Space Explorer Web App

OVERVIEW

The Space Explorer Web App allows flexible access with SSO login (via Webex, Microsoft, and Google Login - more details below) to authenticate end users. The Web App is complementary to the Space Explorer Kiosk app meant to be displayed on a lobby display. In addition to room occupancy and calendar status, the Space Explorer Web App adds Smart Desking functionality to Cisco Spaces workplace experience applications. It is a flexible workspace solution that allows employees to reserve dynamically allocated desks (“Hot Desks”) instead of having assigned seating. It is a key part of hybrid work models and is commonly managed through IoT, AI, and cloud-based platforms.

SUPPORT AND ONBOARDING

Please follow the link below to find out about the different ways to get support for Cisco Spaces.

Support Info Link

PREREQUISITES

This runbook should only be used as a follow on from the Spaces OS Runbook. Please refer to that document before progressing here.

Spaces Infrastructure Readiness

Licensing Requirements

Individual Workstations/Desk Spaces are NOT licensed, but:

• Sufficient licensing for mapped square footage is required.

• Meeting Room real-time status visibility needs at minimum Spaces ADVANTAGE (ACT or UNLIMITED) in the current production environment.

• SPACES-C-PRM (Spaces Premier for Collaboration & Wireless) license is needed to access the Space Explorer Web App for desk & room booking when these features move to Limited Availability (LA) followed by General Availability (GA), including Webex Desk & Phone Series device integration.

Mapping & Desk Identification

Digital Map Pro (3D Rich Map) Setup:

• Desk IDs must be included in a CAD file to create a Workstation space type.

• CAD files are processed into Digital Maps Pro (must be Published under Setup > Locations & Maps > Digital Maps)

• Workstation space types auto-added to Space Manager > Manages Desks (requires a Cisco Spaces PM enabling a feature flag).

• Workstations must be added to bookable inventory from Space Manager > Manages Desks

Desk Management in Space Manager (requires feature flag by Cisco Spaces PM team)

Link: Space Manager Setup

Hot Desk Setup:

• Admins can designate "hot desks" for booking.

• Workstations marked as hot desks will be assigned a Cisco Spaces proprietary calendar:

  • Users can book for the whole day and cancel their booking

  • Only one booking per user

  • Desk bookings reset at midnight local time

Single Sign On (SSO) Readiness

End-User SSO Login (not via CCI)

Users log in using:

• Webex Login

• Microsoft 365 Login (admin consent required)

• Google Login

Enables seamless authentication for employees using existing SSO login flow.

Desk Booking Process

Booking via Companion Web App

• Users login via SSO (Microsoft 365 or Google)

• They visually scan the digital map for available desks

• They click on a desk/space

• They click “Book This Desk” to book it instantly

Firewall / Proxy Readiness

For Space Explorer Web App and Cisco Spaces Navigator PWA for desk booking.

Ports: 443 for all domains / endpoints listed below

IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation Quick Start

Minimum of Spaces Advantage (ACT, Unlimited) licensing required for basic map view and optionally real-time room occupancy.

1. (Required) Setup Location Hierarchy, Merge Locations/Floors, and upload / process / publish CAD into Digital Map Pro (go to: Configuring the Location Hierarchy & Digital Map Creation & CAD File Upload)

2. (Optional) In Space Manager, connect Webex Workspaces, IoT Devices, and/or Calendars

   1. If setting up Rooms, add room occupancy devices and calendars under Space Manager > Manage Rooms. (go to: Configuring Meeting Room Settings in Space Manager)

   2. If setting up Desks (requires Spaces Premier licenses), create bookable desks add Webex Workspaces under Space Manager > Manage Desks. (go to: Space Manager Setup - Adding Bookable Desks)

3. (Required) Domain-to-Cisco Spaces Tenant mapping on backend (performed by Cisco team) (go to: Tenant-to-Domain Mapping)

   1. If using Webex Login, ensure Cisco Spaces <> Webex integration is not blocked in Control Hub. (go to: Webex Login - Admin Permissions)

   2. If using Microsoft Login, Microsoft Entra admin must login and grant permissions first. (go to: Microsoft 365 Login - Admin First Time)

Setup > Location & Maps > Digital Maps

1. Open the Cisco Spaces dashboard

2. Navigate to Setup > Locations & Maps > Digital Maps > View/Edit

3. Check Meeting Rooms and make sure all room names/IDs are present and unique

4. Check Workstations and make sure all desk names/IDs are present and unique

5. If any bookable desks/private offices are not clickable and editable, then a new CAD file with desk IDs may be needed.

Space Experience Setup

1. Open the Cisco Spaces dashboard

2. Navigate to Space Experience app

3. Go to Devices

4. Go to Non-Webex Devices

5. Click Add Signage (blue button in top left)

6. Expand each row of the Location Hierarchy until you find the Location/Building you want to add to the Space Explorer web app

7. Click the radio button on the right side of the Location/Building row - green arrow in the screenshot below (NOT the Floor or any other level - red arrow in the screenshot below)

8. Click Next (blue button in bottom right)

9. Expand “Can't see the activation code?”

10. Copy the URL and paste into an Incognito Browser Window

11. Look for and memorize the 4-digit code that loads on the page

12. Type the 4-digit code under Activation code

13. Type a name under Name your signage

14. Click Save (blue button in bottom right)

15. On the Space Experience > Devices > Non-Webex Devices list view, click Configure on the signage just created

16. Go through the configuration steps as normal (this won’t be deployed on a Kiosk, it is only to create a token on the backend)

Space Manager Setup

Turning Workstations from Digital Maps into Bookable (“Hot”) Desks

Spaces PM team or Dev team needs to toggle a feature flag in Space Manager to reveal Space Manager > Manage Desks page while in EFT phase.

1. Open the Cisco Spaces dashboard

2. Navigate to Space Manager app

3. Go to the Manage Desks (if you do not see this page, work with a Spaces PM to enable the feature flag)

4. Choose a Location and Floor from the dropdowns at the top-center of the page

5. Click on Add Hot Desks and the list of all Desks/Workstations from the Digital Maps Editor will appear along with the Map on the right-hand side.

6. Select the Workstation ID check boxes you want to add as bookable desks, then click on the Add Hot Desks button in the bottom right. The desk space will be highlighted in a light blue box on the map panel.

Tip: type text in the “Search desks” field to filter desks in the list or to find neighborhoods of desks by name. Typical office space CAD files use an alphanumeric grid pattern to name Workstations.

7. Once you have added Hot Desks, the List of all selected Hot Desks should appear under the Manage Desks view. In the map panel, Hot Desks are highlighted in a 3D magenta box.

Desk Booking Options

When designing a desk booking experience for our end users, you have options that meet different user experiences, price points, effort levels, and maintenance/lifecycle management requirements. They range from a Cisco Spaces “map only” experience to a fully integrated Collab experience with a Desk Series device on a desk for power, external monitor, camera, and meeting platform experience.

Desk Booking Options Support Matrix

Option	Example	Hardware Price Range	Advantages	Considerations
Cisco Spaces Web App (ciscospaces.app map-only experience)		n/a	Quick and easy to setup and start desk booking. Option to expand and build on the core desk booking experience later. Supports desk booking up to 14 days in advance.	It can be confusing to end users which desks are booked and ciscospaces.app may not be discoverable. Effort required to build awareness around desk booking culture/policy. Does not sync with Outlook/Gcal calendar and does not work with Webex App user check-in.
⚠️ ROADMAP ⚠️ Printed QR codes on desks		$	Least expensive option to make desk booking discoverable on each desk and to distinguish bookable vs. non-bookable desks. QR code deep-links and launches a booking experience in ciscospaces.app directly to the assigned desk on the Digital Map (including SSO login flow). Supports desk booking up to 14 days in advance.	No real-time booking status indicator to give passersby an indication of other users intending to use the desk. Establish a consistent and concrete naming convention and stabilize Digital Map content before committing to a large number of printed QR codes. Otherwise, it will incur additional cost to re-print. Consider a flexible attachment mechanism to allow updating vs. permanently affixing the QR code to the desk. Does not sync with Outlook/Gcal calendar and does not work with Webex App user check-in.
⚠️ ROADMAP ⚠️ 3rd Party IoT Sensor (e.g. Haltian Thingse Presence PIR)		$$	Provides real-time and historical “true occupancy” status for desk occupancy visibility on Kiosk or Web App and for analytics.	Without an accompanies desk booking, there are no “signs of life” indicators from these sensors. Prone to false positives and negatives as occupants walk by or get up and walk away from the desk to attend meetings, go to lunch, etc. but plan to return. Does not sync with Outlook/Gcal calendar and does not work with Webex App user check-in.
Cisco Desk 9800 Series & 8875 (does not include 9811 or 9821)		$$	Provides real-time visual feedback via built-in LED bar (depends on model) or LCD screen content. Maintains checked-in (occupied) status even without physical presence to ensure others are aware of the booking and/or checked-in status, including user’s name and optionally profile photo (if configured in Webex User Profile). Supports Webex App user check-in.	Does not provide “true occupancy” for real-time visibility of physical presence or historical analysis. A phone can be used for “hot desk” only, but the presence of a handset phone may be confusing in some environments. Limited to “day of” / current day desk booking only. Currently, cannot be booked days in advance. Does not sync with Outlook/Gcal calendar.
Smart Desk Navigator (Cisco Spaces desk PWA)		$$$	Provides real-time visual feedback via on-screen content. Maintains checked-in (occupied) status even without physical presence to ensure others are aware of the booking and/or checked-in status, including user’s name and optionally profile photo (if configured in Microsoft, Google, or Webex User Profile). Supports desk booking up to 14 days in advance.	Does not sync with Outlook/Gcal calendar and does not work with Webex App user check-in.
⚠️ ROADMAP ⚠️ Cisco Navigator (RoomOS)		$$$	Provides real-time visual feedback via on-screen content. Maintains checked-in (occupied) status even without physical presence to ensure others are aware of the booking and/or checked-in status, including user’s name and optionally profile photo (if configured in Webex User Profile). Provides Outlook/Gcal calendar syncing via Webex Hybrid Calendar. Supports Webex App user check-in.	Limited to “day of” / current day desk booking only. Currently, cannot be booked days in advance due to on-device calendar sync limits (current day + 8 hours).
Cisco Desk Mini		$$$	Provides real-time visual feedback via on-screen content. Maintains checked-in (occupied) status even without physical presence to ensure others are aware of the booking and/or checked-in status, including user’s name and optionally profile photo (if configured in Webex User Profile). Includes camera for meetings. Provides Outlook/Gcal calendar syncing via Webex Hybrid Calendar. Supports Webex App user check-in.	Limited to “day of” / current day desk booking only. Currently, cannot be booked days in advance due to on-device calendar sync limits (current day + 8 hours).
Cisco Desk		$$$$	Provides real-time visual feedback via on-screen content. Maintains checked-in (occupied) status even without physical presence to ensure others are aware of the booking and/or checked-in status, including user’s name and optionally profile photo (if configured in Webex User Profile). Includes camera for meetings. Provides Outlook/Gcal calendar syncing via Webex Hybrid Calendar. Supports Webex App user check-in.	Limited to “day of” / current day desk booking only. Currently, cannot be booked days in advance due to on-device calendar sync limits (current day + 8 hours).
Cisco Desk Pro & G2		$$$$	Provides real-time visual feedback via on-screen content. Maintains checked-in (occupied) status even without physical presence to ensure others are aware of the booking and/or checked-in status, including user’s name and optionally profile photo (if configured in Webex User Profile). Provides laptop charging power and external monitor via USB-C. Includes camera for meetings. Provides Outlook/Gcal calendar syncing via Webex Hybrid Calendar. Supports automatic check-in via USB-C with Webex App running on the connected laptop. Supports Webex App user check-in.	Limited to “day of” / current day desk booking only. Currently, cannot be booked days in advance due to on-device calendar sync limits (current day + 8 hours).

Assigning Webex Workspaces to Bookable (“Hot”) Desks

Adding a Webex Workspace to a bookable desk will associate the device to the Web App (ciscospaces.app) frontend so the logged in user adds their Webex User Profile to the device configured under Scheduling > Hot Desking mode in Control Hub Workspaces settings. The user’s email gets added as the “Organizer” when booking the desk (regardless of SSO method into ciscospaces.app - Webex, Microsoft, or Google Login) and the device displays the Webex User Profile name and photo.

1. In Space Manager > Manage Desks page, choose the Building and Floor from the dropdowns at the top center of the page.

2. Before setting up the first bookable desk, the page will prompt to add a “hot desk”. After setting up, there is a list view of desks and a map view for context.

3. Under the Device column, there is an Add Webex v dropdown that will display Webex Workspaces that have been configured in Control Hub as the Desk space type. Only Desk spaces types are listed in the dropdown.

4. Choose the Webex Workspace to associate the device with the bookable Workstation (i.e. desk) in ciscospaces.app

5. The backend calendar will switch from Cisco Spaces backend proprietary calendar service to the on-device calendar or Webex Hybrid Calendar (events synced on-device and available via xAPI webhooks to Cisco Spaces backend).

Special Case: if upgrading the RoomOS Standalone Navigator to the Cisco Spaces Smart Desk Navigator desk PWA, a Webex Control Hub admin must follow these instructions to factory reset and onboard the Navigator as a Persistent Web App device.

1. Onboard a Cisco Standalone Navigator. Learn more: https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/iq6aw6/Room-Navigator-as-a-standalone-device

2. Under Step C of Persistent web app mode: Turn on Enable persistent web app and enter a URL. → Instead of entering a URL, choose the Cisco Spaces radio button option.

   1. This automated step is a ⚠️ ROADMAP ⚠️ feature. For now, choose URL and work with the Cisco Spaces PM team to generate the URL for each Navigator for this step.

Assigning 3rd Party IoT Sensors to Bookable (“Hot”) Desks

Roadmap feature. Not supported at this time.

Tenant-to-Domain Mapping

Spaces PM team or Dev team needs to add a Tenant-to-domain mapping for new customers in our system to support Authorization required for desk booking. This requirement is temporary until the self-serve admin interface is available in the Space Experience app. 

Data Required from Customer

Space Explorer Web App supports a many-to-many-to-many mapping of Tenant ID(s) to domain(s) to Microsoft/Google tenant(s). In other words, it is possible to map Tenants 12345 and 67890 to domains example1.com and example2.com each with their own Microsoft Entra or Google Workspace account. End users from multiple organizations can login and see a unified Location list and maps from multiple Cisco Spaces Tenants with users on multiple email domains, and (⚠️ ROADMAP ⚠️) even across Cisco Spaces data regions (e.g. .io, .eu, and .sg).

IT Admin Consent

Webex Login - Admin Permissions

For Webex Login, if an admin has blocked apps, then a Control Hub admin will need to manually approve the Cisco Spaces app.

App ID: Y2lzY29zcGFyazovL3VzL0FQUExJQ0FUSU9OL0M3MGIwMDJmOWVhNGI3MGFiNGU5MjgyYzUyOTU2Njg2ZGQxODE0YjRmYzVkYjM4NjFmNmE2OWRmZDY0YTgxMWQw

Google Login - Admin Permissions

For Google Login no admin consent is

required.

Microsoft 365 Login - Admin First Time

Background and details on Admin Consent: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/enterprise-apps/admin-consent-workflow-overview

1. Customer Microsoft 365 admin goes to https://booking.dnaspaces.io

2. Click on “Microsoft” button

3. First time only, a customer will see an “Need admin approval” screen. As a Microsoft 365 full admin, click through “Have an admin account? Sign in with that account.”

4. Review the scopes/permissions, check the consent box, and Accept

Space Explorer Web App - End User Application

End User - Webex Login

1. Click on Webex Login option

2. Enter email address and the follow prompts to complete your organization’s SSO flow

3. Accept permissions

End User - Microsoft 365 Login

Organizations relying on Microsoft 365 Login for their employees must make sure they grant admin consent for the Cisco Spaces - Space Explorer web app to allow users to login. To grant admin consent, a Microsoft 365 admin user with full admin privileges should login to web app using the Microsoft 365 button.

1. Click on Microsoft Login option

2. Enter email address and the follow prompts to complete your organization’s SSO flow

End User - Google Login

1. Click on Google Login option

2. Enter email address and the follow prompts to complete your organization’s SSO flow

3. Click on Continue to access Space Explorer

Space Explorer Web App - Floor View

Space Explorer Web App - UX

CAVEATS AND TIPS

1. When using Microsoft 365 and Okta for SSO end user login, especially on mobile devices, please ensure Mobile Device Management (MDM) is setup to allow access to https://booking.dnaspaces.io

2. Book This Desk gets stuck and a spinner shows indefinitely. Logout and login to try again. Force quit the PWA on iOS or Android and login to try again. The user session may have expired.

2. Save Space Explorer Web App as a home screen bookmark (i.e. PWA) on iOS and Android for easy access

3. Location permissions on the Location list view are optional. The Space Explorer Web App uses location to calculate distance to each building and sorts them by closest to furthest. Otherwise, the list is in alphanumerical order.

4. Outlines for Workstation types in the CAD file produce easily identifiable spaces.

5. Workstation/Desk IDs (or names) must be included in the CAD file layers.

6. Workstation furniture is highly recommended

7. No outlines and IDs/names will result in no editable workstations in the Digital Map Editor. They cannot be turned into bookable desks.

8. In case of Using a MDM solution for devices
   
   Whitelist the Booking App or associated booking URLs (ex. booking.dnaspaces.io)
   Allow required domains used for SSO login (ex. microsoftonline.com, accounts.google.com, webex.com).
   Permit browser-based authentication and app access in the MDM configuration profile.
   Confirm that the user devices can:

   • Reach required endpoints over HTTPS (port 443).

   • Launch the booking app without restrictions from corporate firewalls or MDM policy.

   • Re-test access after applying policy updates.

9. Calendar option in the UI:

Currently only works with Microsoft Login by reading user's work calendar through Microsoft Graph APIs.

Roadmap: Webex Login user work calendar and Google Workspace Login user work calendar.

REFERENCES

• https://runbooks.ciscospaces.io/docs/digital-map-pro-and-cad-dwg-pdf-best-practices

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/enterprise-apps/admin-consent-workflow-overview#how-the-admin-consent-workflow-works