This guide shows you how to set up your anny account for day-to-day operations at a university. You will learn how to map study spaces, rooms, equipment and consultation appointments as resources, how to manage students and staff through SSO and communities, and how to define booking rules for the whole campus.
- Available from Enterprise (for single sign-on, custom deletion periods and unlimited communities).
- Activate Communities, Multiple availability of resources, Multiple availability with assignment, Check-In & Check-Out and Deletion periods in advance.
Thinking universities the anny way
In the university use case, anny maps your entire booking infrastructure digitally. The core principle: every bookable place or item is a resource, and every individual workspace inside it is a child resource. You control who may see and book what through communities.
Your team manages everything in the admin area (resources, bookings, communities, dashboard). Students and staff book through the booking area (anny app, weekly planner, maps).
Step-by-step setup
1
Build your resource structure
Create a resource for every bookable area. Use clear names that include building, floor and capacity (e.g. “Library ground floor, reading room 1”).For rooms with several individual spots: open the resource, go to Availability and create the individual spots under Child resource (e.g. study space 1 to 30). Students can then pick a specific spot or have one assigned automatically.Group related resources into resource groups (e.g. “All library study spaces”, “Seminar rooms building A”) for a better overview and easier permission management.
2
Configure booking options
Create at least one booking option per resource type. Typical setups:
To do this, open the relevant resource and create the matching configuration under Booking options.
3
Set up SSO (Shibboleth)
Connect anny to your university’s identity provider through the SAML interface (typically Shibboleth via DFN-AAI or eduGAIN).
- Open the account settings and go to SSO & Security.
- Click + Add IdP and select Federation plus your network (e.g. DFN-AAI).
- Enter the Entity ID of your organisation and save.
- Have your computing centre release the required attributes (email, first name, last name and, if needed, group attributes for the mapping).
4
Create communities and configure attribute mapping
Create communities for every user group, for example:
- Students (access to study spaces, library, university sports)
- Staff (access to office workspaces, meeting rooms)
- Externals (limited access, e.g. for guest students)
- Go to Account settings → SSO & Security → Attribute mapping.
- Click Add mapping and select Community.
- Create a rule: if the attribute (e.g.
urn:oid:xxxx) contains the value “Student” (array), then assign the community “Students”. - Save and test the login.
5
Define booking rules
Define global booking rules under Account settings → Booking rules to set campus-wide limits:
- Max. bookings per time slot (e.g. 1 booking at a time)
- Max. active bookings into the future (e.g. 5)
6
Assign permissions and roles
Go to Account settings → User management and create roles:
- Super admin (1 to 2 people): central administration, user and permission management
- Department admin (1 per institute or faculty): day-to-day management of their own resources
- Office staff (optional): booking management without access to the account settings
Typical examples
Study space booking in the university library
Study space booking in the university library
1
Create the resource
Create a resource “Library ground floor, reading room” with a description, the building and the capacity.
2
Create child resources
Go to Availability → Child resource and create 30 study spaces (study space 1 to 30). Activate automatic assignment if students do not need to pick a specific spot.
3
Configure the booking option
Create a booking option “Flexible hourly booking” with a duration of 1 to 8 hours and a time grid of 30 minutes.
4
Activate check-in
Open the resource under Check-In and activate the check-in period (e.g. 15 minutes after the booking starts). Activate the expiry period, so unused spots are released automatically.
5
Create a map
Upload the floor plan of the reading room and connect every study space on the map with the matching child resource. Students can then pick their spot directly on the map.
Seminar room booking for staff
Seminar room booking for staff
1
Create the resource
Create a resource “Building A, seminar room 1.01” with properties such as capacity (20 people), equipment (projector, whiteboard) and location.
2
Configure the booking option
Create a booking option “Time slot booking” with slots of 45 or 90 minutes. Activate recurring bookings, so lecturers can create regular appointments.
3
Assign a community
Assign the resource to the “Staff” community, so only teaching staff and administration can book it.
4
Set up a room display
Connect a display in front of the seminar room through the anny Display app. The display shows in real time whether the room is currently occupied or free.
Additional settings & options
Check-In & Check-Out
Check attendance on site with a QR code scan and automatically release unused workspaces again once the check-in period has expired.Learn more
Maps & interactive floor plans
Visualize rooms and workspaces on interactive 3D building plans, so that your users can select and book their spot directly on the map.Learn more
Privacy & deletion periods
Anonymise or delete booking and customer data automatically after a defined period of time, fully in line with the GDPR requirements.Learn more
Display boards & room displays
Show current and upcoming bookings on displays in front of your rooms, or use the anny Check-In app on a tablet as a booking terminal.Learn more
FAQ
Can I create several communities with different booking permissions?
Can I create several communities with different booking permissions?
Yes. Every community has its own booking page and its own assignments. You can create as many communities as you like (unlimited in the Enterprise plan) and control per community which resources and booking options are visible.
How are students assigned to the right community automatically?
How are students assigned to the right community automatically?
Through attribute mapping. During the SSO login, your identity provider sends attributes along (e.g. role, faculty, degree programme). anny evaluates these attributes based on rules and assigns users to the matching communities automatically.
What happens if students want to change spots after checking in?
What happens if students want to change spots after checking in?
Students can cancel a booking even after checking in, as long as the cancellation window of the booking option allows it. After that they simply book a new spot. Capacity and quota are released in full.
Do I need a separate anny account for every location?
Do I need a separate anny account for every location?
Usually not. Most universities run all use cases in a single account (single tenant). Only when payment handling is completely separate (e.g. university sports with its own billing unit) can a second account make sense.
Which data region should I choose?
Which data region should I choose?
For GDPR compliance and hosting on German servers, choose .eu. If you need payment handling (e.g. for university sports or events), use .co. Within one university, all accounts should run on the same data region.