How Do I ... On Departmental Resource Calendars

Required Information for Setup

Submit the information below to jes-deployment@uwo.ca

Calendar ID: This is a system field that is always prefixed with a dept acronym. The name should be generic but not include specific details, avoid using room numbers for meeting rooms, brand names for laptops e.g.OUL-MeetingRoom1

DisplayName: Both the calID and displayName are used in searching features within Convergence. However unlike the calendar ID the owner can change the display name. So if it’s a meeting room feel free to include building and room number. As long as the resource calendar has been apply named simply change the displayName to reflect changes in building & room or new equipment.

Description: Used to add additional details about the resource such as seating capacity of a particular meeting room, pick up location of a resource that needs to be signed out.

Alternate Owner: userID of the department contact responsible for managing the permission list of the resource calendar and the liaison between the department and ITS

Characteristics of resource calendars

The following are characteristics which differ from the default configuration of an individuals’ calendar.

Double Booking: not allowed Individual calendars can have overlapping times for appointments and events. However it is not hard to see how as a resource calendar e.g. meeting room, projector, laptop etc. this characteristic is not desirable. This behavior can be changed upon request.

Check Availability: set to busy upon invite When an individual has been invited to a meeting their availability still reflects as free until they accept the invitation. This allows for double booking and provides the individual the ability to make decisions on which appointments take priority. Considering that resource calendars are inanimate objects the restriction of not allowing for double booking takes the place of having to confirm availability.

Recommendations on Booking Resource calendars

We recommend individuals create events in their personal calendars and then inviting attendees/resources. By creating an event directly within a resource calendar the resource is identified as the meeting organizer.  This can cause problems with:

• Managing permission lists.  The interface used to grant elevated privledges is cumbersome. Not to mention the problems of keeping these listings up-to-date.
• Receiving notifications from potential invitees as to their intentions to attend the meeting.
• Resolving scheduling conflicts can be difficult because no one knows who to approach about changing a time or room.

Importing to External Calendaring Applications

If you follow the recommendations above then in order to effectively manage departmental resource calendars using external calendar applications like Lightning or SJOC (Outlook Connector) you will need to have your department resource calendars listed in your personal contacts list. Right click the appropriate department resource calendars and save as to be imported into Convergence or Lightning.

Note: These contacts cannot be added manually because the email address field for resource calendars do not meet email formatting standards within these applications.

Update: As part of the web client upgrade changes to department resource calendars were necessary.  Effective August 5, 2010, you will need to

1. Update the email address field associated with any resource calendar from calname@bitbucket to cal-calname@uwo.ca. 
2. When modifying any future meetings that contain a reference to bitbucket you will need to replace the invitation with the updated address book entry.

Reference Materials

http://www.uwo.ca/its/doc/hdi/calendar/wm-calendar.html
http://www.uwo.ca/its/doc/hdi/calendar/lightning.html
http://www.uwo.ca/its/doc/hdi/email/importmyaddressbook.html