Using Cirkus you can setup a workflow to capture booking or resource requests for your team.

For example, if you often have producers booking in your team, rooms or equipment, you can use provide a Request Form in Cirkus to gather these requests, and even pass them through an approval process.

Just like the Task Requests workflow, Booking Requests are powered by Booking Templates.

Let’s take a look at how

• Create a Booking Template
• Submit a Workspace Booking Request
• Submit a Public Booking Request (cirkus.com)
• Submit a Public Booking Request (Private Cloud/SSO)
• Booking Request Approval
• Duplicate Booking Templates
• Export and Import a Booking Template
• Booking Requests and farmerswife 

Create a Booking Template

To get started, we need to set up a Booking Template.

As Workspace Administrator, go to the Workspace>Templates>Booking Templates tab, and type the name of the new template.

We’ll call ours Studio Booking Request. Hit Enter to create the template.

Now double click on the new template to go to the Booking Template details, and complete the setup.

• Add a thumbnail by clicking to the left of the name of the Template.

First let’s look at the Info tab

• Default Name: This is the name that any Booking created with this template will have by default. It can be edited by the requestor.
• Color: This is the color that the Booking will have in the Schedule
• Allowed Involved: this defines the list of resources that can be requested when this booking request is submitted. In our case we will select only the Studios.
• Approval By: If this field is set to "Anyone", the Booking will be immediately added to the Schedule.
  If this field is set to a person or a role, it must be “Approved” by them before it shows in the Schedule to the rest of the team. For our template we will set this to be our “Studio Manager” role. 
• Schedule Statuses: These are the Workspace Schedule Statuses that can be set when this booking request is submitted. In this case we only allow Planning or Preliminary.
• Workspace Request: Toggle to ON to make the template available on the Cirkus Requests portal to Workspace Members. The copy icon allows copying of the direct link to the New Request sheet
• Starred by Default: If there are lots of templates, you can toggle this ON so they show up first in the list.
• Request Category. This allows the admin to group requests types together, so requestors can easily find the type of request they need. Our one is in the “Post Services” category.
  Request Categories Workspace>Template tab.
• Public Request: toggling this option gives the option to copy a web URL. Anyone who has that URL can submit a request to Cirkus from a web form. A secondary option in the options menu allows you to reset the link if the URL has been compromised.
  
• Causes Unavailability: True by default, means that bookings which use this template will show the resource as unavailable/In Conflict for other booking. Change this option to False if you don’t want this Booking Template to cause other booking to be in conflict, or to show as unavailable time. e.g Shifts or Working Remotely templates should be set to False. 
  
• Template Description: This is the optional Description of this Template
• References: Here you can set the Projects, Subprojects and tasks which will be linked to this Booking Request.
  You can also hide these fields in the Fields tab. 
• Default Booking Description: This is the default description that will be added to any Booking created with this template.

Next let’s look at the Fields tab.

Our template can be set up with some custom fields to collect the information needed from the requestor.
Details of the field options are available in the Task Template video.

We can show, hide, rename and make fields mandatory to customise the request form.
In our example for the Studio Request we will make these changes:

• Add a new custom field of type “Entry” to collect “Special Requests”, and a Label field to inform what that field is for.
• We will hide the Files and Description fields as they are not needed in our Bookings of this type, by setting them to “Show Never”
• Rename fields – we will rename the Projects field to be “Productions”
• You can also set Show/Hide and Mandatory conditions for Booking Exists, this means that the fields can be Shown/Hidden in the New Booking request sheet, but shown after the booking is created. 

Submit a Workspace Booking Request

Anyone submitting a booking request which is a Workspace Request must be a member of our Cirkus Workspace, and they can use the Requests view on web, iOS or Mac app, or a direct web link to access the request form.
As a Requestor, go to the Requests view or click on the shared request link (this can be copied from the template on web or mac apps).
Note: The list of Requests available will be limited to those that the Requestor has Can Book permission for in their Workspace Profile.
They will not be shown Booking Requests which do not have approval for resources that they do not have permission for.
The Requestor can submit a Booking Request which requires approval for any Resource (i.e Can Book is ignored if the request will pass through an Approval process)
e.g Anne has Can Book = Self.

- She can make a booking on herself in the the Schedule or submit a Request (approval or not)

- She cannot make bookings on other people or Resources in the Schedule.

- She can submit Requests for others and Resources, but only if they are templates/requests which will go for Approval.

- She will not see a request like Studio Requests(if it has no approver) in the Requests portal, as it has only Studios in the Allowed Involved, and does not go for Approval

Our Studio Request is under the Post Services Category.

Complete the Information in the New Booking Sheet, most importantly the resources involved and the date range.

 If all resources have the same time range, add that in the Dates field. If you require advanced options, for example split bookings or different time ranges for different resources, this can be added in the Events section by editing each resource.

When the dates are selected, it’s possible to see the availability of any of the Involved. 
Busy/Booked resources are indicated by an orange dot in the Involved selector. 
You can still request to book them, it’s just for information.
Any Personal, Personnel (Vacation, Sick etc), or Project Booking which overlaps with the requested time will cause the Involved to show as the unavailable dot. 
This includes bookings in other Workspaces or Projects where the requestor cannot see.
Pending Bookings/Tasks which are not yet Approved, do not cause the unavailable orange dot.

When the Request is submitted it will show in the "My Recently Created Requests" section, with a status indicating it is Pending Approval.

At this point the booking is only visible on the schedule of the requestor and the approver, and must be approved to show on the team Schedule.

Submit a Public Booking Request (cirkus.com)

If a request has Public Request checked, you can copy the link and distribute it outside of Cirkus.
Anyone who has the link can submit a request.

They will not need to login to Cirkus, and they will receive no confirmation email, or be able to collaborate on the request after it is submitted.
You can add Custom Fields to your request form if you wish to capture some information about the Requestor in the Booking.

Booking creators show as “Requestor” on these Bookings.

Public Requests are a feature of Pro workspaces, and have some limits applied, see Public Requests article for more information

Submit a Public Booking Request (Private Cloud/SSO)

If you have Cirkus in a private server, and a request has Public Request checked, you can copy the link and distribute it outside of Cirkus.
However, you also have the option to have your requestors authenticate through your SSO (OKTA or Azure/Entra) server before being able to submit a request.
In this case we will send a confirmation email to their captured SSO email address.

Booking Request Approval

When a Booking (or Task) is submitted which requires approval (as per the template set up), a notification is sent by email, push notification and to the Inbox of all the approvers.

The Approvers can review the request and either Approve or Deny it.

From the Inbox event they can also jump to the Schedule to see the Request.

• Requests Pending Approval show with dotted outline, and are only visible to Requestors and Approvers
• If a Request is Approved it then shows to all the team 
• If a Request is Denied, it no longer shows in the Schedule 

Approvers can also modify the Request before approving it, for example assigning our booking to a different resource if the requested one is unavailable.

When the Approval process is complete, the requestor is notified.

If the Request is denied, the Requestor can resubmit it using the options menu, and on submission it will go through the Approval process again.

Duplicate Booking Templates

You can also Duplicate your Booking Template if you want to create a new similar one.
On mac: right click a Template > Duplicate Booking Template
On web: Edit > Select a Template > More Actions > Duplicate
On iOS: Swipe on a Template >More (...) > Duplicate

Export and Import a Booking Template

You can also Export your Booking Template if you want to move it to a different environment, or send a copy to support to debug.

To Export
On mac: right click > Export
On web: Edit > Select a Template > More Actions > Export
A <template>.json file will be downloaded to your machine.

To Import
On mac and web: In the Template list, select the (...) from the options menu in the bottom bar > Import Template.
Select the file from your device and the template will be created with (imported) appended to the name.

Booking Requests and farmerswife 

If you have your Cirkus projects integrated with farmerswife, you can use Booking Requests  to submit requests which will be booked to the farmerswife Hourline if they are Approved.

For more information on these options, contact support@farmerswife.com where we can discuss the workflow options in detail!