Introduction

All bookings are contextual to give power and meaning to them. Often, this means that many types of bookings can be made from different screens depending on the task at hand. For example, a member booking a match is almost always made from the Booking Centre. However, block bookings in the name of an event, could be made by the event organiser from the Courts tab in Manage events. Or club reservations are made from the Reservations tab in Manage courts.

For convenience there is also a means to add and remove any type of booking from the booking centre, assuming you are correctly permissioned. To do so, you need to click the school master's cap button to the left of the date selector in the booking centre. This puts you into "Desk mode" booking.

You only get this capability if it is relevant for you (i.e. you have special booking capabilities)

Desk booking mode

Desk mode booking hides your personal booking capabilities and instead provides the means to make bookings on behalf of the club. What kind of bookings you can make depend on your booking permissions. Permissions are generally given either as a club official or as an event organiser. Desk mode is mostly about setting bookings in place on behalf of others and would be typically used on a reception desk or simply to book courts for some one else as needs be

Club official booking capabilities

As a club official you can make two kinds of bookings that are unrelated to events:

1. A club reservation (Option 'Other...')
2. A solo individual booking on behalf of any user linked to the club (Option 'Individual...')

When clicking in any court slot, you'll get at least these two choices on the drop down menu (other choices would relate to events that you may organise).

For a club reservation you'll need to choose the reservation category (set up from the Reservations option within the Courts tab of Manage clubs). The screen will then allow you to choose further courts for booking and to auto-book these courts on certain week days up to a year in advance. As a feature on a reservation category, you can delegate the ability for any non club officials to book in the name of that reservation category, in which case they too will get the desk mode option.

For an individual booking, you would choose who the player was and confirm the slot. As well as booking a court for anyone like this, you can also remove a solo individual booking by clicking on the booked court and confirming.

A special feature for club officials (only) in desk mode is to be able to choose any date in the future. You are not restricted to the member booking horizon.

Event booking capabilities

You can block book courts in the name of an event in various ways so long as you are an organiser of the event. If you are not an organiser, you may still have booking capabilities as either a group leader or team captain or as a designated booker. However, as a non-organiser, you would be given the options to make relevant bookings without having to go into Desk mode as these bookings would be part of your personal capabilities. Here's a summary of the kind of bookings you can make:

1. Individual match or session

If you are an organiser of an event that hosts individual matches (e.g. friendlies, leagues, tournament draws etc), then you can book a match on behalf of anyone linked to the club. You just need to choose the event (the booking context) and the players and confirm. This includes your ability to set up an individual session (typically a coaching session) if you are organiser of that event. You'll also be able to remove a booking for any matches or sessions that are set on an event for which you are organiser.

2. Block book in the name of an event

You can block book courts in the name of an event as its organiser. Choose the event and then select and expand the slots you need. You can extend the bookings to occur on certain week days up to a year in advance. However, bookings would be restricted to be within the start and end dates of the event. If you click on an existing booking you'll be invited to remove all or some of the bookings.

Bookings in the name of an event are "dumb". There is no application functionality attached to them. It merely reserves the court with the appropriate label and MMM understands that the bookings are for play purposes for a specific event. This mode of booking, however, is more descriptive than "Club reservations" where we generally would assume the courts are blocked out for non-play reasons (e.g. maintenance).

Some events (as set in Manage Series) may prohibit the ability to block book in their name in this way.

Event block bookings are not charged except in the case where you are nominated as a designated block booker - if you are in that list you will be charged whatever the relevant fee is (which could be nothing). Those on this list will be able to book courts like this without having to go into Desk mode.

3. Block book in the name of a group or team

These bookings are similar to event bookings but add a greater degree of context as to who the booking is for (i.e. for a particular group or team) as opposed to the more generic event level booking. You still need to be organiser of the event.

Note that the group/team itself (or its leader/captain) will be charged any applicable court fees. If you are the group leader or team captain, you'll be able to make these bookings without going into Desk mode.

Some events (as set in Manage Series) may prohibit the ability to block book in their name in this way.

4. Group play session or team fixture

Unlike the above, these bookings involve rich functionality that allows member participation and fee collection. Typically, these bookings would be made by the group leaders or team captains without Desk mode, but as an organiser of the underlying event, you can set them up in Desk mode.

Navigate the prompts as required to identify either the group session or the team fixture (two teams would need to be chosen). Once confirmed, one or more group sessions will be set up on the dates/times selected for members to interact with. In the case of a team fixture, it would involve just one date and one fixture.

Contextual booking window

The contextual booking window pops after having chosen the relevant booking option from the drop down menu from the court slot. The window can be invoked even without Desk mode, because some options are relevant as the personal day-to-day options that some members may have. For example, a group leader may use it to book out a group-play session in addition to their various match play options. In Desk mode, further options may be relevant (as a club official or event organiser) and more personal options are suppressed.

The window will present the relevant prompts to ascertain the exact context of the booking including any individuals involved if applicable. Once that is achieved, you are given the opportunity to select further slots for booking and to replicate those bookings into the future - assuming block booking is relevant.

If the window is invoked from an existing booking then it is at first assumed you wish to remove the booking. However, you'll be able to switch the mode such that you can augment the bookings if this is what is required. You cannot both remove and add bookings at the same time (it would get very complicated where you are projecting bookings into the future). You are either removing or adding, not both. If you wish to do both, then you must invoke the window twice - once to add some bookings and once to remove other bookings.