1. General

When synchronizing reservations from Workplace Management to and from an external calendar (Outlook/Google Calendar) there are two possible synchronization strategies: Room-centric and user-centric. The current integration between Workplace and the external calendar application works with a room-centric approach.

2. Room-centric vs user-centric

What is the difference between room-centric and user-centric and how does it work?

Room-centric: In room-centric mode the main focus is on integrating with the room calendar (mailbox). For this approach there needs to be full access to the meeting rooms mailboxes. A meeting from Workplace is created in the rooms calendar and users are invited as participants.
User-centric: In user-centric mode the main focus is on integrating with the users calendar (mailbox). For this approach there needs to be full access to the users mailboxes. A meeting from Workplace would be created in the requestors calendar, the room is added as a resource and additonal users are invited as participants.

In room-centric mode, it is necesarry to set up permissions in the external calendar application, so that Workplace has access to the room calendar to be able to create, edit and delete meetings. A meeting created in Workplace can then be synced to the calendar application, where the meeting is created in the rooms calendar and the users are invited to the meeting as participants. The users can accept or decline the meeting in Outlook/Google, but the requestor of the meeting in Workplace, cannot edit or delete the meeting in Outlook/Google.

In the room-centric approach, meetings can only be changed/cancelled in the system the meeting is created in. But there are a few exceptions where an update is done from Workplace to a meeting created in Outlook or Google. These scenarios are described below.

3. Scenarios

In this chapter, several scenarios are described to see how reservation or meeting reflects in both systems with a room-centric approach.

An 'outbound’ meeting is created in any of the Workplace touchpoints and is synced to Outlook/Google Calendar.
An ‘inbound' meeting, is a meeting created in Outlook/Google Calendar and is synced to Workplace.

3.1 Create meeting in Workplace - synced to Outlook

The new meeting is created in any of the Workplace touchpoints (Workplace App, Go, Room display, etc.):

The meeting is synced to Outlook. The meeting room becomes the organizer of the meeting and the requestor is added as an attendee:

Because the original requestor is added as an attendee/participant to the meeting rooms meeting, the requestor gets an email to accept, decline or tentative the meeting:

The reservation can only be edited or cancelled from Workplace.

If no other participants are added, the requestor will be the only participant of the meeting. If the requestor decides to decline the meeting (his own meeting created in Workplace), the meeting will stay in the meeting rooms calendar.

3.2 Create meeting in Outlook - synced to Workplace

The new meeting is created in Outlook. The meeting room is added to the meeting.

The meeting is synced to Workplace. The user who created the meeting in Outlook, will become the requestor in Workplace. The meeting room is added to the meeting.

The 'Edit Meeting Details' button is visible, but no actual changes can be made for the future reservation in the Workplace App.

No options are available to Change or Cancel the meeting in Go.

If the user tries to Change the meeting in Workplace Management, the user will get an error:

The user can Cancel the meeting, which will result in the meeting being cancelled in Workplace. In Outlook, the meeting is removed from the rooms mailbox, making the room available again. The meeting will stay in the users mailbox in Outlook until it is deleted in Outlook by the user.

3.3 Create meeting in Workplace - synced to Google Calendar

The new meeting is created in any of the Workplace touchpoints (Workplace App, Go, Room display, etc.):

The meeting is synced to Google Calendar. The meeting room becomes the organizer of the meeting and the requestor is added as a guest (participant):

Because the original requestor is added as a guest to the meeting rooms meeting, the requestor gets an email to accept (Yes), decline (No) or tentative (Maybe) the meeting:

The reservation can only be edited or cancelled from Workplace.

If no other participants are added, the requestor will be the only attendee of the meeting. If the requestor decides to decline the meeting (his own meeting created in Workplace), the meeting will stay in the meeting rooms calendar.

3.4 Create meeting in Google Calendar - synced to Workplace

The new meeting is created in Google Calendar. The meeting room is added to the meeting.

The meeting is synced to Workplace. The user who created the meeting in Google Calendar, will become the requestor in Workplace. The meeting room is added to the meeting.

The 'Edit Meeting Details' button is visible, but no actual changes can be made for the future reservation in the Workplace App.

No options are available to Change or Cancel the meeting in Go.

If the user tries to Change the meeting in Workplace Management, the user will get an error:

The user can Cancel the meeting, which will result in the meeting being cancelled in Workplace. In Outlook, the meeting is removed from the rooms mailbox, making the room available again. The meeting will stay in the users mailbox in Outlook until it is deleted in Outlook.

3.5 No show via brain rule (automation)

A brain rule (automation) can be active which automatically frees up a meeting room, if the user who reserved the meeting room does not show up. With a occupancy sensor, the occupancy can be detected in a meeting room. If no occupancy is detected in the first 15 minutes of a meeting for example, the brain rule will automatically set the reservation to 'no show'.

A 'no show' update on an outbound meeting is considered a “regular“ update, because the update comes from the same source as where the meeting is created.

A 'no show' update on an inbound meeting is considered as “special“ update, because the update (Workplace) does not come from the same source (Outlook/Google Calendar) as where the meeting is created.

A meeting is created in Outlook/Google Calendar:

The sensor in the meeting room does not detect occupancy within the first 15 minutes of the meeting, which triggers the brain rule to “no show“ the meeting. In the room-centric approach Workplace does not have permission to edit the meeting in the users calendar, but the meeting in the meeting rooms calendar can be updated/cancelled. In case of a no show, the meeting in the meeting rooms calendar is completely removed, resulting in the meeting room becoming available again.

3.6 End ongoing meeting early

In the Workplace App it is possible to end an ongoing meeting early. This can potentially be inbound or outbound meetings.

Outbound

Meeting created in: Workplace
End ongoing meeting early from: Workplace App

Because the meeting is created in Workplace and the end ongoing meeting early is also done from Workplace (same as the source of the reservation), this will be considered as a “regular“ update.

The meeting is created in Workplace and is synced to Outlook/Google Calendar. In a room-centric approach the meeting is created in the calendar of the meeting room in Outlook/Google Calendar and the user is invited to the meeting as a participant. The end early is executed on the ongoing meeting.

This will result in:

The meeting in the meeting rooms calendar is updated with the new end time and the meeting room will become available for other meetings again
The meeting in the users calendar is also updated with the new end time

The meeting in the meeting rooms and users (participant) calendar is updated with the new end time. The original meeting was from 15:45-16:45 but now the meeting rooms meeting is updated to 15:45-16:00 and the room is available again from 16:00 to be reserved by someone else.

Inbound

Meeting created in: Outlook/Google Calendar
End ongoing meeting early from: Workplace App

Because the meeting is created in Outlook/Google Calendar and the end ongoing meeting early is done from Workplace (different as the source of the reservation), this will be considered as a “special“ update in the room-centric approach.

The meeting is created in Outlook/Google Calendar in the users calendar and is synced to Workplace. In a room-centric approach Workplace does not have access to the users calendar and thats why the meeting in the users calendar cannot be changed when the meeting is ended early from the Workplace App. But in this case, the meeting in the meeting rooms calendar can be changed.