Host approvals

When a visitor arrives, their host hears about it straight away, wherever they are. If your rules say the host must approve, the host answers from the alert itself: no app to open, no phone call to reception.

A visit isn't always for one person. When it is for several people or a team, everyone it is for is told, and a visitor with no one in particular to see is received by reception. This page is about a host's answer; Who a visit is for covers teams, the front desk's Needs someone list and visitors for senior people.

When approval is neededCopy Anchor Link

You decide, per site, in Console → Settings → Sites → (site) → Check-in rules:

Requests from your request page always need the host's approval before a pass is sent, whatever these rules say. Approving a request before the visitor arrives doesn't check anyone in: the visit becomes expected, the visitor gets their pass with the news, and when they arrive the host isn't asked again. Approving a visitor who is already at reception checks them in.

A watchlist match always holds the check-in for your security team, never the host, whatever the rules say. Your site's security leads get an alert in the Workspace app first, then by WhatsApp, SMS or email; the host isn't told about the match. See Watchlist.

What the host receivesCopy Anchor Link

Hosts with the Agoo Workspace app get the alert there first, as a notification. If it hasn't reached their phone in time (5 minutes, or the time you set for the alert), Agoo moves on to the channels you set in Console → Settings → Notifications, in order. Hosts without the app start with those channels.

Approvals by message use a link, not a text reply, so they work on every network and every phone with a browser, without signing in. Each link is unique to that visit and that host, works once, and stops working after 24 hours or as soon as the visit is answered another way. The answer is recorded in the host's name.

Answer from the linkCopy Anchor Link

The link opens a page on your organisation's Agoo address with the visitor's name and company, when and where, and who they're there to see.

• I'll see them (or Approve, for a request before the visitor arrives) answers yes. Reception sends the visitor your way, or, for a request, the visitor gets their pass.
• Ask them to wait, once the visitor has arrived: choose 5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes. Reception tells the visitor, who keeps their seat, and you let them in from the same link when you're ready.
• Not today tells reception you can't see them today, so they can book the visitor in for another time. It doesn't decline the visit.
• I won't see them asks you to confirm, with a reason if you like. For your own visitor, the visit is declined and the visitor is told it can't go ahead. If the front desk asked you, or the visitor came for your team, your no goes back to reception and the visitor keeps waiting for someone else. Your reason stays with reception and the visit's record.

If someone has already answered another way, the page says so and there's nothing more to do. After 24 hours the link stops working: answer in Console → Visitors or the Workspace app, or tell reception.

Answer in the Workspace appCopy Anchor Link

Hosts with the Agoo Workspace app on their iPhone, iPad or Android phone or tablet see visits waiting for them under Waiting for you on Hosting, with a number on the tab. Tap Approve (Approve and check in when the visitor is at reception) or Decline, with a reason for staff if you like.

It works with no signal: the app keeps the answer on the phone and sends it as soon as it's back online, and if someone answered first, the visit shows that. A visit held for a security review shows Held for security, with no buttons.

Hosting also shows the visits you're on with someone else leading, and the visits your team has while nobody has taken them, each with your part and who else is on it. When the front desk asks you to see a visitor, or a visitor waits for your team, the visit shows Will you see them? in place of Approve and Decline, with the four answers: I'll see them, Ask them to wait (5, 10, 15 or 30 minutes), Not today or I won't see them (with a note for the front desk if you like). That answer needs a connection: the visitor is standing at the desk and the first answer counts, so the app sends it at once and tells you plainly if someone else answered first. Where only the lead decides, the others see the visit without the buttons, with a line saying the lead answers.

Answer from the notificationCopy Anchor Link

On an iPhone or iPad with the Workspace app, press and hold the notification for its buttons. The phone asks for Face ID, Touch ID or the passcode first. On Android, pull the notification down for its buttons; the phone asks for your fingerprint, face unlock or screen lock first, and "Your visitor is here" offers I'm coming, Wait 5 min and Wait 15 min.

• A visit needs your answer: Approve or Decline. With no signal, the app keeps the answer and sends it as soon as it's back online.
• Your visitor is here: I'm coming, or Ask them to wait 5, 10 or 15 minutes. Reception sees your answer beside the visitor, in the Console and on the Desk in the app (for example, "Host asks them to wait 10 min"), and the visit's timeline records it. The same buttons are on the visit's page in the app, under Let reception know.
• Reception asks if you'll see a visitor, or a visitor needs someone on your team: no buttons on the notification. Tap it to open the visit and answer under Will you see them?

If your organisation leaves names out of the app's notifications, they say "A visit needs your answer" or "Your visitor is here", and you see the name when you open Agoo.

The host's answerCopy Anchor Link

Whoever answers, the decision is recorded on the visit's timeline and in the audit trail: who, when, and on which channel.

Several hosts, or a teamCopy Anchor Link

• Several people: everyone on the visit gets the alert. The visitor type says who may answer: Anyone on the visit, where the first answer counts and the others are told, or Only the lead, where the others are told without a link that can decide. Set it in the visitor type's rules.
• A team: every member is told, "Ama Owusu would like to visit Treasury". The first to say yes becomes the host, and the others hear it's been taken. A member's no goes back to reception, and the visitor keeps waiting.
• If someone else answered first, your link says so: "Someone has already said yes to Ama Owusu." The Workspace app says so too.
• Someone you're asked about by the front desk is answered the same way, with the same four answers, from the link or under Will you see them? in the Workspace app or the Console. See When you are asked.

DelegatesCopy Anchor Link

A delegate is someone who can approve visitors for a host: an assistant, a deputy, a colleague in the same team. Directors and heads of department should always have one. Delegates are still to come (see Phases); until then, reception approves for a host who doesn't answer. A director's walk-ins can already go to their assistant or their office first: see Senior people.

A delegate's approval is recorded in their own name, "approved by Abena Asante for Kwame Mensah".

When nobody answersCopy Anchor Link

If the host doesn't answer within the wait time, the visit goes to reception (delegates are asked first once they ship). In Console → Visitors → On site, visits awaiting approval are shown at the top with how long the visitor has waited, and flagged Host hasn't answered. The receptionist can:

• call or WhatsApp the host from the visit,
• approve on the host's behalf (recorded in the receptionist's name), in the Console or in the Workspace app, where Desk → Inbox → Visitors to approve lists every visit waiting at their sites, offline too,
• decline, if the visitor can't be seen today.

A visitor nobody has taken at all (one for a team, or with no one in particular to see) waits under Needs someone instead, in the Console and on the Desk in the Workspace app, where the desk can also ask someone else, book the visitor in for another time or hand them over. See Needs someone.

Nobody is left standing at the desk without someone knowing.

Arrival notes from the visitorCopy Anchor Link

Visitors with a pass can tell their host from it that they're running late, ask for another time, or say they can't make it. The host gets an alert on the channels they chose in Account → Notifications:

The notes also show on the visit's timeline in the Console. See Invitations and passes.

PhasesCopy Anchor Link