Improvements to Booking Types

2 minute read time · Updated March 12, 2024

The next update (v4.17) to our room booking and resource scheduling system, MIDAS, is just around the corner. So we’re giving you a first look at some of the new features and improvements in v4.17.

In this post, we’ll look at the improvements coming to “booking types”. Booking Types allow you to color-code bookings based on their “type” making them easier to spot in the booking grid. Furthermore, you can assign discounts to each booking type. This allows charging different rates depending upon the type of booking.

You can also set booking types to be “tentative“. Bookings assigned as “tentative” will automatically be removed if not confirmed in a timely manner.

This time last year, for v4.14, we introduced the ability to set a default booking type on a per-client basis. For v4.17, we’re also giving you the ability to specify a global default booking type. If set, then any bookings added without a booking type being specified, will automatically be assigned the default type. This is especially useful if you’ve “hidden” the booking type selector from view, as you can still assign bookings a default booking type.

Additionally, following customer feedback, we’re making it possible for you to limit which booking types are available for selection on the public web request/booking screens. Many organizations have “internal” booking types/classifications. They may not wish to make these available for selection by external clients. This new feature will allow this to be achieved!

You’ll find the new “Public?” and “Set as Default?” options on the Manage Booking Types screen. This may be accessed via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage Booking Types. These settings can be set independently for each of your booking types. If a booking type is set as being the default, this will be indicated by an “*” after its name in the “All Booking Types” list.

Set Booking Types as Public and/or Default in MIDAS
Set Booking Types as Public and/or as the Default type
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Custom Resource Categories

3 minute read time · Updated March 12, 2024

So it’s been a little while since we last blogged. But that’s because we’ve been busy working away on the next update to our room booking and resource scheduling software, MIDAS.

Over the next few posts, we’re excited to give you a first look at some of the new features and improvements in this forthcoming update.

First up – Custom Resource Categories!

“Resources” are additional items/services you can add to your bookings. Until now, resources have been split into three distinct categories; “Equipment”, “Staffing”, and “Consumables”.

The differences between each of these three categories are outlined below:

Equipment:

Resources categorized as “Equipment” are those which are charged per booking, irrespective of the length of a booking. For example, a Flip Chart may be added to this section, as its charge would be the same for 30 minutes or 2 hours. The “Quantity Available” allows you to define how many flip charts are available site-wide at any one time. So, if you own 5 flip charts, set the “Quantity Available” to 5. MIDAS will then not allow more than 5 flip charts to be in-use at the same time.

Consumables

Resources categorized as “Consumables” are those which would only be used one-time, and cannot be reused. For example, paper for a flip chart could be classed as a consumable. The “Quantity Available” figure is very fluid in this category. For example, you may have bulk purchased 100 flip chart paper pads. You would therefore set the “Quantity Available” to 100. However, unlike the other categories, whenever consumables are added to a booking, the remaining “Quantity Available” of that resource decreases by the amount added. So once all 100 flip chart pads have been used, they will no longer be able to be added to any further bookings. That is, until your stocks are replenished, and the “Quantity Available” updated accordingly. Consumables, like Equipment, are charged per booking.

Staffing

Staffing is a section to list human resources you have available to clients. These are charged per hour when added to bookings. For example, you may have 3 AV Technician’s on staff, with an hourly rate of $40. Adding these details to the Staffing section of resources allows your staff to be allocated to bookings with the client charged accordingly.

Following requests from a number of our users, for MIDAS v4.17, we’re adding more flexibility. You can now add your own custom resource categories to compliment the three default categories:

Custom Resource Categories in MIDAS
Custom Resource Categories

This will be beneficial to organizations with large numbers of resources. Resources can now be broken down into smaller groups.

Each custom resource category you add can be named, and resources assigned to it accordingly. You can also specify how resources assigned to the category should behave in terms of billing and remaining quantities. Items in custom categories can behave as either Equipment, Consumables, or Staffing for these purposes.

When adding resources to bookings, additional tabs will be shown on the Add Resources dialog for each of your custom categories:

Adding Resources From Custom Categories to Bookings in MIDAS
Adding resources from custom categories to bookings

We believe this new feature offers even more flexibility in managing your resources along with your venues in MIDAS!

You can become more familiar with how “Resources” work within MIDAS in our short video tutorial:

How To Setup Resources & Add Them To Bookings

How to setup resources and add them to bookings
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Changes affecting electronic payments from international customers

3 minute read time · Updated January 6, 2023

Here at MIDAS, we accept a wide variety of payment methods. This includes payment by credit/debit card, PayPal account, and via Electronic Bank/Wire Transfer.

From October 21st 2017 our BIC (Bank Identifier Code) and IBAN (International Bank Account Number) are changing. These are required for electronic bank/wire transfer payments made to us from outside the UK.

Why are BIC and IBAN changing?

After the recent global economic crisis, the UK Government put new rules in place to protect the economy and taxpayers in case something similar happens again.

The new rules state that banks have to keep their high street arms separate from their wholesale and investment banking divisions. This has been termed “ring-fencing”.

These new UK banking rules require all large UK banks to change their structure in the UK. Consequently, our bank is restructuring its operations to ensure it meets these new rules.

When do these changes come into effect?

The BIC and IBAN changes come into effect on 21st October 2017. We’ll be writing to all potentially affected customers in advance of this date.

Does this impact on electronic payments originating from outside the UK?

Yes – if you reside outside of the UK and make electronic payments to us, these are international payments which require BIC/SWIFT/IBAN numbers.

These numbers are changing. Any electronic payments made from 21st October 2017 will need to use the new numbers.

The new numbers will be present on all subsequent quotations, invoices, and on our website from 21st October 2017.

Until then, please continue to use our existing BIC/SWIFT/IBAN numbers.

Does this impact on electronic payments made from UK bank accounts?

No – our Sort Code and Account Number for making electronic payments from other UK bank accounts will not be changing.

The changes only affect electronic payments originating from outside the UK that require BIC/SWIFT/IBAN numbers to make an international payment.

Is anything else changing?

To coincide with these changes, we’ll also be taking the opportunity to update the postal address of our bank.

Our current bank branch recently closed, and accounts were transferred to a neighboring branch of the same bank.

No account numbers/codes or transactions were affected by this branch transition, and the old branch address continue to be accepted. However given the upcoming BIC/IBAN changes, from 21st October we’ll also be listing the new branch address of our bank.

For the avoidance of any doubt, our Bank, Sort Code and Account Numbers remain the same going forward. However, from 21st October 2017, new BIC/SWIFT/IBAN numbers and a different branch postal address will apply.

What if I mistakenly make an international electronic payment after 21st October using the previous BIC/SWIFT/IBAN numbers?

Our bank inform us that they’ll do all they can to ensure that payments made after 21st October using old BIC/SWIFT/IBAN numbers will still reach us. However, this is not guaranteed.

We would therefore encourage our international customers that any electronic payments made to us from 21st October onward should only use the new BIC/SWIFT/IBAN numbers.

What if I have further questions?

Please contact our sales team who will be happy to advise.

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MIDAS v4.16 Out Now!

2 minute read time · Updated January 19, 2023

We love bringing new and improved features to MIDAS throughout the course of the year, and our latest update v4.16 is no exception!

If you frequent our website, blog, or social media channels, you’ll likely already be aware of some of the exciting improvements we’ve been busy working on for this update, but we’re now excited to announce the release of MIDAS v4.16!

Here’s What’s New & Improved in v4.16:

How To Get MIDAS v4.16…

New To MIDAS?

We are committed to fair and accessible pricing for all organizations regardless of size. We’re totally upfront and transparent about our pricing structure, and you can purchase MIDAS v4.16 securely through our website and be up and running in no time!

“Self Hosted” Customers:

Self-Hosted customers with ongoing Annual Support Subscriptions will be able to update to v4.16 in the next few days. It only takes a couple of clicks – simply log in to your MIDAS system and go to MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Update

“Cloud Hosted” Customers:

Cloud-Hosted customers don’t need to do anything! – All our active Cloud-Hosted MIDAS customers have now been automatically updated to the latest version of MIDAS!

We love hearing from our customers, so let us know what features you’d like to see in future updates to our software by voting on our feature request page!

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