me. Kaitlyn lists:
Room ABC Components: A, B, C, AB, BC
Which is how I have configured our spaces but when someone books ABC, the CD space still shows that it's available on the booking calendar even thought the shared C space is booked. In our environment the room names are different but that's the result I'm getting.
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Svend, I am seeing the same behavior that you are, and have asked a few of my expert colleagues about this. I will huddle internally and respond here.
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After discussing internally and reviewing code, I have made changes to previous comments and noted them as such. Indirect bookings of component spaces must be identified explicitly in order to be indirectly booked. To answer Svend's question, ABC should also include combinations of base spaces A, B, and C. It should include spaces wholly enveloped within the ABC combination, meaning AB and BC. It should also include partial overlap spaces that are no longer available because one of their components is now booked. This would include BCD, CDE, and BCDE using the ABCDE configuration noted above. The system will not go all the way down to base spaces and then return up the ladder to determine indirect bookings for performance reasons in larger configurations.
1 upvotes
Is it not possible for the software to list all of the base spaces within the booking calendar? Then, (almost like an if then function) recognize that when 3 specific spaces are booked - the system knows there are x number of composite possibilities (based on what is configured) when those items are chosen?
We are a facility with hundreds of bookable spaces, in order to composite all of the available spaces into just the commonly used composites, our booking calendar will become 4 times the size it already is. It would not be functionally helpful to scroll through an even larger one. Please advise.
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Shelby:
Thanks for your comment. Our intent is certainly not to drastically increase the size of your calendar. I spoke with your consultant today and she is going to get with you to help configure these composite spaces for you.
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Hi
We have a theater room and when this room is in use, another room in the venue cannot be used
because of noise pollution. How can we use 'composite room' in this specific situation?
The theatre is always bookable so not to be blocked when the other room is booked. Hope this make sense,
thanks for the reply!
Kind regards
Monique
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Monique:
Making those 2 Rooms Composite will, as you've already guessed, make this a 2-way connection, meaning if you Book the Theater it will in-directly book this other Space and vice-versa. That doesn't prevent you from actually Booking the Theater when this other Space is booked, but it will certainly appear as if the Theater is In-Directly Booked in that situation. There is a setting on the Booking Calendar which can be configured to "Only Show Direct" bookings, which would show the Theater as available, but in situations where the Theater is Booked it would then show this other space as available. You could create 2 Views of the Calendar, one which does not use this "Only Show Direct" setting and another which does... which might help Staff to determine the actual Booking Situation. but... I'm not sure that's a good solution either. In short, I can't think of a perfect solution for your situation. I would be tempted to not utilize the Composite Space feature and just Train Staff to be sure to take the Booked Status of the Theater into consideration when looking at booking this other Space. Now... to what we should do next, see the next paragraph.
What I'd like you to do is, post this situation/scenario into the Community Area of the KnowledgeBase in the Venues section, so we can get other Clients Eyes on this, we might find many other clients need this same functionality and having their Input on your Situation, will help our Product Manager evaluation getting this onto the Enhancements "Roadmap" for improving the Booking Calendar. I will also discuss this with the Product Manager this morning. If he has any clever ideas, I'll update this comment. Dave.
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Thanks Dave, for your extensive answer, I will put up a post in the community area,
Monique
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Is it possible to leave a base space as part of a composite space and still have it show up on the booking calendar as it's own space?
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Kyle: If I'm understanding your question, Yes, when you are on the Booking Calendar screen you use your Filters to Select your Spaces. You would select both the Composite Spaces as well as the Base Spaces for display and place them into the order in which you would like them displayed.
But, that does not mean that the relationship between them changes. Meaning, if you book a Base Space which is part of a Composite, the system will In-Directly book/block the Composite Space and vice-versa.
Hope this answers the question.
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I have created some NEW base spaces that fall under a NEW composite space, too.
In the booking calendar, when the view has the base spaces listed individually, their labels/names show correctly.
However, in the booking calendar, when the composite space is listed, the base spaces labels/names do not show up (at all, it's just a blank line) when you click the plus sign (but the rows do, and they book correctly functionally).
This was my first time creating a composite space, and I can't figure out what I am missing in order to get the base spaces names/labels to show up.
Thoughts?
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Hi Rachel,
Did you include the base spaces in your selected spaces on the calendar or are you expecting them to display because you just selected the composite space?
You do need to select the base spaces also if you want them to display on the calendar. The bookings in those spaces that are part of the composite do display under the composite but the space names do not.
Screenshots might be helpful if that is not the issue.
Regards,
Wendy Thompson
Senior Quality Engineer
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