Creating reservations with the foundation UI

There are several different methods of creating reservations that depend on your role. These roles include the Request Central role, Contact Center Agent, Reservation Coordinator, and Microsoft Outlook user. Regardless of the method that you use, these different reservation methods trigger the same set of business rules for the booking status and work tasks.

Reservation integration data flow

To illustrate the integration between our foundation UI application and Microsoft Exchange, here's a basic diagram of the integration data flow. The arrows represent the step-by-step data flow from clicking Submit (Step 1) to seeing the newly created TRIRIGA® reservation (Steps 13a-13b). For more details on the step-by-step data flow, see Integration overview.

A diagram that describes the flow of data between different components as numbered arrows between colored boxes. In the left-most third of the diagram, there is a green box above two yellow boxes. The green box is labeled 'Browser' within which a smaller blue box is labeled 'Foundation UI'. The upper yellow box is labeled 'Microsoft Outlook'. The lower yellow box is labeled 'Microsoft Exchange'. Spanning the middle and right-most thirds of the diagram, a single large light-blue box is labeled 'TRIRIGA' within which two smaller vertical blue boxes are labeled 'TRIRIGA Platform' and 'TRIRIGA Application'.

Reservation creation process flow

To set the context, our foundation TRIRIGA reservation application enables you to manage the reservations of shared rooms such as meeting spaces and workspaces, shared equipment such as projectors, and shared vehicles. Here's a basic diagram of the TRIRIGA reserve process flow. By comparison, although the data flow in our Perceptive app follows a different path from the data flow in our foundation UI application, their process flows are still rather similar.

A diagram that describes the process flow between different actions as solid lines and dashed lines between colored boxes. In the left half of the diagram, a set of gray boxes is titled 'Foundation UI'. The first gray box is labeled 'Create Reservation', while the final gray box is labeled 'Submit Reservation'. In the right half of the diagram, a set of mostly blue boxes is titled 'Perceptive App'. The first blue box is labeled 'Select Meeting Room or Workspace', while the final blue box is labeled 'Create Reservation'.

Reservation roles and scenarios

In our foundation UI application, although the different methods of creating reservations are similar, the differences come from the varying portals and processes that the reservation roles use.
Role Scenario
Request Central role This role signs into the Request Central portal. In this self-service scenario, the Request Central role creates a reservation, specifies the details, and submits the reservation. The active request becomes visible to all of the Reservation Coordinators who manage the reservable spaces within the requested building.
Contact Center Agent This role signs into the Contact Center Agent portal and processes caller requests to reserve non-private rooms. In this help-desk scenario, the Contact Center Agent answers a call, creates a reservation, specifies the call details, and submits the reservation for the caller.
Reservation Coordinator This role signs into the Reservation Coordinator portal.
  • The first scenario processes online requests for reservations. In this request scenario, the Reservation Coordinator receives a request, creates a reservation, specifies the request details, and submits the reservation for the requestor.
  • The second scenario processes caller requests to reserve private rooms. In this concierge scenario, the Reservation Coordinator answers a call, creates a reservation, specifies the call details, and submits the reservation for the caller.
Microsoft Outlook user If the IBM TRIRIGA Workplace Reservation Manager application is integrated with Microsoft Exchange, this user opens Microsoft Outlook. In this self-service scenario, the user creates a reservation, specifies the details, and submits the reservation.

Reservation creation

Creating a reservation triggers the following business rules:
  • When you add rooms to the reservation before you submit the reservation, the booking status of each added room changes to Tentative. If the added rooms are still available after you submit the reservation, the booking status of each added room changes from Tentative to Accepted. If the room is not available and the status is Declined, you can select a new room for reservation or adjust the meeting time. If the rooms are available after you submit the reservation, the booking status changes to Accepted.
  • In the User calendar, you can view only the reservation time. If a room layout includes a setup time and breakdown time, these times are blocked off as busy periods before and after the reservation duration. Work tasks are also created for room setup and room breakdown. You can view the reservation times and the busy periods in the Space/Room calendar. You can view available rooms with the busy periods blocked off in the Find Available Times tab. The Available Rooms - List View tab shows only the available rooms without the busy periods.
  • If you order food services, a purchase order record is created.
  • If you reserve equipment or order equipment services, the equipment is reserved for the same reservation duration. Work tasks are also created for equipment delivery and equipment pickup.
  • If you reserve vehicles, the vehicles are reserved for the same reservation duration. Work tasks are also created for vehicle delivery and vehicle pickup.

Reservation change

Changing a reservation triggers the following business rules:
  • When you add rooms to the reservation before you submit the reservation, the booking status of each added room changes to Tentative. If the added rooms are still available after you submit the reservation, the booking status of each added room changes from Tentative to Accepted. If the room is not available and the status is Declined, you can select a new room for reservation or adjust the meeting time. If the rooms are available after you submit the reservation, the booking status changes to Accepted.
  • In the User calendar, you can view only the reservation time. If a room layout includes a setup time and breakdown time, these times are blocked off as busy periods before and after the edited reservation duration. The original work tasks are also retired and different work tasks are created for room setup and room breakdown. You can view the reservation times and the busy periods in the Space/Room calendar. You can view available rooms with the busy periods blocked off in the Find Available Times tab. The Available Rooms - List View tab shows only the available rooms without the busy periods.
  • If you order food services, the original purchase order record is retired and a different purchase order record is created.
  • If you reserve equipment or order equipment services, the equipment is reserved for the edited reservation duration. The original work tasks are also retired and different work tasks are created for equipment delivery and equipment pickup.
  • If you reserve vehicles, the vehicles are reserved for the edited reservation duration. The original work tasks are also retired and different work tasks are created for vehicle delivery and vehicle pickup.

Reservation cancellation

Canceling a reservation triggers the following business rules:
  • If a room layout includes a setup time and breakdown time, the work tasks are retired for room setup and room breakdown.
  • If you cancel food services, the purchase order record is retired.
  • If you cancel equipment or equipment services, the work tasks are retired for equipment delivery and equipment pickup.
  • If you cancel vehicles, the work tasks are retired for vehicle delivery and vehicle pickup.
Note: If you cancel a reservation series, this action will remove all past and future occurrences of the meeting series from your calendar. The only way to remove future occurrences without removing past occurrences is to delete each instance of a recurring meeting individually.

Reservation pagination

The foundation UI application contains availability pagination functionality in the query header under the Available Rooms – List View tab. The availability pagination consists of a Check More link, which will check the availability of the next set of query results and will display only the results that are marked as available. The results displayed will correspond to the result size specified by the Show selector.

The availability pagination display includes a Checked value, an Available value, and a Total value. The Checked value displays the number results that have so far been checked as the user paginates. The Available value displays the number of checked results that are marked as available as the user paginates. The Total value indicates the number of total query results regardless of having been checked for availability. The Back link will take the user to the previous set of results, but the Checked and Available values will remain as they have already been processed.

The graphics sections under the Available Rooms - Floor Plan View tab will contain availability pagination that is synchronized with the Available Rooms - List View tab described above.

For more details on availability pagination for Reserve queries in the foundation application, as well the availability (tree grid) section pagination, see the Application Building for the IBM TRIRIGA Application Platform.