Using Collections with Teams (V2)
Collections are a great way to organize Team Members and Resources into bookable groups. They allow you to automatically select 1 or more from each group of team members or resources, using specific allocation rules like
- how many people from each group are required
- round robin for even distribution
Collections are available on the Team plan on the latest version of YCBM (V2), released in September 2026. You can check which version you are on by looking at the footer of your account.
When to use Collections for Team Members
Collections are a powerful way to inject even more flexibility into your team scheduling. They take our Mutual Availability feature (which checks multiple team member calendars for availability per booking page) even further.
Example use cases include:
- Mix and Match from Teams: You are a recruiter and you need a candidate to meet someone from the Sales team and someone from Marketing, but it doesn't matter who they meet with. YCBM will only show times when at least one person from each team is free.
- Not all required: You have a group of 8 committee members. You need them to meet with a new colleague, but if one or 2 can't make it, it can still go ahead. Set the required amount to 5 to get a majority and YCBM will only show times that any 5 are free.
- Required host, with random co-hosts: Ava is a new customer support agent. She needs an experienced agent to join her on customer calls, but it doesn't matter which one. Set one collection with just Ava, and the second collection to include everyone else. YCBM will show times when Ava and at least one other agent is free.
How to Create Collections for Groups of People
Head to the Participants tab of the booking page you are using. Under the Members tab, you'll see Collection 1. Click on it to show a + sign where you can add team members, or click on the 3 dots to edit the name and Collection rules.
Add Team Members
Click on the + sign and start typing the names of the team members you want to add. Add as many as you need into the box, then select Update.
Edit Collection Rules
Click on the 3 dots to set:
- the name of the Collection (only visible to you, not to bookers)
- Allocation rules
Add another collection
Repeat the steps to create additional Collections. In the example below, the booking page needs one person from the Sales team (selected by Round Robin) and one person from the Customer team to meet with the client.
By default the Host will be chosen from the top Collection. You can change the group that you want the Host to come from by selecting the 3 dots. If the Collection is set to All Members Required, you can set the host by clicking on the 3 dots.
The host owns the calendar event. All others on the team will be Co-hosts and they will be added as guests on the calendar event, along with the Booker and any Guests added to the booking form.
Note: a team member can only exist in one collection at a time. If you need to move someone to another collection, or delete them from the collection, click on the 3 dots next to their name.
Allocation Rules for Collections
You can decide how bookings are allocated to your team members for each Collection. Collection A can have different rules than Collection B.
1. All Members Required: this is the classic Mutual Availability setting. Use this setting when everyone in the Collection needs to attend the meetings. YCBM will only show times as free when everyone listed is available.
2. Booker Decides: Use this when you want your booker to select the person they will meet with. This option gives you the option to include a No Preference option on the booking page, and also a place to write an introduction to the page for booker instructions.
The following are all automatic allocation strategies. You can read more about them in detail on this page.
3. List Order: YCBM automatically assign the booking to the first person listed on the booking page. You can decide how many people on the list are required. YCBM will only show times as free when the correct number of people in the right order are available. You can move the team member order by grabbing the six dots to the left of the team member's name.
4. Round Robin: Maximize availability: YCBM shows the pooled availability of all team members. If more than 1 team member is available at a selected time, we choose from the team members with least bookings. You can decide how many out of the group are required for the meeting.
5. Round Robin: Equal distribution: YCBM removes the most booked team members from the availability pool so only the least booked people can be booked.
6. Random Selection: Bookings will be assigned completely at random with no weighting.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. How many Collections can I have per page?
You can have as many Collections as you need. But be aware a team member can only be in one Collection at a time. If they are already added to a group, you won't be able to add them to a new group.
2. Can I have bookers select from each Collection on my booking page?
No, only one Team Collection per page can be set to allow the booker to decide who the participant is. You can allow the booker to decide on a Team Collection and a Resource Collection on the same page however.