Relationship between Category, Venue, Service and Resource

In this section, we will clarify the relationship between categories, venues, services, and resources in OS Services Booking. Understanding these relationships is crucial when setting up and managing your appointment booking system, both in the backend and front-end.

Note: Starting from version 7.0, "Employees" have been replaced with "Resources" to better represent the flexible nature of the booking system.

Key Components

  • Category: A category is a grouping of services. For example, "Medical Services" can include services like "General Checkup" and "Dental Cleaning."
  • Venue: A venue is the physical or virtual location where services take place. A service may be tied to a specific venue.
  • Service: Services are the bookable offerings in your system (consultations, court bookings, equipment rentals, etc.).
  • Resource: Resources are the entities that deliver services (staff members, facilities, equipment, etc.). Each resource can be assigned a Resource Type for proper categorization and labeling.

Relationship Diagram

Please take a look at the diagram below:

In the diagram, the top blue bar labeled "Category" represents a category that includes multiple services.

If we consider this diagram as an example of a booking system, it consists of:

  • 2 venues: Venue A and Venue B
  • 3 services: Service A, Service B, and Service C
  • 9 resources in total (previously called "employees")

How It Works

Each venue (A and B) offers the same services (Service A, B, and C). However, the key distinction is that resources assigned to Venue A cannot work on the same services in Venue B.

Additionally, a resource can be assigned to multiple services. For example, Resource 6 is working on both Service A and Service C in Venue B.

This structure ensures that bookings are properly managed, preventing resources from being scheduled at different venues simultaneously while still allowing flexibility for resources who work across multiple services.

Resource Types

In version 7.0 and later, each resource can be assigned a Resource Type (such as Staff, Court, Equipment, Vehicle). This allows the system to display appropriate labels throughout the interface, enhancing the user experience by using contextually relevant terminology.