Managing Workspaces

A workspace is a physical area of your makerspace, such as a woodshop, laser lab, or electronics bench. Workspaces organize your equipment, set the hours that area is open, and can require members to hold specific authorizations before they reserve anything inside.

You need the Manage Workspaces permission (Managers and Admins by default). Find workspaces under Admin > Resources > Workspaces.

Create a workspace

1. Go to Admin > Resources > Workspaces and choose Add Workspace.
2. Fill in the Basics: a name (for example “Electronics Lab”), an optional description, and a color.
3. Set the Operating Hours. Leave it on Match Business Hours to follow your facility’s hours, or switch to custom hours.
4. Under Required Authorizations, add any authorizations members must hold to reserve equipment in this workspace. Leave it empty if the area is open to everyone.
5. Optionally pick Workspace Leads, the people responsible for the area.
6. Choose Save Workspace.

Tip

Create your authorizations first. They only show up in the picker once they exist. See Managing Authorizations.

What each setting does

Setting	What it does
Name, description, color	How the workspace is labeled and identified on the booking page and in admin lists.
Operating hours	When the workspace is open. By default it follows your facility’s business hours. See Operating Hours.
Required authorizations	Members must hold every one of these to reserve equipment in the workspace.
Workspace leads	People shown to members as the contacts for the area, on the booking page and in the workspace list. Leads must be active members of your makerspace.

The workspace detail pane

Select a workspace in the list to open its tabs:

Tab	What you’ll find
Overview	The status note (if one is set), plus the equipment in the workspace and the authorizations it requires.
Equipment	Every piece of equipment in the workspace, with a shortcut to add more.
Settings	The operating-hours editor, plus the Archive button.
Activity	Reserved for an activity timeline, coming later.

The header shows the workspace’s status (Available, Unavailable, Maintenance, or Archived) and its leads.

Edit a workspace

Select the workspace and choose Edit. You can change the name, description, color, hours, required authorizations, and leads. Hours can also be edited on the Settings tab.

Caution

Changing a workspace’s required authorizations takes effect right away. Anyone making or rescheduling a reservation in the workspace must hold every authorization it now requires.

Add equipment to a workspace

Open the workspace’s Equipment tab and choose Add equipment to workspace. The new equipment is placed in this workspace automatically, and it picks up the workspace’s required authorizations. See Managing Equipment.

Archive a workspace

When an area closes for good, archive it instead of deleting it. MakerVera shows you the upcoming bookings, equipment, and classes affected before anything happens, and you can restore the workspace later. Full details are in Archiving Workspaces & Authorizations.

Troubleshooting

I don’t see Workspaces in the navigation. Your role doesn’t include Manage Workspaces. Ask an admin to review your role.

A lead I want isn’t in the list. Only active members can be leads. Check that the person’s account is active.

A member says they can see the workspace but can’t reserve anything. The workspace probably requires an authorization they don’t hold. Check the member’s Credentials tab and see How Authorization Requirements Work.

Equipment I added doesn’t appear on the booking page. Equipment must be marked bookable to show on the calendar, and equipment that is Offline can’t be reserved. See Managing Equipment.