Planning the return to the office (whatever that looks like) is starting to dominate many of the conversations at the moment and we here at Matrix Booking are no different. But whilst we have all been working remotely, we have certainly not slowed down. We have a whole new series of features outlined below for you most of which are already included in your product.
Before we come to those though, we have been made aware that some clients have been struggling to receive our emails as they are falling foul of some of your spam filters. So over the next few weeks we will be looking to change our mailing tool but rest assured they will still all be delivered from support@matrixbooking.com .
If you have missed any of these updates recently, the best way to catch up is to click on the link at the top of this email (VIEW THIS EMAIL IN YOUR BROWSER) and then in the top left there is a link that says PAST ISSUES. This shortcut should also take you there.
Anyway - enough of the admin, on with the exciting new features (and even our new logo which you may have noticed above)!
Matrix Announcements - Homepage Banner
As part of the 'return to work' series of changes we have created the ability for an organisation to have their own 'banner' announcement at the top of the page.
If you wish to use this feature then simply log in as an ADMIN, click ADMIN and in the left hand column there will be a new link called BANNER. When you create a banner you will need to click PUBLISH for it to appear - if you remove the text then the banner will be automatically removed.
Once enabled, you have two options:
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Simple announcement
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Announcement with a click through to a new page of content that you can edit and manage yourself.
Here is an example of option 1 - please download the latest version of the to see examples of both options and how to set them up.
Microsoft Teams Integration
It is now possible to integrate a Microsoft Teams account with Matrix Booking. This new functionality will allow a user to send a meeting invite that includes a link to join a Microsoft Teams online meeting, via the web or mobile apps (this is available in the web in this release and it will be included in the iPhone app and Android app in separate future releases). When sending or updating a meeting invitation through the web or mobiles, the host will be able to opt-in to having a Teams meeting associated with the booking. This is only available for an organisation that has the 'teams integration' enabled.
When creating a meeting, any users who share the domains selected in the initial setup will see the option to add an online meeting link when making a booking:
Microsoft Teams Integration is an additional module that your staff may find useful. If you wish to enable this module please raise this with your account manager or Kieron Murphy who can run through the options with you.
If you have the Teams Integration enabled then you can find details on how to connect it to your own Teams account and how to then configure it within the latest version of the administrators guide which can be downloaded .
New - Saving report settings by using BOOKMARKS
It is now possible to save a browser bookmark for the 'Visitors Summary' and 'Bookings Summary' report so that the report is displayed immediately when the bookmark is used. As well as displaying immediately it will also remember all of the variables you set when you first ran the report, so if you run reports with lots of parameters or settings or locations etc then these will all be saved as part of the bookmark so you do not need to enter them again. This includes support for showing current relative dates, such as today or this week. As a result, the report will also be reloaded if the browser page is refreshed.
Bookmarking support for other reports and views will be added over upcoming releases.
Microsoft Active Directory Synchronisation
Currently, for those of you who have connected your active directory to Matrix Booking, the Matrix Booking directory sync with Azure AD selects all users in the Azure AD tenant and attempts to create, update or deactivate them within Matrix Booking. This can mean many unwanted users can be created within Matrix Booking especially if your active directory is full of test accounts. Instead of synchronising all users we are now able to restrict this and only synchronise users in a specific active directory group. If you do not have a group set up for all the staff you want to be using the system then we will continue to synchronise all users as it does now.
If you have a specific security group that you would like to use to reduce the amount of accounts synchronised then please raise a support ticket here >> , or if you would like to discuss adding this to your account then please contact your account manager or Kieron Murphy who can run through the options with you.
Restricting bookings within xx hours
One of the areas where customers have said they needed a little more control was in terms of restricting people from making last minute bookings. So previously there was a setting that limits how far in advance someone could make a booking - now to complement this we have added a new setting that allows you to prevent bookings being made within xx hours or days. So if you wish to stop people making bookings within 24 hours then this new setting will allow you to do this. The setting can be found against most resource types (rooms, desks, access passes etc) and is located with all of the other room settings (see screenshot below). Remember you can change this setting at a building level and all resources below will inherit it so you only need to enter it once.
Mobile applications (iOS and Android)
Over the next week we will be releasing new versions of our mobile applications on iOS and Android. These will be fairly significant updates as they will have both PUSH messaging enabled for bookings, so you need never miss a meeting again, and they will also have the Teams Integration included for those that use it.
Please take a moment to download these from the app store in the next week or two.
Additional fixes in this release
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An error was occurring when attempting to delete a FLEX location that has had settings updated, this has now been fixed.
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An error message was displaying when tapping Save on Setting screen on the Android app, this has now been fixed.
Matrix Booking - a fresh new look!O
ver the coming weeks and months we will be updating the look and feel of our applications, websites and documentation to incorporate our exciting new branding. The first place you will see this is on our public facing marketing website here >> . You will then start to see it appearing regularly as we phase the old branding out. Obviously this will not impact ANY of the functions, features or services - this is purely a visual design change. The website goes live on Wednesday 1st July 2020 so be sure to drop by and have a little look. For those that can't wait, there is a sneak peak below.
Supporting Information
See our for more information.
Finally, you are receiving this operational email because you are listed as an Administrator of Matrix Booking or a key interested party – if this is not the case or you no longer wish to receive these updates, then please click the unsubscribe link below and you will be automatically removed, however please be aware that this is the primary method for us to communicate all new features and changes.
Regards,
Ian Jones
Head of Professional Services