LabArchives Scheduler Administrators have the ability to control how much a given resource can be used. There are two key ways to do this: limit the time users can reserve with Resources by using Quotas, or require payment to use resources by using Credits.
Quotas
A Quota allows an Administrator in LabArchives Scheduler to limit the usage of one or more resources. To create a new Quota, you must have Application Admin Privileges. Assuming you have these privileges, you can create, view, and edit Quotas by clicking Application Management then selecting Quotas, as shown below:
When you click Quotas, you will be brought to the Quotas page, which looks like this:
A quota can be applied to all Resources on all Schedules, to all resources within a specific schedule, or to one or more resources individually. If any user attempts to make a reservation which would violate a quota that is enforced for their account, the reservation will be denied and the User will be notified.
An example of the message a user receives when they attempt to make a reservation that violates their quota(s) appears in the screenshot below.
A Quota is enforced either for all users in all groups, or for all users in one or more specific groups. Note that this means that quotas cannot be enforced for users that are not in a group. However, any user who is also an Application Admin will be exempt from all Quotas.
When creating a new quota, you must at minimum specify the Resources and/or Groups for which it is enforced, and you must specify the length of the quota. There are a few additional settings that can be controlled for each quota, however.
Quotas applied to a group are enforced for each user in the group individually. It does not apply to the group’s aggregated reservations. For example, if you create a 100 Quota for members of Group A, each may reserve up 100 hours with the given resource(s); the quota does not look at the aggregated time the entire group reserves with said resource(s).
The length of the Quota can be specified in number of hours per unit time (day, week, month, year) or number of reservations per unit time.
Note also that you have the option to include or not include completed reservations for your Quota. For example, if you are limiting a Group to 100 hours per month for all resources, and a member of this group has already used 50 hours this month, that same group member will only have 50 hours left for all resources this month if you choose to include existing reservations.
If you do not include existing reservations, all the group’s members each have 100 hours left with all resources this month as of the time you create the quota.
Finally, note that you can choose to enforce your quota all day every day, or you can limit your quota to certain days in the week and a specific time range within those days. See an elaboration of this in the below screenshot.
Always remember that the daily time range for some quota is applied according to the time zone of the given schedule. Quotas are not applied according to any specific user account’s time zone.
Once you’ve indicated the applicable schedules/resources, the group(s) for which the Quota will be enforced, the length of the quota, and the time during which it is enforced, you can finalize the Quota’s creation by clicking Add. The quota will then appear in the table below labeled “All Quotas”. To modify any quota after it is created, it will have to be removed and recreated. To remove a quota, click the red trashcan icon on the far right of the quota’s row, as shown below.