Feature
The room rack you already keep goes into Bedel and comes back up to date
Sunday, 21:40. Reception has the year's room rack open: one column per day, one mark for every night each resident sleeps in the house and, at the bottom, the DINING-HALL TOTALS row that someone adds up by hand. That sheet is uploaded to Bedel as it is. From then on, the "not sleeping here this weekend" messages that arrive on WhatsApp are logged on their own, the sheet can be downloaded up to date with the totals worked out and, if the alarm goes off in the small hours, there is an Excel file of who is inside, room by room.
What happens in the centre, and what Bedel does with each thing
| What happens in the centre | What Bedel does |
|---|---|
| Reception uploads the room rack Excel, with one column per day | Works out since when each person is staying, until when and which nights they do not sleep there: the blank gaps in between. The mark is yours ("PC", "MP", an X): any filled-in cell counts as "here" |
| A row in the rack has the name with only one surname | Matches it with whoever is already registered if only one person fits; if two fit, it says so and someone who knows the house decides. It does not register anyone: the rack has no phone numbers |
| Management downloads the rack at the end of the month | The same sheet, up to date: the "Not sleeping in the residence" column, the rows of fixed covers, DINING-HALL TOTALS worked out and a note on the day someone leaves or comes back, such as "Sale · come · picnic de la cena" (leaves, has lunch, packed dinner) |
| The alarm goes off at 02:00 | The evacuation plan comes out in Excel with two sheets: who is in the building according to Bedel and who is recorded as out and why, with room, name and mobile, ordered floor by floor |
| A resident is coming back today from a long weekend and nobody has marked her entry | In the morning she gets "🚪 Según el libro de salidas, hoy martes 22 es tu día de vuelta. ¿Llegas hoy?" (according to the absence log, Tuesday 22 is your return day; arriving today?) with two buttons. If she presses "No llego hoy" (not arriving today), it logs another night away and notifies the front desk |
| The kitchen sees in the dining hall a resident who was recorded as away | With a button in the dashboard it logs her arrival. If she was coming back from a night away, the absence is closed and the dining-hall cancellations that hung on those nights are undone |
| Reception writes "/presencia" on her WhatsApp at midnight | Gets who is inside and who is sleeping away, with the same rule as the dashboard list and the evacuation plan |
Importing the rack without redoing it
A room rack is not a list of people: it is a grid, one column per day of the academic year and one mark per night. Bedel reads that shape, not another one. Before applying anything it shows what it has understood: which days the sheet covers, how many people it has read and how many rows it has skipped on purpose, such as totals, community or notes. A silent skip is an error nobody sees.
- "From" is the first marked day; if it falls on the sheet's first column, it is left without a date, because there it is unknown whether the person arrived that day or was already there.
- "Until" is the last marked day, with the same caution at the other end: the sheet ending does not mean the person leaves.
- Nights away are the blank days in between, the same thing that is counted by hand in the column for whoever does not sleep in the house.
- Only nights from today onwards are written, and uploading the same rack again does not duplicate them.
Matching by name, without creating anyone
A rack has no phone numbers, and without a phone number a resident is of no use to Bedel, which talks to them on WhatsApp. That is why importing the rack does not register anyone: it matches each row with whoever is already in the directory and gives them their dates. The room is not a valid key, because it is reassigned every academic year, which is exactly when a new rack is uploaded.
- Names are compared without accents, without capitals and without double spaces.
- If the rack is missing the second surname and only one person starts that way, the row is matched with her.
- If two fit, the one at the top is not picked: it says there are two.
- Whoever does not appear in the directory is listed by name, instead of creating a duplicate with no mobile.
Downloading the sheet up to date
The other half is returning the sheet with what has happened: the nights away reported on WhatsApp and the arrivals and departures entered in the dashboard. It comes out in the same format, and it can be uploaded again without changing what is read. What stops being done by hand is the sum at the bottom.
- A row of dates and a row of weekdays at the top, as in the centre's sheet, with the mark the house uses.
- DINING-HALL TOTALS is worked out on lunch and counts whoever actually eats on the day they leave and the day they come back, plus the fixed covers of each group.
- A note in the cell for those two days says what the person eats: "Vuelve · no come · cena" (comes back, no lunch, has dinner), for example.
- Without dates, the current academic year is downloaded, from September to August.
Who is inside right now, and the evacuation plan
The live list in the dashboard only looks at what says something about now: last night, tonight and today's movements. The mistake that cannot be made is to mark as out someone who is inside, so without proof that they have left, a person who lives in the centre shows as inside. Reception does not have to mark anyone's return.
- Four states: inside, out (left today and no return recorded), sleeping away, and out with "back today", which turns into "confirmed" if they said yes to the morning question.
- The evacuation plan uses the same rule and carries on its first row the day and time it was produced.
- The sheet of those recorded as out warns that someone who came back without their entry being marked may be inside.
- Only whoever lives in the centre today is included: whoever has already left, or has not arrived at the centre, is not in the building.
"Arriving today?" and arrival at the dining hall
Some people say they are coming back on a given day and do not, and the kitchen counts on them. So, to whoever is due back today according to the absence log, Bedel asks in the morning whether they are arriving, with two buttons. At 9:00 by default, or at the time the centre asks for between 8:00 and 11:00.
- It only asks whoever slept away last night, is not sleeping away tonight and has no entry recorded.
- "Sí, llego hoy" (yes, arriving today) leaves everything as it is; "No llego hoy" logs another night away, removes today's lunch and dinner and tomorrow's breakfast, and notifies the front desk. Tomorrow they are asked again.
- With the 24-hour window closed it goes through a template with the same buttons; without that template approved, no question without buttons is sent that nobody would pick up.
- Arrival at the dining hall is marked by the kitchen with a button or by the resident saying on WhatsApp that she is coming to eat. More on the kitchen count in dining hall.
What it does not do
- It does not control physical access: no QR code, no turnstile, no cards. Bedel knows what it is told and what the team marks.
- It does not count people who do not report: if someone sleeps away without saying so, they show as inside.
- Importing the rack does not register anyone, because the rack has no phone numbers: each resident has to be in the directory first.
- On import it does not write nights that have already passed: only what is still ahead.
- Without the approved template, "Arriving today?" does not reach anyone whose 24-hour window is closed.
Frequently asked questions
Do we have to change the format of our room rack?
No. Bedel reads the grid as you keep it: a strip of dates in the first rows, the room and the name in the first columns and a mark on every night the person sleeps in the house. The mark can be whichever you use, because any filled-in cell counts. Rows of totals, community or notes are skipped, and the preview says how many it has skipped before anything is applied.
What happens to someone who is in the rack but not in Bedel?
They are not created. The rack has no phone numbers and Bedel talks to each resident on WhatsApp, so a record without a mobile would be of no use. When the rack is applied, anyone who matches nobody in the directory appears in a list by name, and if a name matches two people that is said too. You register the person in the directory and apply it again: nights are not duplicated.
Is the evacuation plan reliable?
It is as reliable as what has been said and marked, and it is built not to fail on the dangerous side. It only marks someone as out with proof: that they slept away last night and no entry is recorded today, or that an exit was marked today with no entry after it. When in doubt, inside. The second sheet lists those recorded as out and the reason, so it can be checked.
What time does "Arriving today?" go out, and to whom?
At 9:00 centre time, unless the centre asks for another time between 8:00 and 11:00. It only goes to whoever has their return day today according to the absence log and has no entry recorded: if their entry is already recorded, they are not asked. If they answer that they are not arriving, another night away is logged and they are asked again the next day.
Can I upload again the sheet I download?
Yes, it is made for that. The downloaded sheet has the same shape as yours, with the dates at the top and the same mark on every night inside. The notes on the day someone leaves or comes back do not change what is read when it is uploaded, and nights away that were already logged are not written again.
Do we have to mark the entry of everyone who comes back?
There is no need. The live list works out the return from last night and tonight, so nobody stays out forever because their entry was not marked. If Reception marks it, or the kitchen records that they came through the dining hall, the absence is closed sooner and the kitchen cancellations that depended on those nights are undone.
Related features
- Dining hallCancellations, packed lunches, kept portions and meals to the room on WhatsApp, with a cut-off time per service and the count on the kitchen's phone.
- Absence logWhoever sleeps away says so on WhatsApp; the front desk gets the notice, the kitchen stops counting them and the dashboard keeps the stretches and the Excel.
- Dashboard and metricsConversation history and search, metrics that come from counting rows, team roles and shifts, and data protection rights carried out from the dashboard.
For each type of centre
- Colegios mayoresFor colegios mayores: the dining hall with its cancellations, packed lunches and allergens; activities with their call and their survey; families and applicants; and what belongs to management, to management.
- University residencesFor residences owned by or affiliated with a university: support in each resident's language, repairs and cleaning with outside contractors, the arrivals of each semester and enquiries about places.
- Student residencesFor student residences and PBSA operators: WhatsApp support in the resident's language, repairs with an owner and a deadline, arrivals, presence and parcels.
- ColivingFor coliving and flex living: support in each resident's language, repairs with an owner and a deadline, common-room bookings, parcels and announcements without groups.
- Researcher residencesFor researcher, graduate and visiting-faculty residences: arrivals any week of the year, replies in each person's language, contracted maintenance and cleaning, and the end of every stay.
- Hostels and alberguesFor hostels, albergues and pilgrim hostels: house questions answered in each guest's language, repairs with an owner and a deadline, and the night covered with nobody at the desk.
- Holiday apartmentsFor holiday apartments, aparthotels and mid-stay lets: replies in the guest's language, repairs with a technician and a deadline, housekeeping requests between stays and house rules.
- Build to rentFor build-to-rent and flex living buildings: repairs with an owner and a deadline even when maintenance is outsourced, parcels with a notice, shared-space bookings, building notices and house rules answered.