Matrix Booking Knowledge Base
Matrix Booking Knowledge Base

Product update – April 2022

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Hello everyone,

It's hard to believe that April is over half way through - this year has absolutely flown by for all of us here at Matrix Booking. From our side we also hope you are noticing the slightly increased frequency of these updates (and therefore our product updates and releases). We have been working hard to continually improve our delivery approach and more frequent updates is one of the many benefits the whole team have been working to achieve.  

Also, as 'in person' events are starting to return, we are pleased to announce that we will be exhibiting at the Facilities Management Conference in ExCel London on May 17th - 19th 2022, see below for more information on this! 

Over the last couple of days we have released a few additional features, improvements and fixes to make your Matrix Booking experience just that little bit better - whichever part of the product you are using.  For the changes on the website application, as always, you do not need to do anything to benefit from those as it will be the version you see when you next log in to  Matrix Booking .

Below are the details of some new features in this release along with a few areas that have also been improved and also some general updates and announcements related to Matrix Booking.

Contents

  1. Starting bookings directly from emails

  2. Changes to password rules

  3. IWFM - Facilities Management Show

  4. Synchronisation changes - reminder

  5. Fixes - a list of the main fixes in this release

  6. What are the latest versions of our software

  7. Supporting information and help guides

Starting your bookings from an email

If you have 'bookings require starting' enabled, then we have made a change to the way the button in the email behaves.  If your booking is due to start then you will get an email as usual reminding you to start it, however when you click the start button in the email the journey is now much quicker.
Previously, clicking the start button would open the booking in the web app and then you would need to click the ‘Start booking’ button again.

However, now when clicking the start button from the email, the booking will automatically be started without having to start it from the web app. A screen will open in a new tab letting you know your meeting has started with a link to the web app:

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If a booking cannot be started, then the reason for this will be displayed on the screen. Examples of why the meeting might not be able to be started are:

  • Booking has already been started.

  • Booking requires approval first.

  • Booking has been cancelled/ended early.

  • Booking is in the past.

Security - Changes to password rules

From Monday 2nd May 2022 we will be increasing the security for Matrix Booking held passwords by implementing two additional checks. This is in line with our frequent security reviews both internal and external and is something Matrix Booking Ltd take extremely seriously.

After this date anyone that changes their password on Matrix Booking will need to follow the additional validation checks that we will be implementing.

These checks are:

  1. check the new password against a list of 100k* most frequently used passwords to prevent easily guessed passwords being selected

  2. check the password against the currently 'in use' password to prevent the password being kept the same

*For more information on the list of 100K passwords that we are using, please visit the  UK Government list of 100K passwords .

REMINDER: If your organisation uses single sign on (SSO) then this will not impact you at all, this is only for organisations that use Matrix Booking held usernames and passwords.

Additionally, no passwords will be changed or modified, this will only be applicable when someone with a Matrix Booking password changes their existing password.

If you have any questions about this change then please do contact your account manager .

IWFM - Facilities Management Show

If you are planning to attend this IWFM event at ExCel London - billed as 'the 'World's most important facilities management conference' then please do come and see us, we will be at stand FM1240 and it would be great to meet our existing customers, and this year we can even offer you a 'thank you for your custom' drink as we are also sponsoring the FM Bar!

The FM Bar is a great place to relax after a tough day listening to sales pitches and picking up free pens, so please do join us here for the opportunity for more informal conversations and discussions with your colleagues, peers and suppliers -  or just kick back and relax.

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If you haven't registered for the event yet (did we tell you it was free?) then just click the link below to reserve your place, and don't forget to drop by when you are there.

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Directory Synchronisation - reminder

As we have mentioned a few times here, Microsoft have announced that it is planning to remove support for the Azure API version in favour of the Graph API version. Therefore we have been aiming to migrate all customers using this method to the new Graph API by the end of March 2022. 

Well we are nearly there!  There are just a few customers remaining, so many thanks to those that have migrated.

The actual hard deadline from Microsoft was June 2022, but due to some very strong feedback (from organisations using fairly complex API integrations) they have decided to delay the final cut off until December 2022.  However their advice is absolutely consistent and has not changed, 'please migrate away from this API as soon as you can'.

Our account management team are currently contacting the last few remaining customers using this API so hopefully we can close this migration project very soon.

Fixes in this release

  • Issue when switching between booking categories on floorplan and then using left hand side resource filter, should now be fixed

Download Matrix Booking app

As part of your Matrix Booking solution, don't forget that there is a mobile application (one for Apple / iOS and one for Android) that allows your staff immediate access to their bookings and allows them the ability to find resources, book them, amend them and cancel them all whilst on the move.
The apps are available in the relevant app stores and any security used for your log in process (such as SSO) will automatically appear in the mobile app.

If you open the camera app on your phone then this code should take you straight to the app - it may be easier to use this QR code in emails when sharing details of the app with your staff, teams and customers.

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Latest versions of our software

Listed below are the latest versions of the Matrix Booking software, some can be downloaded directly from app stores, others you may need to raise a support ticket for, but if in any doubt then do contact your account manager to discuss if you will benefit from installing the most recent versions of the software or indeed if you are unaware of some of the solutions we have available: 

Supporting Information

View our    
View our eLearning guide for general users  (updated to include the Find Someone feature)
View our eLearning guide for Location Managers
Link to our  support portal to raise issues

Finally, you are receiving this operational email because you are listed as an Administrator of Matrix Booking – if this is not the case or you no longer wish to receive these updates, then please click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this email. Please remember that this is also the same list we use to advise of any system issues or service updates, so unsubscribing from this will unsubscribe you from both types of email.

As always though, if you are still planning or finalising your return to work or if you would like more information about anything in this email, then do  contact us  to see how we can provide help or support with those plans and using Matrix Booking in general!

Regards from everyone here at Matrix Booking,

Ian Jones

Director of Operations