Request resources

In classic calendars anyone could submit a request to enter an event and the calendar admin. was informed by e-mail and could approve or decline the request. A similar function could be incorporated into the new calendar with the e-mail going to an administrator designated to review, approve or deny requests. THIS WILL NOT MEAN ABANDONMENT OF THE DISTRIBUTIVE MODEL! It will, however, allow us to use the new calendar for some select functions which REQUIRE a single point model - for example the scheduling of resources not tied to a building and/or resources for which there is a need for an assigned coordinator due to needs for special coordination in their use (ie. canoes, electronic equipment, tents, etc.). As it now stands we have had to abandon the use of on-line scheduling for these types of resources (in our stake at least) and revert back to the caveman days of scheduling these resources by direct contact with the resource administrator. Please, I beg you, consider returning the "request" function to the calendar - or create a special type of calendar that can be created with the "request" function. Thank you.

Amen and amen. I really don't understand the insistence on pushing everyone to the distributed model. The "Submit Request" button seems like such a small thing to add, and would allow units so much more flexibility. Yes, I suppose there are units that abhor flexibility and have a grand vision of the lds.org calendar serving a great role in the social engineering of their members. Perhaps a compromise: maybe some really smart young programmer could make an option in the settings to toggle that feature on or off for individual units.

Have you taken a look at the ability to contact the building scheduler for a particular resource. Custom resources can be added as a "building" and assigned anyone from the stake as a scheduler for that resource. Then, from the main screen, a user can choose to "contact building scheduler" for the particular resource. This will allow them to send an email to the building scheduler. Does this cover the functionality you are looking for?

kyleq wrote:Have you taken a look at the ability to contact the building scheduler for a particular resource. Custom resources can be added as a "building" and assigned anyone from the stake as a scheduler for that resource. Then, from the main screen, a user can choose to "contact building scheduler" for the particular resource. This will allow them to send an email to the building scheduler. Does this cover the functionality you are looking for?

It doesn't really help to add custom resources, since these requests are almost always for the regular building (e.g., someone wants to use the cultural hall for a wedding reception).

The "contact building scheduler" option has four problems as I see it:

• that option is not all that easy to find, so many people don't even know about it;
• when email is the only option, there is room for miscommunication when people leave off important details, where making an actual proposed event would create an event with all the right fields that simply needs approval;
• at this point the building scheduler has no rights to schedule an event, so he can't even schedule the proposed event
• in many cases these events are not private events but actually need to be on a ward calendar, which the building scheduler can't have access to (if he happens to be in a different ward).

So there really is significant value in an option to allow non-editors to propose events.

aebrown wrote:

• at this point the building scheduler has no rights to schedule an event, so he can't even schedule the proposed event
• in many cases these events are not private events but actually need to be on a ward calendar, which the building scheduler can't have access to (if he happens to be in a different ward).

I hadn't thought of these limitations you point out. It had never crossed my mind that a scheduler doesn't have access to all the calendars. I guess all the scheduler can do is make a reservation so the resource is booked.

I really like the idea of allowing people to propose events or equipment reservations, which go to a human scheduler for approval.

mevans wrote:I guess all the scheduler can do is make a reservation so the resource is booked.

Which we actively discourage as there are a number of ways that can go wrong and end up with double-booking.

So in the current model, the building scheduler really can't do much. Looking at Rights and Roles, I see that the building scheduler can do the following:

• Update the details for any event scheduled in their location.
• Reserve locations for wards at specific, recurring times.
• Block out the location for a specific time, preventing any calendar editor from scheduling it.
• Override any reservations for their locations.

Our stake ended up creating a stake calendar called something like Myrtle Street Building where the building scheduler could enter and update all events for that building. I dislike that because it's not the way the calendar is supposed to work. However, this at least gives the building scheduler the ability to schedule events. The online schedule is a problem because not everyone uses a computer or will log in etc. Some people prefer to contact a building scheduler and the scheduler enters the event on the calendar. There's no support for that model with the new calendar if the scheduler can't access the calendars of all the units in the building.

mevans wrote:Our stake ended up creating a stake calendar called something like Myrtle Street Building where the building scheduler could enter and update all events for that building. I dislike that because it's not the way the calendar is supposed to work.

I dislike that because syncing the schedule to one's smart phone/tablet is near-useless because of all the events that do not apply to a given individual.

As has been discussed in other threads, the name "building scheduler" is misleading and really should be changed.

The problem we are having are too many cooks in the kitchen causing problems for the wards. I can best illustrate this with an example:
We went to schedule our ward Christmas party last month. Imagine our surprise when every Saturday in December was scheduled with "private parties." All of them scheduled by people who have regular access to schedule events.

So I went to the summer months and found out that the Bowery/softball field has been scheduled 8 times for "private parties" and "family reunions." Making a reservation doesn't help because private parties can be scheduled by anyone in the ward it is reserved for. What I have had to do is go to the remaining Saturdays in the summer as well as all the Saturdays in next December and schedule all of them as events for our ward with the note: Contact me if you want this day as we may or may not be using it." That will give the ward a chance to decide their plans in the Spring rather than now.

Now you may say, we just need to let everyone know who has rights to schedule the calendar not to schedule things that far in advance. But there are just too many that change too often. We have 10 wards in our stake. And in each ward there are at least 10 people who are administrators. Plus those in Axillaries that can also submit events, and it is a bunch of people.

TinMan wrote:We went to schedule our ward Christmas party last month. Imagine our surprise when every Saturday in December was scheduled with "private parties." All of them scheduled by people who have regular access to schedule events.

We've made it clear to all of our calendar editors that private parties are a lower priority than Church events, and so private parties may be bumped at any time. We try to make sure we have a good reason (and give a reasonable warning) before bumping such an event, but the buildings exist first for ward and stake activities, so sometimes they're just out of luck. Technology is great, but sometimes there's no substitute for a clearly stated policy.

TinMan wrote:The problem we are having are too many cooks in the kitchen causing problems for the wards.

Sounds more like a lack of policies. (Or lack of a master chef if you want to stick with that analogy.)

TinMan wrote:We went to schedule our ward Christmas party last month.

I hope this is for 2013. If it's for 2012, you're pretty late in the game. If for 2013, then it's time to call the "building scheduler" to deal with these conflicts. That's their new role. They can move and even cancel any event that takes place at their location.

And even then, at some point they're going to say "you should have planned this sooner". With 10 wards in a stake - that's going to be like growing up in a house with 9 brothers. Either you learn to eat fast or you starve.

Private parties would have to wait until all the wards had a chance to schedule their activities for the year.

TinMan wrote:Imagine our surprise when every Saturday in December was scheduled with "private parties."

In our stake, church activities have priority. Baptisms always have priority. But then, we also run all private parties though the stake scheduler, so that helps.

TinMan wrote:All of them scheduled by people who have regular access to schedule events.

Default admins or others? If it's others, then I wonder what calendar they are putting it on?

As I said. In our stake, we have at least 100 default calendar editors (Ten wards times 10 in each ward not including the stake ones.) How often to you send out the policy to all of them to keep them up to date?

TinMan wrote:As I said. In our stake, we have at least 100 default calendar editors (Ten wards times 10 in each ward not including the stake ones.) How often to you send out the policy to all of them to keep them up to date?

Each ward in our stake has a designated "Calendar Coordinator". They have the responsibility to train all editors in the ward. So I only have to train those ward coordinators as they change (which is rare). So my burden as the stake calendar coordinator is quite light in this regard.

That's nice. Our Stake Clerk is still trying to figure out how to run the calendar himself.

And I am glad that all your ward coordinators understand the calendar fully and train all of the editors.

You are very blessed. Some of us are not so lucky.

TinMan wrote:And I am glad that all your ward pcoordinators understand the calendar fully and train all of the editors.

Actually, I never said that they train all the editors. I just said that they have the responsibility to do so. But if something goes wrong with something scheduled in their ward, they get to clean up the mess.

My bad. Sorry.

aebrown wrote:Each ward in our stake has a designated "Calendar Coordinator".

aebrown, I think you're on to something. We can't have a building scheduler as has occurred in the past, unless something is changed that allows that person to actually schedule something. Instead, each ward needs to have a calendar coordinator. That person has the rights to schedule for his or her ward.

I think the so-called "building scheduler" would handle things like the Boy Scout council having a meeting in the building, and it might be entered as a reservation, since it's not an event pertaining to any unit of the stake.

mevans wrote:I think the so-called "building scheduler" would handle things like the Boy Scout council having a meeting in the building, and it might be entered as a reservation, since it's not an event pertaining to any unit of the stake.

The preferred way to do that is to create a calendar, possibly private so that the membership doesn't see it, and then place the event on that. Using the calendar reservation function to book a room is not a good method. It can easily lead to double-booking.

I guess it is a philosophical difference. We have a "non ward activities" calendar that is not private. We book such events on that calendar and members can see it so if they want to say get a group and come over for a pick up game in the gym they could see if it is available without booking an event.

You can still see events scheduled on private calendars, you just can't see the details of the event. If you go to the weekly view where you can see what is scheduled for a given building, you will see all events and reservations on that building. Private calendar events say "Private event" for those who do not have view access to that calendar. By making it a private calendar, you can keep ward members from subscribing to it and getting an update every time the "Jones" family schedules the building for a family party, etc.

RussellHltn wrote:The preferred way to do that is to create a calendar, possibly private so that the membership doesn't see it, and then place the event on that. Using the calendar reservation function to book a room is not a good method. It can easily lead to double-booking.

Thanks for the suggestion. I was thinking about it over the weekend and it seemed like we should have a stake calendar for some of these events. Maybe it's private, maybe it isn't. We have things like Boy Scout Council, Family History Center, etc. who need to make reservations.

I'm wondering how using a calendar reservation can lead to double-booking a room? The calendar doesn't permit double-booking reservations, so how could this happen?

mevans wrote:I'm wondering how using a calendar reservation can lead to double-booking a room? The calendar doesn't permit double-booking reservations, so how could this happen?

Using reservations doesn't lead to actual double booking, but it can lead to perceived double booking. Some building schedulers mistakenly think that creating a reservation will guarantee the room can't be used by anyone else. That's wrong for multiple reasons:

• If the reservation is anything but "Blocked" then any calendar editor in the assigned unit can schedule an event on top of the reservation.
• Even if the reservation is a "Blocked" reservation, another building scheduler (or the same building scheduler in a moment of forgetfulness) can put an event on top of the reservation.
• A building scheduler can put a reservation on top of an existing event and will get no warning.

mevans wrote:I'm wondering how using a calendar reservation can lead to double-booking a room? The calendar doesn't permit double-booking reservations, so how could this happen?

• Reservations can only restrict what unit may schedule a room. Reservations can not limit it to a specific origination. So if you set up a reservation for the gym for Ward A's Relief Society, then Ward A's Elders Quorum can schedule a game of basketball on top of that reservation.
• Reservations can be created on top of conflicting events. Since reservations are frequently repeating, it doesn't make since that you must clear out all exceptions before creating or editing a "conflicting" reservation. You may not get a notice when creating a "conflicting" reservation. (But that feature has been requested.)
• Anyone with building scheduler rights can schedule an event on top of a reservation. They will receive no warning. Note that any member of the extended stake presidency can make themselves a building scheduler.

Bottom line: A reservation and a "conflicting" event can co-exist.

OTOH, except for a few bugs that were quickly stamped out, the system will never allow two events to schedule the same resource at the same time. So to avoid double-booking a room, always use events. Reservations is simply a tool to limit the events that can be scheduled. It was intended for things like "Wednesdays are Ward A's night and Thursdays are Ward B's night".

RussellHltn: Thank you very much. After your explanation I realize I've been using the terms reservation and resource interchangeably in my brain and that's why I was confused. This is probably because if I'm scheduling an event, I think that I want to reserve the cultural hall for the event. However, in proper calendar terms, I need to schedule an event and then select any rooms and equipment (i.e., resources) I need for my event. They are then "reserved" for the event, but it's not a calendar reservation.

I think I want to change the term reservations to scheduling rules or something like that.

In the forum, we use the term "book" when selecting a resource as part of a event. A number of us would like to see the calendar's reservation function renamed to something less confusing.

mevans wrote:I think I want to change the term reservations to scheduling rules or something like that.

In the thread Reservation terminology there was a strong consensus to change the term Reservation to Restriction.

Our stake created a calendar used for scheduling the church farm "campground." Somehow it is set up so that ONLY one specific person ("scheduler" if you like) has access to create events, but everyone can see it. So apparently there are features already available for what you seem to be asking about?

preston.baxter wrote:Our stake created a calendar used for scheduling the church farm "campground." Somehow it is set up so that ONLY one specific person ("scheduler" if you like) has access to create events, but everyone can see it. So apparently there are features already available for what you seem to be asking about?

In the help topic Managing Locations, there is a section titled "Make a Location Unschedulable"; that's a bit of a misleading title, since that technique does still allow building schedulers (there can be one or more) for that location to create events (assuming they have also been given calendar editor or administrator permissions). But no one else can schedule events, so it does configure that location as you described.