We’re excited to announce the availability of the latest version of our web based room booking and resource scheduling software, MIDAS – Version 4.07.

MIDAS v4.07 contains a whole host of new & improved features, many of which are as a direct result of feedback and suggestions from you our customers, and most of which we’ve already been blogging and Tweeting about during August.

So here’s the rundown on exactly what’s new and improved in the latest version of our powerful and intuitive scheduling system:

• New: Attach documents/files to bookings (self-hosted editions only)
• New: Scheduled Tasks: Automatically send notifications of upcoming bookings & invoice reminders to clients
• New: Ability to make individual clients tax exempt
• New: “Payment Terms” setting – define how many days to allow for clients to pay their invoices
• New: Separate customizable email templates added for various email notifications
• New: Option to colorize printouts by Booking Type
• New: Hi Contrast Theme available
• Improved: Support for smaller mobile screen sizes (including iPhone!)
• Improved: API v2 – Now allows bi-directional access to MIDAS – See https://mid.as/api
• Improved: PayPal IPN Integration – Automatically update invoices when a client pays
• Improved: Invoice Date & Due Date columns added to Invoicing overview
• Improved: Visual template editing
• Improved: Recent Activity log now hides those activities for which the user doesn’t have access/permission
• Improved: Invoice entries in Recent Activity log can be clicked to jump to corresponding invoice
• Improved: Software updates are now recorded in Recent Activity log
• Improved: Additional %INVOICETO…% variables added to allow enhanced customization of “Invoice To” area of invoices
• Improved: Public Booking Requests can now be pre-populated with selected venues/dates
• Improved: Public Booking Requests and Pay Online screens can now be styled using your own custom external .css files
• Improved: “Remember Me” option to remember your details for the next time you make a Public Booking Request
• Improved: Selected graph on each Statistics page now persists between visits
• Improved: Venues can only be made “Publicly Requestable” if at least one venue Manager has been assigned
• Improved: Resources can only be made “Publicly Requestable” if the Resources field is set to show on Web Requests
• Improved: Password strength indicator added
• Improved: Support for SMTP connections via TLS
• Change: Google Wallet (formally Google Checkout) Invoice Payment option removed
• Fixed: Cumulative roll-up of various fixes for issues discovered since the initial release of v4.06

How To Get MIDAS v4.07

Existing MIDAS customers with valid Annual Support Subscriptions can update to v4.07 from within the software via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Update.

Customers who have their MIDAS “remotely hosted” by us – you don’t need to do anything – you’ve already been automatically updated to v4.07!

Is your organization not yet using MIDAS for its scheduling needs? Maybe now is the right time to get on top of your room bookings and resource scheduling once and for all with our intuitive, powerful and easy to use, web based software!

So why not give MIDAS a try online now, Read what some of our existing customers say, and get MIDAS working for your organization today!

Keep Your Browser Up-to-date!

We want you to have the best possible user experience when using MIDAS in your favorite Web Browser. We support our web based scheduling software in all major browsers (including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera). A list of minimum and recommended browser versions can be found at https://mid.as/browsers.

The post MIDAS v4.07 Now Available! appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

The MIDAS API is an optional addon for MIDAS, allowing you to interface directly with your MIDAS scheduling system from your own applications.

First introduced just over a year ago, version 1 of the API allowed developers to access and retrieve data from MIDAS.

Version 2 of the API builds on this, and extends the API’s capabilities further by now allowing “bi-directional” access to MIDAS. This means that as well as being able to simply “read” data from MIDAS through the API, developers can now also “write” data to MIDAS, and modify existing data.

Nearly two dozen new API calls have been implemented for API v2, allowing you to:

• Add, delete or modify bookings, clients, and resources
• Add, generate, or delete invoices
• Approve or reject booking requests
• Email clients
• Change settings
  …and more!

Full documentation for version 2 of the API is now available online at mid.as/api, and will shortly be available in an offline format too.API v2 will be available to coincide with the upcoming release of MIDAS v4.07, and will a FREE update to existing API users who have an ongoing annual support subscription covering the release of v4.07.

v2 is also backwards compatible with v1 of the API. Existing customers who wish to add the optional API to their MIDAS installation can do so via mid.as/upgrade.

New customers can purchase MIDAS along with the optional API addon via mid.as/pricing.

The post Version 2 of the MIDAS API is here appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

Improved Support for Smaller Screens

We’ve already previously optimized MIDAS for use on tablet devices (including the iPad), and for v4.07, we’ve further optimized the layout of MIDAS for use on even smaller mobile device screens – such as the iPhone.

Below are some screenshots of MIDAS v4.07 accessed using an iPhone 5 (Click for bigger images)

Best of all – there’s nothing additional to install on your phone/mobile device – there’s no separate “app” to download from the app store – you simply access MIDAS through your device’s web browser. If you’ve got an iOS device, such as an iPhone, you can also add a shortcut to MIDAS directly to your home screen for easy one-touch access to your booking system.

These improvements make MIDAS the ideal scheduling solution for seamless access to your bookings across your desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices alike, and it’s supported in all major web browsers too!

The post Improved Support For Smaller Screens (including iPhones) appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

This post covers some of the improvements coming to the Public Booking Request capabilities within MIDAS.

Pre-Populate Selected Dates/Times

The standard public “Booking Request” process has the following five stages/screens

1. Select Venue(s)
2. Select Date(s)
3. Select Times
4. Your Details
5. Finished

When a member of the public makes a booking request for your facilities, they follow these stages in order. In v4.07, we’re giving you much more flexibility, by allowing you to “hard code” venues and/or dates into your public booking request links to allow requestors to “bypass” the first couple of stages using data supplied via your link.

For example, if the Public Booking Request for your MIDAS is https://your_midas_url/request, appending a “?venue=Hall” to the URL/link will jump straight to Stage 2 (Select Date(s)), with the “Hall” venue selected.

Alternatively, appending “?date=YYYYMMDD” to the end of your Public Booking Request URL will preselect the date you pass – Example: appending “?date=20141015” to your public booking request URL will pre-select the 15th October 2014.

You can also pass a combination of both a “venue” AND a “date” parameter at the same time to bypass stages 1 and 2 of the booking request process and jump straight to Stage 3 (Select Times) – Example: “https://your_midas_url/request?venue=Hall&date=20141015“

Furthermore, you can optionally pass multiple venues and/or dates by simply separating them with commas. In the following example, “Hall” and “Gymnasium” venues are preselected on 15th and 16th October 2014:

https://your_midas_url/request?venue=Hall,Gymnasium&date=20141015,20141016

“Remember Me” Option

On the “Your Details” stage of the public booking request process, there’s now also a “Remember Me” tick box, allowing the requestor’s browser to optionally remember their details (name, organization, email address) for the next time they make a booking request from the same browser – so they won’t have to manually enter the same information each time.

Custom .css Styling

We’re also giving you even more control over the “look and feel” of your entire Public Booking Request process, by allowing you to override the default visual “theme” for your MIDAS, and use your own external .CSS style sheet instead! You can specify an external .css style sheet via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Templates → Web Request

The post Public Booking Request Improvements in v4.07 appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

This article covers some of the improvements coming to the Invoicing capabilities of MIDAS.

Tax Exempt Clients

In MIDAS v4.07, you’ll be able to exclude individual clients from being charged tax on their invoices. Find Out More…

New “Payment Terms” Setting

We’re introducing a new “Payment Terms” setting for v4.07. This allows you to specify how many days you allow for your clients to pay their invoices. This new setting may be found via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Invoicing.

New Invoicing Variables

As a result of the introduction of the new “Payment Terms” setting, a whole host of new invoicing variables have also been introduced. These include: %INVOICEDUEDATE%, %INVOICEDUEIN%, %INVOICEOVERDUEBY%, and %INVOICETERMS%. There are also new variables giving you far greater control over the “Invoice To” section of your invoices.

The previous %INVOICETO% variable (which includes the client’s name, organization, postal address and email address) can now be broken down into smaller parts. This is achieved through the introduction of the new variables %INVOICETO_CLIENT%, %INVOICETO_ORG%, %INVOICETO_ADDRESS%, and %INVOICETO_EMAIL%

New columns in the Invoicing Overview screen

Also as a result of the new “Payment Terms” setting, there’s now dedicated “Invoice Date” and “Due Date” columns added to the invoicing overview screen.

Invoice Reminders / Overdue Notifications

MIDAS v4.07 contains a new “Scheduled Tasks” engine. Scheduled Tasks allow your booking system to automatically send clients email reminders a number of days before their outstanding invoices are due, or if their invoice is overdue, send them a notification a certain number of days after.

The content and wording of these notifications can be fully customized too!

Improved PayPal Integration

If you allow your clients to pay their invoices online via PayPal, you can now have PayPal automatically update the status of their invoices within MIDAS once payment has been made. This means you’ll no longer have to manually update invoices yourself! For more information, please see: Configuring PayPal Integration

Google Wallet (formally Google Checkout) support removed

The previous support for clients to pay their invoices online via Google Wallet has regrettably been removed from 4.07. This is because Google no longer support such payment provisions. Google have now retired Checkout, and Google Wallet is now restricted to payments for mobile apps in the Google Play store only. We’ve covered this in more depth in this article.

The post Invoicing Improvements in v4.07 appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

This post covers some of the improvements coming to the customizable “Templates” within MIDAS.

A range of customizable templates has been available to administrators for some time (ever since v3.12, way back in May 2011) via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Templates. v4.07 sees a number of improvements to these templates…

More Flexible Email Templates

In previous releases, there has been a single customizable email template which was applied to all outgoing emails sent through your scheduling system. For v4.07, we’ve extended the number of email templates to NINE!

You’ll now be able to modify separate email templates for booking confirmations, booking reminders, invoice reminders, invoice overdue notifications, booking request submitted/approved/rejected notifications, as well as the original “general” email template for all other emails.

You’ll also be able to customize the subject field of most of these emails templates too!

More Variables

To accompany the many new templates available in v4.07, we’re also introducing a range of new “variables” which can be inserted into your template code to provide even more flexibility.

For example, a new %CLIENT_FIRSTNAME% variable has been introduced alongside the previous %CLIENT% variable to allow your emails to be more informal by using the client’s first name instead of their full name.

A whole host of new invoicing variables have also been introduced including, %INVOICEDUEDATE%, %INVOICEDUEIN%, %INVOICEOVERDUEBY%, and %INVOICETERMS%, as well as new variables giving you far greater control over the “Invoice To” section of your invoices.

The previous %INVOICETO% variable (which includes the client’s name, organization, postal address and email address) can be broken down into smaller parts through the use of the new variables %INVOICETO_CLIENT%, %INVOICETO_ORG%, %INVOICETO_ADDRESS%, and %INVOICETO_EMAIL%

Visual Template Editing

The other big improvement for templates in v4.07 is the ability to edit your templates “visually” in the “Template Preview” area as well as manually in the “Template Code” area.

You can now type, copy, cut, paste, and move items around in the “Template Preview” area, and MIDAS will automatically generate updated template code from your edits.

Reset Templates

Messed up a template and want to start again? Each template within MIDAS can now be reset to its standard factory default.

Further Customize Web Request and Pay Online Templates with CSS

We’re also giving you even more control over the “look and feel” of your “Public Booking Request” and “Pay Online” screens by allowing you to specify your own external .css Style Sheets that will override the default theme your MIDAS is running in when these pages are displayed.

The post Template Improvements for v4.07 appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

Making Clients Exempt From Tax

We love feedback and suggestions from our customers, and this next feature arises from just such a suggestion (which eagle-eyed readers may have already spotted in a screenshot from our previous post!)

MIDAS already includes powerful invoicing capabilities, allowing you to set flexible room rates for each day of the week as well as different lengths (durations) of booking. In additional, you can also setup discount rates depending upon the type of booking (for example, community hires can be charged at a lower rate than commercial hire of your facilities)

These extensive invoice capabilities are further enhanced for v4.07, as we’re introducing a new per-client setting allowing individual clients to be excluded from having the standard global tax rate you’ve setup for your system (via MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Invoicing) applied to their generated invoices.

The post Tax Exempt Clients appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

In MIDAS v4.07, we’ve introduced a new “Scheduled Tasks” feature. This may be accessed MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS & Scheduled Tasks.

“Scheduled Tasks” allow the software to perform a series of automated tasks in the background without any user intervention. These automated tasks include:

• Sending booking reminders to clients in advance of their upcoming bookings
• Sending invoice reminders to clients in advance of the due date of their invoice, if their invoice hasn’t been paid in full
• Sending invoice overdue notifications to clients who haven’t paid their invoices on time

In the meantime, if your MIDAS system in “self hosted”, in order to use the new “Scheduled Tasks” features of v4.07, you’ll first need to configure your server to execute a MIDAS component once every hour. For more information, please refer to the following knowledgebase article: Configuring your server to run Scheduled Tasks.

If your MIDAS is “cloud hosted” by us, there’s no need to do this. Scheduled Tasks will work “out of the box” for our cloud hosted customers.

The post New Scheduled Tasks appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.

We really do listen to and value all customer feedback here at MIDAS HQ! One of the most requested features you’ve told us you’d like to see in our software is the ability to be able to attach files/documents to your bookings. This would allow users to be able to store room layout plans, signed booking contracts, programs & itineraries, and other relevant documents to each booking.

So we’re giving you just that by adding a new “file” custom field type in v4.07! We already allow you to add your own custom text, number, list, and URL (link) fields to your booking screen. With the addition of the new “file” type you’ll also be able to add file upload fields to your booking screens.

The custom “file” field will allow users to click a “Select File” button. They can then locate a file from their computer to attach to the booking.

Attachments are uploaded to MIDAS and linked to for easy accessed via the booking information panel, and through the “Modify Booking” screen where they can also be removed.

Uploading of the following file types is supported: .csv, .doc, .docx, .gif, .jpeg, .jpg, .pdf, .png, .ppt, .pptx, .rar, .txt, .xls, .xlsx, .zip

Administrators can also limit the maximum size of file that can be uploaded and attached to bookings. The default is 5MB.

The post New File Uploads and Attachments appeared first on MIDAS - Room Booking System | Blog.