Staff and students need different booking windows

Teachers book the lab a term ahead. Students should only hold a study room this week. One booking window for everyone means the rooms fill with the wrong people.

Content reviewed: September 2026

Administrator reviewing booking policies and date-range limits on a laptop dashboard

Why this happens

One window for everyone

One 14-day rule — unfair to staff and students.

Booking window set per policy, not campus-wide.

How Offision booking date ranges work

A group is not a booking policy

Groups name people — not how far they may book.

Assign policy to rooms; groups get different ranges.

How groups and policies work together

Staff cannot book further than students

Heads of department queue behind the same cap.

Longer windows for staff groups without opening to all.

How overrides and group windows work

Labs need their own window

Labs need different windows from study rooms.

Separate policies so lab diaries do not fill in week one.

How department rooms get a different window

Impact

Who pays for this today

The same problem costs each group something different — and they rarely compare notes.

Impact

Teachers and department heads

They cannot plan next term's practicals because the same 7-day cap that stops students hoarding rooms also stops them.

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Impact

Students

They hold rooms for weeks they will not use, because the window is wide enough and nothing tells them to wait.

Professional portrait of an employee with arms crossed, wearing a light pink shirt and glasses on a white background.

Impact

Campus administrators

They keep a shadow spreadsheet of “real” holds, because the published window does not match how the campus actually runs.

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Common questions

Can staff and students have different booking windows on the same room?

Yes. The window lives on the policy. Assign the policy to the room, then use groups or overrides so staff can book further ahead than students.

Is a user group enough to change how far someone can book?

No. Groups name people. The booking date range is a policy setting. Create the group, then attach the policy that carries the window.

Do labs have to share the study-room window?

No. Assign a different policy to those rooms. A lab can take term-ahead staff booking while drop-in rooms stay on a short student window.

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Next step

See it against your own rooms

Walk through your estate, your booking rules and your calendar setup with our team — or start free and try it on one floor.

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