Set up in 30 minutes
Create your organisation, add a site, invite two colleagues, pair a kiosk and check yourself in.
Agoo is in early access. This page describes the feature as it ships to early-access organisations; screens are illustrative.
This walk-through takes you from nothing to a working front desk. By the end you will have checked yourself in on your own kiosk, and your host will have been told you arrived.
You need:
- About 30 minutes.
- A computer with a web browser, for the Console.
- An iPad, or an Android tablet, for the kiosk. Your own phone works for a first test. (Agoo Kiosk is for iPad and iPhone, and for Android tablets and phones.) No tablet? The computer's own browser can be the kiosk: see Set up a kiosk on a computer.
- Your phone, to receive the test invitation.
- The names, emails and phone numbers of two colleagues: one who runs reception, and one who receives visitors.
We'll use Volta Bank's head office, Ridge HQ, as the example throughout.
Create your organisation (5 minutes)
During early access, we set up your organisation with you. Join at agoo.ardent.africa/start and we email the owner a link to the Console at app.agoo.ardent.africa. When sign-up is open, you can also start from the Console's sign-up page with your email, or with your work Google or Microsoft account: see Sign up with Google or Microsoft.
When you sign in for the first time, the setup wizard asks for:
- Organisation name, as visitors should see it: "Volta Bank".
- Country (Ghana) and default time zone (Africa/Accra).
- A template for your kind of organisation: Corporate, Church, School, Hospital, Estate, Bank, Government, Co-working, Factory/Mine, NGO or Hotel. The template sets sensible visitor types, forms and wording. You can change all of it later.
- Your brand: your logo and colour, or skip it for now.
The 14-day Growth trial needs no card, so you can try invitations, SMS and WhatsApp. When the trial ends you move to Free automatically; you are never locked out.
Add your first site and gate (5 minutes)
The wizard creates your first site. Fill in:
- Site name: "Ridge HQ".
- Address: used on visitors' passes.
- First gate: "Lobby". Add more gates, such as "Main gate", whenever you like.
Then drop the site's map pin (for directions on passes) and set its opening hours, for example Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, from the wizard's last page or in Console → Settings → Sites. Agoo uses the hours for automatic check-out at the end of the day and as the starting point for booking availability.
You can edit all of this in Console → Settings → Sites. See Organisation and sites.
The same step asks Do visitors use your Wi-Fi? and Do staff need your Wi-Fi on their phones? Answer Yes, add it now to save the network's name and password and turn that switch on, Not now to be asked again on Home in a week, or no to stop asking. Nothing is shared until you say yes. See Guest and staff Wi-Fi.
When you finish the wizard, its last page links to each next step: inviting your team, a form template for your kind of organisation, how Agoo reaches people, a check-in poster for your entrance, and Agoo Workspace for your phone. Your organisation's Owners also get a welcome email with the same steps, and a link to Agoo Kiosk for the tablet or phone at your front desk.
Invite two colleagues (5 minutes)
Go to Console → People → Add person and add:
| Name | Role | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Abena Asante | Receptionist | Runs the front desk and sees every arrival |
| Kwame Mensah | Host | Receives visitors and approves their arrival |
Give each person an email and a mobile number, and choose Ridge HQ as their site. Check that Receives visitors is on for Kwame (it is by default for hosts), so the kiosk can find him. Agoo sends each of them an invitation to sign in. Kwame should install the Agoo Workspace app so arrival alerts reach him as push notifications.
More options, including CSV import, are in Invite your team.
Pair a kiosk (5 minutes)
- On the tablet, install Agoo Kiosk: on Android, download it from the apps page; on an iPad, Agoo's team tells you how until it's on the App Store.
- In the Console, go to Console → Devices → Pair a device. Choose Ridge HQ, the Lobby gate and Kiosk mode, and name it "Lobby iPad".
- The Console shows a pairing code and a QR code. In the Kiosk app, tap Scan the pairing code and point it at the QR code, or type the code and tap Pair this device.
The kiosk downloads your branding, hosts and forms, then shows your welcome screen. See Pair a kiosk for lock-down tips.
Send yourself a test invitation (3 minutes)
- Go to Console → Visitors → Invite visitor.
- Enter your own name and mobile number as the visitor.
- Choose Kwame Mensah as the host, Ridge HQ as the site, and today's date.
- Choose SMS as the channel and select Send invitation.
Within a minute you get a text message with a link to your pass: a QR code, directions to the site and a calendar file. Test messages use your SMS allowance; the Growth trial includes 1,000 SMS a month.
Check yourself in (5 minutes)
- Open the pass on your phone.
- At the kiosk, tap I have an invite and hold the QR code up to the camera.
- Follow the screens: confirm your details and look at the camera for your photo.
- The kiosk shows "You're checked in". Kwame gets an alert in the Workspace app (or by SMS if he hasn't installed it yet).
Now open Console → Visitors → On site. You are on the list, with the time, the gate and the host. Select your visit and choose Check out to finish the test.
Visitor invitations and the Free plan
Invitations and QR passes are part of Starter and above. On the Growth trial you have them; if you move to Free, walk-in check-in on the kiosk and self check-in from posters keep working, but you can't send invitations until you choose a paid plan. See Plans and limits.
What you have now
- An organisation with one site, one gate and one paired kiosk.
- A receptionist and a host who can sign in.
- A complete visit in your history: invited, checked in, host notified, checked out.
Before you open the doors to real visitors, work through the go-live checklist.