calendar

I am the stake website adm. and have one building scheduler that can log in and access the calendar but can't schedule any events, she is in the system in a standard piston,


I also summited a new thread a week or so ago about not being able to log in to the calendar on one of my computers

alvords wrote:I am the stake website adm. and have one building scheduler that can log in and access the calendar but can't schedule any events,

Being a building scheduler does not automatically make them a calendar editor. A Building Scheduler has power or any events scheduled at "their" building.

You may wish to carefully read the help file. The major change in the new calendar is the "distributed scheduling" where various leaders are able to schedule the building on their own. The Building Scheduler only sets aside nights for specific wards and deals with conflicts. It's not designed for the old method where everything goes though the scheduler.

I chuckled at this: "The Building Scheduler only sets aside nights for specific wards and deals with conflicts. It's not designed for the old method where everything goes though the scheduler." You are absolutely right, but we have trained members over the years to go through the scheduler and now I cannot convince people if they have the proper rights they can schedule their own events. Even after training our stake leaders they still send emails asking, "would you please do this?" My stake president gently put his toes in the water and "updated" an existing calendar event; he was so proud of himself .

We have the same problem. Even the Stake is holding on to the old method with the new calendar. I finally stopped trying to help when I inadvertantly caused some hurt feelings by daring to suggest that organizations should schedule their own events instead of the Building Scheduler. I'm staying out of it entirely now and keeping my fingers crossed.

It's a mess - a member of the Bishopric on the one of the other wards has "scheduled" our night for the building, which blocks anyone in our ward from scheduling our actual activities. Everyone is afraid that another unit will schedule an activity on "their" night without *gasp* "their" permission! I see a "train wreck" coming...

davesudweeks wrote:It's a mess - a member of the Bishopric on the one of the other wards has "scheduled" our night for the building, which blocks anyone in our ward from scheduling our actual activities. Everyone is afraid that another unit will schedule an activity on "their" night without *gasp* "their" permission!

Assuming that that member doesn't have Building Scheduler rights, that's is the proper use of "Reservtions".

RussellHltn wrote:Assuming that that member doesn't have Building Scheduler rights, that's is the proper use of "Reservtions".

Interesting. So now I cannot reserve our Cub Pack meeting on the designated night for my wife (the Cub Master) because the other ward has put a 1-hour reserviation in the middle of the pack meeting time and blocked the entire building for our ward's events. Am I missing something here because this makes no logical sense to me?

davesudweeks wrote:Interesting. So now I cannot reserve our Cub Pack meeting on the designated night for my wife (the Cub Master) because the other ward has put a 1-hour reserviation in the middle of the pack meeting time and blocked the entire building for our ward's events. Am I missing something here because this makes no logical sense to me?

Let's get our terms straight. A "reservation" is something that can only be created by a building scheduler. It is not an actual event, but rather limits who can actually create events for that building at that time. So it makes no sense to say that the other ward put a reservation in the middle of your ward's pack meeting time.

Perhaps you mean that the other ward scheduled an event in the middle of your ward's pack meeting time. That may or may not be appropriate, depending on the rules that the bishops in the building agreed upon.

In many multi-ward buildings, the bishops (or their designated representatives) meet together and work out the basic schedule, that might include rules like "Ward A gets the cultural hall on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays; Ward B on 2nd and 4th Wednesdays; Ward C on Tuesdays" or "Ward A gets the Primary room on 1st Thursdays for pack meeting; Ward B on 2nd Thursdays; Ward C on 3rd Thursdays." Once these rules are agreed upon, the building scheduler can (and should, in my opinion) create reservations that enforce these rules.

If such reservations are set up properly, other wards can't schedule on top of reservations belonging to other wards. Using the example rules I just mentioned, if anyone in Ward B tries to schedule the Primary room on a 3rd Thursday, they will not be able to do so; only Ward C can schedule the Primary room on a 3rd Thursday.

So it sounds to me like the wards in your building don't have clear rules, or the building scheduler did not set up reservations to enforce those rules, or the building scheduler allowed someone to schedule an event contrary to a reservation, or your people are confused about how all of this works.

Yes, much of your last paragraph is exactly correct. All three units have agreed on certain primary days and times that each unit has priority. Other units should "call first" before scheduling on a day that is not assigned to them. Our building scheduler is not very computer savvy and clearly does not understand how to "reserve" the days/times. Apparently no one else does either because a member of the bishopric in one of the other units "sheduled events" to hold the days/times for the wards. This blocks anyone from scheduling the building for their event.

I do know that the Stake Executive Secretary has spent some training time with our Building Scheduler but she still doesn't seem to understand. The total minutes of training from the stake for the rest of us: 0 (as far as I know - I may be incorrect).

davesudweeks wrote:Interesting. So now I cannot reserve our Cub Pack meeting on the designated night for my wife (the Cub Master) because the other ward has put a 1-hour reserviation in the middle of the pack meeting time and blocked the entire building for our ward's events. Am I missing something here because this makes no logical sense to me?

As Alan points out, "Reservation" has a specific meaning. Only someone with building scheduler rights has the ability to create a reservation. And yes, you can not have overlapping reservations for the same time/date and room(s).

If someone in the other ward did create a reservation as you describe, then it sounds like too many have building scheduler rights and they are not coordinated. It sounds like something that needs to be taken up with your stake presidency. Very few people need Building Scheduler rights. At most, I'd say two per building in a stake. (Primary and backup).

Note that a reservation for your ward would not prevent you from scheduling an event - only creating another reservation. As such, you shouldn't be "reserving" for the Cub Pack. The appropriate calendar editor should schedule an event and add in the location. A reservation can only reserve for a ward. Not for a specific meeting. Only an event books the room for a specific group.

Exactly. There are no reservations being used. I don't know how many building schedulers there for our building, nor whether or not they are trained. Everyone seems to be trying to use "events" to reserve the building for the different wards and that only serves to block legitimate uses. However, that seems to suite many because it forces everyone to call the building scheduler to add their event - the habit from the old Calendar refuses to die here in Oklahoma...

davesudweeks wrote:Exactly. Everyone seems to be trying to use "events" to reserve the building for the different wards and that only serves to block legitimate uses. However, that seems to suite many because it forces everyone to call the building scheduler to add their event

One problem you may run into with the method, and perhaps you have already seen this, is that a resource can never be double booked (two events using the same resource) regardless of who is trying to do the scheduling. This means that if someone schedules an event for an entire location a building scheduler cannot put in another event at the same time using any of the resources in that location. The one piece of control the scheduler does have over that first is event is to edit or delete it.

Just something to keep in mind.

kyleq wrote:One problem you may run into with the method, and perhaps you have already seen this, is that a resource can never be double booked (two events using the same resource) regardless of who is trying to do the scheduling. This means that if someone schedules an event for an entire location a building scheduler cannot put in another event at the same time using any of the resources in that location. The one piece of control the scheduler does have over that first is event is to edit or delete it.

Just something to keep in mind.

Yes, you are exactly correct. This is the problem we are experiencing, the reason for my comments, and the frustration with trying to work within the new Calendar model when there are individuals who are untrained (or unwilling/unable to follow the training) and gum up the works doing it the old way.

It finally got to the point where I stopped trying to help (it is not my responsibility anyway).