Booking Agent Overview
We cannot publicise the ParkBase system, as there are risks for security and data involved in it. Therefore, these reservation modules help users to access the architecture without the security threat.
The ParkBase has a number of parking reservation according to different schedules. The reservation module takes care of all these.
You can register on the reservation module by filling the following:
- Name
- Start date and time
- End date and time
- Facility
- Number of parking spaces
- Date and time at which the number of spaces to be sold must be allocated
- Date and time at which the allocation of spaces expires
- Smallest reservation unit in hours
- List of web shops of parking spaces
The spaces can be reserved through multiple sellers by web shops. If there are multiple sellers linked to a particular schedule then all of them will have the same priority. For an instance, if a seller reserves one of the space then, other sellers will be unable to access and book those.
To avoid such a situation, we can create separate schedule for each seller. This will be same as trying and booking an online parking space.
When a reservation is created in the schedule of the ParkBase the same can be forwarded to the Booking Agent. This schedule id, then publicized for bookings. ParkBase checks on in every hour to view the allocated and the released slots. It updates the schedule again and tracks the spaces reserved for each schedule.
The updated capacity is displayed by removing the reserved parking spaces. A counter is generated in order for manager to check the available parking spaces. With full monitoring of non-reservations, the number of occupied spaces is offset against the active capacity (= capacity – reserved parking spaces).
The rate schedule is in accord with the Booking Agent. Thus, we can calculate rates for each profile. We can also change the rate if few configurable numbers of spaces have been reserved.
We can also add an “early bird discount” for the first 100 reservations.
A rate step has the following attributes. We can use the same to configure a rate of space.
- Number of parking spaces
- Rate schedule
- A description of a special rate (e.g. “early bird discount”) that the customer sees.
Suppose, if a person wants to park in a specific facility. He can then book, reserve and pay through a web shop for using that spot. This web shop can be a product of IP parking or can also be a third party system.
The ParkBase allows the web shops to book reservations for the visitors too. For online payments, these web shops collect the payment for the reservation. However, the rate can be calculated through a booking.
The Booking Agent also offers the following services to the external system:
- Querying whether a parking space is available for reservation during a specific period, including rate calculation.
- Making a reservation during a specified period.
- Changing an existing reservation.
- Cancelling a reservation.
- Returning a list of open time slots during a specified period.
Once the spot is reserved through the booking agent, the ParkBase captures it as a visitor. As in, the ParkBase will link these visitors to the business account. The ParkBase always translates a reservation into a visitor as the availability check takes place in the Booking agent. In this case, the seller will act as the business account. In this way, the booking will creates invoices.
The visitor can enter the facility and can be identified by recognizing the license plate or the PIN code. This license plate is entered into the web-shop and the PIN code will be generated by the respective Booking agent.
However, if the visitor has parked out of the reserved time, the visitor will pay the additional fees in the parking garage.