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Administration
Schedules control all of the available time slots for a set of resources. This is where you can control the start and end times of the day as well as the time intervals to book.
You must have at least one schedule defined and every resource must belong to a schedule.
When installing LibreBooking, a default schedule will be created with out of the box settings. From the Schedules menu option you can view and edit attributes of the current schedules.
Schedules can be displayed starting on any day of the week and for any number of days. For a schedule to display starting on the current day, set the Starts On option to Today.
Each schedule must have a layout defined for it. This controls the availability of the resources on that schedule. Clicking the Change Layout link will bring up the layout editor. Here you can create and change the time slots that are available for reservation and blocked from reservation.
There is no restriction on the slot times, but you must provide slot values for all 24 hours of the day, one per line. The time format must be in 24 hour time. You can optionally provide a display label for any or all slots.
A slot without a label should be formatted like this: 10:25 – 16:50
A slot with a label should be formatted like this: 10:25 – 16:50 Schedule Period 4
Below the slot configuration windows is a slot creation wizard. This will set up available slots at the given interval between the start and end times without having to manually enter all of the times.
By default, reservations cannot begin or end in a blocked slot. You can change this and allow reservations to end during blocked slots for each schedule. This is helpful if you have people working at a facility past your standard closing time. Reservations still cannot start during a blocked slot.
Custom layouts are best used for appointment bookings, for example, by only making very specific dates and times available instead of an interval-based layout.
You can create a fully customized schedule layout by switching to the custom layout option. This will let you set specific times on specific dates to be reservable.
Switching to a custom layout will remove all standard layout slots.
A group of users may be set up with permission to manage schedules and all resources on those schedules.
Schedule Administrators have the same capabilities as Application Administrators for any resource that is on a schedule which the group is assigned to. They can change schedule details, black out times, manage and approve reservations
In order for a group to be set as the schedule administrator the group must first be granted the Schedule Administrator role. This is configured from the Groups admin tool.
Once that role has been added, the group will be an available schedule administrator option in the Manage Schedules tool.
If a schedule should only be available for a limited period of time, such as a season or semester, you can set the schedule availability. No reservations will be allowed outside of the availability date range.
By default a schedule is available all year round.
By default, resources cannot be double booked.
If you want a resource to be able to be booked by multiple people at the same time, you can configure the schedule to allow multiple reservations concurrently. This setting applies to all resources on a schedule
This will no longer allow anyone to access the Schedule View for this schedule.
By default there is no limit to the total number of reservations occurring at the same time on a schedule.
If you want to ensure that there are never more than 2 resources booked at the same time on a schedule, for example, you would set the maximum number of resources reserved concurrently to 2.
This is useful if you have a single room with all of your equipment and can only allow a certain number of people in at a time.
This setting does not apply to application administrators.
By default there is no limit to the number of resources that can be booked on a single reservation.
If you want to limit the total number of resources that someone can book as part of a single reservation, you can set the maximum number of reservations per reservation.
This setting does not apply to application administrators.
By default only logged in users can view schedules, but this can be changed with some configuration updates.
In Application Configuration the privacy section contains two settings – view.schedules and view.reservations.
view.schedules will allow unauthenticated users to browse your schedules, though they will need to log in to book any resources. A new menu option on the login page will be displayed to let users open the schedule in a read only mode.
view.reservations lets you control whether or not unauthenticated users will be able to see reservation details from the read only schedule. By default, only available and unavailable times are shown. Setting this to true will show full reservation details to unauthenticated users.
Resources are the reservable items in LibreBooking. Resources could be conference rooms, equipment, boats, people, or anything else you can imagine.
You can view and manage resources from the Resources menu option. Here you can change the attributes and usage configuration of a resource.
Every resource must be assigned to a schedule in order for it to be bookable. The resource will inherit the layout of its schedule.
Application Administrators and applicable Schedule and Resource Administrators are exempt from usage constraints.
Setting a minimum reservation duration will prevent booking from lasting shorter than the set amount. The default is no minimum.
Setting a maximum reservation duration will prevent booking from lasting longer than the set amount. The default is no maximum.
Setting a buffer time will force reservations to be at least a certain amount of time apart.
Setting a resource to require approval will place all bookings for that resource into a pending state until approved. The default is no approval required.
Setting a resource to automatically grant permission to it will grant all new users permission to access the resource at registration time. The default is to automatically grant permissions.
You can require a booking lead time by setting a resource to require a certain number of days/hours/minutes notification. For example, if it is currently 10:30 AM on a Monday and the resource requires 1 days notification, the resource will not be able to be booked until 10:30 AM on Sunday. The default is that reservations can be made up until the current time.
You can prevent resources from being booked too far into the future by requiring a maximum notification of days/hours/minutes. For example, if it is currently 10:30 AM on a Monday and the resource cannot end more than 1 day in the future, the resource will not be able to be booked past 10:30 AM on Tuesday. The default is no maximum.
Certain resources can have a usage capacity. For example, some conference rooms may only hold up to 8 people. Setting the resource capacity will prevent any more than the configured number of participants at one time, excluding the organizer. The default is that resources have unlimited capacity.
Requiring check in/check out will give the reservation owner the opportunity to record when they actually begin and end a reservation. You can optionally automatically release a reserved time if a user does not check in within a given amount of time. To automatically release reservations you must configure the autorelease job.
A group of users may be set up with permission to manage resources. In order for a group to be set as the resource administrator the group must first be granted the Resource Administrator role. This is configured from the Groups admin tool. Once that role has been added, the group will be available in the Manage Resources tool.
Resource Administrators have the same capabilities as Application Administrators for any resource which the group is assigned to. They can change resource details, black out times, manage and approve reservations.
You can upload an unlimited number of resource images. These will be displayed when viewing resource details from the reservation page.
This functionality requires php_gd2 to be installed and enabled in your php.ini file. More Details
Setting a resource to the Available status will allow users with permission to book the reservation. The Unavailable status will show the resource on the schedule but will not allow it to be booked by anyone other than administrators. The Hidden status will remove the resource from the schedule and prevent bookings from all users.
Resource statuses can be added, updated, and removed by clicking the Resource Status option from the top right menu within Manage Resources.
Resource Groups are a simple way to organize and filter resources. When a booking is being created, the user will have an option to book all resources in a group. If resources in a group are assigned to different schedules then only the resources which share a schedule will be booked together.
If using resource groups, each resource must be assigned to at least one group. Due to the group hierarchy, unassigned resources will not be able to be reserved.
Drag and drop resource groups to reorganize.
Right click a resource group name for additional actions.
Drag and drop resources to add them to groups.
Resource groups can be added, updated, and removed by clicking the Resource Groups option from the top right menu within Manage Resources.
Resource types allow resources that share a common set of attributes to be managed together. Custom attributes for a resource type will apply to all resources of that type.
Resource types can be added, updated, and removed by clicking the Resource Types option from the top right menu within Manage Resources.
By default, resources can not be used in RSS or iCalendar feeds, shown on the resource tablet display, or embedded in external websites.
To allow reservations for a resource to be displayed outside of LibreBooking, enable Public Access for each resource. Once enabled, URLs for the resource tablet display, RSS feeds, iCalendar feeds, as well as the JavaScript snippet for embedding the resource calendar in external websites will be available to copy.
Resource Relationships can be used to define resources that must be booked together. To configure this, add a resource within the Must Be Booked With section. Once set, all non-administrative users will be required to book all related resources as part of a single reservation.
Resource Relationships can be used to define resources that cannot be booked as part of a single reservation. To configure this, add a resource within the Cannot Be Booked With section. Once set, all non-administrative users will be prevented from booking all related resources as part of a single reservation.
Resource Relationships can be used to define resources that cannot be booked at the same time. To configure this, add a resource within the Cannot Be Booked at the Same Time section. Once set, all non-administrative users will be prevented from booking a resource if any other related resource is booked at the same time.
Accessories can be thought of as ancillary resources used during a reservation. Examples may be projectors or chairs in a conference room.
Accessories can be viewed and managed from the Accessories menu item.
By default accessories are unlimited in quantity, meaning any number of them can be booked concurrently. Setting an accessory quantity will prevent more than a specific quantity of accessories from being booked at a time across all concurrent reservations.
It is also possible to limit accessories to only be reserved with specific resources. If an accessory is tied to a resource, it is possible to set the minimum and maximum quantity required per reservation. For example, if you must book between 10-15 chairs if you are booking a conference room.
Quotas restrict reservations from being booked based on a configurable limit. The quota system in is very flexible, allowing you to build limits based on reservation length and number reservations.
Quota limits “stack”. For example, if a quota exists limiting a resource to 5 hours per day and another quota exists limiting to 4 reservations per day, a user would be able to make 4 one-hour-long reservations but would be restricted from making 3 two-hour-long reservations. This allows powerful quota combinations to be built.
Quotas applied to a group are enforced for each user in the group individually. It does not apply to the group’s aggregated reservations.
If you choose to not include past reservations in the quota rules, the quota rule will only include current and future reservations in it’s calculation.
It is important to remember that quota limits are enforced based on the schedule’s timezone. For example, a daily limit would begin and end at midnight of the schedule’s timezone; not the user’s timezone.
Application Administrators are exempt from quota limits.
Announcements are a very simple way to display and, optionally, email notifications to users.
From the Announcements menu item you can view and manage the announcements that are displayed on users dashboards. An announcement can be configured with an optional start and end date. An optional priority level is also available, which sorts announcements from 1 to 10.
Announcements can be restricted to users in certain groups by setting a list of groups for the announcement. You can also restrict announcements only to users who have permission to specific resources.
HTML is allowed within the announcement text. This allows you to embed links or images from anywhere on the web.
Groups can be used to organize users, control resource access permissions and define roles within the application.
Setting resource permissions for a group will grant access to all members of that group. Users can individually be granted additional resource permission.
Roles give a group of users the authorization to perform certain actions.
Application Administrator: Users that belong to a group that is given the Application Administrator role are open to full administrative privileges. This role has nearly zero restrictions on what resources can be booked. It can manage all aspects of the application.
Group Administrator: Users that belong to a group that is given the Group Administrator role are able to manage their groups and reserve on behalf of and manage users within that group. A group administrator must first be assigned the Group Administrator role. This group will then be available in the Group Administrators list.
Resource Administrator: Users that belong to a group that is given the Resource Administrators role have the same capabilities as Application Administrators for any resource which the group is assigned to. They can change resource details, black out times, manage and approve reservations.
Schedule Administrator: Users that belong to a group that is given the Schedule Administrators role have the same capabilities as Application Administrators for any resource that is on a schedule which the group is assigned to. They can change schedule details, black out times, manage and approve reservations.
You can view and manage reservations from the Reservations menu item. By default you will see the last 14 days and the next 14 days worth of reservations for all users. This can be filtered more or less granular depending on what you are looking for. This tool allows you to quickly find an act on a reservation. You can also export the list of filtered reservations to CSV format for further reporting.
Resources can be set to require approval before a reservation is confirmed. The reservation becomes active only after an administrator approves it.
From the Reservations admin tool an administrator will be able to view and approve pending reservations. Pending reservations will be highlighted.
Administrators can be notified of approval requests by setting application.admin.approval to true in the reservation.notify section of Application Configuration.
Setting updates.require.approval to true in the reservation section of Application Configuration will put all reservation update requests back into a pending state.
Reservation colors can be set for individual users, resources, or dynamically based on a custom attribute value. The slot background color of a reservation on the Schedule and Calendar views will be displayed in this color.
Reservation colors for users are controlled in the User management section.
Reservation colors for resources are controlled in the Resource management section.
Reservation colors based on the value of custom attributes can be set from the drop down menu in the Reservation management section.
Blackout Times can be used to prevent reservations from being booked at certain times.
This feature is helpful when a resource is temporarily unavailable or unavailable at a scheduled recurring interval. Blacked out times are not bookable by anyone, including administrators.
Blackout Times can be created around existing reservations or can remove any conflicting reservations.
Blackout times can be configured in the Blackout Times management section.
You can add, view, and manage all registered users from the Users menu item.
This tool allows you to change resource access permissions of individual users, assign users to groups, deactivate or delete accounts, reset user passwords, and edit user details. You can also add new users, which is especially useful if self-registration is turned off.
Users must have permission to book resources. You can grant permission directly to a user, or you can set permissions at the group level. A user will inherit all permissions of the groups they belong to.
If using credits, this section is where user credit quantities can be managed.
It is common to have multiple administrative users within an organization. There are two ways to add additional administrators. Both require an existing administrator to add the new one. The new administrator must also already have an account in LibreBooking.
Option 1) Open Application Configuration, find the admin.email section, and add the other user’s email address. You can separate multiple email addresses with a space, a comma, or a semicolon.
Option 2) Open Application Management > Groups, and add the person to the Administrators group.
The new administrator will need to log out and back in to access administrative features.
Custom Attributes are a powerful extension point. You can add additional custom attributes to Reservations, Resources, Resource Types and Users.
Attributes can be configured as single line text box, a multi-line text box, a select list (drop down), a date time, or a checkbox. They can be configured to be required or optional.
Textbox attributes allow an optional validation expression to be set. This value must be a valid regular expression. For example, to require a digit to be entered, the validation expression would be /\d+/
User, Resource, and Resource Type attributes can be limited to a single entity, meaning a specific user, resource, or resource type. These attributes have an Applies To property. If an attribute is configured to apply to a single entity then it will only be collected for that entity. By default all custom attributes will apply to everything in that category – so all users, resources, or resource types.
Reservation attributes are collected during the reservation process. To collect an attribute value only for specific users or resources, check the Collect In Specific Cases option and pick the cases when the attribute should be shown.
User attributes are collected when registering and updating a user’s profile.
Resources attributes are collected when managing resources and will be displayed when viewing resource details.
Resource Type attributes are collected when managing resource types and will be displayed when viewing resource details.
Admin only attributes are only shown to users who have administrative privileges over that reservation.
Private attributes are only shown to the reservation owner and those users who have administrative privileges over that reservation.
Custom attributes are available to plugins and can be used to extend the functionality of LibreBooking.
Reservation reports are accessible to all application, group, resource and schedule administrators under the Reports menu item.
This is an easy way to view usage at a glance or over time. There is also an option to report on resource utilization.
LibreBooking comes with a set of Common Reports which can be viewed as a list of results, a chart, exported to CSV, and printed.
In addition, ad-hoc reports can be created from the Create New Report menu item. This also allows listing, charting, exporting and printing.
In addition, custom reports can be saved and accessed again at a later time from the My Saved Reports menu item. Saved reports also have the ability to be emailed.
Credits allow control over a person’s usage of resources and accessories.
Credits must first be enabled in the Application Configuration before they can be used in LibreBooking. This is done by setting enabled to true in the credits section.
Once enabled, administrators will have the ability to set the credit redemption rates resources in the Resources Management and Accessories Management sections.
Credits can have different redemption rates for peak and off peak times of a schedule. Peak times are defined per schedule in the Schedules section.
Credits can be charged based on the number of slots booked or a set amount per reservation. LibreBooking allows reservations to be created “over” blocked slots. You can choose whether or not to charge credits for all slots in a reservation or just the available slots.
If a reservation would bring a user over their credit limit, the reservation will be rejected.
Administrators can manage the number of credits allocated to a person in Users section.
To charge for reservation usage, users can purchase credits. This can be enabled by setting allow.purchase to true in the credits section of Application Configuration.
From the Payments section of Application Management administrators are able to set the cost per credit, configure payment gateways, and view purchase transaction history.
LibreBooking supports two payment gateways: Stripe and PayPal. At least one must be enabled in order to allow purchasing credits.
Within the Payments management screen, click the Payment Gateways tab and enable Stripe. LibreBooking integrates with Stripe using Stripe Checkout, which requires use of the Stripe API. First create a Stripe account if you do not already have one. On the Stripe API screen, copy your Stripe API keys into the LibreBooking Stripe gateway settings and save the payment gateway configuration. Use the test API keys if you want to simulate purchasing credits. Use the live API keys to charge users and collect payments.
Within the Payments management screen, click the Payment Gateways tab and enable PayPal. LibreBooking integrates with PayPal using Express Checkout, which requires use of the PayPal API. First create a PayPal account if you do not already have one and navigate to PayPal Developer In the REST API apps section, create a new app. In the App details section you will have access to both Sandbox and Live API credentials. Copy your PayPal app credentials into the LibreBooking PayPal gateway settings and save the payment configuration. Use the Sandbox credentials if you want to simulate purchasing credits. Use the Live credentials to charge users and collect payments.
LibreBooking provides a tablet-friendly view of a resource’s current availability.
A good use of this feature is mounting a tablet next to a resource to show real-time availability and allow on the spot reservations.
A resource must be set to be publicly available to use this view. To launch the tablet view, open the URL listed in Application Management > Resources.
From here users can view the current availability, check in to their reservation, and book new reservations.
LibreBooking provides a monitor-friendly view of a schedule’s current availability.
A good use of this feature is mounting a large monitor in a public area to show real-time availability of resources reservations.
To launch this view, open https://yourhost/Web/monitor-display.php then configure the reservations to display.
The privacy configuration setting for view.schedules must be set to true in Application Configuration for this functionality.
You can begin a LibreBooking reservation request directly from Slack. You will need to create a Slack App in your Slack workspace for this integration to work.
When creating your App, choose Slash Commands in the Add features and functionality section. Give your command a name you will remember – we recommend /book. Set the Request URL to https://yourhost/Web /integrate/slack.php and the Usage Hint to resource-name
You can then use /book resource-name from Slack to begin a reservation request, substituting resource-name for an actual resource. Providing no resource-name will being a standard booking.
It is common to require users to agree to terms of service before a reservation can be made. LibreBooking supplies two options for this – showing terms upon registration or before each reservation.
Terms of service can be set from Application Management > Reservations, then choosing the Terms of Service option from the menu on the top right. You can upload terms as plain text, a pdf document, or as an external link.