There are various situations where you may need time between meetings to prepare the room for the next use. However, it can occur that other employees are waiting outside for the next scheduled meeting, causing potential overlap or disruptions.
For example, when a combined room has been used as separate rooms, it takes some time to reconfigure it back into a combined space as the divider walls need to be repositioned. Another scenario is when you request the room to be cleaned from the catering service after each booking. Additionally, you may prefer a buffer period between bookings to account for any potential delays, ensuring that overlapping reservations do not cause issues.
To ensure sufficient time for preparing the room between meetings, the 'Buffer Time' feature has been implemented.
Note: Since buffer time can only be set up in the GoBright portal, Outlook will not recognize it when making a booking through Outlook which may allow the booking to be processed without accounting for the buffer time. Therefore, we recommend using the GoBright Add-in.
Additionally, it's advisable to use the Approvals feature to ensure that the booking is in line with the buffer time settings in the GoBright portal and that there are no conflicts.
Buffer time can be configured for meeting rooms or catering services. This article provides a detailed explanation of both options.
Both types of buffer time can be combined. If different buffer times apply, the longer buffer time takes precedence. For example, if a meeting room has a 10-minute buffer after the booking ends and the catering service has a 30-minute buffer, the 30-minute buffer will be applied.
Buffer time configured for meeting rooms
In the Room profile settings, the 'Buffer Time' option will appear only when the 'Room needs approval' is enabled.
Once the buffer time is activated, two additional settings will be available: one to configure the buffer time before a booking and another for the buffer time after a booking. These buffer times will be factored into the approval process and will be considered when displaying bookings in the approval list. If a booking violates the configured buffer times, an error message will be displayed to indicate the conflict.
Buffer time in Timeline
Buffer time is visible in the Timeline with transparent red stripes before and after the meeting depending on the buffer time setup.
If you try to drag and drop the meeting to another room, the buffer time is also shown:
Buffer time in combined rooms:
To use buffer time with combined rooms, you must activate the buffer time setting in the profile of the combined room itself. Please note that when using combined rooms, this setting needs to be enabled for all individual rooms within the combination, in addition to the combined room. This ensures there are no conflicts when there are booking meetings in the separate rooms.
It is important to know that if you set different buffer time in the profile of the combined room and a different time in the profile of each individual room, the portal will respect the longer buffer time set in these profiles.
For example, if you set the buffer time 20 minutes before the meeting starts in the individual room profile and 50 minutes buffer time for the profile of the combined room, you will be able to make a booking with a buffer time of 50 minutes in the individual rooms and in the combined room.
Buffer time configured for catering service
Buffer time can be configured for catering services through Service Routing. This feature allows you to reserve additional time before and after a meeting to prepare or clean up after a service has been used.
This feature is controlled by a feature flag and must be enabled before it can be configured.
Enabling Buffer Time for Service Routing
To enable this feature, log in with your Admin account and navigate to Settings > Meet > Service Routing and enable Buffer time.
Once enabled, you can configure the buffer time before and after a meeting for each applicable service item.
How Buffer Time Works
The configured buffer time is applied to the meeting for which the service item is booked. It reserves additional time before and/or after the meeting in the Timeline, in the same way as buffer time configured for meeting rooms.
If buffer time is configured for both the meeting room and the service item, the system applies the longer buffer time. The two settings do not add up.
For example:
- The meeting room has a 10-minute buffer after the meeting.
- The catering service has a 30-minute buffer after the meeting.
- The system applies a 30-minute buffer after the meeting.
The same principle applies when multiple service items have different buffer times: the highest applicable buffer time takes precedence.
Buffer Time and Service Provider Working Hours
Service Routing also takes the service provider's working hours into account when applying buffer time. This ensures that buffer time does not extend beyond the provider's working hours.
- Buffer time extending beyond the end of the working day: If the buffer time falls outside the provider's working hours, it is moved to the next morning.
- Buffer time extending before the start of the working day: If the buffer time falls before the provider's working hours, it is reserved at the end of the previous working day. For example, a 30-minute buffer before the start of the working day blocks the last 30 minutes of the previous working day.
Please note: The service provider's working hours affect only the buffer time, not the time slots during which the service item can be ordered.
To enable the Working hours, log in with your Admin account and navigate to Settings > Meet > Service Routing and enable Working hours service provider.
Buffer time in Timeline
Buffer time is visible in the Timeline with transparent red stripes before and after the meeting depending on the buffer time setup.
If you try to drag and drop the meeting to another room, the buffer time will also be applied.
When rescheduling a meeting that has service orders, you will be prompted to confirm whether you want to move the associated services and then you can save the changes of the meeting time or place.