Calven is the most advanced desk booking tool in the world, with a variety of booking options designed to accommodate the different space types in your office. There are 4 main ways that you can book desks using Calven
- Auto-booking
- Presence-based booking
- Manual booking
- Assigned desks
Auto-booking
Auto-booking is one of Calven’s core features to optimize your office and streamline the experience for employees. How auto-booking works is simple: you set your schedule, then Calven auto-books desks for you. Keep reading to learn more…
How far in advance does Calven auto-book desks?
Calven auto-booking happens according to the auto-booking horizon for the office you’ve set your working location to. For example, if the office’s horizon is 2 days, then your desk for Wednesday will be auto-booked on Monday. In the lead-up, you’ll have a tentative booking where you can see your working location, but no official desk yet. Calven will book you a specific desk when the auto-booking horizon passes. Learn more about booking settings and horizons
How does Calven auto-book?
Calven offers 2 unique algorithms for auto-booking desks in an office:
-
Prioritize group togetherness
-
Prioritize individual favorite desks
Let’s unpack how these two auto-booking methods work:
Prioritizing group togetherness is the auto-booking algorithm that most offices choose to use. This works best for space-constrained offices where optimizing desk usage is important. If your office uses this algorithm, you will be auto-booked at desks near other members of your primary group. Groups can be allocated to specific neighborhoods in the office, or to truly optimize space usage, Calven will find the “best fit” area to book each un-allocated group - based on their planned attendance for the day.
Prioritizing individual preference allows for more flexibility for each user when auto-booking, at the expense of group coordination. This method works best in offices without space constraints. If your office uses this algorithm, you can ‘favorite’ desks you’d like to be auto-booked at, and Calven will try its best to book you at them the next time auto-booking runs; rather thank booking you near other members of your group. Groups can still be allocated to specific neighborhoods in this algorithm, so in order to be auto-booked at one of your favorite desks, your group must be allocated there or the neighborhood must allow overflow bookings.
When your organization is onboarded into Calven, we work with administrators to configure your offices with the right algorithm for the way you work.
Booking Algorithm Comparison:
|
Feature |
Individual preference |
Group togetherness |
|
Auto-booking cadence |
Every Sunday, one week worth of auto-bookings is created* |
Every day, one day worth of auto-bookings is created |
|
⛔ |
✅ |
|
|
Choose favorite desks |
✅ |
⛔ |
|
⛔ |
✅ |
|
|
✅ |
✅ |
|
|
⛔ |
✅ |
|
|
‘Upcoming office day’ notifications |
✅ |
✅ |
|
⛔ |
✅ |
|
|
✅ |
✅ |
|
|
✅ |
✅
|
*In the individual favorite desks algorithm, bookings can be created weekly - one week at a time; or fortnightly - 2 weeks at a time. Learn more
Presence-based booking
Presence-based booking is Calven’s most dynamic way of managing space - in fact, some offices are presence-only in order to skip the hassle of planning granular desk bookings. Once your office has presence integrations configured, you can choose to book desks via automations that detect your presence at the office, a neighborhood, or even when you plug into a dock connector at a desk. Learn more about presence automations.
Manual booking
Manual booking refers to your ability to manually select a desk and book it. Most offices allow manual booking after auto-booking has already happened, to give users flexibility to change where they want to sit. It’s also possible to enable manual booking only, if you’d rather be more deliberate with desk bookings and not worry about automating space optimization. Learn more about booking on the floor map
Assigned desks
Some offices prefer to use more traditional permanently assigned desks to avoid having to book and instead give each person a permanent home. While editing the floor plan, admins can choose whether desks are shared or assigned to a specific person. By default, assigned desks are permanently booked by their assignees.
If you’d like to add a bit of optimization, Calven offers a booking automation called auto-release assigned desks. This can be enabled to free up assigned desks and allow others to book them when the assignee’s working location is remote, away, or at another office.
