Laptop booking system

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anne holmes

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Nov 17, 2023, 10:20:07 AM11/17/23
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Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knows of a good way of setting up the following type of booking system.

We have a laptop trolley with 30 laptops which is shared between multiple departments that work with small groups of students. I want teachers to be able to book a number of laptops for a specific time while leaving the rest of the laptops available for other teachers to book at the same time.

So for example Ms X could book 7 laptops for Monday from 10:00 - 11:00 and then Mr Y could book 9 for the same time, and then any other teacher can see that there are 14 laptops still available at that time and book however many they need.

I tried setting up "resources" on google admin and setting each laptop as a resource and then allowing users to book through google calendar, but it's not very user friendly and you can't see at a glance how many are booked / still available.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Kind Regards,
Anne Holmes
Kildare Town Community School.

Shane Fleming

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Nov 17, 2023, 10:44:12 AM11/17/23
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Hi Anne,

We are a VSWare school so I set each laptop up as a room that could be booked and then it is all done through VSWare, first come first serve. 

Rooms can just be called Laptop 1 - Laptop n 

Hope that makes sense. 

Thanks,

Shane 

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Alison Kenny

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Nov 17, 2023, 11:09:47 AM11/17/23
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Hi Anne,

I was using rooms on vsware for chromebook trolleys last year bookable in baskets of 5 which I have stopped now because it was a disaster to keep track of but that was with quite a few devices. One major problem with vsware was being able to book weeks in advance then when they're not needed not being cancelled etc.

I'm trialling using a Google sheet for each trolley released to staff on a Friday for the following week where they can fill their name in next to the baskets. The baskets are colour coded in each area and the sheets to match. I can't comment on how well it will work yet but I've attached a screenshot of the sheet. 

Something similar with numbered laptops 1- 30 might work for you.

Thanks,

Ali



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Screenshot_20231117_160130_Sheets.jpg

anne holmes

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Nov 17, 2023, 11:22:19 AM11/17/23
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Thanks a million for your replies. 
For setting up the rooms on VSware I assume you had to have some admin privileges did you?


Kind Regards,
Anne Holmes

JenniferKelly

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Nov 17, 2023, 11:36:18 AM11/17/23
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Do you use VSware? The set up there might allow for a trolley and a specific number of laptops. For room booking,  you can leave a description and others can read it- adapt for laptop trolley? Good luck and have a great weekend! Jennifer 

Sent from my iPhone

On 17 Nov 2023, at 16:10, Alison Kenny <alike...@gmail.com> wrote:


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<Screenshot_20231117_160130_Sheets.jpg>

anne holmes

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Nov 17, 2023, 11:48:47 AM11/17/23
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Thanks for your reply. 
We use vsware but I don’t have whatever privileges you need to set up rooms, but maybe I could get one of the deputy principals to do it. 

Have a great weekend!

Anne. 

PDonaghy

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Nov 20, 2023, 3:37:17 AM11/20/23
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Hello Anne

Google forms and sheets work well. Input through the form is easy and you can display any of the information in a format that you need. Limitation is that the form cannot catch all input errors such as booking more laptops than availble or canceling the wrong day/time, so staff need to be careful inputting the data!

The following example shows how it works, just fill in & submit the form and refresh the browser to see the changes immediately. The Today tab shows availability & breakdown of bookings for the current day.
https://sites.google.com/view/laptopbooking/home

Regards
Patricia

Thomas Healy

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Nov 20, 2023, 5:44:55 AM11/20/23
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Hello,
I had the same issue last year,
we used this, great value and very simple to use.  External website.
I would highly recommend it.

We have a Compass which can be used the same as VS ware but we found this classroombookings.com more user friendly for staff and admin, Only downfall is it is not linked to your Compass/Office 365/Google school account. So staff have forgotten passwords regularly and as admin I have to reset this as opposed to the usual fashion.

Thanks
Tom


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Bronagh Dixon

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Nov 20, 2023, 1:54:01 PM11/20/23
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We use a Google Sheet, chromebooks can be booked in sets of 3 so someone can book all the sets if they wish or just 1 set. They just put their name in the cell. It works for us ! Attaching a screenshot. 

image.png



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Brónagh
Balbriggan ETNS
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