The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is working on making its MyWorkspace application available to its arm’s length bodies.
It said this is the current phase of the project, which began last year, to develop the application in support of its blended working model, in which staff work some time at home but are able to book working spaces for physical meetings.
Project manager Christiaan Oliver said in a blogpost that MyWorkspace, which involves the development of software and a mobile app, has replaced Defra’s previous room booking system with functions including the capacity to book desks and integration with staff’s Microsoft Outlook calendars.
Further functions have been added for booking collaborative spaces, pool cars and bikes, electric charging spaces and visitor spaces, and the project team is now working on giving the department’s arm’s length bodies access to the application.
Teams integration
The next step will involve integration with Microsoft Teams to enable hybrid meetings.
“MyWorkspace is completely new technology, and Defra is the first organisation to be implementing this in the UK,” Oliver said.
He added: “Blended working reflects Defra’s broader strategy to reduce our environmental footprint by making the smartest use of our buildings, reducing our travel, and benefiting from IT to support smarter ways of working.”
