Introducing Automated Check-ins for Hybrid Workplaces

Managing your Hybrid Workplaces, and making sure your people check into their bookings can be a time-consuming and tedious task, and a hot-desking model without the right tools to manage everything very quickly becomes a free-for-all fiasco! If this is you, then maybe it’s time to take advantage of an automated hybrid workplace check-in API! 

It’s vital you know how your Hybrid Workspaces are used, and who uses them. Not only so you can manage them with ease, but so you can optimize your real-estate footprint to cut costs.  

It all starts with how your people check into their bookings.

The way you get the space utilization data you need is by making sure your people check into their bookings. That’s where the data is, and the knock-on effect is bigger than you think.

When your space usage data is accurate you can easily see how your spaces are used. This then helps you meet future space needs, and demands, decide if you want to rent out empty rooms on off days, cut back on resources, and deliver a great space that facilitates great work from your employees.

It’s a no-brainer, hence why we decided to make it possible for you to make this part of the process completely automatic. 

Overview

Our new Check-in API for Hybrid Workplaces will look to create an automated check-in experience for your workplace in order to gain accurate booking data.

We’ll do this by providing the following endpoints:

1. Bookings – An endpoint with the ability to retrieve a list of all bookings (filterable by id, start date, end date, type & status).
2. Users – An endpoint with the ability to retrieve a list of Kadence users (filterable by id, email address, first name, and last name).
3. User Bookings – An endpoint with the ability to retrieve a list of bookings for a Kadence user (filterable by ID, start date, end date, type & status).
4. Buildings – An endpoint with the ability to retrieve a list of buildings (filterable by id, name, country code & city).
5. Check In – An endpoint with the capability to check in a specific user with the ability to specify a check-in method (door access, wifi, geofence, sensor)

What’s possible with an API for Hybrid Workplaces?

As with any API, the sky is your limit. You can choose how best to integrate with your various software in any way you choose. 

To help ignite your creativity, here is a list of options to easily help automate your check-in flow.

1. Automatically check users into their bookings through a badging integration system of your choice
2. Show information on bookings, users, and buildings within your applications
3. Display who has booked a desk to use as a waypoint tool so you know who should be sitting where, but also to warn users not to sit at that desk
4. Authenticate users and check them into their bookings when they log into a computer, book to come onsite or access WiFi
5. Alert office managers if there are no designated fire marshals or first aiders on site

Technical implementation

Before you can use the API you’ll need to have a Kadence account, so if you’re new to Kadence you can sign up or book a demo at kadence.co.

Using the Hybrid Workplaces API

You can find our API specification at https://api.kadence.co/. This describes all of our endpoints, how to call them, and what responses to expect.

All requests will return an HTTP status code that indicates the success of the response. For more information about response codes, see the MDN HTTP response status code documentation. The response will include headers that give more details about the response. Headers that start with X- are custom to Kadence. Where applicable operations will return a response body that is JSON formatted.

Authentication

In order to use any of Kadence’s REST API you’ll need a global administrator from your organization to create an API key. Once you’ve got an API key you’ll have full access to the Kadence API.

Kadence implements OAuth 2.0 authentication. You will need to use the OAuth 2.0 Client Credentials Flow to get a token that can be used to call the Kadence API.

Check out our help center to learn more about our Getting Started guide, as well as How to set up, and manage API keys.

Join your colleagues wherever they’re working that day

In-person work creates an environment of engagement and a shared sense of purpose. When working in person teammates can easily read each other’s nonverbal cues which can dramatically increase trust and understanding. With Kadence, planning to come together or coordinate both remote and in-person meetings is easy and straightforward. Log into the Kadence Web app, and check out your starred colleagues within the User Homepage.

Quickstart guide – Check-into your Hybrid Workplaces

Understanding how your space is used is fundamental to reporting, and decision-making. The great thing about our new Check-in API is that there are unlimited powerful integration possibilities enabling you to get accurate data on your spaces through check-ins and maximize your spaces as a result in order that you may create a frictionless team experience. 

Here’s a quick guide on how to get started:

1. Ensure you’ve got an API key and that you’ve obtained a token using the client credentials OAuth 2.0 grant type. (See the Getting Started guide for more information).
2. Find the user you want to check in. You can use the v1/public/users endpoint to achieve this. This endpoint supports filtering on email, first name, or last name to find the appropriate user. (You may want to store the user ID when you’ve matched to the appropriate user to reduce the number of API calls made to the Kadence).

e.g. GEThttps://api.onkadence.co/v1/public/users?email=john.smith@example.com

3. Find the booking for the user you want to check in to. You can use the v1/public/users/:id/bookings endpoint to achieve this. This API supports filtering on start date, end date status, and type to find a booking that’s available for check-in. You’ll need to use the user ID you retrieved at the last step query for bookings.

e.g. GET <https://api.onkadence.co/v1/public/users/{userId}/bookings?type=desk&status=booked&startDate=2023-01-01&endDate=2023-01-02>

4. You can check in to the booking on behalf of the user using the v1/public/bookings/:id/check-in endpoint. You’ll need to use the booking ID retrieved at the previous set to check in to the booking.
   
   e.g. https://api.onkadence.co/v1/public/bookings/{bookingId}/check-in
   
   This endpoint requires you to include the user ID in the post body of the user who is performing the “check-in” action. It is up to you who performs this action. You may want to set up a service account within Kadence that does this, or you may want it to appear as if the user themselves had checked in.
   
   Optionally you can also include a method property in the post data to indicate how the user was checked in. This can be one of the following values:
   

• dooraccess i.e. checked in automatically via a door access system.
• wifi i.e. checked in automatically by connecting to company WiFi.
• geofence i.e. checked in automatically because a user’s device reported they were in the building.
• sensor i.e. checked in automatically because a sensor detected their presence.

Note: If self-certification is enabled for buildings you may not be able to check in on behalf of users if they have not self-certified for their booking.

Note: Kadence also allows you to query building information if you want to add further logic to limit checking in on a per-building basis.

Conclusion

Managing your workspace and optimizing its usage is essential to reducing costs, and ensuring a productive work environment. Your real-estate footprint can be easily measured with the right tools that automate the check-in process. 

Not only will you be able to meet the changing needs of your employees, but you’ll also be able to allocate resources better, and you’ll really create a great working environment in the process.

Don’t let space management become a free-for-all fiasco!

Watch the full demonstration here to find out how to transform your hybrid workplace with an API that automates employee check-ins.