Desk booking with MRI OnLocation

Use MRI OnLocation desk booking so your employees can book a workspace before coming on-site. You can maintain oversight of your location's occupancy by using desk booking.

About desk booking

If you have a hybrid workforce, use OnLocation to oversee where employees are sitting and manage occupancy limits across the location.

Employees can book a desk either when they sign in on a kiosk, Sign In/Out Manager, OnLocation Mobile, or in advance on OnLocation Mobile. You can upload customized floorplans that show each desk number so employees can select the workspace that suits them best. Bookings can be made for full, partial, or multiple days. When an employee temporarily signs out, they can keep the desk for the duration of their booking.

This functionality uses three OnLocation features:

OnLocation Mobile - the mobile app for employees and contractors.
Employee Scheduling - an add-on that enables employees to schedule where they'll be working using OnLocation Mobile.
Desks and Spaces - Create zones with bookable desks so employees can select a workspace when signing in or in advance on OnLocation Mobile. Depending on your pricing plan, there may be an additional cost to use this add-on.

You can use desk booking without OnLocation Mobile and the Employee Scheduling add-on, but employees will not be able to make future bookings.

Set up desk booking

Step 1: Enable the add-ons

You need the Account Owner user role to enable the add-ons:

Go to Tools > Account.
Select Add-on Management from the left-hand menu.
Select Yes next to Desks and Spaces.
Select the locations that will use scheduling, choose either All or Selected, then select the locations.
Confirm that you'd like to enable OnLocation Mobile and the Employee Scheduling add-on.
Next to Employee Scheduling, click Settings. Then customize the organization-wide settings for desk booking.
Click Save.

For the full instructions, check out:

Step 2: Add zones and bookable spaces

To set up desk booking, you need to divide your location into a series of zones, each with a set number of bookable desks. Upload a floor plan for each zone that clearly shows the number on each desk.

You need the Administrator user role to set up zones:

Go to Locations, then select the location from the drop-down list.
Select Access Control Points & Zones.
Select the Zones tab.
Click Create Zone.
Enter the zone name.
(Optional) Enter a reference.
(Optional) Choose a zone group from the drop-down menu. If you do not have any zone groups, your zone will be added under No Group.
Enter the maximum occupancy for the zone. Ensure this number does not exceed the maximum occupancy for the whole location.
Upload an image of a floor plan. Make sure the desks are clearly numbered in the floor plan. This will display wherever employees can select a desk.
Select the checkbox next to Enable Zone Spaces.
Enter the number of available spaces.
Give the spaces a title. It should describe the function of the space, e.g., desk, car park, meeting room.
Click Save.
Choose which methods you'd like employees to use to select a workspace: Kiosk, Sign In/Out Manager, OnLocation Mobile, or Employee Scheduling. Click Save.
(Optional) If you'd like to provide workspace labels so employees can check a space's availability and make ad-hoc bookings, click Print labels.

For the full instructions, check out how to add zones with spaces.

Step 3: Choose how employees can book a desk

You need the Administrator user role to access Sign In/Out Questions. To update the questions you ask during sign-in or scheduling:

Go to Locations, then select the location from the drop-down list.
Select Sign In/Out Questions.
Select the Employees tab.
Select the Visit Options tab.
Select Activate next to Area/Zone Selection, then choose if it's required and if the answer should be shared in the host email notification (for global roaming employees only).
Select the advanced options icon, then choose which methods Area/Zone Selection should be activated for Sign In/Out Manager, Kiosk, OnLocation Mobile, and Scheduling (only visible if the Employee Scheduling add-on is enabled). For each option, you can also mark it as required.
Select Activate next to Workspace Selection, then choose if it's required and if the answer should be shared in the host email notification.
Select the advanced options icon, and choose which methods Workspace Selection should be activated for Sign In/Out Manager, Kiosk, OnLocation Mobile, and Scheduling. Choose if it must be answered.
Click Save.
Click Enable to turn on the workspace selection question for all sign in/out kiosks, or click Keep kiosk settings to retain your current settings.

To learn more about basic employee questions, check out the Help Center article.

Step 4: Let your staff know how desk booking works

Let your employees know how desk booking at your location will work. If you've enabled the workspace selection question for kiosks, Sign In/Out Manager, and OnLocation Mobile, the workspace selection question is integrated into your existing sign-in workflow.

There are two Help Center articles you may like to share with your employees. These articles show how to book a desk during sign-in and how to make advance bookings:

Next step: Once your employees start making bookings, use the Scheduling Reports to see upcoming bookings or view the People Presence report to see which workspaces employees have used.