Scheduling vs Reserving?

I'm a Stake building scheduler, and I went through the Calendar 2.0 slides. I still don't understand the difference between scheduling and reserving. I've been reserving rooms for different requests; however, I don't understand the purpose of scheduling an event (Add Event). It doesn't look as though the reservations I've set up are visible in the Calendar. Do events also need to be added to the Calendar so the reservations are visible? I'm confused.

I'd highly recommend that you read the article About reservations; focus particularly on the "Reservations versus scheduled events" section.

The bottom line is that events need to be added to truly book a location; what's more, only events will show up on calendars that ward and stake members can see, and only events will by synchronized to other calendars using the Sync feature. Reservations are generally visible only to building schedulers (there's a way for general members to see reservations using Week View and the Available Locations feature, but that's quite limited). You could operate the calendar just fine without ever creating a single reservation, but events are essential.

blastboy88 wrote:I still don't understand the difference between scheduling and reserving.

You may want to read more detailed information about reservations here and about events here. There is follow-on information about reservations and events that can be found in the Calendar help content links panel found on the right side of each calendar help page. You will find clarifying information in the articles listed there.

blastboy88 wrote:I've been reserving rooms for different requests;

This is not a good practice. Reservations are made for units. Any organization with that unit can schedule an event during the time period of a reservation using any or all of the resources included in the reservation. Normally this is not an issue since a reservation is intended to reserve, or exclusively allow, the unit or any organization with that unit to schedule events while at the same time prevent any calendar editor from any other unit that normally can schedule events at that location from doing so during the reservation time period.

Where a problem can arise in regard to reservations is the potential for double booking. Any building scheduler for a location can schedule an event on top of a reservation if they have calendar editor rights for any calendar.

blastboy88 wrote:It doesn't look as though the reservations I've set up are visible in the Calendar.

They are visible. The procedure to view reservations is found here.

blastboy88 wrote:Do events also need to be added to the Calendar so the reservations are visible?

From the sound of your post you, meaning your stake, may not be fully using the capabilities of the new calendar and have continued to use the single point of scheduling model used in the classic calendar. As a building scheduler you should not be scheduling events (or erroneously thinking your are doing so through reservations). Unit calendar editors should be scheduling events. When these events are created and a location, or rooms/equipment at a location, are included then these identified resources are "scheduled". Reservations do not schedule resources. Only events schedule resources.

jdlessley wrote:Where a problem can arise in regard to reservations is the potential for double booking. Any building scheduler for a location can schedule an event on top of a reservation if they have calendar editor rights for any calendar.

Also, a Building Scheduler can place a conflicting reservation on top of an already scheduled event. You should be able to see the conflicting activity, but may not realize it's already booked the resources that you're creating a reservation for.

It should also be pointed out that any member of the extended stake presidency (the default admins) can grant themselves building scheduler rights. So it's not safe to assume there is only one building scheduler for a given location.

If Ward A has the entire building RESERVED for Mutual night for every Tuesday in the year, but no particular events are scheduled, can Ward B come in and SCHEDULE AN Elders Quorum Party (EVENT) on a Tuesday night? The answer should be "no."

That is how I figured out the difference.

TinMan wrote:If Ward A has the entire building RESERVED for Mutual night for every Tuesday in the year, but no particular events are scheduled, can Ward B come in and SCHEDULE AN Elders Quorum Party (EVENT) on a Tuesday night? The answer should be "no."

Correct. However, the building is reserved only for Ward A, not specifically for Mutual. So Ward A can schedule their Elders Quorum Party (Event) that night.

True. But hopefully, the Ward knows that Tuesday is mutual night and they check before scheduling. At least we can hope...

I think the suggestion someone made someplace that the person in charge of arranging the Scheduling of the building not be given rights to also schedule events is a good one. Especially at the beginning. As long as the scheduler understands that he really doesn't schedule actual events, he/she can do their thing without creating conflicts. But it the same person that schedules resources can also schedule events, he can confuse himself. At least until he gets the hang of what scheduling resources actually does.

I think the opening post illustrates this idea. He was called as the "Building Scheduler." That really is a poor title that should go away in the new system. The old building scheduler was exactly as the words imply. Now, there is not "A Building Scheduler." There are many. And they are called something else, like Elders Quorum President, Bishop Counselor, etc.

Okay. I understand the difference between events and reservations now. As the building scheduler, I'm really just making sure that there are some reserved times for each of the wards, and that's about it. It sounds like something that can be set up and left alone. However, I hope people know who to go to when they need an event scheduled, and that those people know they can schedule events. In theory, the distributed models sounds great, but it's going to take some retraining of the wards that it all doesn't channel through one person now. Awareness will be key.