Book and use an instrument

1. Open Schedule and choose + Book equipment. You can also choose + Reserve time under a day, or tap free time in the Timeline view.
2. Choose the Equipment. An instrument marked (training needed) cannot be chosen until a core manager grants you training. Only instruments your core set to require training are marked, and none are when the core has switched training checks off.
3. Set Start and End. The form names your time zone above the fields.
4. Enter the Paying account, such as a lab, grant, chartstring, or PO. If your core uses projects, choose a Project in its place.
5. Enter a Protocol number if the instrument asks for one, and describe the work under Purpose.
6. Choose Reserve equipment. On an instrument that needs approval, the button reads Request reservation.

Under the estimate, the form lists the rules of the instrument you picked: the shortest and longest session, how far ahead you can book, the notice it needs, its bookable hours, its setup and cleanup time, and whether it needs training or approval.

A booking is refused, with the reason, when:

• the start is in the past;
• the session is shorter or longer than the instrument allows;
• it ends later than the instrument lets you book ahead;
• it starts sooner than the notice the instrument needs;
• it falls outside the bookable hours;
• your training does not cover the whole session;
• it would pass a limit your core set per person;
• the time is already held.

Core managers are not held to the notice, the bookable hours, or the limits per person, so they can book to fix the schedule. They can also book for someone else with the Researcher field.

You get one email reminder, about a day before a confirmed session. To put a session in your calendar app, open it and choose Download calendar event.

1. In the booking form, set Repeat to Every day, Weekdays (Mon–Fri), or Every week.
2. Enter the Number of sessions, from 2 to 60.
3. Check the dates listed under the fields, then choose the button. It shows your count, for example Reserve 5 sessions.

Every session keeps the same clock time. All the sessions are booked together or none are: if any date is taken, nothing is booked and the message names the dates to change. Limits per person are checked for the series as a whole.

To cancel, open any session of the series and choose This day only or All upcoming days in this series. Sessions are moved one at a time.

When an instrument has setup or cleanup time, a reservation holds the instrument for longer than the session. The held time runs from the setup minutes before your start to the cleanup minutes after your end. Nobody else can book into it. Two held times may touch, and they may not overlap.

For example, with 15 minutes of setup and 30 minutes of cleanup, a session from 2:00 to 4:00 holds the instrument from 1:45 to 4:30. The next person can start at 4:45, after their own setup time.

• The booking form says how many minutes are held before and after. The reservation lists them under Setup and cleanup.
• You check in at your reserved start, not during the setup time.
• If you check out early, the rest of your session is free for others once your cleanup time has passed.
• A reservation keeps the setup and cleanup time it was booked with. Moving it applies the instrument's current values.
• A maintenance block holds only its own time. A training session holds setup and cleanup time, like a research session.

A core manager can limit an instrument to set days and hours, such as Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 18:00. The booking form shows them. An instrument with no hours set can be booked at any time.

• Your whole session must fit inside the hours of one day. Setup and cleanup time may fall outside them.
• The hours are read in the time zone of the workspace, which may differ from yours. The form names the zone beside the hours.
• The same rule applies when you move a reservation.
• Core managers can book outside the hours.

On an instrument that requires approval, your booking is a request. It shows as Awaiting approval and holds its time while you wait.

How long a request holds its time

Each instrument sets the hold in hours, and a new instrument starts at 24. The hold never runs past the start of the session. Open the request to see Held until.

When the hold runs out, the request is released. Its status becomes Expired, the time is free for others, and you get an email. A check runs every 15 minutes, so the release can come a few minutes after the deadline. To get the time back, book it again.

With a hold of 0 hours, a request holds its time until someone decides.

For core managers

1. Open the request on the calendar. The line above the calendar counts the requests awaiting approval, and you get an email when someone else makes a request.
2. Choose Approve reservation or Decline reservation. Declining asks for a reason, which is emailed to the researcher.

For a repeat booking, Approve whole series approves every session that is still waiting. Approval checks again that the person is trained and that the instrument is available.

Projects with an approver Core plan

A project can name an approver, such as the PI. A booking charged to that project waits for the approver first and shows as Awaiting project approval. The approver opens My reservations, finds it under Requests to approve, and chooses Approve for the project or Decline reservation. If the instrument also needs a core manager, the request then waits for one, with a hold of its own.

Move a reservation

1. Open the reservation and choose Move reservation.
2. Set New start and New end.
3. Choose Save new time.

Moving keeps your price. If the new time is taken, your reservation stays where it was. Only a reservation that has not started can be moved, and the new time must pass the same rules as a new booking.

On an instrument that requires approval, a move you make yourself goes back to Awaiting approval with a new hold. A move made by a core manager keeps the status the reservation had.

If your core charges a fee for late cancellation and your session starts inside that window, the app asks you to have a core manager move it.

Cancel a reservation

1. Open the reservation and choose Cancel reservation.
2. Give a short Reason for cancellation.
3. Choose Confirm cancellation.

Only a reservation that has not started can be cancelled. The time is free for others at once. When a core manager cancels your reservation, you get an email with the reason.

A core can set a fee for cancelling a confirmed session close to its start. Core plan The booking form shows the fee before you book. Cancellations made by core managers are never charged.

In the app

1. When your reserved time starts, open the reservation from Schedule or My reservations and choose Check in.
2. When you finish, open it again and choose Check out.

Check in works from the reserved start until the reserved end. If the page was open before your start, choose Refresh first. The session shows as In use after check-in and Completed after check-out. The reserved time and the actual times are both kept.

Check-in is refused if the instrument is closed for booking or marked unavailable, if your training no longer covers the session, or if an earlier session on the instrument was never checked out. In that last case, ask a core manager to close it. A core manager can check a person in or out with the same buttons.

At a tablet kiosk Core plan

A core can put a tablet beside its instruments. A core manager sets it up once:

1. Open Schedule, then Equipment & access, and choose Set up kiosks and devices.
2. Under Tablet kiosks, enter a Kiosk name and tick the instruments it serves. With none ticked, it shows all of them. Choose Create kiosk link.
3. Open the link on the tablet. The link is shown only once, so copy it before you leave the page.

Each person sets a PIN before the first visit:

1. In Schedule, open My reservations, find Kiosk PIN, and choose Set PIN.
2. Enter a PIN of 4 to 8 digits twice and choose Save PIN. Runs such as 1234 and repeats such as 1111 are refused.

At the tablet:

1. Tap your reservation. The tablet lists the sessions in progress and those starting in the next 12 hours.
2. Enter your PIN and tap OK. The same two steps check you out.

If your core uses badges, scan yours in place of tapping. The first scan checks you in and the next checks you out. A core manager records each badge number under Badges and PINs on the kiosk page.

• A second tap or scan within 30 seconds of a check-in leaves the session running.
• After five wrong PINs, that person is paused for 15 minutes.
• After 20 wrong PINs or unknown badges at one kiosk, the kiosk is paused for 15 minutes.

Door locks, power relays, and card readers can check people in the same way. A core manager connects them on the same page, under Locks, relays, and readers.

You type times as they read on the clock in your time zone. On the days when the clocks change, some clock times do not exist and some happen twice.

• A time the clocks skip is refused. Where the clocks jump from 02:00 to 03:00, a start of 02:30 gets a message that 02:30 does not exist on that day, with the first time you can choose.
• A time that happens twice needs a choice. Where the clocks move back from 02:00 to 01:00, a start of 01:30 makes the form ask Which 01:30? It offers the one before the clocks move back and the one after. Pick one and save again.

This applies when you book and when you move a reservation. A repeat booking keeps the same clock time on every day, on both sides of a clock change. The calendar shows each person their own local time.

A no-show is a confirmed session that nobody checked in to.

Once the session has started, a core manager can open it and choose Mark no-show. The reservation is released and the rest of its time is free for others. The person sees it as No-show under My reservations.

An instrument can also release no-shows without anyone marking them. In its rules, under Missed check-ins and forgotten check-outs, a manager sets Release if nobody checks in within (minutes of the start). The value can be up to 1,440 minutes, and 0 turns the release off.

• A check runs every 15 minutes. When the minutes have passed with no check-in, the reservation is released and the person is emailed.
• The rule covers only reservations that start after it was turned on.
• Unless the access emails are turned off, core managers get an email that lists the released reservations.
• Turn the release on only if people do check in, in the app, at a kiosk, or with a badge.

If the core set a no-show fee, it is charged when the reservation is released either way. Core plan

If nobody checks out, the session stays In use after its reserved end. Until it is closed, nobody else can check in on that instrument, and the session is not charged.

A core manager closes it:

1. On Schedule, find Sessions still open. It lists each session whose reserved time has passed without a check-out.
2. Open the session and choose Record / correct usage. Core plan
3. Enter the Actual start and Actual end, give a Reason for correction, and choose Save actual usage.

The actual start cannot be earlier than the reserved start, and the actual end must be in the past. The original reservation times and the reason stay on record. Without the Core plan, open the session and choose Check out, which closes it at the current time.

An instrument can also close forgotten sessions without a manager. Under Missed check-ins and forgotten check-outs, set Check out sessions still open this long after the end (minutes), up to 1,440. The session is then closed at its reserved end, so the forgotten time does not count as use, and the person is emailed.

Managers set both fields in the instrument's rules. See Set booking rules for each instrument.