Invitations and passes
Invite guests ahead of time from the Console or the Workspace app, and send them a QR pass by SMS, WhatsApp or email.
Agoo is in early access. This page describes the feature as it ships to early-access organisations; screens are illustrative.
An invitation creates an expected visit and sends the guest a link to their pass: a page with a QR code, the date and time, the host, directions and a calendar file. The guest shows the pass at reception, the kiosk or the gate and is checked in in seconds, and can tell their host they're running late, ask for another time or cancel from the same page. Reception sees everyone who is expected today before they arrive.
Invitations and QR passes are included on Starter, Growth, Pro and Enterprise.
Passes open on your organisation's own Agoo address, such as voltabank.agoo.ardent.africa, or on your own domain, with your name, your logo from Starter and your brand colour from Growth. Guests need no app and no account.
Who can invite
| Role | Can invite |
|---|---|
| Host (and anyone with Receives visitors on) | Their own guests |
| Receptionist, Security lead | Guests for any host at their sites |
| Admin, Site admin, Owner | Guests for any host at their sites |
Invite from the Console
Start an invitation
Go to Console → Visitors and select Invite visitor.
Enter the guest's details
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | "Ama Owusu". |
| Mobile number | Needed for SMS and WhatsApp. Ghanaian numbers can be typed locally: 024 123 4567. |
| Optional. Many visitors don't have, or don't check, email; the phone number is enough. | |
| Company | Optional: "Coastline Consult". |
| Visitor type | Meeting, Contractor or a type you've added. Decides the form, documents and badge. |
Choose the host, place and time
Choose the host (yourself, if you're the host), the site, and the day and time. Add when they'll leave if the visit is long, and what it's about if it helps reception and the host. For a visit over several days, set when they'll leave on a later day: one multi-day pass covers them all (Starter and above). Choosing a gate and adding a note to the guest come later.
Answer what you know
The visitor type decides the questions, such as a work order number for a contractor. Answer what you know now. Required questions left empty are asked when the guest checks in, at the desk or on the kiosk. See Forms and fields.
Choose how to send it
Choose SMS, email or both: SMS needs a mobile number, email an email address. You can also save the visit without sending anything. WhatsApp invitations come later. Whatever you leave unanswered, the guest can answer on their pass before they arrive, and sign your documents there too (see Details and documents before the visit).
Send
Select Send invitation. The visit appears in Console → Visitors → Expected on the day, and the invitation goes out straight away.
If the connection drops or the power goes before you send, what you typed is kept on your computer for 7 days and is back in the form when you return (see Unsaved work and drafts).
Invite from the Workspace app
Hosts can invite from their phone in the Workspace app (iPhone in P5, Android in P6): tap Invite, pick the guest from your phone's contacts or type their details, choose the date, time and site, and tap Send. The guest gets the same pass.
Other ways visits are created
| Source | What happens | Delivered |
|---|---|---|
| Booking pages | An in-person booking becomes an expected visit with a pass and directions. | P4 |
| Request a visit | A visitor asks from your request page, confirming their phone or email; the host approves first. | P4 |
| Google or Microsoft calendar | A meeting at one of your sites with outside guests creates expected visits for them automatically. | P9 |
See Booking pages and Request a visit.
What the guest receives
The message is short and comes from your SMS sender ID, WhatsApp number or email address, so the guest knows who it's from. It links to the pass, which shows:
- a QR code to show at reception, the kiosk or the gate,
- the date, time, site and gate (if you chose one), the visitor type and the host,
- Directions: opens the site's map pin in the guest's own maps app,
- Add to calendar: a calendar file for any calendar app,
- Your details and Documents: the questions and documents still to do before they arrive,
- When it admits: its days, daily hours and gates, for a multi-day pass or a pass with rules.
Add to Apple Wallet and Add to Google Wallet put the pass in the guest's phone's Wallet, with the same QR code, on every plan. On an iPhone it can appear on the lock screen near the site around the time of the visit, and it updates itself if the visit changes. See Wallet passes.
Every pass carries a code signed with your organisation's own key, so a kiosk or guard can check it even when the network is down; a pass waiting for its host's approval is signed once they approve (see Signed passes). An SMS pass works on any phone that can open a link; on a phone without internet, the guest can give their name at reception instead. Reception can also scan a pass in the Console to open the visit: see Front desk and guard mode.
What the guest can do from the pass
| Button | What happens |
|---|---|
| Your details | The guest answers the visitor type's questions for the visitor, until they arrive. See Details and documents before the visit. |
| Documents | The guest accepts your privacy notice and signs your NDA, waiver or site rules, and downloads a copy. See Documents to sign. |
| Running late | The guest chooses about how late, from 5 minutes to 2 hours, and the host is told straight away. On the day of the visit, before they arrive, up to three times a visit. |
| Another time | The guest proposes a day and time, with a note if they like. The host answers (see below). One request at a time, and the guest can withdraw it from the pass while it waits. |
| Can't make it? | Cancels the visit, with a note for the host if they like. The host is told, and the pass stops working. |
| I've left | Once they're checked in, checks them out. Not shown when a badge was printed: badges go back to reception, who check the guest out. See Check-out. |
When the guest arrives and waits to be let in, for the host's approval or a security review, the pass says "Please wait a moment. Reception will let you in shortly." and updates by itself when they're in. Guests who booked through a booking page use their booking's own link instead: see Reminders and no-shows.
Every action is recorded on the visit's timeline, such as "Said they're running about 15 minutes late" or "Cancelled from their visit page".
Answer a request for another time
When a guest asks for another time, the host gets an alert, "Your visitor asked for another time", on the channels they chose in Account → Notifications.
- Open the visit in Console → Visitors. The request shows the time the guest asked for and their note.
- Choose Move the visit to accept it, or Keep its time to decline. Add a note for the guest if you like.
- The guest is told either way: "Your visit has moved" or "Your visit stays at its time".
A moved visit keeps its length, and the same pass keeps working at the new time. Hosts who don't sign in to the Console can ask reception, who answer for them.
Which channel to use
| Channel | Best for | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| SMS | Everyone. Works on every phone and every network. | Uses your SMS allowance (300 a month on Starter, 1,000 on Growth, 3,000 on Pro), then wallet credit. |
| Guests who live on WhatsApp; shows a richer message with buttons. | Included on Growth (300 a month) and Pro (1,000); from the wallet on Starter. | |
| Business guests and anyone who needs the calendar invite. | Included in every plan's email allowance. |
If a WhatsApp message can't be delivered, Agoo falls back to SMS. See Notifications.
Group, recurring and multi-day passes
| Kind | Use it for | Delivered |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-day pass | A consultant on site Monday to Friday, or an auditor for two weeks. One pass, with daily hours. See Multi-day passes. | P4 |
| Group invitation | A delegation of five. Each guest gets their own pass; reception sees them as one group. | P5–P8 |
| Recurring visitor | The cleaner every weekday, the driver every Tuesday. A standing pass that renews on its schedule. | P5–P8 |
Pass rules
On Growth and above, a pass can carry rules, so it only works where and when it should:
- Entry window: valid only from some minutes before the expected time to some minutes after, for example 30 before and 60 after.
- Single use: one entry (one a day, on a multi-day pass).
- Gates: valid only at certain gates, for example the Loading bay.
Default rules for each visitor type are set in Console → Settings → Forms; you can change them for a single invitation. At the desk, a pass that doesn't admit now can still be let in, and the override is recorded. See Multi-day passes and pass rules.
Change, resend or cancel an invitation
Open the visit in Console → Visitors → Expected (or in the Workspace app) and choose:
- Change: the day, time, host or visitor type. Tick Send them the new details to tell the guest.
- Send again: by SMS, email or both.
- Cancel visit: the guest is told the visit is cancelled (untick it if you've told them yourself), and any pass stops working.
Self check-in from posters
Let visitors check themselves in on their own phone by scanning the check-in poster at a site's entrance or gate.
Request a visit
Let people ask to visit from your own page or a QR poster, confirmed by a code to their phone or email, with the host approving before any pass is sent.