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Redlands Coast Art Society

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🌼 Documentation v0.1

Introduction

1. Purpose

The RCAS Booking Manager is designed to provide a reliable, structured way to manage room bookings for the Studio and Gallery. It ensures:

  • bookings are reviewed before being committed
  • room conflicts are prevented
  • the spreadsheet remains the single source of truth

2. How the System Works

  1. A tutor submits a booking request via the form
  2. The request appears in the Admin sheet as Pending
  3. The booking manager reviews the request
  4. When marked Approved, the system creates a calendar event 5. If a conflict exists, the system prevents approval

3. Status Meanings

Pending — Awaiting review

Approved — Booking confirmed and written to calendar

Rejected — Booking declined

Conflict — System detected an issue (see Processing Note)

Cancelled — Booking removed and calendar event deleted

4. Admin Workflow (Daily Use)

  1. Open Admin sheet and Calendar
  2. Review new Pending entries
  3. Check availability
  4. Adjust Assigned Room if needed
  5. Set Status → Approved

Finally, confirm:

  • Status remains Approved
  • Calendar Event ID populated
  • Processing Note confirms success

5. Assigned Room Logic

  • Do NOT edit original Room
  • Use Assigned Room for overrides
  • System uses Assigned Room if present

Changing Assigned Room on an approved booking:
→ removes calendar event
→ resets booking to Pending

6. If Something Goes Wrong

Check in this order:

  1. Status
  2. Processing Note
  3. Calendar Event ID
  4. Calendar

Common causes:

  • overlapping booking
  • invalid time
  • missing data

7. Key Rules

Never:

  • edit base booking fields
  • rename headers
  • delete system columns

Always:

  • trust Processing Note
  • approve only after checking availability

8. Technical Overview

Flow:

Form → Sheet → Script → Calendar

Core behaviours:

  • Approval creates event
  • Status change removes event if needed
  • Conflict blocks invalid bookings

9. Notes

  • Recurring bookings are validated but not fully automated
  • System_Log records system activity
  • Sheet is the single source of truth

10. Philosophy

The system is designed to:

  • prevent errors rather than fix them later
  • make state changes explicit
  • support confident decision-making

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