Office Attendance Booking System

[jawilson]

Hi, 

As with most workplaces, the pandemic has meant we have to limit the number of people allowed in our office and labs at one time. We currently use a horrible excel sheet to allow people to book a slot, up to a set maximum. 

There are around 70 employees, and 7 or 8 areas they could book a slot. Each with a maximum capacity of between 1 and 6 people. 

I feel there must be a simple way using MS Bookings, or Shifts, or Forms to manage this but can find a solution that meets our needs (without significant time to develop it). 

An ideal solution would be:

• Allow employees to select where they need to work and when. 
• Auto alert their manager for approval. 
• Limit each space to a set capacity. 
• Allow flexible hours booking (i.e. one person might work 9-11 and another 10-5)

I'd love to hear any suggestions anyone has? 

Thanks

[#2]

@jawilson Hello! Well it sure sounds as if you would benefit by using Shifts or Bookings as you mentioned. There's really no need for technical deep dive but rather how you'd like to configure it to fit your needs, or at least close enough (even though that takes some time). So I'm just attaching a couple of links in case you want to look further into it.

Get started in Shifts

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/get-started-in-shifts-5f3e30d8-1821-4904-be26-c3cd25a497d...

Manage the Shifts app for your organization in Microsoft Teams

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/expand-teams-across-your-org/shifts/manage-the-shift... 

Microsoft Bookings

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/bookings/bookings-overview?view=o365-worldwide 

Overview of the Bookings app in Teams 
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/overview-of-the-bookings-app-in-teams-7b8569e1-0c8a-444e-... 

Bookings app and virtual visits in Microsoft Teams
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/bookings-app-admin 

[#3]

@ChristianBergstrom Thanks for the information. 

I've spent hours already trying to set up both of these but can't seem to find the solution. 

Shifts: Should I add each individual person as a team (there are over 70 people)? How can I set it up to let people enter when they need to be in the office or lab whilst limiting the max capacity? 

E.g. Room 1 - max 3 people, Room 2 - max 1 person, Room 3 - Max 6 people. The user needs to select which room, and enter the time they need it for. But it can't be blocked out if there is still occupancy. 

Bookings: I created each Room as a appointment, and set max attendees. But the issue here is with times. If I create hourly slots, and the person needs to be in all day, then they would have to book 8 appointments. Conversely, if they only need to be in 1hr and I set it up to allow all day bookings then the space would be under-utilised. 

Appreciate any advice! Thanks

[#4]

@jawilson Hey, sorry. I can't provide the answers of what's the best option for you. I would like to but that's something you have to figure out yourself. I don't know how many labs etc. you've got and if all 70 users need to book these resources. But as all of them are part of the same team (?) it shouldn't be difficult to set up Shift for example, sounds like a mess to add one person to one team though :) Follow the "Get started-link" to see the options. You could use the group calendar or perhaps another underlying service such as Planner with the schedule view or something, that is if this is just a "quick fix" and you don't have time to set up the other apps.