Frequently Asked Questions

This will be because the Microsoft Exchange add-in is disabled.
To enable please do the following.
From Outlook :
1) Click on File > Options
2) Select Add-ins
3) Next to the heading Manage: ensure COM Add-ins is select and then click Go
4) Tick Microsoft Exchange Add-in
5) Restart Outlook

If you still have problems, contact the ICT helpdesk on 49000 or raise a ticket in ASK.

Follow this link to Report a breach etiquette

It was decided by the project Board, based on feedback from departments, that the first phase of implementation is restricted to staff. This can be reviewed once the system is fully implemented to see if there are opportunities for students to book some rooms themselves. Students can currently enquire about room bookings via activities.rooms@imperial.ac.uk.

Once concern for sharing space more widely are the differing expectations and behaviours that departments may have when using meeting rooms. Prior to rolling out Planon, a workshop was held with participants from across College to help develop a set of agreed behaviours when using shared space. The full set of guidelines can be found in the Etiquette and Behaviours pages of this site

If you have concerns about how your space is being used by others, please contact the Room Booking Implementation team.

When using a room outside your usual area, it is recommended that you check the room details in Planon. To do this, log-in to Planon, click 'Book a room' and enter your search criteria. Next to each of the rooms returned, there will be a ‘More Info’ button. Click on this to see a photo of the room, the type of access controls in place, directions to the room and a room contact if you need further information. Where possible, swipe card readers have been updated to allow all members of staff with a swipe card to access a room between 8am-7pm, Monday to Friday.

Rooms booked in Planon will not be charged for. If you are organising a conference or event and require guidance or support, please contact Events & Hospitality, who will be able to advise of any additional costs.

If the room itself has changed, e.g. is no longer a meeting room, has been divided in two etc, please contact the Estates Operations Customer Service Centre, who will update the room booking system for you.

 If there are minor changes, such as the inventory in the room has changed, Estates Operations Customer Service Centre will pass on the request to a local Super user who will update the inventory.

If there is a fault with the room, e.g. lighting, heating defects, please contact the Estates Operations Customer Service Centre, or log the fault directly in Planon.

If there is a fault with the equipment in the room, please inform the local departmental contact, who's contact details can be found in on the room information poster inside the room.

The College Space Sharing Programme aims to ensure the College maximises its use of space to help support the best possible teaching and learning experience. It is made up of several projects to help achieve this aim, including the Room Booking Implementation project, which has introduced Planon to facilitate greater space sharing.

The Room Booking Implementation project's long-term aim is to provide a single source of room availability and a single method for booking meeting rooms across College. Forming part of the College Space Sharing Programme, the project is introducing a new system, Planon, that help facilitate greater sharing of space.

The anticipated benefits of this project will be:

• Time savings for staff when searching for and making bookings.
• A single source of truth for shared-space, which enables cross-College management and planning. 

The Room Booking policy describes how to efficiently find and book College shared spaces. It forms part of a suit of policies, under the overarching Space Policy Framework, which have been developed to bring transparency to the use and management of College space.

If you would like further information about the project, or would like to discuss adding rooms to the new system, please contact the Estates Operations Customer Services Centre.

One of the aims of implementing a new room booking system is to facilitate easier and greater sharing of space across the College. However, it is recognised that there are physical and cultural factors that currently make this difficult and this may not be appropriate for all areas of College. During the roll-out of the system, the project team has been, or will be, working with the department in question to understand local requirements. Departments have several options for how their rooms are set-up in Planon, and they do not have to be shared. The options are:

• Open to all – all users will be able to view and book these rooms directly in Planon or Outlook.
• Shared – all staff in departments that have added a shared or moderated room to the system will have access to other departments’ rooms that have done the same.
• Moderated – all users will be able to request the use of the room when it’s free, but the departments will be able to assess whether it is a suitable booking.
• Restricted – the room will only be visible to a restricted number of people, such as one department, or a cluster of departments. This is usually based on the suitability of a room for wider sharing, e.g. the room is accessed via a laboratory, or is in the middle of a working area. It is not possible to restrict to a more granular level than department as Planon automatically picks up this information from College HR records. If the use of a meeting room needs extra control, it is recommended that it is moderated, as well as restricted. 

A review will be conducted once the system has been fully rolled-out, after which rooms can be reassigned by departments based on their experience or changes in circumstance. It is hoped that the need for restriction and moderation of rooms will reduce over time as College staff become more used to sharing.

Yes, all teaching rooms will remain in Celcat for timetabling purposes and can still be booked in this system via your usual route. 

If you would like to comment on your use of the new system, or your experiences of sharing space more widely in the College, please contact the Room Booking Implementation team.

If you are having any technical issues, please contact the ICT helpdesk.