Online Resource Manager

[Muskie]

Currently we just book meeting rooms internally using a public folder
in MS Exchange. Actually people usually don't book the rooms...
Apparently we can't make the availability of the room available to the
world wide web. At least that is what our IT guy told me.

I've been Googling and maybe I should just use Google Calendar, but we
want a way for our members to see when the space is booked for an
event and when it is available. We may expand beyond that if we allow
booking of other resources such as the projector, the magic digital
white board, etc. etc.

We're knew to this, but even in a small group things can get double
booked, so this is a problem I want to head off from the get go. So
what are other people using? We already have a Facebook FanPage for
BOB, and our own website, but that is for our entire organization not
just our coworking space.

Cheers,

[gerard]

Hi,

Check out divvy.com or genbook.com. Divvy.com integrates with PayPal,
if you want to tie in charging for resources. I believe GenBook is
only about reservations - you're on your own for payment.

Thanks,
Gerard

[Chris Conrey]

We use a complicated post it note system. Write your name and time on
a post it note and stick it to the door. If you aren't there call or
email someone who is. First post it note on the door has priority -
honor system - and run from there.

Chris Conrey 602-402-0205
Sent from my iPhone

[Kelly Brown]

We use Divvy.com to great success for online booking.
And whiteboards versions of the online schedule for in-house
visibility.

It takes a bit for users to understand the navigation if you have more
than 1 room. But our members at the Akron office really love it.
(That and it's free - which is cool).

We'll see how it works when we expand out our second coworking
facility in Cuyahoga Falls.

FYI - We tried MindBody Online. But it wasn't really set up for how
coworking facilities work. At least not ours.
They tried to work with us -- and maybe we were a nightmare client --
but it was a lot of money for something that just didn't work in *our*
application.
(It cost like $1000 to start w/$100 per month.)

Kelly Brown
http://www.officespacecoworking.com

On Nov 7, 11:21 am, Chris Conrey <con...@chrisconrey.com> wrote:
> We use a complicated post it note system.  Write your name and time on  
> a post it note and stick it to the door.  If you aren't there call or  
> email someone who is.  First post it note on the door has priority -  
> honor system - and run from there.
>
> Chris Conrey 602-402-0205
> Sent from my iPhone
>

[Steven Heath]

I looked at divvy but at the time was not what I wanted.

I played round with MindBody but the interface was to be honest narf
and 1997 keep calling asking for their look & feel back.

I used a open source system which is fine, its not fantastic but does
the trick. Create meetings, userid's rooms (and can do desks as well)
all world readable but only users can CRUD.

It does not have cookie support (so log on iteachtime) and it is not
flash but it works.

http://mrbs.sourceforge.net/

We did mod it at the time as how it handled passwords was very simple.

Take care

--
Steven Heath
Director, Foxbane Consulting
Founder, AltSpace
Cell: +64 21 706-067
www.foxbane.co.nz
Level 22
Plimmer Towers
2 Gilmer Terrace
Wellington

AltSpace.co.nz - Shared office space in Wellington for home based
workers, freelancers, or nimble companies

[Jerome Chang]

Hi.

I admit MindBody was a tough implementation especially for our
customers' requests for an infinite # of ways to use our space. But I
eventually got it to work and now it just works really well. I do
also admit that the interface is pretty dated, but the integration of
memberships, reservations, and point-of-sale (POS) transactions sold
us. You can schedule auto-payments, events, payments for those
events, etc.

So, if anyone wants some help to wrap their heads around implementing
MB for coworking, let me know. Because the core concept of thinking
of your desks as "instructors" (MB is made for yoga studios, etc.) is
really difficult.


Jerome
______________
BLANKSPACES
"work wide open"

www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea)
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)

[Steven Heath]

> So, if anyone wants some help to wrap their heads around implementing
> MB for coworking, let me know.  Because the core concept of thinking
> of your desks as "instructors" (MB is made for yoga studios, etc.) is
> really difficult.

Jerome has suggested MindBody several times and I think it does
everything a coworking location would want.

When you know this is aimed at a person/room combo (ie book your fav
instructor in your fav room) it can apply to coworking easy.

I spent time working on the demo, setting up my own site on it and
just could not understand why their interface was so crap for a paid
service. The other downside is that MindBody was referring me to a
'local' partner with my questions as I am in New Zealand. This 'local'
partner was like being in LA and being referred to a company with its
only office in Montreal. They also did not understand any of my
comments about being able to make the interface any better (but all
emails talked about ability to customisation to any look and feel) and
seemed to want to charge more than if I went online and signed up on
the main website.

The ability to issue cards, do credit cards online, POS and such like
is still a plus but not enough for me to put up with their interface.

[Kelly Brown]

Ditto on steve's note.
I could wrap my brain around it fine and spent several hours with
their implementation team.

Many plusses.
But not ideal for our biz model at Office Spce Coworking.

That and it was overly complex. Features out the wazoo. But we wanted
something simpler / cleaner.

It's a square peg, round hole type of thing. They do what they do well
but they admit it's for yoga, not Coworking.

Mostly if I was going to pay that much for it - it was going to serve
as POS AND reservation system AND memberhip admin. -- Deal breaker was
it'd need to handle check-in AND check-out for tracking hours
utilization. It does many things, but not that.

After we reflected on all how this did and did not align to our
needs and the needs of our members, we decded best to keep searching
before spending good money on the wrong solution.

We ended up stringing 2-3 simple / free systems together to get what
we needed.










We found our best alternative was to apply 2-3 simple (free) systems
together to get something tha

[resourcesuites]

Aloha, I am getting ready to launch an online marketplace of meeting
spaces. You can use our calendar for free and if you agree can post
real time availability for the consumer to book by(buy)the hour day
or longer. Check us out at http://meetsaas.com and I will email you
a trial calendar as well

[Mike Pihlman]

After years in the collaboration / videoconferencing business where
hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent getting just the right
on-line scheduling system......I have, in the Tracy Virtual Office, a
piece of paper on the door of each space that can be scheduled. Write
your name, the time and date you need it.....if someone is in the room
when the meeting starts, they will leave.

:-)

Mike

--
Mike Pihlman
TracyVirtualOffice
"A Coworking Community"
95 W. 11th Street, Suite 203
Tracy, CA 95376
Mobile: 209-608-4340
Web: TracyVirtualOffice.com
Twitter: @TracyVirtOffice
Skype: tracyvirtualoffice1

[Jacob Sayles]

Similar conclusion here. We opted for a whiteboard system. We do
have a remote interface device that utilizes real-time audio for live,
interactive scheduling... the telephone.

Jacob

---
Office Nomads - Individuality without Isolation
http://www.officenomads.com - (206) 323-6500

[Muskie]

Someone signed me up to this on my personal address. We were going to
check out Divvy. I got to get others on board with this, we have a
staff meeting in 15 minutes.

On Nov 9, 2:26 am, resourcesuites <dan...@resourcesuites.com> wrote:
> Aloha, I am getting ready to launch an online marketplace of meeting
> spaces.  You can use our calendar for free and if you agree can post
> real time availability for the consumer to   book by(buy)the hour day

> or longer.  Check us out athttp://meetsaas.com and I will email you

[Glen Ferguson]

Another divvy-like alternative, I looked at supersaas.com and thought it had potential. While the name is similar to the site you mentioned, it doesn't look like they're related.

Glen

[Jeff Gunther]

Hi Kelly,

Over the coming months, OpenSpace is working to productize the
solution we built. Our system currently handles the POS, billing,
membership management, and resource management side of the business.
The system is adaptable for both hourly and monthly plans.

If you are interested to learn more, please contact me directly.

Jeff Gunther
OpenSpace
455 Second Street SE, Suite 100
Charlottesville, VA 22902
T: (434) 409-2676
F: (866) 812-5291
jeff.g...@getopenspace.com

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[Fjan]

Yeah, supersaas.com works really well for this kind of thing, I've
seen it used by several companies for just that.

Jan

> > > or longer.  Check us out athttp://meetsaas.comand I will email you