Venue Management

[nworbnhoj]

Introduce functionality for Venue Managers

Registration

• Introduce a landing-page dialog for venue managers to register with a venue email address.

Configuration

• multiple games available
• base court availability hours by weekday (ie M:9-20 T:9-20 W:9-20 T:9-20 F:9-20 S:12-20 S:-)
• exceptions to court availability by date (ie closed easter, xmas etc)
• exceptions to court availability by booking (ie booked-out today 0900-1200)

Court Booking

• email alert to confirm court availability on match proposal
• email alert to confirm court booking on match confirmation

Player

• visibility of venue confirmations (availability & booking)
• ability to undertake venue-management tasks when the venue-manager is either unregistered, or the a booking is completed by phone for example. Base weekday availability and date exceptions enabled only for Favorite Venues. Court booking confirmation enabled for Match Proposer.

[nworbnhoj]

Registration for Venue Managers

The will be a new link on the landing-page to “register as a Venue Manager”.

The registration form allows the Venue Manager to provide a Game, a Venue and an email address. Then the registration proceeds in very similar fashion to Player registration.

There is an outstanding issue (that can wait until later). It is not immediately obvious how best to validate that the registered email is in fact a bonafide email address for the venue. Or if the legitimate Venue Manager turns up later - how to resolve the issue cleanly (and automatically). We could perhaps check the email against the Venue’s website - or against the Google PlaceId data - but both of these introduce complications and complexity. I think it is best to simply note the issue for now, and deal with it when it actually manifests.

[nworbnhoj]

Facility management for Venue Managers

A Venue Manager will have access to a Facility page where they can add multiple Facilities for the Venue that they are Managing (ie a facility for Squash, Tennis, Chess etc). I have used the word “facility” as a generic term to cover Squash Courts, Chess Boards, Bike tracks etc.

The Venue Manager can setup each Facility with a set of default Hours when they are available in a normal week (ie Mon:9-20 Tue:9-20 Wed:9-20 Thu:9-20 Fri:9-20 Sat:12-20 Sun:-). Note that the Venue Manager can, set up different default Hours for different Games. So, or example, the Tennis courts might be available Thu:8-17 (because they are outside without lights), but the Squash Courts are available Thu:6-18 (inside with lights but booked out every Thursday from 1900-2100).

The Venue Manager can also override the default Hours for Today and Tomorrow. So, for example, the Venue Manager can set the Squash courts as available Tomorrow: 6-8 & 16-21 because there is a School group booked during the day. After tomorrow has passed the default times will come back into effect.

[nworbnhoj]

Integrated Facility Hours with Match Hours

When a Player is Keen for a Game then they nominate a range of suitable Hours for Today and Tomorrow for the Match. The Facility Hours are NOT taken into account at this point. Rivals will receive an Email Invitation to the Match, and the Venue Manager will receive an Email Prompt to Check the availability of the Facility. If need be, the Venue Manager can click on a link to adjust the Facility Hours for Today and Tomorrow if the Facility is unavailable for some reason (ie booked-out).

When ever the Players or potential Rivals are looking at the Match online then the Hours will be adjusted to reflect the current availability of the Facility. So, if the Facility Manager has other Bookings or Cancellations while the Match is being setup, then these will be apparent to the Players.

When a Match is Confirmed, then the Players both receive a Confirmation Email, and the Venue Manager will receive a Booking request Email. The Venue Manager is asked to click a link to confirm the Booking.

In this process the Venue Manager is really asked to do no more than they would usually do. Typically a Venue Manager would publish their business hours, take phone calls asking if courts are available, and take phone calls to make bookings. Qwikgame simply asks the Venue Manager to provide the typical Facility Hours, confirm availability, and confirm Bookings. The Venue Manager is NOT burdened with manual synchronisation with their existing booking system.

[nworbnhoj]

Booking Page for Venue Managers

The Venue Manager will have access to a Booking Page that provides an overview of the current qwikgame Matches at the Venue. The Matches are listed in 3 sections:

• Tentative Matches. All those Matches in the process of being setup. The Venue Manager should ensure that the Facility availability is accurate for these Match Hours.
• Confirmed Matches. The Venue Manager should maintain a Facility Booking for the Match.
• Cancelled Matches: The Venue Manager can cancel the Facility Booking.

The Venue Manager can confirm that the Booking has been made by clicking on a link in the booking request email or on the Confirmed Match list. The Players will see the booking confirmation show up in the Match Chat area. If there is no Manager for the Venue, then the Players will see a Chat message prompting them to contact the Venue and Book the Facility.

In the event of some problem (maybe a problem with the Booking) the Venue Manager can request the Players to make contact to discuss. The Players will see this request in the Match Chat area.