Room-centric synchronization explained

Audience: Facility managers, IT, project teams

• How it works
• What Workplace can do (on behalf of the room)
• What stays with the organizer (in Outlook or Google)
• Why room-centric?
• Scenarios at a glance
  • Reservation created in Workplace
    • How it works – reservation created in Workplace
  • Reservation created in Outlook or Google Calendar
    • How it works – reservation created in Outlook or GoogleCalendar
    • How it works – a reservation coordinator cancels an Outlook/Google reservation in Asset
    • No-show or “end early” via automation
• FAQ

Spacewell Reservation Sync is room-centric: it synchronizes with the calendars of the rooms in Microsoft Exchange or Google Workspace, not with employees’ personal calendars. This page explains what that means in practice and shows what happens in the most common scenarios.

How it works

In Exchange and Google Workspace, every meeting room has its own room calendar (room mailbox or resource). Reservation Sync connects each of these room calendars to a room in Workplace.

• When someone books a room in Workplace, Reservation Sync creates the reservation in the room calendar. The room becomes the organizer and the person who booked is invited as attendee.

• When someone adds a room to an Outlook or Google meeting, the room calendar receives the request. Once the room accepts, the reservation is synchronized to Workplace, with that person as requestor.

• Workplace uses the room calendar to show whether a room is available, occupied, released or reservable again.

What Workplace can do (on behalf of the room)

• Show room availability based on the room calendar.
• Synchronize reservations between Workplace and Exchange/Google.
• Let the room accept or decline a reservation based on its availability.
• Release a room after a no-show.
• Make a room available again when a meeting ends early.
• Extend a room reservation, where the room-calendar process supports it.

Example: a meeting is planned from 10:00 to 11:00 but ends at 10:30. When the room is released on the room display or in the Workplace app, Workplace updates the room calendar. The room is free for others from 10:30, while the organizer’s meeting stays unchanged in their own calendar.

What stays with the organizer (in Outlook or Google)

Because Workplace acts on behalf of the room, not on behalf of the organizer, the organizer of an Outlook/Google meeting remains responsible for:

• the subject, participants and other meeting details;
• the date or time of the whole meeting;
• cancelling the meeting for all attendees;
• the appointment in their own calendar.

Why room-centric?

• The connection is limited to the room resources that need to be managed, which keeps the scope simple for IT.
• There is no need for direct access to employees’ personal calendars, which helps organizations apply their own privacy, security and compliance rules.

Scenarios at a glance

The behavior is the same for Microsoft Exchange and Google Calendar unless stated otherwise. In Google Calendar, attendees are called "guests" and the replies are Yes / No / Maybe.

Reservation created in Workplace

How it works – reservation created in Workplace

The employee reserves a room in a Workplace touchpoint. The reservation is created in Asset and sent through the Integration Platform to the room calendar, with the room as organizer; the employee receives an invitation. A change (for example a new time) is only possible in Workplace and follows the same path.

Reservation created in Outlook or Google Calendar

Example of ending early in Workplace app: a reservation from 15:00 to 17:00 is ended at 15:30 by the user in the Workplace app. The room calendar now shows a reservation from 15:00–15:30 and the room can be booked by other colleagues from 15:30 onward. The organizer’s calendar still shows the initial meeting 15:00–17:00.

How it works – reservation created in Outlook or GoogleCalendar

The organizer adds the room to a meeting. When the room accepts, the Integration Platform creates the reservation in Asset, with the organizer as requestor. Changes and cancellations are made by the organizer in Outlook/Google and synchronized to Workplace.

How it works – a reservation coordinator cancels an Outlook/Google reservation in Asset

This is similar to a room action: the room declines, so the room is free again in Workplace and in the room calendar. The meeting stays in the organizer’s calendar, without the room. Ending a meeting early works in the same way: the room calendar gets the new end time and the room is free again, while the organizer’s meeting keeps its original time. For Google Calendar, cancel in Asset and end early are still to be confirmed (see Features, prerequisites & limitations)

No-show or “end early” via automation

An automation can free up a room automatically when the person who booked it does not show up or leaves the room early. Absence is detected by an occupancy sensor. Example rule: "no occupancy detected in the first 15 minutes after the start". See Workplace Automation

For more explicit user scenarios, see Room-centric calendar integration: example scenarios

FAQ