TOPDESK MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 2014 11

FACILITATING RESERVATIONS
MANAGEMENT: EVERYTHING
TO YOUR LIKING?
Innovation is important to TOPdesk. We support our customers
with software that is smart and as user-friendly as possible. With
the arrival of TOPdesk 5.5, TOPdesk offers an all-new Reservations
Management module as a result of extensive research. What makes
this module that much better than before?
TEXT: STEFANIE KLAASSEN

Optimal user-friendliness

tests, we imagined the creation of a new reservation as a pop-up that

Is everything easy to find? How can we get all the information in a

appears over the planner. However, tests proved that this wasnt very

single overview? How do we make it easier to reserve rooms? Can

practical. It made more sense to move this functionality to the side,

we make overviews of available services clearer? Keeping these

in the panel that was originally intended for additional information.

questions and more in mind, we changed a lot in the Reservations

In the new module you can use the side panel to immediately create

Management module. We listened carefully to you in order to create

a new reservation and edit an existing reservation. Many customers

a module that better meets your needs. Various customers took part

had some trouble editing existing reservations in the old version. This

in interviews and tested the software, helping us to optimize the

is why that part has undergone quite a few changes. Now when you

user-friendliness in the new Reservations Management. A case of

move a reservation, services such as coffee and tea and assets such as

discovering what works and what doesnt. Read on to discover the

laptops and projectors automatically move along.

improvements to this new module.

Old and new insights

In addition to these points for improvement, we also received a

lot of positive feedback, continues Van der Heide. This is obviously
just as important, because you have to know what to keep or develop

One of the main improvements in the new Reservations Management

further. Customers were happy with the structure of the planner, the

is the interface. Various development methods resulted in new

reservations overview, which displayed all information. This is why the

insights on this subject. Renske van der Heide, a product manager

planner is back in the new Reservations Management. We also decided

at TOPdesk who was involved in revamping the Reservations

to keep a number of rarely used functionalities, but make them more

Management module, explains. The combination of usability

usable. It only became clear how to use some of these functionalities

tests and interviews granted us considerable insight into how our

after they were explained; once the users understood the feature, they

customers use the module and what we can improve. Before the

indicated that they wanted to use it in future. This was the case for

12 TOPDESK MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 2014

the functionality for issuing and returning facilities such as a laptop or

you ordered certain services, such as coffee and tea, explains Van der

projector, and the overview of items to be issued and returned on that

Heide. However, it turned out that customers wanted to be able to

day. The customer input helped us improve everything, making it more

set up lead times without reserving additional services. The tests also

logical and usable.

proved that people created a lead time around an additional service

Practical and straightforward

as a workaround. This service was then linked to the room, so that

you had the room for an extra fifteen minutes. However, this also

The great thing about the new Reservations Management is that you

had downsides: when creating a list of services, the lead time was

always use the planner. All important information can be found on

included. People asked if this could be removed.

one screen, so you always have all the context information at hand,

Van der Heide continues, We kept seeing this phenomenon, and

says Van der Heide. I also like how TOPdesk deals with conflicts.

we have addressed it. Now an agreed-upon lead time can be booked

When scheduling a reservation, the side panel immediately lets you

around the reservation, giving you time to get everything set up,

know whether there is a conflict for the fifth reservation, for instance,

regardless of the booked services. This extra time for a reservation

or that you are scheduling over another reservation. Clicking on the

can be determined per room, because a specific appointment might

conflicting reservation takes you straight to this reservation in the

require a number of items. Double booking is no longer possible with

planner. You can easily resolve the conflict by dragging the reservation,

this approach: lead times prevent the overlapping of reservations. This

including the accompanying services, to a new time. This meets the

makes communication with customers easier.

wish to be able to easily edit a reservation.

Lead times and services

A hard deadline?
If agreed upon, reservations can be created up to a certain number

When scheduling lead times, TOPdesk used the booked services lead

of hours beforehand. The same is true for editing a reservation. But

time. These were used as a basis to adjust the reservation and supply

how hard a deadline is exactly has proven to differ from situation to

the lead times. The reservation itself never had lead times. This

situation. We saw this as a bit too black-and-white, says Van der

meant you could only reserve the room for longer than scheduled if

Heide. In practice, it turns out that such deadlines arent that general.

All your rooms, assets and services in one clear planner

An image displays the available room in the Self Service Desk

TOPDESK MAGAZINE - DECEMBER 2014 13

A vacant room can be used at the last minute. However, certain things

were hardly ever rejected in practice. And the reservation approval

are less flexible, like booking lunch. For instance, one customer enabled

phase proved to be more than just a monitoring step: the request

people to book fresh pie until the day before the appointment. There

included a comments field, which was used to request services or

was a set deadline, and everyone knew it. Again, catering you can

indicate wishes. This was not actually the intended use of the field.

often book up to twenty-four hours in advance, everyone understands

What it boils down to is that this field had imperceptibly created an

that. Meanwhile, a room without catering is easier to reschedule. You

extra step. This means that it was no longer a reservation request,

can forbid this by setting deadlines, but people might just use the

but a request for services with the reservation in question. Customers

room anyway.

already dealt with this phenomenon by creating selections of

Facilities departments are known as being very hospitable. Even

reservation requests with or without a filled out comments field, so

if there are set rules concerning deadlines, it may still be possible

that service requests could be processed separately. This does make

to request changes after the deadline has passed. Van der Heide

it easier to lose requests, though. Moreover, this method resulted in

says, We deal with such flexible, exceptional circumstances by only

extra work for a lot of people. In the new Reservations Management,

prohibiting changes after the deadline for services which state this

the comments field has been removed by default, so the operators of

explicitly. Operators in turn must be able to change certain things. In

reservation requests no longer encounter particulars in the comments

such cases, TOPdesk only displays a warning. Customers never really

field. We have also added clear buttons for requesting catering or

broached this topic, but we heard about it after further questioning.

lunch separately to the Self Service Desk so that these services can

This is something that a customer may not put forward, but in

be requested correctly. This lets you use the reservation request as

practice, TOPdesks previously assumed theory proves insufficient.

intended, if this step is desired, and all (service) requests are sent to

Reservation or service request?

the correct operator.

Finally, Van der Heide noticed another common workaround: When

requesting a reservation via the Self Service Desk, a reservation was
always a request first. This then had to be approved, but such requests

Curious about the results?

Visit www.topdesk.com/topdesk55 for more information.
Here you can also discover the new look and feel in a video.

One portal for your customers