Manage Schedules -- "Reservation offset" ???

[GlennCauley]

On the Manage Schedules page, may I please have have a description of the "Reservation offset" field, how to use it, and what effects it has?


Thank you!

[Nick]

This sets the number of days ahead of time that a user must book.  For instance, if today is the 25th and you have a reservation offset of 2, users cannot make a reservation prior to the 27th.

This feature is being eclipsed in version 1.2 by minimum and maximum booking notice times.

[GlennCauley]

Ideally, what we are looking for is a "moving window" during which time people can book a resource...
So an allowable booking period would be the current date up to (say) 2 weeks from the current date.   Beyond 2 weeks from the current date, nothing could be booked (except maybe by admins).

The "booking window" would always need to be moving.
So on July 1st you could book up until July 15 but not beyond that.
On July 2nd, you could book up until July 16 but not beyond that.

Does such a thing exist, even in v1.2?

We are managing to do this in v1.1 with blackout periods, but it is a manual, highly labour intensive process... we have to shift the blackout period from time to time... for all resources.

[Nick]

Yes, that exists in 1.2.  Take a look at the demo (http://php.brickhost.com/demo.php) and play around with the feature.

[GlennCauley]

Yes, that exists in 1.2.  Take a look at the demo (http://php.brickhost.com/demo.php) and play around with the feature.

Okay, will do.

Here's the tricky part... we have already deployed v1.1 to our members, and have it loaded up with a lot of resources, users, and there's already a lot of reservations made.

Would we be able to update to v1.2 and then somehow easily migrate all the data into the new system so that we don't lose any data or downtime?    (I think I know what the answer will be, but I have to ask anyway!     ).

Glenn

[Nick]

There is a clear upgrade path to 1.2 from 1.x.x without losing any data.  Any customization to the code that you did will be lost, of course.

[GlennCauley]

There is a clear upgrade path to 1.2 from 1.x.x without losing any data.  Any customization to the code that you did will be lost, of course.

Woo hoo!!!    

Would you please point me to whre the instructions are?

[Nick]

If you're working with production data, I would not upgrade to 1.2 beta.  This is still unstable and just for testing.  Instructions are in readme.html.

[GlennCauley]

I tried using the demo to simulate the way we would like the system to work, but it is not quite what we are looking for.

Here is what we would like...

We would like to have a shifting 2-week 'availability window' for which a resource would be open for booking. The 'availability window' would be from the current date for a defined period going forward.  The resource would not be available beyond the 'availability window.'  This is to prevent users from booking resources too far ahead into the future.

For example...
If today is August 10, we would like to set the resource so it can be booked between August 10-24 (inclusive) but not beyond.
Tomorrow (August 11), the resource would be available to be booked between August 11-25 (inclusive) but not beyond.
On the next day (August 12), the resource would be available to be booked between August 12-26 (inclusive) but not beyond.
And so on...


Would you let me know exactly what fields would have to be filled with what values, in order to make this happen?



Thanks!

[Nick]

1.2 allows this.  You can set the maximum notification time (in your case, 14 days) and minimum notification time (in your case empty).  So you can book a reservation anytime from today up until 14 days out, but not before or after.

[Baxx]

We have a test installation of 1.2.4 running, in order to decide if we should upgrade from 1.1 to this version.

For me, this min/max feature would be very important. However, it looks like it's not working. I created a test resource with min "24" and max "48" hours. But still, as a normal user (no admin), I'm able to book one hour in advance or 1 week in advance without getting the min or the max notice.

What's wrong? Do I have a missunderstanding there?

[Nick]

I have not heard any bug reports about this before.  If you want, try this out on the demo and see if the problem exists there.

I will confirm that this is not a bug in my development code.

[GlennCauley]

1.2 allows this.  You can set the maximum notification time (in your case, 14 days) and minimum notification time (in your case empty).  So you can book a reservation anytime from today up until 14 days out, but not before or after.

I am trying to do this in your latest demo version online, but it is not working.

Here's what I'm doing:
1. Create new schedule "Boats"
2. Create new resource "Boat 1"
3. Set "Minimum Booking Notice"  to  "0"
4. Set "Maximum Booking Notice"  to  "336"   (14 days)
5. Created reservation successfully for January 8, 2007
6. Created reservation successfully for January 29, 2007

Okay, here's the problem... from today (January 8th) I should not be able to book beyond January 22 (14 days away) since I had set the max. reservation time to 336 hours (14 days).

Please help?

[Nick]

I'll try to verify this.  Thanks.

[littomalt]

Hi

First of all, im a new user, a pleased one! Thanks for giving me the oportunity to use this sw!
I run version 1.2.8

I have red this post and i get same reults as Glenn.

I use his exsample 0 days to 14 days on my resource (a car) and still get possibility to book more than 14 dayes ahead.  

Can you give me(us all) some feedback regarding this issue?

Thanks in advance!


Tor in Norway