Overview
The Concept3D Room Reservations platform uses two distinct systems to control what users can do and how they interact with spaces: User Roles and Reservation Policies. Understanding the difference between these two systems is essential for Platform Administrators setting up the platform for the first time or refining access controls for their institution.
- User Roles control what actions a user can take within the system (for example, creating reservations, approving requests, or managing buildings).
- Reservation Policies control the business rules around booking behavior (for example, which spaces a user group can access, how long reservations can last, or how far in advance bookings can be made).
This article explains the distinction and helps Platform Administrators decide when to configure each.
Who Should Read This
- Platform Administrators responsible for setting up or managing user access and reservation rules
User Roles: System Permissions
User Roles determine what features and actions are available to a user within the platform. A role is a set of permissions that controls which buttons, pages, and workflows a user can access.
Examples of Role-Based Permissions
- Platform Admin: Full access to all administrative features, including managing buildings, spaces, users, and platform settings.
- Facilities Manager: Access to manage reservable spaces.
- Event Coordinator: Access to manage and coordinate events, review and approve reservation requests within assigned areas, and run reporting.
- Reserver: Access to search for and request space reservations. This is the most common role for end users such as students.
What Roles Do NOT Control
Roles do not control which specific spaces a user can book, how long a reservation can last, or when a user is allowed to make bookings. Those rules are managed through Reservation Policies.
Reservation Policies: Business Rules for Booking
Reservation Policies are configurable business rules that Platform Administrators customize to control booking behavior. These policies are applied through User Groups and Space Types rather than through individual user roles.
What Reservation Policies Control
- Space type access: Which user groups can book which types of spaces (for example, restricting conference rooms to faculty only)
- Duration limits: Minimum and maximum reservation lengths per booking
- Daily limits: Maximum total reservation time per user per day, and maximum number of reservations per user per day
- Booking windows: How far in advance users can make reservations
- Special rules: Whether reservations are auto-approved or require manual approval, and whether building hours are enforced
- Setup and breakdown time: Mandatory buffer time before and after reservations for specific space types
- Cancellation lead time: How far in advance a user must cancel a reservation
Two Levels of Reservation Policies
Reservation policies are configured at two levels:
- User Group Policies apply rules to specific groups of users. For example, a "Student" group might have a 2-hour maximum reservation duration, while a "Faculty" group has no duration limit.
- Space Type Policies apply universal rules to all users for a given type of space. For example, all "Auditorium" reservations might require 7 days advance booking and include mandatory setup time, regardless of the user's group.
How User Groups Connect Roles to Policies
Every user in the platform has both a Role and a User Group assignment:
- The Role determines what the user can do in the system (which pages and actions are available).
- The User Group determines what reservation rules apply when the user books a space.
A user's role and group are independent. For example, two users might both have the "Reserver" role but belong to different user groups ("Faculty" vs. "Student"), which means they follow different booking rules.
When to Configure Each
| Scenario | Configure |
|---|---|
| Control which admin pages a user can access | User Role |
| Control which space types a user group can book | Reservation Policy (User Group) |
| Set a maximum reservation duration for students | Reservation Policy (User Group) |
| Require 48 hours advance booking for auditoriums | Reservation Policy (Space Type) |
| Grant a user permission to approve reservation requests | User Role |
| Auto-approve reservations for faculty | Reservation Policy (User Group) |
| Add mandatory setup/breakdown time for event spaces | Reservation Policy (Space Type) |