Overlapping Reservations on Vome

Overlapping Reservations on Vome

Overlapping reservations are when the same user holds two reservations whose times overlap. For example, a user reserved for a shift from 9:00 to 11:00 who also tries to reserve a different shift from 10:00 to 12:00.

Vome lets you control whether this is allowed, at two levels that work together: an organization-wide default that applies across your whole account, and a per-opportunity setting that lets an individual opportunity override or refine that default.

By default, overlapping reservations are allowed, and every opportunity follows the organization-wide default until you change it.


How does Vome decide whether an overlap is allowed?

The two settings combine into a single decision each time a user tries to reserve a shift:

  • Vome looks first at the opportunity the user is reserving into.

  • If that opportunity is set to follow the organization default, the organization-wide setting decides.

  • If that opportunity has its own setting, the opportunity's setting wins and the organization default is ignored for that opportunity.

One important rule: the setting that matters is the one on the opportunity the user is reserving into, not the one on a reservation they already hold.


How do I set the organization-wide default? (Administrator)

  1. Go to the Schedule page.

  2. Open the Overlapping reservations popup.

  3. Set whether overlapping reservations are blocked across your organization.

The change saves immediately. When overlaps are blocked, they are blocked everywhere except on opportunities that override the default. When they are allowed, they are allowed everywhere except on opportunities that override it. You can also see and change this organization default from inside the per-opportunity overlap settings, where it appears at the bottom of the panel.


How do I set overlap rules for a single opportunity? (Administrator)

This is the newer control. Every opportunity carries its own overlap setting, so you can do things like block overlaps inside one opportunity while leaving the rest of your organization unchanged.

You can set it in two places:

  • Open the Opportunity Dashboard, go to the Schedule tab, and choose the overlap option. This is where the full set of options is available.

  • Launch the overlap popup from the schedule view. This popup shows a shorter set of options, along with the name of the opportunity you are adjusting and your current organization default.

The setting takes effect on a user's next reservation attempt for that opportunity. No notification is sent when you change it.


What do the per-opportunity options mean?

The full editor on the Opportunity Dashboard offers these options:

  • Use the organization default. The opportunity follows your organization-wide setting. This is where every opportunity starts, so behavior stays exactly as before until you change it.

  • Allow overlaps. Overlaps are always allowed for this opportunity's shifts, even when your organization default blocks them. Use this to keep one opportunity flexible while the rest of the organization is locked down.

  • Block overlaps within the same opportunity. A reservation is blocked if it overlaps another reservation that belongs to the same opportunity, but allowed if the conflicting reservation belongs to a different opportunity. This lets a user volunteer for two things at once across different opportunities, while still preventing a clash inside this one.

  • Block overlaps on this opportunity's own shifts. A reservation is blocked only when it overlaps another reservation on a shift in this same opportunity. This is the narrowest block, and it is the option shown in the shorter popup.

  • Block overlaps everywhere. A reservation is blocked whenever it overlaps any other reservation the user holds, anywhere in your organization, even when your organization default allows overlaps.

The shorter popup launched from the schedule view shows three of these: Use the organization default, Allow overlaps, and Block overlaps on this opportunity's own shifts.


Can one opportunity allow overlaps while the rest of my organization blocks them?

Yes, and the reverse is also true.

  • Set an opportunity to Allow overlaps and it will permit overlaps even when your organization default blocks them.

  • Set an opportunity to Block overlaps everywhere and it will block overlaps even when your organization default allows them.

Any opportunity set to anything other than "Use the organization default" ignores the organization-wide setting entirely.


How do I apply overlap settings to many opportunities at once? (Administrator)

  1. Open the bulk schedule-settings action for your live opportunities.

  2. Choose an overlap option and select the opportunities to apply it to.

  3. Save. The chosen setting is written to every selected opportunity in one step.


How does Vome detect an overlap?

When the applicable setting blocks overlaps, Vome compares the time window of the new reservation against the user's existing reservations.

  • Committed time, not the full shift window. For flexible or self-scheduled shifts, Vome compares the user's own committed start and end times rather than the full window of the shift. A user who committed to a one-hour slot inside a six-hour flexible window only conflicts with reservations that actually overlap that one hour. For fixed shifts, the shift's own start and end times are used.

  • The setting narrows which reservations count. "Block overlaps within the same opportunity" only looks at existing reservations in the same opportunity, "Block overlaps on this opportunity's own shifts" looks only at reservations on shifts in this same opportunity, and "Block overlaps everywhere" looks at all of the user's reservations.

The same logic applies both to conflicts with reservations a user already holds and to conflicts between two shifts a user submits together in a single reservation.


What does a user see when a reservation is blocked?

The user is told they have a conflicting reservation and that it must be cancelled before the new one can be made. If two shifts in the same submission conflict with each other, the user is told those two shifts conflict. A blocked reservation simply returns this message, and the user's existing reservations are not changed in any way.


A few things to keep in mind

  • Every opportunity starts on "Use the organization default," so overlap behavior is unchanged until you opt an opportunity in.

  • If your organization has never set an overlap default, overlaps are allowed for any opportunity that follows the default.

  • Changing an overlap setting does not notify users. It applies to the next reservation attempt.

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