Questions
Wise Booking System: questions and answers
The questions institutions ask first about WBS, answered in a line or two each.
Booking
Do staff need to install anything?
No. WBS runs in any current browser on a computer, tablet or phone. The mobile apps are optional.
Does reading the bookings need an account?
No. The room overview, the public bookings, reports and calendar feeds can be open; signing in is only for booking. What visitors may see is a setting.
Can a booking repeat?
Yes: days in a row, every week, every two or three weeks, monthly on the same weekday or the same date, and every two months. The form shows every date before it saves.
What happens when two people want the same room?
The first to save has it. The second sees the clash before saving, with the free hours and free rooms as alternatives. A booking waiting for approval already counts as taken.
Can a booking stay off the public screens?
Yes. A booking can be kept off the public overview, the calendars and the signage; the room is still held. An internal note is seen only by staff.
The booking office
Do bookings have to be approved?
Only if you want them to. Approval is switched on or off in one place; while it is on, new and changed bookings wait for the booking office.
Can some people book only some rooms?
Yes. Each person may book every room, or only the rooms ticked on their page; the booking form then offers just those.
Who maintains the rooms and the people?
The institution's own administrators, in the browser, behind the cog: rooms, people, equipment, administrators and Microsoft sign-in. At the start Wise imports them from a spreadsheet.
Are the letters to staff in our own words?
Yes. The notifications decide who receives a letter when a booking is made, changed, approved or refused, and the words of each letter.
Screens in the building
What do we need for a signage display?
Any screen with a browser - a smart TV, a stick or a small PC. Open the display's address in full screen; nothing to install, nothing that expires.
What is a room panel?
A tablet or screen beside a room's door that shows that room and books it on the spot. See room panels.
IT, security and data
Can staff sign in with Microsoft 365?
Yes. Only the institution's own tenant is let in, and WBS asks only for openid, profile and email - it reads no mail, files or directory data. Rights always come from WBS.
Is there an API?
Yes, a documented REST API over HTTPS with JSON: rooms, booking types, free and busy, bookings and approvals, under the same rules as the booking form.
Where is it hosted?
As a cloud service run by Wise Technologies, with updates and daily backups. Where policy requires it, it can be installed in the institution's own network.
What about GDPR?
The institution is the controller and Wise Technologies, an EU company, the processor; a data processing agreement is available. WBS needs little personal data: a name and an e-mail address for the people who book.
Which languages?
Thirteen, including English, Italian, German, French, Spanish and Portuguese; each reader picks their own.
More from the manual
Can people book a room standing at its door?
Yes, with a room panel: a tablet or screen beside the door shows the room's day and books that one room – on the screen itself or by scanning its QR code with a phone.
Can the screens show our own posters and events?
Yes. Each display takes a corner logo, a side poster that stays beside the bookings, and a fullscreen message that alternates with them; a PDF poster can be used as it is.
Can WBS record who attended a session?
Yes, with the Wise attendance module, for which WBS is prepared: a rotating QR code on the screen, scanned with the participants' own phones, with reports and a feed for an information system.
Can I book for a colleague?
Yes: add them under people and put their address in the e-mail box; they receive the letter. The booking stays yours to change.
Can a booking be private?
Yes. Untick Show on the public screens, or use a booking type that is not public: the room is held, but nobody else sees what it is.
Can we limit who books our most valuable rooms?
Yes, twice: the room's own rule (which roles) and each person's own list of rooms. Both are enforced by the server.
Will people be told when their booking is approved?
Yes, when the booking office leaves Send a letter to the person ticked. My bookings always shows the current state.
Can bookings appear in Outlook?
Yes: subscribe to any room, person or selection; the calendar updates itself.
Can we add our own logo and colours?
Yes: the logo and its link under Look & feel; each reader chooses light or dark and an accent colour.
How long does it take to start?
Usually a few days, including the import of rooms and people, the web pages, sign-in, mail and training.
See WBS with your own rooms
Book an online presentation. We set up your rooms and your booking rules, and a new institution is usually live within a few days.