Reservation Issues

I am the Stake Building Schediuler for my Stake and I am having an issue with booking a reservation. I have never had this happen before and need some help. Once I have selected the reservation button and filled out all of the info on the page. I push the submit button, it looks as if it tries to make the reservation but quickly goes back to the reservation page. It does not save anything.

I have tried it in both Google Chrome and Fire Fox and have allowed pop up too. Still not able to book a reservation. Is the site having issues or am I missing something. I was able to reserve something 2 days ago with out any issues. Can some one please help me.

Sister Stoddard

Check to see if there's something already scheduled. I've seen that kind of thing happen if there's some kind of conflict or error but the error message just hasn't made it to your screen.

Secondly, "Reservations" are only "Scheduling Restrictions". They cannot reliably book a room for an event. Chances are you really should be placing an event on some calendar. The role of Building Scheduler has changed, but too many are holding on to the old ways.

I understand that Reservations is not a scheduled event - but if a Building Scheduler reserves only the Cultural Hall and Kitchen for Ward A - will this actually prevent Ward B from scheduling the Cultural Hall and Kitchen - but allow Ward B to schedule the RS Room?

There is a rumor that reserving rooms/resources does not really work - unless your reserve the entire building.

DMuir wrote:I understand that Reservations is not a scheduled event - but if a Building Scheduler reserves only the Cultural Hall and Kitchen for Ward A - will this actually prevent Ward B from scheduling the Cultural Hall and Kitchen - but allow Ward B to schedule the RS Room?

It should. There have been bugs in the past, but they've been fixed.

But from the user's end, If Ward B schedules the RS Room, they may not be happy when Ward A uses the cultural hall for a basketball game and creates too much noise. Just because they are in a different room doesn't mean the two are "compatible".

Note that if the person in Ward B has Building Scheduler rights, they can schedule an event over top of Ward A's reservation without knowing it.

Thank you, currently we have one building scheduler for each ward. As you point out, if they are not aware of other ward reservations, the reservation is meaningless when the other building scheduler books an event.

In some of the literature, it says directly that Building Schedulers cannot actually schedule events - but in contrast it says that they can edit events, and you have just indicated that if the Ward B person is a building scheduler they CAN schedule an event over the top of Ward A.

Please clarify.

DMuir wrote:In some of the literature, it says directly that Building Schedulers cannot actually schedule events - but in contrast it says that they can edit events, and you have just indicated that if the Ward B person is a building scheduler they CAN schedule an event over the top of Ward A.

A building scheduler cannot schedule events simply by virtue of the assignment of being a building scheduler. But a person who has the assignment of building scheduler can also be a calendar editor or administrator because of callings or other assignments that person has been given.

If a person has both building scheduler and calendar editor/administrator rights, then that person has great powers that will indeed allow them to override a reservation for Ward A with an event for Ward B (or any other unit, for that matter). Such powers should be used carefully; it's fairly easy for such a person to inadvertently make mistakes because some of the checks and balances that apply to other people do not apply to people with that combination of powers.

The fact that Building Schedulers are titled "schedulers" is very confusing to most.

When anyone wants to plan an event, they naturally want to "schedule" the building, so convincing stake/ward leadership having someone called as a "scheduler" that can't schedule is very difficult. Maybe calling them the resource arbitrator would be a better title.

Obviously having one building scheduler in each ward - that also is either a "web-site admin" or "calendaring specialist" just really defeats the purpose of having reservations.....

I thought they were called Stake Building Specialist or Building Representative.

Building schedulers are set up in the Calendaring program under Locations. These are not MLS positions.

DMuir wrote:The fact that Building Schedulers are titled "schedulers" is very confusing to most.

We have discussed this quite extensively in the forum, but that is all that has been accomplished. We even had some programmers in on the discussion. For some reason those with the power to change the title to something less confusing and more descriptive either are not willing or are waiting for some other changes to the program before implementing a title change.

DMuir wrote:Thank you, currently we have one building scheduler for each ward. As you point out, if they are not aware of other ward reservations, the reservation is meaningless when the other building scheduler books an event.

That's a recipe for disaster. Note that since a building scheduler can edit anything scheduled at their building, the building scheduler for Ward A can alter Ward B's events to make room for his/her ward. Not a good idea.

At most I'd suggest two Building Schedulers: a primary and a backup (for when the primary goes on vacation).

We currently have one building in the stake with NO building scheduler and three wards in it. I've heard no complaints. Each ward schedules their events and that's all they need. So far, they've not asked for any "Scheduling Restrictions" (known in the calendar system as a "Reservation") to be placed on their building.

Building schedulers are only needed for two things: To set scheduling restrictions ("reservations") and to referee any conflicts. That's it. They are not needed for normal functioning. Calendar admins and editors do that. In fact, unless you give a Building Scheduler additional rights, they can't function effectively in any day-to-day role.

Building Schedulers should be renamed as Building Calendar Coordinators.

Originally, we gave all Ward level Calendaring Specialists the Building Scheduler position in the Calendaring system, because we thought they could only see all events/reservations only if they were the Building Coordinator. At this point I now believe that we really only need one Building Coordinator for the entire stake. Once a year they could take "Reservations/Block" requests from each ward/stake, input them once for the year and be done. Any real problems that may come up, the Stake Calendaring point person could handle this unusual occurences.

Because everyone can see all events/reservations under the Week view of the calendar, any Ward Level Administrator could fix ward level scheduling conflicts.

I have one last question today. I do not have MLS visability, and I understand all the default Administrator positions and Editor positions, but what is the Standardized MLS calling for someone who is not an Administrator or other default Editor, who is serving as a Ward level "Ward Calendaring Specialist" and would this type of calling be listed under Technology callings? Would this position be a default editor for all ward calendars or would they have to be added to each calendar? Is there any reason you would not want this person to be the Website administrator - other than they may not be technically suited?

Thanks for the input on this issue.

DMuir wrote:Because everyone can see all events/reservations under the Week view of the calendar, any Ward Level Administrator could fix ward level scheduling conflicts.

They can fix conflicts within the ward, but would need cooperation to fix problems between wards.

You may need someone for the members to go to when they want to schedule the building for private functions, like a family reunion.

Understood, but other than a Admin or Presidency positions, is there a Standarized MLS positon/calling for a Ward Calendaring Specialist? It seems we still have non-standardized callings, and I was wondering if there is a standard MLS calling that grants default Editor role rights the is not an administrator or a presidency member.....?

DMuir wrote:Understood, but other than a Admin or Presidency positions, is there a Standarized MLS positon/calling for a Ward Calendaring Specialist? It seems we still have non-standardized callings, and I was wondering if there is a standard MLS calling that grants default Editor role rights the is not an administrator or a presidency member.....?

There is no calling that confers default editor rights for all calendars. The calling of Website Administrator confers default administrator rights (but it will also confer administrator rights for the other tools such as the Directory, Newsletter, and Lesson Schedules).

In my stake, wards that want to have a calendar coordinator or "Ward Calendaring Specialist" as you call it, call that person as Website Administrator. Then the bishop (or whoever he designates to oversee this area) lets the Website Administrator know what particular responsibilities he or she has (which is generally less than everything that is possible).

Thanks, that helps. So we will need to expressly convey editor rights to all calendars we want to assign to a Ward Calendar Specialist that may not already be a default Administrator. And that we do not want to set up as a Building Scheduler in the Calendaring system.

I believe I now can provide good advice to the powers that be.....have a great weekend!

DMuir wrote:Thanks, that helps. So we will need to expressly convey editor rights to all calendars we want to assign to a Ward Calendar Specialist that may not already be a default Administrator. And that we do not want to set up as a Building Scheduler in the Calendaring system.

Just to clarify, that last sentence doesn't really fit. Even if you set someone up as a Building Scheduler, they would have no rights to any of the calendars. For everyone except administrators, you have to give editor rights to each calendar specifically (by name or by calling).

Right, sorry even those of us who try to get it through our thick head, still slip

DMuir wrote:So we will need to expressly convey editor rights to all calendars we want to assign to a Ward Calendar Specialist that may not already be a default Administrator.

That's assuming you actually need a ward calendar specialist. In the old days, (way back in the era of paper), there could be only one calendar. Sticking it up in the building made it hard to access during the week and lead to security problems because anyone could alter it. So, a Building Scheduler/Calendar Specialist was created. Their job was to answer peoples questions and maintain the "one calendar".

But with the Internet, it's now possible to access a single calendar with security. So, you could allow the RS President to control the RS calendar, the YM President to control the YM calendar, etc. Really, the "calendar specialist" is just a hold over because wards are trying to make the new system fit the traditions of their fathers. Assuming you have responsible leaders with a Internet connection, the Calendar Specialist is completely unnecessary. What is the CS going to do that the leader can't do for themselves?

But some people just have a hard time letting go of traditions.