Set up an external Event Request Form so people outside of eSPACE can request events by filling out the form on your Public Calendar on your website or when you email them the link to the form. Then the managers of the form will see the request come in and can submit them to the regular approval flow. Requesters will automatically get an email when the event has been approved or they can check the status by entering their email.
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Custom Questions/Fields: Admins can add these to the Event Request Form including a field called "Attachment" and another one called "Upload".
- See step 12 for more.
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Only spaces, resources, and services that are marked "Public" under Settings > Basic > Spaces-Resources-Services will appear as options on the request form.
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Adding & Modifying Spaces/Resources/Services in eSPACE
- See section called "Public Options".
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Adding & Modifying Spaces/Resources/Services in eSPACE
- Different eSPACE Subscription Tiers include Different Features Including External Public Event Request Forms
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Viewing Your Subscription Details
- Each eSPACE admin with access to Billing can view what subscription tier your organization currently has and everything that is included in their account under Settings > Other > Billing > Manage.
Managers of the Event Request Form
- Admins can either approve/decline the event request when it comes in OR submit the event to the regular approval flow on all admin's and sub-admin's Dashboards so sub-admins over approval areas can still approve their items(spaces/resources/services) on the event. When the request comes in they will see it in their "Open Event Request" grid and can make any edits that are needed before approving or submitting it to the regular approval flow.
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Sub-admins and regular users can also outright approve, decline or submit the event for the regular approval flow for admins and sub-admins to approve. When the request comes in on their Dashboard in the "Open Event Request" grid they can edit the event, as they will automatically be made an event editor. If they approve the event on their Dashboard they will become the event owner.
- If your eSPACE account has "Final-Approval" enabled then the event will go to the admins and sub-admin with final approval access so they can final approve the event.
- To learn about internal forms for eSPACE to fill out when requesting certain spaces, resources and/or services o events, read this Knowledge Base article: Internal Forms: Create, Customize and Require Forms to be Completed
Event Request Form Notifications
The managers of the forms will receive email notifications if they have the following enabled under their profile icon/My Notifications/Notification Preferences:
- This happens when an outside user submits an event request from a form.
- This happens when a manager of the form in eSPACE clicks "Submit Event" when the event is still in the "Requested" status which then causes the event request to go through the normal approval flow so all sub-admins and admins can approve their part. This is the same flow that an event created in eSPACE goes through.
Event Request Form Setup
Go under the Settings > Advanced section, choose Event Request Forms:
From here, click "Create New Custom Event Request Form" to create a new Event Request form.
Default Fields: You will notice that there are certain default fields that are purposely designed in eSPACE to be on every form.
1. Give the Form a NAME and enter the Location(s) this form relates to.
2. Check this box if you want to allow public users to select multiple locations on the public form.
3. Once you enable the above feature, decide if you want to check the following box if you want to allow public users to override public locations.
4. You will see a list of your "Possible Locations" here that your event request form will be associated with.
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Locations: Since locations are the foundation of every eSPACE account, regardless if you have one-location more than one, you MUST choose at least one location.
- Learn more: Locations: Adding, Editing, Parsing Out Permissions, Assigning Items
5. Add users (regular users, sub-admins, admins) who will manage the Event Requests.
- If regular users and sub-admins are made the manager of an event request form, this gives them the power to approve and bypass the regular approval flow you have set up by clicking "Approve" on the event when it's in their "Open Event Request" grid on their dashboard. They can also choose to "Submit Event" to the regular approval flow that you have set up in your eSPACE account instead.
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- Only these people will see the event requests in their left-side menu bar.
6. Then, if you want, enable the external event request form to be available for anyone to use on any of your public calendars with our Public Calendar feature.
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- Learn more about our Public Calendar feature here: Public Calendar Feature | Embed Your eSPACE Calendar on your Website
- You can also customize the text in the button, the background color and text color.
- You can also add a custom thank you message that users receive when submitting an event request, as well as a customized image for the form, and decide if a description for events is always required.
If you are on a tier that includes Billing & Invoicing, then choose if events submitted through this event request form are billable.
- You can set an hourly or set price for spaces, resources and services under Settings/Basic/Spaces or Resources or Services when you edit each one. After hovering over the space/resource/service you want to edit, click the 3 dots, choose "Edit"
and then set a fixed or hourly rate under the "Billing Option". - The spaces/resources/services that are set to be billable will be the only ones available to be added on the Event Request Form if the form is made billable.
7. Choose if you want to allow people to see any space, resource and/or service that is marked as public.
- In order to have Spaces/Resources/Services appear on the form, you need to mark them "Available for Public Request" within Settings>Basic>Spaces, Resources, or Services (see image below).
8. You can also choose if you want the form to be for only requesting certain spaces and/or resources and/or services.
- In order to limit the form to certain spaces, resources and/or services, you must enable "Show Public Spaces/Resouces/Services".
- If you go to Settings > Basic > Spaces/Resources/Services and see that your items are assigned to a specific location, then you will only see the spaces/resources/services on the form under Event Request Form based on the location you toggled on for that form.
9. If you want to require people to select at least 1 time (space, resource or service), then make sure to enable "Require at Least One Item".
- Currently, you can not require people to select specific spaces and/or resources and/or services on forms.
10. Select any other desired settings so that they are displayed within the event form on your Public Calendar.
12. Add custom form questions/fields to gain more information about their event request.
- You can also choose to add the custom field called "Attachment" so that you can add an attachment to the form for the end user to download and view.
- You can also add a custom field called "Upload" if you also need the end user to upload an attachment before they can submit the Event Request Form, which could be a signed version of the attachment that they downloaded from the previous custom field on the form.
Add as many custom questions/fields as you like, and you can even change the order if you wish by clicking, holding, dragging, and dropping them in the sort column.
- The custom questions will always appear at the bottom of the form on the first page for the end user to fill out, below all the standard fields. The selection of spaces, resources, and services will always appear on the second page of the form.
- If you also have Billing & Invoicing on your subscription and have decided to make this a billable form and you want the external user to be able to upload an attachment when they fill out the event request (like a certificate of insurance) then add the question type "Upload" and add in the "Label" something like "Please Upload Your Certificate of Insurance" and marked the question as required.
14. When you are finished editing and customizing the form, click SAVE.
Previewing the Form
To view the Form, just go back to Settings > Advanced > Event Requests and choose "View". You can also see more details of the form, including the URL to get to the custom form by
clicking the arrow beside the FORM name.
Users Filling Out the Form
Users can either click on the form on your Pubic Calednar or click the link when you send it to them.
If they start filling out the form but don't follow through all the way, their progress will be saved and their event request will be in draft mode.
They can actually go right back into the request and finish it!
They can check the status of their requests by clicking "Click Here" at the top right-hand side of the form.
A new status page is available to give them real-time status updates of their requests.
Once Event Requests Are Submitted
Once the New Event Request is submitted, it will show up in the Dashboard under the "Open Event Requests" grid for any admin and/or sub-admin and/or user who has been assigned to manage that particular Event Request Form.
- The Event Request can be submitted/approved/declined right from the "Open Event Requests" grid. However, if you have sub-admins as part of your approval who approve certain items in their approval areas, then it is highly recommended that the form managers submit the event request so it goes through the normal approval flow on all sub-admins and admins' Dashboards.
- Also, if they click the Event name or ID, they will go right to the Edit Event screen. The requests are now actual Events in a "Requested State".
Either in the Event Requests or on the Dashboard, the admin(s) and/or Sub-admin(s) assigned to manage the Event Request Form(s) can click on the arrow to the left of the ID to view the event request form.
Submit Event Vs. Approve
If the manager of the form chooses to "Submit Event" the event request, it will go through the normal approval workflow. If they have reviewed the event request and want to go ahead and approve the event, select "Approve". This will bypass the normal workflow and automatically approve the event request.
Once the manager of the form submits the event for approval, they become the new owner of the event and the requester is added as a contact for the event. However, all the dashboard grids will show the "requester" as the "Created By" for public event requests only.
Decline Event Requests
If the form manager chooses to "Decline" the event, there will be a screen that pops up where you can enter the reason for the decline and an email notification will be sent to the requester that includes who declined it and why (see below).
Viewing ALL Event Requests
To review all event requests, go to "All Event Requests", located on the left sidebar of your dashboard. Here, you have a history of all your event requests. You always have the option to view them or delete them.
Within the "All Event Requests" grid, you can view upcoming, past, declined and draft public event requests as shown below. You also have the ability to search for an event request.
Within the different tabs, you can filter any column header by clicking on the filter button to the right of the column header name.
You can also sort each column in ascending or descending order by clicking on the column header name. In the example below, I clicked on "Form" and it put the column in ascending alpha order. To put this column in descending order, I would simply click "Form" again.